Chapter 2:

Principles and Theories of Language

Acquisition and Learning Approaches
Behaviorism is a learning theory that studies observable and
measurable behavioral changes, which result from stimulus
response associations made by the learner.
The Principles of the Behaviorist Theory
The behaviorist theory believes that “infants learn oral language
from other human role models through a process involving imitation,
rewards and practice. Human role models in an infant’s environment
provide the stimuli and rewards,” (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). When a
child attempt oral language or imitates the sounds or speech patterns,
they are usually praised and given affection for their efforts. Thus,
praise and affection becomes the rewards.
 However, the behaviorist theory is scrutinized for a variety of
reasons. If rewards play such a vital component in language
development, what about the parent who is inattentive or not
present when the child attempts speech? If a baby’s language
learning is motivated strictly by rewards, would the speech attempts
stop merely for lack of rewards (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004)? Other
cases against this theory include “learning the use and meaning of
abstract words, evidence of novel forms of language not modeled
by others, and uniformly of language acquisition in humans”
(Cooter & Reutzel, 2004)
Ivan Pavlov studied the animal behavior, and was able to
condition a dog to associate the ringing of a bell with food.
Pavlovian conditioning is known as classical conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
- A type of unconscious or automatic learning. This learning process
creates a conditioned response through associations between an
unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
-lead to an automatic response
Unconditioned Response (UR)
-an unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the
unconditioned stimulus.
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
-it is stimulus which initially produces no specific response other
than focusing attention.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
-a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated
with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a
conditioned response.
Conditioned Response (CR)
-a behavior that does not come naturally, but must be learned by
the individual by pairing a neutral stimulus with a potent stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
-a time passed by Thorndike, Watson, and Skinner introduced
the theory of operant conditioning. Which means a type of associate
learning process through which the strength of a behavior is
modified by reinforcement and punishment.
Reinforcement
- occurs after a behavior and increases the chance that behavior
will be repeated.

1. Positive Reinforcement
-Adding a pleasant consequence

2. Negative Reinforcement
-take away unpleasant consequences
Punishment
-purpose is to decrease behavior

1. Positive Punishment
-Adding to decrease the likelihood of behavior .
2. Negative Punishment
- Something remove to decreased the likelihood of a behavior.
Behaviorism in Classroom
- Teachers use behaviorism to show students how they should teach
and respond to certain stimuli. These need to be done in a repetitive
way to regularly remind students what behavior a teacher is looking
for positive reinforcement is the key in the behavioral theory.

Example: When teachers reward their class or certain students with

a party or special treat at the end of the week for good behavior
throughout the week, the same concept is used with punishment. The
teacher can take away certain privileges if the students misbehaves.
Behaviorist Language on Language
Learning and Acquisition
There are basic theories to describe how language is acquired,
learned, and taught.

A. Behaviorist Theory
Also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning
based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through
conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. Behaviorist believes that our actions are shaped by
environmental stimuli.
B. Mentalist Theory
- It emphasizes the role of the mind in language acquisition by
arguing that humans are born with an innate and biological
capacity to learn language.
C. Rationalism Theory
- In western philosophy, the view that regards reason as the chief
source and test of knowledge holding that reality itself has an
inherently logical structure, the rationalist asserts that a class of
truths exist that the intellect can grasp directly.
D. Interactionism Theory
- Is based on the ideas that human being, as they interact with one
another gives meaning to themselves, others and the world around
them of use those meaning for a basis for making decision and
taking action in their everyday lives.
Behaviorist Theory and Minimalist Theory are mainly applicable
to the acquisition of native language while the rest are counted for
foreign language acquisition, but these four fundamental theories of
language acquisition cannot totally divorce to each other.
BASIC LANGUAGE LEARNING
• Language Learning is an active process that begins at birth
and continues throughout life.
-Student Learn Language as they use it to communicate their
thoughts, feelings, and experiences, established relationship
with family members and friends, and strive to make sense and
order of their world.
PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE
LEARNING
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES

1. Automaticity
Many components of language must be learned to the point
of automaticity. When we use a language, we cannot
consciously think about all the words and grammar that we are
using. Some parts of language must be readily available in our
subconscious, to be used automatically.
2. Meaningful Learning
“Meaningful learning will lead to better long-term retention
than rote learning”. Language learners need to understand the
language that they are hearing and using, and the topics
discussed should be of interest to them.
3. Anticipation of Rewards
Learners are driven by the anticipation of rewards. These
may be “tangible or intangible, long term or short term”.
Language learners need a reason to learn the language.
4. Intrinsic Motivation
Language learning is most successful when there is intrinsic
(internal), rather than extrinsic (external) motivation. When
language learning stems from the learner’s needs or desires, the
learner is said to have intrinsic motivation. A learner who only
has extrinsic motivation will often give up during the long haul
of learning a language.
5. Strategic Investment
Language learning time should be invested wisely in
activities that result in real language acquisition. Clear learning
goals and an understanding of personal learning styles can help
the learner to use language learning time strategically.
SOCIO-AFFECTIVE PRINCIPLES

6. Language Ego
Learning a new language involves developing new ways of
“thinking, feeling, and acting—a second identity”. This new and
different self can cause learners to feel uncertain and defensive
at times.
7. Self-Confidence
Successful language learners are self-confident language
learners. They believe that they can achieve their language
learning goals.

