By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

Applied
linguistics

With warm regards and best wishes to you all. Before you
explore the PDF, please note that the text written in red
contains notes from your classmate. Let us take a
moment to acknowledge and thank her efforts, and I wish
you all great success in your endeavors.
By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

Applied linguistics

Main issues of this unit

What is linguistics?
why did applied linguistics come?what is its main aim? To solve
problems.
What is the relation between linguistics and applied linguistics? How do they
differ?
What is applied linguistics?
When did applied linguistics develop as an independent area of study?
What are the main areas of concern of applied linguistics?

What will this course focus on? How is this course organised?

What is Linguistics? (1/2)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists do work on specific languages, but
their primary goal is to understand the nature of Language in general.

• Linguistics is primarily concerned with the nature of language and communication. There
are broadly three aspects to the study, including language form, language meaning, and
language use in discursive and communicative contexts.

What is Linguistics? (2/2)

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Linguistics deals with the study of particular languages, and the search for general
properties common to all languages or large groups of languages.

Some questions linguistics tries to answer (1/2)

• What distinguishes human language from other animal communication systems?

• What features are common to all human languages?

• How are the modes of linguistic communication (speech, writing, sign language of the
deaf) related to each other?

Some questions linguistics tries to answer (2/2)

• How is language related to other types of human behaviour?

• What is language and how is it organized?

• How is it analysed? How are its units discovered and tested, etc.

Branches of linguistics:

What is phonetics? It is the study of speech sounds.

What is semantics? “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” How can something
colorful be colorless? How can ideas sleep?
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What is phonology? Morphology? Syntax (He gave us an example of the difference

between the structure of Arabic and English for syntax).

Pragmatics: Who is saying what to whom and where? An utterance might mean
different things depending on who is saying it, to whom, where, and when… in a certain
context. We have a language context and situational context: a) language context: I need to
say words to the interlocutor, b) situational context: where it was said…

Discourse analysis...

Pragmatics and discourse analysis interrelate. The common element between them
is the context. In discourse analysis, you might take into account the writer of the message
and the receiver, and from the message, we can understand a lot about the writer's
situation, opinion, feelings… Example: when you're reading a novel, you don’t stop on each
synonym trying to know its meaning, but you try to contextualize. Why did the character use
that word? So here you analyze discourse…

Interdisciplinary linguistics: Applied linguistics includes at least two academic disciplines

that are considered to be distinct; that’s what we mean by interdisciplinary.
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Applied Linguistics: When did it all begin? (1/2)

• The term Applied Linguistics (AL) is an Anglo- American coinage.

• It was founded first at the University of Edinburgh School of Applied Linguistics in 1956.

• Then at the Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C. in 1957.

Applied Linguistics:

When did it all begin? (2/2)

• The British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) was formally established in 1967,
with the following aims: “the advancement of education by fostering and promoting, by any
lawful charitable means, the study of language use, language acquisition and language
teaching and the fostering of inter- disciplinary collaboration in this study” (BAAL, 1994).

It was largely taken for granted in the 1960s and 1970s that applied linguistics was about
language teaching.

What is Applied Linguistics? (1/4)

Applied linguistics deals with any problem related to language in the real world.

• Applied Linguistics entails using what we know about language, about how it is used, and
about how it is learned in order to solve some problem in the real world.

• Applied Linguistics uses language-related research in a wide variety of fields (e.g.

language acquisition, language teaching, literacy, gender studies, language policy, speech
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therapy, discourse analysis, censorship, workplace communication, media studies,

translation, lexicography, forensic linguistics).

What is Applied Linguistics? (2/4)

“AL is the utilisation of the knowledge about the nature of language achieved by linguistic
research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical task in which language is
a central component.” (Corder, 1974, p. 24)

What is Applied Linguistics? (3/4)

“Applied Linguistics is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned, and (c)
how it is used, in order to achieve some purpose or solve some problem in the real world”
(Schmitt & Celce-Murcia, 2002, p. 1).

What is Applied Linguistics? (4/4)

“The focus of applied linguistics is on trying to resolve language-based problems that

people encounter in the real world, whether they be learners, teachers, supervisors,
academics, lawyers, service providers, those who need social services, test takers, policy
developers, dictionary makers, translators, or a whole range of business clients.” (Grabe,
2002, p. 9).

