The Miracle of Language (FLA, SLA, Behaviorism, and the Importance of Repetition)

Language acquisition vs. language learning

Language can be acquired and also can be learned, the main difference between those is that the first one is a subconscious process and the second one is a conscious process. For example, here in El Salvador, people acquire the Spanish language, because it is the native language, so, it is learned naturally and spontaneously, but, when people of our country go to a course of English, they are learning the language, and it is learned in a formal way and through studying.

Behaviorism (Skinner)

Behaviorism studies the result of conditioning of a person. The conditioning is the result of a process: where a stimulus generates a response that needs a reinforcement. In this case, conditioning refers to establish a specific response in the person. For example, in a kindergarten English class, when the teacher enters to the classroom, she greets children, and then children greet her saying something like: “Good morning, teacher”. The stimulus could be the greeting of the teacher; the response could be “Good morning teacher”; and the reinforcement, the repetition of this routine in every English class.

Watson and Raynor’s experiment supports the Skinner theory. Such experiment was carried out with a young boy called Albert, with whom Watson and Raynor tested the theory developed by Skinner, more details about that experiments are showed in the next video:

The importance of repetition

Repetition is key in language learning, allows learners to develop their listening and speaking skills. Besides, children learn new vocabulary and structures of the language. Some techniques to carry out repetition in ELT are:

-Repetition drills.

-Repetition of encounters with language with lapses in between.

Deductive method vs Inductive method

Teachers can support their teaching in two methods: deductive and inductive. The first one, presents the knowledge from general to specific (GS), and the second one, from specific to general (SG). To clarify those methods, let’s see some examples:

Deductive: a teacher wants to teach students what behaviorism is. She collects theory about the topic, images, and other materials to transmit that knowledge to the students. During the class, she gives them the concept of this word and explains the theory.

Inductive: a teacher wants to teach students what behaviorism is. In the class, she tells students examples of behaviorism. She tells them to stand up when they listen 3 knocks on the board, and to sit down when they listen 2 knock on the board. After some repetitions, students recognize (notice) the process of conditioning in the activity.

Which method is the best?

This will depend on the teacher, and also, the circumstances, because, if the teacher does not have much time to teach a topic, it will not be convenient to make use of the inductive method because it requires more time to transmit the knowledge to pupils. Also, to decide which method to use, or to use both, we can explore the differences between both of them:

ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)

It refers to the middle part of a specific knowledge that a teacher wants to develop in children. This zone (what the learner is close to master) is in between of what a child knows (what he or she can do on his/her own) and what a child does not know.

With the correct guidance and help from the teacher, the child will be able to learn the new skill.

FLA and SLA

FLA means Foreign Language Acquisition, and SLA means Second Language acquisition. As we explained before, a language can be learned and can be acquired. The acquisition of a language happens spontaneously and it is learn in an informal way. Also a foreign language is a language that is not spoke in the native country, it proceeds from a different one, so, is not understandable for all the people from that country (for example, in El Salvador, English is going to be a foreign language); and a second language is an official language that it is spoke and understood in the same level than L1 for all people in a country (for example, in Canada, French is a second language).

Both, SLA and FLA, are different, so, it is not possible to SLA to replicate the conditions in which children acquire their L1, but why? Because children cannot be put in real life situations, as in the case of the acquisition of their L1.