*Behaviourism emerged in psychology towards the end of the 19th century as an attempt to make psychology a science like biology or chemistry. The behaviourists opposed the mentalism of earlier schools in psychology, intending psychology to become an empirical science. They discarded introspection as a research tool, proclaiming behaviour the real data of psychology (Watson 1913).

*Learning was viewed as a series of stimulus-response (S-R) connections (associations). Learning theory described the ways in which these S-R connections could be formed, strengthened or weakened.These S-R bonds were sometimes conceptualized as neural connections.The more a S-R connection is used, the stronger it will become. The less it is used, the weaker it will become.Practice led to improvement only when it was followed by positive feedback, or reward.If the S-R sequence was followed by punishment, the bond was weakened.Learned behaviour could be transferred from one learning situation to another. This was called transfer of practice or transfer of training.EDWARD L. THORNDIKE (1874-1949)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io

*IVAN PAVLOV (1849-1936)The apparatus used to study salivation in dogs.

*UCR - unconditioned reflex, CR - conditioned reflex, UCS - unconditioned stimulus, CS - conditioned stimulus

*B. F. SKINNER (1904-1990)Skinner box.

*

*Operant (instrumental) conditioning is forming an association between our own behaviour and a particular outcome; the organisms response operates on the environment and is instrumental in producing whatever rewards or punishments (positive or negative reinforcement) follow it.An operant is a response for which the original stimulus is either unidentified or nonexistent; it may be loosely thought of as voluntary behaviour. In Skinners view, most human behaviour is of the operant type.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA

*"Learning is a cumulative process. The more knowledge and skills an individual acquires, the more likely it becomes that his new learning will be shaped by his past experiences and activities. An adult rarely, if ever, learns anything completely new; however unfamiliar the task that confronts him, the information and habits he has built up in the past will be his point of departure. Thus transfer of training from old to new situations is part and parcel of most, if not all, learning. In this sense the study of transfer is coextensive with the investigation of learning" (Postman, 1971: 1019).

*positive transfer (facilitation)e.g. Spanish lenguajes, English languagesnegative transfer (interference)e.g. Moderns Languages, greens beans

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retroactive inhibition - where learning acts back on previously learned material, e.g. causing someone to forget

proactive inhibition - where a series of responses already learned tends to appear in situations where a new set is required

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retroactive inhibition - where learning acts back on previously learned material, e.g. causing someone to forget

proactive inhibition - where a series of responses already learned tends to appear in situations where a new set is required

*

retroactive inhibition - where learning acts back on previously learned material, e.g. causing someone to forget

proactive inhibition - where a series of responses already learned tends to appear in situations where a new set is required

*Structuralism was a theoretical orientation in linguistics, inspired by Ferdinand de Saussures (1857-1913) lectures in general linguistics.In the 19th century linguistics focused on historical description of languages. De Saussure was the first to focus on synchronic description of language.In Europe, structural linguistics was represented by the Prague school (N. Trubetzkoy, R. Jakobson).In America, the foundations for structural linguistics were laid by L. Bloomfield.The structuralists focused on theoretical analysis of the structure of language (sound systems, grammar). The American structuralists (e.g. L. Bloomfield, E. Sapir) occupied themselves with the description of rare languages (e.g. American Indian languages). They also provided theoretical foundations for language teaching (applied linguistics).

*The structuralists viewed language as a system of relationships, consisting of elements arranged in some hierarchical order.Language is speech, not writing.A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say (i.e. linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive).

*Suppose that Jack and Jill are walking down a lane. Jill is hungry. She sees an apple in a tree. She makes a noise with her larynx, tongue, and lips. Jack vaults the fence, climbs the tree, takes the apple, brings it to Jill, and places it in her hand. Jill eats the apple (Bloomfield 1933: 22).[T]he incident consists of three parts, in order of time:A. Practical events preceding the act of speech [speakers stimulus].B. Speech.C. Practical events following the act of speech [hearers response] (Bloomfield 1933: 23)Language enables one person to make a reaction (R) when another person has the stimulus (S) (Bloomfield 1933: 24).LEONARD BLOOMFIELD(1887-1949)

*Every child that is born into a group acquires these habits of speech and response in the first years of life. (1) Under various stimuli the child utters and repeats vocal sounds. This seems to be an inherited trait. Suppose he makes a noise which we may represent as da [...]. This results in a habit: whenever a similar sound strikes his ear, he is likely to make these same mouth-movements, repeating the sound da. This babbling trains him to reproduce vocal sounds [...].(2) Some person, say the mother, utters in the childs presence a sound which resembles one of the childs babbling syllables. For instance, she says doll. When these sounds strike the childs ear, his habit (1) comes into play and he utters his nearest babbling syllable, da. We say that he is beginning to imitate [...].