8. Risk-Taking
Successful language learners are willing to make mistakes.
They are willing to take risks, and therefore they have more
opportunities to learn through both successes and failures.
9. Language–Culture Connection
Learning a language also involves learning about cultural
values and different ways of thinking. Successful language
learners understand that using a new language may involve
expressing ideas and feelings in very new and different ways.
LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES

10. Native Language Effect

A learner's native language can both facilitate and interfere
with learning the new language. Words that are similar in both
languages (cognates), will help in language learning, but
features that are different may interfere with the language
learning process.
11. Interlanguage
All language learners go through a developmental process
during which time they use the language imperfectly. A
learner’s interlanguage should be seen as progress, not as a
failure or a refusal to learn.
12. Communicative Competence
If communicative competence is the final goal, language
learning activities need to focus on the skills needed for
effective communication in authentic contexts. These skills
include both fluency and accuracy, as well as the ability to use
language appropriately in real-world contexts.
STAGES IN CHILD LANGUAGE /
STAGES OF LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
There are four main stages of normal language acquisition.

1.BABBLING (8-12months)
- The baby begins to recognize its mother’s voice.
- start discovering phonemes
-1 month: start crying or producing sounds in order to convey information
•hunger cry
•angry cry
•pain cry
-6months: babbling stage, producing syllables like ba-ba-ba
- 8 to 12 months: start using intonation patterns and also rephrase babble that seems as if
they words like baba, mama, dada, etc.
2. HOLOPHRASTIC/ ONE-WORD STAGE (12 months- 18
months)
- this stage characterized by one word sentences.
-in this stage nouns make up around 50% of the infant’s vocabulary
while verbs and modifiers make up around 30% and question and
negative make up the rest.
-“play” for “I want to play”
-“mom” for “I want to drink”
-Start understanding what is being said like “come here”, “stop it” etc.
3.TWO-WORD STAGE (2 years - 3 years) 
- 2 years: two-word phrase stage. Child uses minimum words
to convey meaning of a whole sentence
- Lack of function words in communication but recites familiar
nursery rhymes.
4. TELEGRAPHIC STAGE (3years-5years)
-This stage contains many three and four words sentences.
-During this stage a child s vocabulary expands from 50 words
to up 13,000 words.
-By 5 years: acquisition becomes slow but vocabulary
continues to grow.
NATURE VS NURTURE
NATURE
-Refers to all the genes and hereditary factors, that influence
who we are-from our physical appearance to our personality
characteristics.
NURTURE
-Refers to all the environmental variables, that impact who
we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were
raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture.
COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY
Cognitive Learning Theory
- it uses metacognition -”thinking about thinking”- to
understand how thought processes influence learning.
Cognitive
-is the ability of the brain’s mental processes to absorb and
retain information through experience, senses, and thought.
Cognitive Learning
-is an active style of learning that focuses on helping you
learn how to maximize your brain’s potential.
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that
children move through four different stages of mental
development. His theory focuses not only on understanding
how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding
the nature of intelligence.1 Piaget's stages are:
The Sensorimotor Stage
• Ages: Birth to 2 Years
• 
• Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
• 
• The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
• Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping,
looking, and listening
• Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object
permanence)
• They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
• They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them
The Preoperational Stage
• Ages: 2 to 7 Years
• Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
• Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and
pictures to represent objects.
• Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see
things from the perspective of others.
• 
• While they are getting better with language and thinking, they
still tend to think about things in very concrete terms
The Concrete Operational Stage
-Ages: 7 to 11 Years
-Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes
-During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events
-They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in
a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
-Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
-Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a
general principle.
The Formal Operational Stage
-Ages: 12 and Up
-Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
-At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and
reason about hypothetical problems
-Abstract thought emerges
-Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and
political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning
-Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to
specific information
SOCIAL INTERACTION THEORY
Social Interaction theory
-it studies the way that people engage with one another.
-is an explanation of language development emphasizing
the role of social interaction between the developing child and
linguistically knowledgeable adults.
- it is developed by an American philosopher, sociologist,
and psychologist George Herbert Mead and later his student
Herbert Blumer in the first half of the 1900s.
There are two basic condition of social interaction:
1. Social contact
-it refers to the connection between persons and groups.
2. Communication
- It is the social interaction with individuals constantly altering
their signals in response to the history of the immediate
interaction and in response to the history of the social
relationships between individuals.
5 types of social interaction

1. Exchange
-Occurs when people interact in an effort to receive a reward or a
return for their actions.
2. Competition
-occurs when two or more people or groups oppose each other to
achieve a goal that only one can attain.
3. Conflict
- is the deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to
oppose someone, or to harm another person.
4. Cooperation
-occurs when two or more people or groups work
together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one
person.
5. Accommodation
-is a state of balance between cooperation and conflict.
Activity:

1. What are the two conditioning

behaviorist theory?
Activity:

2. Refers to all the environmental

variables that impact who we are.
Activity:

3. During this stage a child’s

vocabulary expands from 50
words up to 13,000 words.
Activity:

4. What is the other name for

behaviorism?
Activity:
5. It is a type of social
interactions that occurs when
people interact in an effort to
receive a reward or a return for
their actions.
Activity:

6. It is an active process that begins

at birth and continues throughout
life.
Activity:
7. Stage contains single word
utterance such as “play” for “I want
to play”.
Activity:
8. It is the final goal, language
learning activities need to focus on
the skills needed for effective
communication in authentic
contexts.
Activity:

9. It studies the way that people

engage with one another.
Activity:

10. It uses metacognition -”thinking

about thinking”- to understand how
thought processes influence
learning.
Thank you!!!