LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND STUDY SKILLS

(DT 1133)

MISS SHASUMITHA

TOPIC 4
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING &
TEACHING
 LEARNING OUTCOME

After studying this unit you should be able to:

• Explain the basic principles of behaviorism and cognitive

learning theory
• State the theories and founders of the theories in
behaviorism and cognitive learning theory
 Behavioristic View of Language Learning
What is behaviorist perspective?
• The behaviorist perspective is a theory of psychology that states that human behaviors
are learned, not innate. The behaviorist approach asserts that human beings have no
free will and that all actions, characteristics and personality traits are the result of a
person's environment and the cultural forces that shape it.
• The theory of behaviorism focuses on the study of observable and measurable
behavior. It emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning and
reinforcement (rewards and punishment). It does not give much attention to the mind,
and the possibility of thought processes occurring in the mind. Contributions in the
development of the behaviorist theory largely came from Pavlov, Thorndike and
Skinner.
 BEHAVIORISM

CLASSICAL OPERANT
CONNECTIONISM
CONDITIONING CONDITIONING

IVAN PAVLOV &

EDWARD THORNDIKE B.F.SKINNER
JOHN B. WATSON
 Behaviorism

• Focuses on the study of observable and measurable behavior

• Emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning

and reinforcement ( rewards & punishments)

• Does not give much attention to the mind and the possibility of

thought processes occurring in the mind

 Pavlov’s Experiment

Pavlov discovered classical conditioning almost by accident.

Originally, he wanted to study the role of salivation in digestion.

He measured how much saliva dogs produce when given meat.

After a few days in the experiment, Pavlov noticed that the dogs

in his laboratory started salivating when the lab attendant

entered the room with the meat dish, before meat was placed in

their mouth.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Pavlov (1902) started from the idea that there are some things that a

dog does not need to learn. For example, dogs don’t learn to

salivate whenever they see food. This reflex is ‘hard wired’ into the

dog. In behaviorist terms, it is an unconditioned response (i.e. a

stimulus-response connection that required no learning).

 Pavlov’s Experiment

Stimulus: A thing or event

that evokes a specific
reaction in an organ.

Response: A reaction, as
that of an organism or a
mechanism, to a specific
stimulus.
 Components of Classical Conditioning

• The Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally, and

automatically triggers a response.

• The Unconditioned Response(UCR): The unlearned response that occurs

naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus.

• The Conditioned Stimulus(CS): A previously neutral stimulus that when

paired with an unconditioned stimulus triggers a conditioned response.

• The Conditioned Response(CR): Learned response to the previously

neutral stimulus.
 Stimulus Response

Before Conditioning Food (unconditioned Salivation (unconditioned

stimulus, UCS) response, UCR)

Before Conditioning Bell (neutral stimulus, NS) None

During Conditioning Bell (conditioned stimulus, Salivation (Unconditioned

NS) + Food (unconditioned response, UCR)
stimulus, UCS)

After Conditioning Bell (conditioned stimulus, Salivation (conditioned

CS) response, CR)
 Pavlov’s Findings
1. Stimulus Generalization = refers to the process by which the
conditioned response transfers to other stimuli that are similar to the
original conditioned stimulus (Once the dog has learned to salivate at
the sound of the bell, it will salivate at other similar sound).
2. Extinction = the process by which conditioned responses are lost (If
you stop pairing the bell with food, salivation will eventually cease in
response to the bell).
3. Spontaneous Recovery = extinguished responses can be “ recovered “
after an elapsed time (Extinguished response can be recovered after an
elapsed time, but will soon extinguish again if the dog is not presented
the food).
4. Discrimination = a process by which we learn not to respond to similar
stimuli in an identical manner. We respond differently to stimuli because
of our previous experiences in which certain of our responses were
successful in the presence of certain stimuli (The dog can learn to
discriminate between familiar bells and discern which bell would result in
the presentation of food and which would not).
5. Higher-Order Conditioning = refers to a situation in which a stimulus
that was previously neutral is paired with a conditioned stimulus (Once
the dog has been conditioned to associate the bell with food, another
unconditioned stimulus, such as a light may be flashed at the same time
that the bell is rung. Eventually the dog will salivate at the flash of the
light without the sound of the bell).
 John B. Watson
• John B. Watson was the first American psychologist to work with Pavlov’s

idea. He too was initially involved in animal studies, the later become involved

in human behavior research.

• He described how humans learn and how behavior can be influenced by

controlling the stimulus in the environment.

• He considered that human are born with few reflexes and the emotional

reactions of love and rage. All other behavior is learned through

stimulus-response associations through conditioning.

• His famous experiment with “Little Albert” was a demonstration of how human

behavior can be conditioned.

 The “Little Albert Experiment”
• Watson was interested in taking Pavlov's research further to show that emotional

reactions could be classically conditioned in people.