* (3) The mother, of course, uses her words when the appropriate stimulus is present. She says doll when she is actually showing or giving the infant his doll. The sight and handling of a doll and the hearing and saying of the word doll (that is, da) occur repeatedly together, until the child forms a new habit: the sight and feel of the doll suffice to make him say da. He has now the use of a word. [...](4) The habit of saying da at sight of the doll gives rise to further habits. Suppose, for instance, that day after day the child is given his doll (and says da, da, da) immediately after his bath; that is, if one day the mother forgets to give him the doll, he may nevertheless cry da, da, da after his bath. He is asking for his doll, says the mother [...]. The child has now embarked upon abstract or displaced speech, he names a thing even when the thing is not present.(5) The childs speech is perfected by its results. If he says da, da well enough, his elders understand him; that is they give him his doll. When this happens, the sight and feel of the doll act as an additional stimulus, and the child repeats and practises his successful version of the word. On the other hand, if he says his da, da imperfectly [...], then his elders are not stimulated to give him the doll (Bloomfield 1933: 29-31).

*Learning a second language [...] constitutes a very different task from learning the first language. The basic problems arise not out of any essential difficulty in the features of the new language themselves but primarily out of the special set created by the first language habits (Lado 1957).individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture - both productively when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture, and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language as practiced by natives (Fries 1957: 2)This view of L2 acquisition inspired the audiolingual method of language reaching.

*Teacher: Theres a cup on the table ... repeatStudents: Theres a cup on the table.Teacher: spoonStudents: Theres a spoon on the table.Teacher: bookStudents: Theres a book on the table.Teacher: on the chairStudents: Theres a book on the chair.etc.(after Harmer 2001: 79-80)

*Contrastive Analysis originated as an application of linguistic knowledge and behaviourist psychology to practical ends. It was conducted with the ultimate goal of improving teaching materials.Contrastive Analysis relied on structure-by-structure analysis of two languages with a view to preparing effective language teaching materials.Basic rationale for comparing languages: Those structures that are similar will be easy to learn because they will be transferred and may function satisfactorily in the foreign language. Those structures that are different will be difficult because when transferred they will not function satisfactorily in the foreign language and will therefore have to be changed (Lado Linguistics across cultures 1957: 59).ROBERT LADO(1915-1995)

*1. [L]anguage is a habit and [...] language learning involves the establishment of a new set of habits.2. The major source of error in the production and/or reception of a second language is the native language.3. One can account for errors by considering differences between the L1 and L2.4. [...] [T]he greater the differences, the more errors will occur.5. What one has to do in learning a second language is learn the differences. Similarities can be safely ignored as no new learning is involved. [...]6. Difficulty and ease in learning is determined respectively by differences and similarities between the two languages in contrast.(Gass & Selinker 2008: 96-97)

*1981Big contrastive projects: German/English at Kiel, Polish/English at Pozna,Finnish/English at Jyvskyl.

*

On napisa list. Napisa list.He wrote a letter. *Wrote a letter.Ona napisaa list. Napisaa list.She wrote a letter. *Wrote a letter.Oni napisali list. Napisali list.They wrote a letter. *Wrote a letter.

Padao wczoraj.It rained yesterday. But not: *Rained yesterday.Byo gorco. It was hot. But not: *Was hot.Syszy si o tym duo.One hears about it a lot. But not: *Hears about it a lot.

(Krzeszowski 1990: 65)

*Contrastive Analysis - examples

English

small hours

fountain pen

man and wife

heads or tails

heavy storm

(Krzeszowski 1990: 78)

Polish

wczesne godziny

early hours

wieczne piro

eternal pen

m i ona

husband and wife

orze czy reszka

eagle or tails

gwatowna burza

violent storm

*Strong version of CAH: one could predict learners errors on the basis of CA; not borne out by the data:learners made errors that were not predicted by CAH, e.g.*He comed yesterday.some of the predicted errors did not occur:French:Je les vois.English: I see them.By French learners of English: I see them.By English learners of French: Je vois elle.Weak version of CAH: one should account for actual errors on the basis of NL-TL differences; later part of Error Analysis.

*Obligatory:Gass, Susan M. - Larry Selinker. 2008. Second language acquisition. An introductory course. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 89-102.

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