The Environmental Theory/ The Behaviourist View
The Environmental Theory/ The Behaviourist View
According to B.F.Skinner (1957) cited in Littlewood (1984:5):
Language is not a mental phenomenon: it is a behaviour like other forms of human behaviour, it is learnt by process of habit formation in which the main components are:
1- The child imitates the sounds and patterns which he hears around him.
2- People recognize the child‟s attempts as being similar to the adult models and reinforce (reward) the sounds, by approval or some other desirable reactions.
3- In order to obtain more of these rewards, the child repeats the sounds and patterns, so that these become habits.
4- In this way the child‟s verbal behaviour is conditioned (or shaped) until the habit coincide with the adult.
There is a general agreement among people on that children acquire language by imitating the adults who surround them. Correspondingly, environment is a determinative characteristic in the environmental theory. The child is regarded as a blank paper to be filled or as a raw material to be molded according to the particular environment in which he is born and going to grow up. Skinner (1957/1991) cited in
Levin Munsch and (ibid) adds that “language is also shaped through operant conditioning, or reinforcement. When we respond to a baby‟s babbling with a smile or some vocalization of our own, babies babble even more. If we respond to a request for “cookie” with the desired cookie, it becomes more likely that the child will use that word again the next time she wants a cookie.”
Thus, the environmental theory is fundamentally based on the stimulus response (something that helps anther thing to develop better or more quickly) method and the application of some techniques. e.g. each behaviour is a reaction to a particular stimulus (encouragement). In this theory the stimulus is the environment (input) and the response is the child‟s production of language. Therefore, stimulus response in accordance with many behaviourists cannot be dealt with unless we consider the following major three elements i.e. imitation, repetition and reinforcement.
1-1-1- Imitation
Some behaviourists explain language acquisition by imitation which the notion that the child generally tends to imitate his mother‟s utterance. An instance of that is the mother who talks to her baby and at the same time utilizes pictures to stimulate him. Put it differently, the mother pronounces the correspondent word to the picture
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and the child repeats after her and thus he will recognize: that the uttered word refers to the object in the picture. In the same line of though Tamis-LeMonda, et al (2001) cited in Levin and Munsch (2009:301) claim that “research has shown that the more that mothers respond to their babies‟ vocalizations, the sooner their babies develop language”
1-1-2- The Operant Conditioning / Re-inforcement
After imitation and repetition, the child may produce speech correctly and would be rewarded or corrected. For example, if the child says „ball‟ and the parents give it to him thus the reward (re-inforcement) here, is the parent‟s response to the child need. Beside, children are in contact with a considerable amount of speech everyday especially words and names of objects. The environmentalists emphasize the point that if there is a correct and regular production and imitation, the child should be directly corrected. It is only through the use of these techniques that infants will be able to develop as qualified language user.
1-1-3- Main Criticism
The behaviourist theory has been profoundly analyzed as it has received variable criticisms. A. Bandura (1977) believed that children gradually become more selective in what they imitate i.e. they do not merely imitate all what is available to them, rather they imitate only words and names of objects that they understand and admire. Moreover, when we consider rewards as being a vital factor in the success of child language acquisition, the child who has inattentive parents is totally rejected from this theory. Further, studies of a wide range of human behaviours (principally language learning and use) have shown that operant conditioning cannot explain how
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children solve problems without the lengthy period of trial and error. Bandura (1977/1989) cited in Keenan et al (2016) believes that: the principles of conditioning and reinforcement elaborated by Skinner and others are important mechanisms of development, but he has expanded on how children and adults acquire new responses. Bandura (ibid) recognizes that, from an early age, children also acquire many skills in the absence of rewards and punishments, simply by watching and listening to others around them. Shameem (2010)5 argues that: Although sound6 in many ways, the theory is not free from limitations. The shortcomings of this theory are as follows: Firstly, the Behaviourist Theory completely ignores the inborn aspect of human knowledge. Secondly, the theory puts over emphasis on the role of imitation and ignores completely the creativity of the child, making him/her somewhat passive viewer than actor in the process of language acquisition. Thirdly, the Behaviorist Theory seems to be somewhat mechanical in nature, since the child is considered a passive object. Fourthly, it cannot develop the child‟s problem solving skills. The child may find himself/herself in a situation where the stimulus to the correct response does not occur. In such cases the child won‟t be able to respond. Fifthly, it fails to explain how the child understands utterances he/she has never heard before, or produces new and unique utterances. Finally, the Behaviourist Theory cannot explain how the child proceeds in his/her journey of language acquisition at such a young age.