• The goal of the experiment was to show how principles of, at the time recently

discovered, classical conditioning could be applied to condition fear of a white rat

into "Little Albert", an 11- month-old boy.

• Watson and Rayner conditioned "Little Albert" by clanging an iron rod when a white

rat was presented. First, they presented to the boy a white rat and observed that he

was not afraid of it.

• Second, they presented him with a white rat and then clanged an iron rod.

"Little Albert" responded by crying. This second presentation was repeated

several times.

• Finally, Watson and Rayner presented the white rat by itself and the boy

showed fear.

• Later, in an attempt to see if the fear transferred to other objects, Watson

presented Albert with a rabbit, a dog, and a fur coat. He cried at the sight of

all of them.
Elements of Classical Conditioning

• Neutral Stimulus: The white rat

• Unconditioned Stimulus: The loud noise

• Unconditioned Response: Fear

• Conditioned Stimulus: The white rat

• Conditioned Response: Fear

This experiment proofs the Behaviorism theory and shows that people could

be conditioned to fear something and they can even end generalizing the

object.
 Connectionism

• Edward Thorndike’s connectionism is a learning theory that represents the

original S-R framework of behavioral psychology. Learning is the result of

associations forming between stimuli and responses. Such associations or

“habits” become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of

the S-R pairings.

• The theory that all mental processes can be described as the operation of

inherited or acquired bonds between stimulus and response.

• Thorndike’s theory on connectionism stated that learning has taken place

when a strong connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed.

Thorndike specified three conditions that maximize learning:
a) Law of Readiness
• States that the more readiness the learner has to respond to a stimulus , the stronger the
bond between them / implies the degree of preparedness and eagerness to learn.
b) Law of Exercise
• States that the more an S-R bond is practiced the stronger it will become / things that are
most often repeated are best remembered.
c) Law of Effect
• States that the connection between S-R is strengthened when the consequence is positive
and when the consequence is negative it weakens / it is based on the emotional reaction
and motivation of the students. Any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is
likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to
be stopped.
Principles derived from Thorndike’s connectionism:

• Learning requires both practice and rewards (law of

effect/exercise).

• A series of s-r connections can be chained together if they belong

to the same action sequence (law of readiness).

• Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered

situations.

• Intelligence is a function of the numbers of connections learned.

 OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Burrhus Frederick Skinner like pavlov, watson and thorndike, skinner believed in

the stimulus-response pattern of conditional behavior.

• Skinner’s work differs from that of the three behaviorists before him, in that he

studied operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used in operating on the environment).

Thus, is theory came to be known as operant conditioning.

• Operant Conditioning = type of learning in which the strength of a behavior is

modified by the behavior’s consequences, such as reward or punishment.

• a process that attempts to modify behavior through the use of positive (+) and

negative (-) reinforcement.

• Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a

consequence for that behavior.

At first, the mouse would just
wondered around in search for food
and would have accidentally pressed
down on the lever whilst exploring. It
would then present him with food,
and the mouse would associate the
pressing of the lever with the
presentation of food.
Then, it’ll know whenever it’s hungry,
it should press that level because of
that conditioning it went through.
 Types of Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcement: Strengthen response by providing desirable rewards

Ex: Token economy

• Negative reinforcement: Strengthen response by removing aversive stimuli

Ex: Students - early dismissal for good behavior

• Punishment: Use aversive stimulus following response to decrease likelihood of behavior

in the future

Ex: student coming late will not be allowed to join a group work.

• Extinction or Non reinforcement: responses that are not reinforced are not likely

repeated.

Ex: ignoring student’s misbehavior may extinguish that behavior.

Principles

• Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent

reinforcement is particularly effective

• Information should be presented in small amounts so that

responses can be reinforced ("shaping")

• Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli ("stimulus

generalization") producing secondary conditioning

 Operant Conditioning

Reinforcement Punishment
Increase Behaviour Decrease Behaviour

Positive Negative Positive Negative

Add desire stimulus Add undesired stimuli Remove desire stimulus
following correct behaviour following behaviour following behaviour
Spanking a child for cursing Telling the child to go to his room
Giving a treat when the dog sits
for cursing

Escape Active Avoidance

Remove undesired stimuli Behaviour avoid undesired
following correct behaviour stimulus
Turning off an alarm clock by Studying to avoid getting a bad grade
pressing the snooze button
Difference between classical and
operant conditioning
Cognitive Learning
Theory
 Cognitive Learning Theory

• Cognitive Theory stems from traditional psychological concepts of

thinking. Cognitivists view activities such as thinking, deciding, and

remembering in terms of how they underlie behavior.

• Cognitive psychology focuses on how people think, understand, and know.

• Emphasis on learning how people comprehend and represent the world

around them.

• Focus on conscious thinking.

• Emphasis on individual’s active construction of understanding.

