A Critical Review of any Major Theory of Language
Theory of language is a discipline of linguistic philosophy and theoretical linguistics. Its purpose is to provide a solution to the questions of What is the origin of language? Why do languages have the properties they do? or What is language? Language is the main vehicle for the communication of cultural information and the major way of access to the contents of the minds of others. While other species communicate through an innate ability to generate a limited wide range of important vocalisations, or through slightly learned systems, no other species has been discovered to date that can articulate limitless concepts ‘sentences’ with a limited set of symbols ‘speech sounds and words’.
There are a few fundamental theories superior to explain how language is obtained and taught. Behaviorist principle, Mentalist principle, Rationalist principle, Empiricist principle, and Cognitive-code principles are a number of those theories. However, those five primary theories of language acquisition cannot be separated from one another, because “the objectives of second language learning are not necessarily entirely determined by native language competence and inevitably serves as a foil against which to set second language learning.” Hans Heinrich, S. (1983, January 1).
The application of behaviourism to all types of learning, including language learning, became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. John Watson has historically been known as the father of behaviorism. American psychologist Skinner established the behavioral theory of learning to respond to stimuli in operational conditioning. In theory, human behaviour may be explained simply because it evolved from basic learning processes, but in fact, human behaviour is very complicated. Man is a superficial and inaccurate observer of his own and others’ conduct in general. Because of his dualistic view of humanity, he is forced to come up with a variety of questionable answers.
The analysis of human behaviour in observable stimulus-response interaction as the association between them is a key concept of behaviourist theory. The most significant reasons for behaviourism motivation, according to behaviourists, are external rather than internal. Skinner’s ‘Operant Conditioning’ is centred on Classical Conditioning theory. Skinner distinguished two types of reactions: respondents and operants. Respondents are reactions to a stimulus; the organism reacts directly to its surroundings. The organism interacts with its surroundings in a proactive manner. Skinner argued that children learn language by operant conditioning, in which children are ‘rewarded’ for using language in a productive way. This parallels Skinner’s four-term contingency, motivating operations, discriminative stimuli, response, and reinforcing stimuli, which he claimed was the foundation of language development. Skinner also proposed that children learn language through imitating others, encouraging, and moulding.
The scientifically ineffective dualistic depiction of humans, which differentiates between mental processes and observable behaviour. Observing such conduct is the only method to identify the inner qualities that assist to explain behaviour in such declarations. We can see that the source of both the cause and the effect is the same. The scientific study of humanity should be limited to directly observable quantities as much as feasible. With his experiment with dogs, Ivan Pavlov explored classical conditioning: he rang a bell every time he fed the dogs, teaching them to connect the sound of the bell with food. As a result, whether there was food or not, the dogs salivated whenever the bell rang. By repeatedly pairing a previously neutral stimulus with another stimulus that elicits the response, Pavlov uncovered a mechanism by which a previously neutral stimulus came to elicit a specific reaction.
Skinner ultimately extended classical conditioning to what is now known as operant conditioning. If a reward or reinforcement accompanies a reaction to a stimulus, the response will grow more frequent in the future, according to this theory. “For example, when the child says ‘milk’ and the mother will smile and give her some as a result, the child will find this outcome rewarding, enhancing the child’s language development” (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011).”
Furthermore, Chomsky claims that as long as individuals are there to speak to the infant, the child’s biological endowments will do the rest. Skinner, also, believes that children would learn by imitation and reinforcement from their surroundings. Skinner’s concept is criticized by Noam Chomsky, who argues that humans are born with a fundamental knowledge of language and don’t need to learn it from zero. Chomsky thinks that language is biologically given, whereas Skinner’s view is built on how a kid learns to speak by receiving positive reinforcement from individuals who already speak a language proficiently. Chomsky’s approach differs from Skinner’s positive reinforcement method in that Chomsky feels that using praise and prizes does not help a child’s development or motivate them to learn. He believes that children are born with a language pattern that they develop throughout their education. This contradicts Skinner’s idea, according to which a baby’s random babbles have no links to a language until they are taught by adults through positive reinforcement to construct noises that seem like appropriate words. The environment plays a role in both ideas. Skinner was indeed legitimate in stating that praising children for generating babbling sounds that sounds like words stimulates the child to make the sound again. The sound will evolve until it becomes a recognised word as the child repeats it. Moreover, I consider what Chomsky’s theory says about a human being born with the capacity in the brain for language to be a decent notion, but I’m not sure if this is real. I claim that if a child is not exposed to language before a certain age, they will be unable to learn to speak.
For behaviourists, language learning and growth are a matter of conditioning through imitation, practise, reinforcement, and habituation, which define the stages of language acquisition. It is important to remember that all behavioristic theories of learning, namely The theory of Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull, and Skinner, the philosophy of functionalism are all associationistic. In the realm of language teaching, behaviourism lays the groundwork for activities that use language as both a stimulus and a response, whether spoken or written.
Work Cited
Ambridge, B., & Lieven, E.V.M. (2011). “Language Acquisition: Contrasting theoretical approaches.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342944995_Communicative_approach_in_Technology-_enhanced_ESL_Teaching-Learning 18 April 2011.
Hans Heinrich, Stern . “Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching.” https://www.academia.edu/39747094/Term_paper_NK_Sir Oxford University Press, 1 Jan. 1983.