Defining characteristics of Applied Linguistics

• Autonomous, multidisciplinary and problem solving: uses and draws on theory from other
related fields concerned with language and generates its own theory in order to find
solutions to language related problems and issues in the real world. Characteristics of
applied linguistics : Autonomous, multidisciplinary, and problem-solving.

Practical concerns have an important role in shaping the questions that AL will address.

Language related problems concern learners, teachers, academics, lawyers, translators,

test takers, service providers, etc.
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What problems are related to language?

Problems related to language learning: The problem that we face as Moroccan students is
in the way language is taught, not the students. So, this method and approach should be
reconsidered, and when doing that, we are aware of language-related problems. The
problem in our country is that we copy and paste methods from other countries. These
methods are promising, but the needs are not met.

Example: Sometimes the teacher teaches 45 students in a room which is very tiny. He will
never be able to make everyone participate in the course, but in other countries, in a room
of 25 students, the teacher can manage issues and listen to all the students. In this case,
you are thinking about problems related to language learning, and these problems are
there to be solved by applied linguistics.

We should always have curriculum development, and the last page is evaluation.
Unfortunately, this is the missing piece in the Moroccan system. We copy and paste
methods and approaches of teaching from other countries and continue for a number of
years, but we never evaluate the system. If you analyze these books, you will find that they
have nothing to do with the Moroccan culture because we are copying from another
cultural background.

Problems related to language policy: Certain strategies we have to follow.

Example: The learners of English should start learning it at the age of (…). Then, evaluate
the system (there are ways to improve, to add…).
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Problems related to language assessment: Evaluation—just short quizzes and tests—but

the problem is that though we have the same curriculum and textbook across the whole
country, students haven’t been taught the same way, and they have been tested in the
same way.

Problems related to language pathology: The problem of teacher training.

A sample of questions Applied Linguistics addresses (1/2)

• How can we teach languages better?

• How can we diagnose speech pathologies better?

• How can we improve the training of translators?

• How can we develop valid language examinations?

A sample of questions Applied Linguistics addresses (2/2)

• How can we determine the literacy levels of a population?

• What advice can we give the ministry of education on proposals to introduce a new
teaching method?

• What advice can we give a defence lawyer on the authenticity of a police transcript of an
interview with a suspect?

A sample of questions applied linguistics addresses

How can we teach languages better? Languages can be taught in different ways using
different methods and different approaches.

How can we diagnose speech pathologies better? How can a teacher know that a student
didn’t understand without raising his/her hand to ask questions?

How can we develop valid language examinations?

Validity: What it was designed to measure. For example, a test to measure speaking,
reading, writing, or listening.

Reliability: If a test accurately measured learning.

Standardized testing:

“We should test the same way we teach, and we should teach the same way we test.”
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Explanation: There are teachers who are eager to learn, and there are others who never
prepare the lesson. They just come, see where they stopped in the textbook, and it’s kind of
routine. So, the students of the two teachers weren’t taught the same way. The content is
the same, the curriculum is the same, but the way of delivering isn’t the same. It depends
on how the teacher is trained and how much experience they have.

There are also differences in learning styles. Some students are critical, while others just
receive knowledge and take notes; they don’t react or ask questions in the classroom.

Moreover, teachers aren’t paid the same way, don’t have the same conditions, and don’t
have the same circumstances and settings. When comparing public schools to private
schools, we find that the problem is that we don’t have a national exam for public schools
and a national exam for private schools. This means the way private schools provide
knowledge to their students is totally different from the way teachers teach in public
schools. The problem is that they compete for the same exam and the same schools.
Students in private schools have scores of 18 or 19 in the exam because there were only 20
students in the classroom, and they have the power to expel the teacher. They tell the
administration that this teacher isn’t fitting their needs, so they expel the teacher and look
for another one. However, in public schools, this is something they can’t do.

How can we determine the literacy levels of a population?

By a questionnaire, they can know how literate a person is.

What advice can we give the Ministry of Education on proposals to introduce a new
teaching method?

For example, in the USA, before thinking about the reform, they collect data and ask
teachers and parents. So, it is a bottom-up approach, unlike our country, where any
method is top-down but never bottom-up.

What is the relationship between AL and other language related

disciplines? (1/2)
By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

• Applied linguistics occupies an intermediary, mediating position between language

related disciplines (linguistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics) and professional
practice

• It uses theories/principles from language related disciplines in order to understand

language related issues and to solve language related problems. The choice of which
disciplines are involved in applied linguistics matters depends on the circumstances.

What is the relationship between AL and other language related

disciplines? (2/2)
• Applied linguistics conducts research into professional practice and on the basis of the
results develops theory.

What is the relationship between AL and other language-related disciplines?

AL is in the middle; it mediates between linguistics and other fields. For example,
psycholinguistics, which means we study how students' psychology affects their language
learning. For instance, being happy and comfortable helps the student learn. If the teacher
insults the student, they won’t learn (why? Because psychology matters a lot).

AL is in the middle in order to solve different issues regarding different fields of linguistics
and come up with solutions. It uses theories we’re already familiar with, such as
behaviorism, cognitivism, and so on. All these theories should refer to language-related
disciplines, such as semantics, pragmatics, etc. First, we have to understand the problem;
if we don’t understand it, we’ll never think about the appropriate solution.

What is the relationship between AL and other language-related disciplines?

AL conducts research (selecting a topic, collecting data from people you’ll be

questioning, analyzing, and coming up with results) into professional practice (here we’re
talking about teachers and how they should teach). Based on the results, it develops theory
(ongoing theories).

There is an intersection between the three areas: linguistics, AL, and education. That’s
why you’ll find a lot of definitions relating AL to education, learning, and teaching in a
specific context.
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Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

Linguistics is primarily concerned with language in itself and in findings ways of analysing
language and building theories that describe language.

• Applied linguistics is concerned with the role of language in peoples’ lives and problems
associated with language use in peoples’ lives.

Linguistics is essential but not the only feeder discipline.

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Applied Linguistics or linguistics applied?

Widdowson (2000, p. 5) presents the question in terms of linguistics applied and applied
linguistics:

"The differences between these modes of intervention is that in the case of linguistics
applied the assumption is that the problem can be reformulated by the direct and
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unilateral application of concepts and terms deriving from linguistic enquiry itself. That is
to say, language problems are amenable to linguistics solutions. In the case of applied
linguistics, intervention is crucially a matter of mediation... applied linguistics... has to
relate and reconcile different representations of reality, including that of linguistics without
excluding others."

AL is multilateral or a kind of mediation; it isn’t only one disciplinary area of study.

Linguistics applied is unilateral (one direction).

Subfields of AL

Foreign language education: we say foreign when it is consciously thought (when there is,
for example, curriculum, textbook…).
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AL to foreign language teaching and learning: Related sub-fields

ESP:

English for Specific Purposes. There is a kind of specialization; there is a specific major of
learning. For example, medical English or legal English. Here, there is a specific area of
learning. Medical English isn’t taught the same way as general English. What makes it
different is the students—they are all medical students. In our case, we are learning EGP.

EGP:

English for General Purposes, as in our case.

EAP:

English for Academic Purposes. For master’s or Ph.D. students, they need to come up with
a thesis. That’s why they have to be familiar with academic features.

CALL:

Computer-Assisted Language Learning. That is to say, I use my computer to assist me in

learning a language.

Syllabus design and language curriculum development:

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A syllabus is the content. The curriculum is something that has been determined by the
ministry. It is something they aim to achieve after a certain number of years. However, a
syllabus is something we can find in books or in classrooms with teachers.
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Foreign Language Didactics :

The “what” refers to what we need to select, and the “how” concerns how to organize the
content. Training helps the teacher understand what to select (there are things the teacher
should address with the students and things they should avoid or ignore) and how to
organize it.
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Behaviorism
What is behaviorism all about?
Behavioral psychology is the study of external behavior
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Behaviorism is the study of external behavior. The difference between internal and external
behavior is that external behavior can be observed and seen, but internal behavior, such as
feelings and thinking, cannot be known by the teacher.

Behaviorism says that knowledge depends on others (your teachers, mom, and dad). So,
there is no creativity, and we’re like empty bottles to be filled with information. The only
person that plays an active role is the teacher or the parents, while the students with their
teacher or the kids with their parents are passive.

Behavior is objective and observable, where as what goes on in one's mind can never really
be known or measured (the mind is a "black box")

Behavior is the response of an organism to stimuli

Behaviorism is based on the idea that knowledge is independent and on the exterior of the
learner. In a behaviorist's mind, the learner is a blank slate that should be provided with the
information to be learnt. Through this interaction, new associations are made and thus
learning occurs. Learning is achieved when the provided stimulus changes behavior. A non-
educational example of this is the work done by Pavlov.

Through his famous "salivating dog" experiment, Pavlov showed that a stimulus (in this
case ringing a bell every time he fed the dog) caused the dog to eventually start salivating
when he heard a bell ring. The dog associated the bell ring with being provided with food so
any time a bell was rung the dog started salivating, it had learnt that the noise was a
precursor to being fed.

For example: we learn in school through a set of behaviors. These behaviors can be either
rewarded or punished. When rewarding, they encourage the child to repeat the same act,
until that act becomes acquired by the child. The same thing with punishment; if the same
kid says something ethically inappropriate, the parents are going to punish him/her. So, the
kid has been punished for that behavior, and as a result, he’ll not repeat it anymore.
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Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired
through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment.

Behaviorists believe that our actions are shaped by environmental stimuli. In simple terms,
according to this school of thought, also known as behavioral psychology, behavior can be
studied in a systematic and observable manner regardless of internal mental states.
Behavioral theory also says that only observable behavior should be studied, as cognition,
emotions, and mood are far too subjective.

Why should we take behaviorism away from our learning process?

Because learning is no longer related to only one person in class (the teacher), but learning
is interactive. It is give and take between the student and the teacher. It is not innate, but
constructed. Students construct knowledge based on their prior learning (constructivism).

History of Behaviorism • Pavlov (1927), a Russian physiologist discovered classical

conditioning in dogs.

The famous quote by the founding father of behavioral psychology, John Watson, illustrates
the overarching (comprehensive) stance of behaviorists: "Give me a dozen healthy infants,
well-formed, and my own special world to bring formed, and my own special world to bring
them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to be any type of
specialist I might select a doctor, a lawyer, artist...'

Watson sees the child as a product or machine; he wants to make of that child what
Watson wants, but there are cognitive capacities. He refers to children in the same way, but
we can’t generalize as there are differences.

-Watson 1924

The term behaviorism refers to the belief that behaviors can be measured, trained, and
changed. Also known as behavior psychology, behaviorism is a theory of learning based on
the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. 3 Conditioning therefore
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occurs through interaction with the environment, which then makes behaviorists believe
that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our behaviors

As Watson’s above quote suggests, strict behaviorists believe that any person could
potentially be trained to perform any task, regardless of things like genetic background,
personality traits, and internal thoughts (within personality traits, and internal thoughts
(within/ the limits of their physical capabilities); all it takes is the right conditioning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning=>involuntary

Explains some learning of involuntary emotional and physiological responses.

Dog drooling (dropping saliva uncontrollably) when it smells food and later when it hears a
bell

It’s important for us as teachers to understand since school is often the cause of
unintentional learning through classical conditioning, especially anxiety.

Test anxiety conditions us to have general school anxiety

CC

Classical conditioning is a type of unconscious or automatic learning.

This learning process creates a conditioned response through associations between an

unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus.!

In simple terms, classical conditioning involves placing a neutral stimulus before a

naturally occurring reflex.
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Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus: which is meat (food, it can be whatever) in Pavlov’s experience.

He feeds the dog, and as a result, we have a salivation response (unconditioned response).
For example, when you’re spending 4 hours at university studying, then you walk near a
coffee shop and smell coffee, you’ll be stimulated, ready, and prepared to drink it. (This is
the unconditioned response.)
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Also, there are people who had their lunch. For example, when they walk near the coffee
shop and smell the coffee, they won’t care because they’re full, so this is the
unconditioned response.

In the neutral conditioning’s case, there is no response (so here, what is the relationship
between food and the neutral stimulus, which can be whatever, like the ringing of a bell,
giving a toy, or a phone as a gift…). So there is no response, but if you look during the
conditioning phase, there is an unconditioned stimulus, and if you add to the
unconditioned stimulus the neutral stimulus, which is the ringing of the bell, this will result
in what we call an unconditioned response with salivation. But if you keep taking away the
meat, and then you take only the neutral stimulus, which is the bell, because the bell has
been conditioned (why? Because in the dog’s mind, the bell refers to something, or there is
a kind of association—the dog associated the ringing of the bell with the meat), this results
in the conditioned stimulus, which is the ringing of the bell, and the conditioned response,
which is salivation.

For example, a kid at the age of 3 or 4 years might have health issues, such as a throat
issue. If you take him to a doctor, the first thing the doctor provides is a syrup (something
liquid that will be easily swallowed through the throat of the kid, and the syrup is always
sweet, which means another neutral stimulus). The sweetness the child got from the
medication 3 times a day. You give the child the first time, the second time, and then the
third time. Whenever he sees the syrup, he opens his mouth. So the syrup is the
conditioned stimulus, and opening the mouth is the conditioned response.
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Examples of Classical Conditioning

Kids who often get strep throat, after much swabbing of their throat, begin to gag as soon
as they see the doctor with the swab.

• Hearing a teacher, roommate, boyfriend/girlfriend say to you, "We need to talk". Upon
hearing this phrase your stomach "flutters".

• The point is, we learn to associate a stimulus with a response, and eventually our body
does this automatically in the presence of the stimulus. Our response is involuntary.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning can face "extinction", where the learning is undone.

This can happen naturally (the dog stops getting meat when music is played)

Or can happen through some type of therapy in the case of severe anxiety reactions

• Ex: people who are afraid to fly....

• Remember: Classical conditioning is more than forming an association - it is an

involuntary, physiological response
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Classical conditioning can face extinction. If you take away the meat, there will be trouble
in the process. If you take away the meat and don’t associate it with the neutral stimulus,
which is the ringing of the bell (there should be inclusion of both: the natural stimulus and
the neutral one) to have a response (salivation).

C.C. is an involuntary psychological response.

Classical Conditioning in the Classroom

• Playing soothing music, dimming the lights to calm and relax students

• Unintentional classical conditioning:

Test anxiety

Math anxiety

Public speaking anxiety

General school anxiety

B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning :

Skinner believes that behavior is sustained by reinforcement or reward, or reinforcement

and punishment. So here it is controllable and voluntary, unlike C.C., which is involuntary.

It is instrumental; we use instruments to control, that’s why it’s controllable.

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Operant conditioning
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Operant conditioning=>voluntary

• Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of

learning that occur through reinforcement and punishment. Through operant conditioning,
an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior

Operant conditioning:

Reinforcing a certain behavior; if you keep repeating the same thing day after day or minute
after minute, in this case, you’re reinforcing. For example, in paragraph writing, when the
teacher keeps saying the components of a paragraph and how it should be written, the
ideas will stick in the students’ minds, and the outcome will be a well-structured paragraph
(this is reinforcement).

OPERANT CONDITIONING
Teachers can deliberately use operant conditioning with their students (training)

How someone reacts to our behaviors determines whether or not we continue the behavior

if we are rewarded for something we will likely do it again.

REINFORCERS VS PUNISHERS
The two main types of behavioral modifiers in operant conditioning are called reinforcers
and punishers. Reinforcement and punishment can also be further broken down into two
subtypes: positive and negative.

The four types of operant conditioning techniques include:

Positive reinforcers: the addition of a reward

Negative reinforcers: the removal of a punishment

Positive punishers: the addition of a punishment

Negative punishers: the removal of a reward.

Operant conditioning, reinforcers vs punishers

Operant conditioning:
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In teaching with reinforcement and rewarding, for example, when the student answers
correctly, the teacher provides him with an utterance that would improve his performance
in class. Unlike punishing the students, when the student makes something wrong, he
should be punished differently. In punishment, there are different ways.

If the feedback was positive, it will encourage the student or the child to repeat that
behavior, but if the reaction wasn’t positive, he’ll not repeat it again.

Reinforcers vs punishers:

4 subtypes of reinforcement and punishment:

Positive Reinforcement: To add a reward, reinforce a certain behavior positively, which can
be something physical or oral.

Negative Reinforcement: Removal of a certain punishment (for example, your daughter

spends a lot of time using her phone, you punished her by taking her phone, then you
removed the punishment [taking her phone]. She used to be punished, but now she’s no
longer punished — this is negative reinforcement).

Positive Punishment: Is the adding of punishment (can be physical, oral, or taking away
personal property from the student or the kid).

Negative Punishment: Is the removal of the reward.

Operant conditioning is voluntary conditioning, because you voluntarily wanted that

behavior to happen.
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Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

We aim either to increase the behavior or decrease it. For example, when your mom is
nagging you to wash the dishes, you get up and wash them in order to decrease and
eliminate that nagging.

Schedules of reinforcement
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The different schedules of reinforcement in operant conditioning include:

Continuous: reinforcement every time the behavior occurs

Fixed-ratio schedules: reinforcement after the behavior occurs a certain number of times

Fixed-interval schedules: reinforcement after the behavior occurs for a certain period of
time

Variable-ratio schedules: reinforcement at random after the behavior occurs an

unpredictable number of times

Variable-interval schedules: reinforcement at random after the behavior occurs for an

unpredictable period of time. To reinforce certain behavior in a certain person (child or a
student):

Continuous: For example, our mom tends to never stop nagging whenever she sees the
same behavior happen (reinforcement = every time the behavior occurs, there is
reinforcement).

Fixed Ratio Schedules: The behavior occurs a certain number of times. For example, if
you keep breaking the dishes every time you wash them, then there is a ratio schedule.

Fixed Interval Schedules: Occurs between a certain number of periods. For example,
between October and November.

Variable Ratio Schedule: The reinforcement here is at random.

CONSEQUENCES FOR BEHAVIORS

Positive Reinforcement - You behave in a certain way that results in a reward, and as a
result, you are more likely to repeat that behavior

Negative Reinforcement - You behave in a certain way that results in the removal of
something unpleasant, and as a result you are more likely to repeat that behavior (ex: doing
a paper early)

In both cases, something happened that you saw as "good" and as a result, you exhibited
the behavior more.

CONSEQUENCES FOR BEHAVIORS

Punishment – A consequence that follows a behavior so that you do the behavior less often
in the future.
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Punishment can involve adding something (paying a fine, staying after school) or involve
removing something you like (losing recess time, leaving your friends)

In both cases, adding something or removing something, you perceive it as “bad” and as a
result, you exhibit the behavior less.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT &

PUNISHMENT
Negative reinforcement: Something unpleasant is removed & as a result you are more likely
to do it again

Something happened that was “good”

Punishment: A consequence happens that you don’t like and you are less likely to do it
again.

The punishment can add something or take something away.

Something happened that was “bad”

SHAPING NEW BEHAVIORS

Shaping is a process of reinforcing a series of responses that increasingly resemble the
desired final behavior

When a desired behavior occurs rarely or not at all, we use shaping

First reinforce any response that in some way resembles the desired behavior, then one
that is 12 closer etc.

Think of animal training or the hyper kid who can’t sit in his chair in class – do things in
small steps. Shaping is a process of reinforcing a number of responses that increase the
final behavior.

You’re aiming at a certain desired behavior, for example, giving a piece of chocolate to a
kid, washing the dishes, etc., to stop his crying or to stop her nagging… and in this case,
you’re shaping their behavior.

CRITIQUES OF BEHAVIORISM
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External rewards may diminish intrinsic motivation

Studies where participants work on an interesting task (ex: puzzles) – experimental group is
given a reward when finished while the control group is not.

After initial period, during a non-rewarded time participants are given a choice between
continuing to work on the task or switching to another activity.

Typical result is that participants in the experimental group spend less time on the activity
than the control group. This is taken as indicating that reward reduces intrinsic motivation.
Pizza Hut used to give away free pizza to kids who read a certain number of pages. This
practice was discontinued as it actually eroded students intrinsic motivation to read!

External Reward: They may reduce intrinsic motivation, which means the person’s
motivation has been ruined (the student has to be motivated without those triggers). With
intrinsic motivation, they feel motivated from inside without any reward, unlike those who
depend on external motivation. If there is no reward, it will be hard for them to participate
or complete a task.

CRITICISMS AND LIMITATIONS

While there are elements of behaviorism that are still accepted and practiced, there are
criticisms and limitations of behavionism

Principles of behaviorism can help us to understand how humans are affected by

associated stimuli, rewards, and punishments, but behaviorism may oversimplify the
complexity of human learning.

Behaviorism assumes humans are like animals, ignores the internal cognitive processes
that underlie behavior, and focuses solely on changes in observable behavior. From a
behaviorist perspective, the role of the learner is to be acted upon by the teacher-
controlled environment.

The teacher’s role is to manipulate the environment to shape behavior. Thus, the student is
not an agent in the learning process, but rather an animal that instinctively reacts to the
environment. The teacher provides input (stimuli) and expects predictable output (the
desired change in behavior)

More recent learning theories, such as constructivism, focus much more on the role of the
student in actively constructing knowledge

Behaviorism may simplify the complexity of human learning.