Important Cognitive Theorists

1. Jean Piaget

2. Benjamin Bloom

3. Jerome Bruner

4. Howard Gardner

Each of these psychologists focused on different cognitive

conditions that impact on learning.
 Jean Piaget
• Constructed models of child development and the learning process.
• Piaget‘s theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive
structures (schemes used to understand and respond to physical environment).
• He believed the child‘s cognitive structure increased with development.
• Piaget‘s theories of infant development were based on his observations of his own
three children.
• He identified 4 developmental stages and the cognitive processes associated with
each of them.
• The 4 development stages are as follow:
- Sensorimotor stage (birth – age 2)
- Preoperational stage (age 2-7)
- Concrete operational stage (age 7-12)
- Formal operational stage (Age 11-15)
Four key concepts of Piaget's that are applicable to learning at any age:
- Assimilation
- Accommodation
- Equilibration, and
- Schemas
Cognitive development is a complex process comprising three main concepts
affecting the development process: assimilation, accommodation and
equilibration. All three are associated with the formation of schemata and their
modification in order to attain a balanced sense of understanding of the
external world.
1. Schema : an internal representation of the world. A schema describes both the
mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas
are mental or cognitive structures which enables a person to adapt and to
organise the environment. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us
to interpret and understand the world.
2. Assimilation : is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or
situation. The process of taking in new information into our previously existing
schema‘s is known as assimilation.
3. Accommodation : Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our
existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as
accommodation. Accommodation involves altering existing schemas, or ideas,
as a result of new information or new experiences. New schemas may also be
developed during this process
4. Equilibration : Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a
steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibrium is occurs when a child's
schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an
unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted
into existing schemas (assimilation). Equilibration is a balance between
assimilation and accommodation. Disequilibrium is an imbalance between
assimilation and accommodation.
5. Adaptation: Assimilation and accommodation are the two sides of adaptation,
Piaget‘s term for what most of us would call learning through which awareness of
the outside world is internalized. Although one may predominate at any one
moment, they are two sides and inseparable and exist in a dialectical relationship.
 Benjamin Bloom

• 1948: Benjamin Bloom and a group of psychologists

studied classroom activities and goals teachers has
while planning these activities.
• Educational psychologist who focused on students’
learning domains.
• He classified learning into three domains (cognitive,
affective, and psychomotor).
• Created Bloom’s Taxonomy which is made up of six
levels that can be used to acquire knowledge on a
topic.
 Bloom Taxonomy

• According to the original Bloom’s Taxonomy, the lowest order of

thinking is knowledge (remembering something) and
comprehension (knowing what something use).
• These tiers were used as building blocks to help teachers scaffold
their lessons and build students up to the top tier of thinking.
• 1995: Lorin Anderson, a former student of Benjamin Bloom, led
another team of psychologists in revising the original Bloom’s
Taxonomy to represent the 21st century.
• Changes occurred in terminology, structure, and emphasis.
• 2001: The final revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy was published.
 Jerome Bruner

• Bruner's theoretical framework is based on the theme that learning is an

active process and learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon

existing knowledge.

• Children as they grow must acquire a way of representing the “recurrent

regularities” in their environment.

• Cognitive growth involves an interaction between basic human capabilities

and “culturally invented technologies that serve as amplifiers of these

capabilities”.

• The aim of education should be to create autonomous learners (Learning

to learn) – Discovery learning.

 Three modes of representation in the
cognitive development of children

Bruner believed in stages of instruction based on

development.

• Enactive (birth to age 3)

• Iconic (age 3 to 8)

• Symbolic (from age 8)

Each mode is dominant at different phases of

development but all are present and accessible always.

a. Enactive – a mode of representing past events through
appropriate motor response. The first stage he termed
"Enactive", when a person learns about the world through
actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.
b. Iconic – information is stored visually in the form of images. The
second stage was called "Iconic" where learning can be obtained
through using models and pictures.
c. Symbolic – information is stored in the form of a code or symbol
such as language. "Symbolic" in which the learner develops the
capacity to think in abstract terms.
Based on this three-stage notion, Bruner recommended using a
combination of concrete, pictorial then symbolic activities will lead to
more effective learning.
 Howard Gardner

• The theory of multiple intelligences is Howard Gardner’s theory

that proposes that people are not born with all of the intelligence
they will ever have. It says that intelligence can be learned
throughout life. We can improve education by addressing the
multiple intelligences of our students.
• Also, it claims that everyone is intelligent in at least eight
different ways and can develop each aspect of intelligence to an
average level of competency.
• Intelligence, as defined by Gardner, is the ability to solve
problems or fashion products that are valuable in one or more
cultural settings.
8 Intelligences

1. Linguistic-verbal
2. Logical mathematical
3. Spatial- visual
4. Body- kinesthetic
5. Musical
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalistic