PSYCHOLINGUIST

ICS & TEACHING

METHODOLOGY(
5655)

ASSIGNMENT 1, SPRING-19,
DIPLOMA TEFL

Submitted to: PROF. MUMTAZ AHMAD

Submitted by TOUHEEDA ASHRAF

Roll No. BX509538

Registration No. 12-PDN-02640

Contact No. 0330-6883434

DIPLOMA TEFL PSYCHOLINGUISTICS & TEACHING
METHODOLOGY (5655)

Question. 1 What do you understand by Behaviourism and Mentalism? How would you
differentiate between the two theories with some relevant examples? (15)

1. BEHAVIOURSIM

Educational Psychologists are determined that learning is change in behaviour on the part of
learner. They say learning makes some changes in learner. After learning he can have different
knowledge, he can hold new opinions he can be able to do something.

Behaviourism is basically connected to Skinner and his colleagues behaviourists. Skinner did
typical experiments on rats and reached to a result and presented his theory. He gave a formula
of Operant conditioning in his theory which is as follows.

Stimulus Response Reinforcement Repetition

According to them, language learning is a process known as operant conditioning.

 Conditional Behavior: Behavior in which the training is repeated.

 Operant : Voluntary behavior, it is the result of the learner’s own free will and it is not
forced by any person or thing from the outside. The learner demonstrates the new
behavior first as a response to a system of reward or punishment and finally as an
automatic response.

For example This is based on trial and error. If you eat green apple for the first time and
you feel it bitter in taste and this happens for the second time. You reach to a result that
every green apple is bitter and you don’t eat it. A new behaviour is formed in this way.
And you being a learner give response of not eating it to bitterness or sweetness. Here
in this example being hungry or desire of eating an apple could be stimulus eating is
response and again eating and not eating it again is reinforcement and next time on
repetition you select response of not eating it.

In operant conditioning reinforcement plays a vital role. Reinforcement is of two kinds:

 Positive Reinforcement ( praise and reward )

 Negative Reinforcement ( rebuke and punishment)

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Perhaps in Skinner’s behaviour theory, Positive and negative reinforcement is the best part
because it serves better not only in classrooms but also in society and positive reinforcement
enhances the learning process.

 BEHAVIOURISM AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Language learning was connected to operant conditioning by Skinner and his behaviourists and
they claimed that human beings learn language by imitation and association. Suppose parents
are bringing up a child and every time he is given something he/she hears the name of that
thing. He hears it and associates that thing with its name and repeat it. Then he learns that new
word.

2. MENTALISM

Mentalism is typically related to Chomsky’s theory for language learning which was
launched against Skinner’s behaviourism theory. He had two objections on behaviour theory of
Skinner that rats cannot be related to human beings and another one was that Skinner
misunderstood nature of human language learning.

Chomsky said that child is naturally born with Language Acquisition Device and have a
special area in brain for language process. This is all because of cognitive learning. Cognitive
learning is that a new item of information is matched with building block of knowledge already
present in child’s mind. Chomsky says that child develops underlying rules by himself to make
new sentences. And it is not possible for him to describe those rules. Child develops new
grammar patterns. This is nearest to nature because if we speak Urdu as our mother tongue no
rules and tenses were taught to us. But we speak fluent and grammatically correct Urdu. And
sometimes for a normal Urdu speaker it is very difficult to describe tenses or grammar.

For example. A student is exposed to imperative sentence “come here” Not only he can use it
but also he can produce some new sentences such as he can say “Go there”, “Play computer
game with me”

Sometimes child may utter wrong noun or verb forms because he uses earlier patterns
which are there in his mind but might be incorrect. Mostly this happens in past verb forms or
making plural of nouns

For example. Child may say “Cutted” instead of “cut” and “hairs” instead of hair

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By all above discussion, it is obvious that child cannot describe language rules but knows rules
and can use them to produce correct grammatical sentences even with a great speed of
fluency. Child builds his own grammar by using his mental capacity.

Question. 2 Do you think of some examples of positive and negative reinforcement in

learning? Which one do you think has proved more effective in learning new concepts? Justify
your opinion. (15)

Reinforcement plays a vital role in the process of learning. Learning is basically related
to change in behaviour of a learner. Reinforcement means to speed up something, in this case
we are particular to learning. Reinforcement encourages learner to give better response. In this
way learning is at high speed.

Reinforcement has been taken from Skinner’s theory. And it is third process of Behaviourism
modal as shown in following process.

Stimulus Response Reinforcement Repetition

In educational setup or it is learning of something in general, reinforcement is very important.

Basically it enhances learning process. If we quit reinforcement from learning process, we
almost get zero results. Reinforcement serves two factors, one is to make student feel satisfied
and other is to confirm student answer is right. In the following example it can be easily noted.