By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

It assumes that humans are like animals.

They completely ignore that we have our mind, intelligence, thinking, and internal
processes, so we’re different from animals.

The model (teacher, for example) requires us to follow things that he says and does, and
the students are passive recipients. Unlike nowadays, we need to construct knowledge,
and teachers encourage students to express their thoughts, so the atmosphere isn’t that
controlled. But in behaviorism, the teacher is there to manipulate the environment (this is
the way you should repeat what I say…). The student isn’t an agent, but rather an animal
instinctively reacting.

Strengths and Weaknesses

•One of the major benefits of behaviorism is that it allowed researchers to investigate

observable behavior In a scientific and systematic manner. However, many thinkers
believed it fell short by neglecting some important influences on behavior.
By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

Behaviorism doesn’t account for anything that isn’t an observable behavior

There has to be more going on than what is observable doesn’t there?

Behaviorism only accounts for learning through direct experience with the environment
(not observational learning)

There is no certain one method of teaching to be followed (Eclecticism = the use of all the
methods that have existed throughout the history of teaching and learning).

Behaviorism is still adopted.

Weaknesses

Behaviorism ignores the cognitive processes of the child or the student, which means
we’re treating the child or the student as an animal. As humans, we have personal logical
reasoning, so before we act, we think. For example, if we see fire, we won’t touch it
because we know it will burn us. But in the case of animals, they’ll touch it the first time,
and after that, they will never touch it again because of habit. Unlike us, we have logical
reasoning.

In teaching, teachers who adopt this theory train students without resorting to creativity.
For example, asking students yes or no questions, which are close-ended, instead of open-
ended questions that require creativity and allow students to come up with different
answers.

Constructivism makes students actively engaged in the building of the lesson.

In behaviorism, they didn’t take into account human cognitive capacities. They
investigate only observable behaviors.
By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

It is very repetitive in a systematic way.

The teacher can’t depend only on behavior. He/she should ask “why” to understand the
student’s feelings, thoughts, etc. (introspection, study of the inside of the human being).

Behaviorism isn’t only applicable to education, but also to other various fields such as
therapy, parenting at home, etc.

In the class, there are mixed abilities. The teacher can’t generalize as in the quote of
Watson: “Give me a dozen of healthy well-informed infants…” to make all the students
understand. Behaviorism thinks of students as all the same. When referring to students as
“all,” behaviorism, in this case, is rejecting personal feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
Emotions play a big role. If the students like what they’re learning, they’ll learn; if they’re
not comfortable, they’ll find it hard to learn.

Behaviorism doesn’t explain personal learning; each student has his/her own style of
learning.

This school of thought is a one-dimensional approach to understanding behavior. It’s not

multidimensional (such as thinking, mood, feelings, etc.). When taking all these into
account, it becomes multidimensional.

This theory doesn’t take into account free will, which means you don’t have the right to
raise your hand and ask questions.

Chomsky, Freud, and Carl provide us with evidence stating that what is observable isn’t
enough. There is something inside the human being (feelings, thoughts, etc.).

The Audiolingual Method:

This is how knowledge is conveyed in the audiolingual method, which means the learner
learns through the process of repetition. There is no creativity; you just listen to the teacher
and repeat what he/she says.

We have in this method the input and the output. The input is to listen or read (receptive),
and the outcome will be the ability to speak and write (productive). Nowadays, we have the
integration of the skills into one (listening, reading, writing, and speaking). In the
audiolingual method, there is a sequence. For example, “Today we’ll be dealing with only
writing.”

The mother tongue is never used.

By : dororo hyakimaru Luffy

In reading, for example, they’ll tell you to read a certain text, and you’ll keep reading the
whole session without being asked any questions.

In speaking, just read and say what you read; there is no talking about your own thoughts.

Grammar explanation wasn’t allowed in the audiolingual method, unlike nowadays.

Pronunciation was very important in the audiolingual method (the students repeat exactly
what the teacher says).

In the military, the audiolingual method was appreciated because it requires discipline.
For example, when the teacher says to students “stand up,” everyone should stand up. If
you refuse, you’ll be punished. So here, there is a kind of comparison between the
classroom and the military in discipline.