The idea behind behaviourism is that behaviour is based on interaction, observation, and imitation. Humans interact with their environment (including other humans) and learn how to act through experience. These experiences develop into habits and behaviours (Demirezen, 1988). Behaviourism began in the beginning of the 20^th Century and came into full fruition in education in the late 1950s. Some of the main proponents of behaviourism were Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and (most famously in education) B.F. Skinner (Demirezen, 1988).

Behaviourism in second language learning is the theory that learning language relies on observable patterns of behaviour. Learning is viewed as a process through which knowledge is acquired through stimulus, response, and repetition (Demirezen, 1988; Johnson, 2004; Abidin, 2008). Learning is an automatic and unconscious process. Behaviourism relies heavily on control of the environment, subjects, and stimuli, along with the use of positive reinforcement and knowledge scaffolding. Learning a language is viewed as a repetitive act by which the learning graduates through discreet levels of knowledge (Johnson, 2004). It is less important for the student to understand why they made a mistake than it is that they made a mistake at all. The overarching goal is to condition the student towards proficient language use.

Some of the techniques found in language learning based on the theory of behaviourism are repetition drills, call-and-response, pronunciation exercises, and scripted dialogue (Demirezen, 1988). Based on the premise that changing external stimuli can affect behaviour in students, many times behaviourism employs rote learning techniques to achieve their ends. Unlike theories that believe there is a lot going on “behind the scenes” in language learning and acquisition, behaviourism disqualifies all unobservable phenomenon (Johnson, 2004).

In behaviourism, students are viewed as receptors of language instruction, like soldiers who are expected to listen and follow instruction. The goal of the students is to follow and repeat the teacher’s orders towards linguistic proficiency. Much like the rats running a maze, the students are trying to get to the cheese (correct linguistic utterances) as quickly as possible.

The role of the teacher is to facilitate the guidance of the students towards the goals in as efficient manner as possible. Teachers create the output for repetition, create the stimuli for response, control the practices and environment, and provide positive reinforcement. The teacher’s role is similar to that of the learning machine, similar to contemporary computer language learning games. The teacher keeps score and provides scaffolding – arranging lessons in a progressively more difficult order.

The teaching goals for language teachers in a behaviourist method are to provide repetition activities and language stimuli in as controlled an environment as possible without allowing for negative stimuli to interfere (mistakes, distractions, etc.). The teacher is not required to go into depth concerning mistakes but must rigorously attend to them and provide positive stimuli in the form of grammatically correct utterances. The goal of the teacher is to nudge, encourage, and steer students towards gradually and unconsciously internalizing the target language. The teacher achieves their goal through observing their students’ behaviour and amending the conditions in class towards language proficiency.

Some of the pros of behaviourism are that the activities involved can be effective at lower levels of language proficiency (Johnson, 2004). Instead of being burdened with the grammatical and structural explanations of language, the beginner second-language learner can learn that certain sounds and groups of syllables mean something in their target language. It can expedite the process of learning some fundamental phrases. Also, the techniques of stimulus and response work very well for working on pronunciation and can be employed when working on a specific area of grammatical difficulty (Demirezen, 1988). It can also be used to reinforce correct language habits and break the cycle of fossilized errors. Behaviourism relies on observable changes and improvements in language use and therefore, testing, grading, and providing mathematical evidence of improvement are much easily achieved compared to other methods (Demirezen, 1988).

Some of the cons of behaviourism are that it disqualifies any unobservable phenomenon, which means that cognitive factors are not considered in teaching (Johnson, 2004). Behaviourism does not consider the socio-cultural and psychological roles of the teacher and students. Behaviourism relies on the observable and quantifiable, and therefore, it overlooks differences in students and classes. It can overlook the way different students learn differently. It can also limit the ability of the teacher to tailor their techniques to the needs of the class, perhaps hindering their ability to create the necessary relationships to encourage learning. In many ways, the teacher becomes a learning machine. Instead of having meaningful and interactive dialogue, students are made to complete repetition exercises, in turn, limiting creativity and the associated learning benefits. Things can limit students’ ability to deal with novel second language situations which have not been formally practiced.

Today, strong behaviourism has less of a use in the classroom, however, some of its legacy lives on. There is still the use of positive reinforcement and error correction. As well, some teachers continue to use repetition in helping students internalize specific grammatical forms, such as irregular verbs, verb tenses, and simple structure. Teachers sometimes manipulate the environment to elicit a reaction from their students, however, now, that technique used to begin conversations or begin a lesson. Teachers also correct errors and provide feedback on proper pronunciation. In the contemporary second language class, techniques of behaviourism are used alongside a variety of other methods in a way that is more sensitive to the psychological, cognitive, social, and cultural factors of the student. Finally, applications such as Duolingo and FluentU, use language learning methods based on behaviourist theories.

References

Abidin, Khoiru Rakhman. (2008). The Concept of Language Learning in Behaviourism Perspective. Register, 2(2).

Demirezen, Mehmet. (1988). Behaviorist Theory and Language Learning. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 3(3). 135-140.

Johnson, Marysia. (2004). Three Major Scientific Research Traditions in A Philosophy of Second Language Acquisition. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. 

Piccardo, A. P. E., & North, B. (2019). The action-oriented approach : A dynamic vision of language education. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com.