 Positive and Negative reinforcement

Praise and rewards are positive reinforcement to student’s response. We can also say that it is
related to motivation. In positive reinforcement student’s self esteem remains high even
though student produces wrong response. It gives him courage to learn language and
environment of class is pleasant. Positive reinforcement leads to better learning opportunity for
language learner.

On the other hand, if teacher speaks to student in an angry way for his wrong response, self
esteem of student comes down and he might stop learning at this stage. Unluckily our
classroom are setup with negative reinforcement. Student is assured that he cannot learn.

 Example of positive reinforcement

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Teacher: Who can give me sentence using “rebuke”?

Fatma: My mother rebuked me on being irresponsible.

Teacher: Very well done, girl. I love the way you give right answer.

Teacher: Can anybody make passive of above sentence

Nida: me was rebuked by my mother on being irresponsible.

Teacher: Good try, you were almost there. But you don’t use me at subject place of sentence. It
come “I” at the beginning.

Nida: Sorry sir, I’ll take care next.

 Example of negative reinforcement

Teacher: What is Urdu of the word “courage”?

Sajid: courage is “mutaasir karna” in Urdu.

Teacher: Sit down. All the time you give wrong answer. It is “jurat”

By all above examples it is pretty obvious that negative reinforcement discourages student and
student might leave class.

On the other hand Positive reinforcement creates pleasant effect in class and
encourages students to learn more. Positive reinforcement works better for learning. Language
is learnt by constant parental and teacher positive reinforcement. I think positive reinforcement
has proved more successful in learning.

Question. 3 Discus in detail the role of the following salient features in foreign language
learning. (20)

1. Personality

It is believed that personality plays important role in foreign language learning.

Personality plays an important role in acquiring a second language. For second language
learners to make maximum progress with their own learning styles, their individual differences

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must be recognized and attended to. Personality is considered to be a pattern of unique
characteristics that give a person’s behavior a kind of consistency and individuality. Extroverted
personalities are more sociable and outgoing. They are more confident and can take part more
effectively in language class. Introverted personalities are unsociable and don’t take part in
language class.

But researches show that in adult learning most of the language learners are more hesitated in
speaking. These researches present some useful links between language learning and
personalities. But they are unable to define boundary to what extent personality and language
learning effect each other.

2. Motivation

Motivation facilitates learning process. Our educational set up has many flaws and free from
motivation. Large classes size is reason for that. Motivation plays a vital role for foreign
language learning.

 Intrinsic Motivation is motivation inside language learner or you may say that the
process of language learning is itself intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation is long
lasting. On going work or completion of some word gives satisfaction to the learner
which enhances language learning process.
 Extrinsic Motivation is that which gives reward to language learner. Appreciation could
be extrinsic motivation.
 Instrumental Motivation. This type of motivation is need for some job or to pass an
examination. There is goal and learner tries to achieve that and so achieve foreign
language to a great extent.
 Integrative Motivation. Integrative motivation is that if learner wants to go to some
community and it is very necessary to learn language of that community. It motivates
learner to learn foreign language.

3. Learning strategies

Learning strategies are tools or techniques used by the learner to enhance or facilitate learning
process. A language learner adopt certain strategies for learning. Important learning strategies
are as follows.

 Social Strategies Learner asks for clarification of some difficult ideas which raise chances
of being successful in language learning.

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 Memory related strategies learning lexical items and structure and reproducing them
by the help of sounds and images.
 Active & Passive knowledge. Ability to convert passive knowledge into active
knowledge
 Vocabulary Learning and recording new vocabulary and its sequence.
 Hesitation removal to enhance language learning process.
 Response to every question Learner exposes himself to every question whether it is
being asked to him or to someone else.
 Comprehension Learner tries to understand thoroughly each new item of language.
 Usage Learner tries to use new piece of language as it is taught
 Habit forming Learner tries to relate new knowledge into his daily routine.
 Mistakes are learning source Learner tries not to hesitate by the mistakes and knows
sometime mistakes can originate new knowledge.

4. Aptitude

It is our day to day experience that some people learn a language more quickly. What could be
there in them? Of course this is their language learning aptitude. Aptitude is ability of
something. If we relate aptitude with language learning, it means some mental ability which
helps in language learning. It is combination of traits and performance in language learner
which boost up language learning.

If student of foreign language has following abilities, language learning may become easy for
him.

 Phonemic coding ability. An ability to identify different sounds and to form correlations
between them.
 Grammatical sensitivity. The ability to distinguish the grammatical function of words in
sentence structures.
 Associative memory. The ability to assimilate associations between sounds and to
retain them.

From all above discussion it is more clear to us that personality, motivation, learning strategies
and aptitude play an important role in learning foreign language.

Question. 4 What is the importance of reading skills in an EFL classroom? Plan a lesson
based on reading skills for secondary school students learning English. Also, devise at least

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three activities for each stage (presentation, practice and production) in your lesson plan to
exploit at elementary level. (20)

“Reading makes a full man.” (Francis Bacon)

Reading is a part of our daily life. It is performed both for pleasure and information. It
involves our ability to read and understand the words, phrases and sentences and other
symbols or visual in a text.

Skimming

Kinds of Intensive
Scanning Reading
Reading

Extensive
Reading

 Scanning: we do not read the contents fro cover to cover, instead, we go to the specific
page on which there is information, quickly run through and locate the specific item of
information.
Example: Look up some specific information in a dictionary, encyclopedia or other
reference resources.
 We read fast, skipping words, sentences, sometimes even paragraphs that are not
important and try and get overall understanding of the text.
Example: Reading a story, a news paper, a description etc.
 Intensive Reading: Reading the text slowing, word by word and sentence any sentence
because our aim is total or near total comprehension.

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Example: Reading our text book for study purpose, or reading an article on a topic of
importance for us.
 Extensive Reading: Reading for pleasure. One may read the text selectively without
being bothered by unfamiliar words.
Example: Reading novel, magazines, short stories, etc.

Reading skills are very important in an EFL classroom. Reading is a part of

our daily life. It is performed both for pleasure and information. Reading skills are important for
the individual since they foster comprehension in reading. If the students do not have
knowledge of reading skills, they cannot be expected to be successful readers. Thus, they
cannot achieve the level of comprehension required to pass exams in their own departments.

Lesson Plan

Teacher: Touheeda Ashraf Date: 12-09-2019

Class Level: GRADE-10 The Standard Education School Expected Time:
40min
Topic:
Teaching Aids: White Board, Marker, Duster, Printed Sheet for activities Assessment
Aims of the class Class Development Activities Achievement Goals
- To identify and Presentation extract information
recognize the basic Teacher shows some flashcards to and complete the
reading skills for brainstorm ideas and extra information, reading activity.
earning English
Class Content Practice
Reading Comprehension: Teacher reads comprehension two times
-vocabulary to familiarized students with the text.
students read the comprehension
themselves and practice
Production
Students read and comprehend

Question.5 Write an imaginary dialogue of approximately 10 sentences on any topic of

your own choice. The dialogue should reflect the features peculiar to spoken form of
language e.g., repetition, hesitation, contracted forms, incorrect grammar, unfinished
sentences etc. (10)

Dialogue

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Asima Ikram
Hi, how you doing? Great, what about you?
Not bad Hmm ……you passed Diploma in TEFL?

Err…..Diploma in TEFL. No, I haven’t……. It is difficult? Isn’t it

you know …. Erm….i’ve gotto go, sorry

I’d better let ya go…… bye

Question.6 Imagine that students are in three different classes learning English by three
different methods i.e, grammar-translation, audio-lingual and direct method. What strength
and weaknesses would you expect each student to display in his/her competence in
understanding spoken language, speaking, reading and writing? Discuss in detail. (10)

Grammar Translation Method

Grammar Translation Method is mostly used in our class and is also called conventional method
of teaching. In this method grammar and translation is focused. Modern conversational style is
not included in this method. By using this method students can write very powerful writings
such as essays and columns in newspapers.

Strengths of student in competence from Grammar Translation Method

If a student is learning English language by Grammar Translation method, his/her

competence in reading and writing will increase to great extent. More strengths of student
in his competence are as follows by using this method.

1. Student learning English with this method may be confident.

2. By the name of this method (grammar translation method), it is clear that this method
improves grammar skills of learner of English.
3. This method improves reading of English.
4. Student’s writing becomes better by this method because student has plenty of time to
think and correct himself.

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5. Student gets plenty of practice in reading and in writing exercises requiring grammatical
manipulation.
6. Student will be able to reduce reasonable translations in both English and Mother
tongue.

Weaknesses of student in competence from Grammar Translation Method

If a student is learning English language by this method, student’s competence in

understanding spoken and speaking will decrease to great extent because this method
focuses on grammar and translation. More impacts on his learning drawbacks are as
follows.

1. The learner cannot use the language for spoken form of English.
2. The learner cannot use the language appropriately.
3. Student will remain consistently cut off from the everyday version of the language.
4. Student uses a highly formal English.
5. Student uses literary form of English.
6. He is usually unable to communicate at all.
7. Not having practice for spoken English. When he does open his mouth, he tends to
sound like a book of nineteenth century prose.
8. Usually it is fairer to say that he knows about the language, but he doesn’t know about
the language itself.
9. Out of any day-to-day context may be wrongly used when the time eventually does
come.

Audio Lingual Method

Audio means listening and lingual means speaking, so in the audio lingual method emphasis is
given to listening and speaking. This method follows behaviourism theory. This method lays
great stress on intensive listening of target language and reproducing it by miming it.

Strengths of student in competence from Audio-Lingual Method

If a student is learning English language by this method, his/her competence in

understanding spoken language and speaking, reading and writing will increase to great

extent. More strengths of student in his competence are as follows by using this method.

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1. By this method student will learn communication.
2. Student will listen great amount of English, so he’ll be able to speak English
confidently.
3. This method pays attention toward all four skill of a language;
a. Reading, writing, speaking and listening

Weaknesses of student in competence from Audio-Lingual Method

If a student is learning English language by this method, student’s competence in writing

and will decrease to great extent because this method focuses on imitation. More impacts
on his learning drawbacks are as follows.

1. A lots of repetition is done in this method and students may get bored.
2. Student might come to memorise individual structures but does not automatically result
in being able to read and write well, or speak fluently in natural situation.

Direct Method

Direct Method has natural approach to language learning. This method of learning stresses a lot
on using the target language (here in the case of English) as the way of communication. Student
and teacher share the partnership of learning. Both are active. This method can use to translate
an occasion difficult word. Environment is set in a way that teacher and learner are not allowed
to use any other language except target language. For the purpose of communication teacher
ignores errors of student so that he should focus on communication. In this method vocabulary
is taught by mime, picture, real objects, words already known to the student and examples.

Strengths of student in competence from Direct Method

If a student is learning English language by this method, his/her competence in

understanding spoken language and speaking will increase to great extent. More strengths
of student in his competence are as follows by using this method.

4. By this method student will learn communication.

5. Speaking of student will improve a lot in this method.
6. This method will motivate student for learning English language.
7. It will help to choose day to day live vocabulary of English.

Weaknesses of student in competence from Direct Method

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If a student is learning English language by this method, student’s competence in writing
and will decrease to great extent because this method focuses on communication. More
impacts on his learning drawbacks are as follows.

3. Complex and abstracts would be difficult for learner to comprehend

4. Student is unable to develop Writing skills
5. Student pay more attention toward spoken contraction not to written contractions
6. Literary style of writing is ignored. That’s why students cannot write better essays.
7. Grammar of student will grow weak.
8. Communicative style and grammar and word choice may create hindrance for literary
writings.

Question no. 7. Do you think first language acquisition and second language learning involve
similar strategies? Discuss some of the differences and similarities between the two
processes with relevant examples. (10)

Language Acquisition

 Unconscious process
 Does not presuppose teaching
 The child control the pace

Language Learning

 Intentional process
 Presupposes teaching
 The teacher controls the pace

Language is the most significant aspect which makes us different from all other
species. Accordingly, language acquisition is the most impressive aspect of human development
both in psychological and cognitive perspective. In Linguistics mother language is termed as first
language and the language that is learnt after it is known as second Language. A child acquire
his mother tongue as a choice but it is natural for humans to learn the language of their
surroundings. However the second language or foreign language is learnt on free will usually,
mother tongue is untaught whereas second language is taught or tutored once it was hoped
that by studying the first language, a model could he devised for teaching a second language
but later studies have discovered that learning first language is a different process than second

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language. As there are many dissimilarities between the acquisition of first language and
second language.

Mentalist are of the view, that there is universal grammar in the mind of the child. Thus a child
learns his mother tongue very rapidly. This universal grammar automatically configures the
language of child environment.

According to the Behavioristic theory, mostly a child learns new words as a result of stimulus-
response process. His needs motivate him to learn and memorize new words. But an adult
learner of a foreign language is never so quick in learning. The difference between the learning
of a child and an adult is because that a child’s mind is a clean slate and all the impressions get
imprinted at, whereas an adult learner learns second language under some necessities. Besides
that, the memory of the adult is not as sharp as that of the child.

Psychologist say that a carefree environment plays an important role in language acquisitions. A
child learns first language in tension free environment. Where on learner of second language
faces worries of different kinds. These worries poke difficulty for second language learner.

Children can’t learn second language perfectly while living in the native environment. Because
learning second language requires the understanding of foreign culture and ideas. Learning
second language also needs direct exposure to the target language atmosphere. As the child
doesn’t speak and listen second language, he is not able to master it.

The pre-going discussion proves that there is number of dissimilarities between first language
acquisition and second language learning. Still there are some common aspects as well as both
the processes help in performing various social duties. It is noteworthy that speaking skill is
primary in both processes and can help in the creative use of language.

We can say that the language learning is a self struggle process. The manner in which a learner
learns a second language is very much different from first language learning. It is also quite
clear that there is no natural, automatic and easy way to learn second language. It is complex,
hardworking and self motivate phenomenon. However on the other hand, a learner of a
mother tongue doesn’t need to bother about such difficulties.

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