Psychological foundation of foreign language teaching

However, advocates of behaviourism such as Watson (1982) argued that imitation and practice are crucial in any language learning, whereas others such as believe that “repetitive oral practice, direct teaching, or language imitation serve no purpose except to frustrate the students and teachers”.

• However, advocates of behaviourism such as Watson (1982) argued that imitation and practice are crucial in any language learning, whereas others such as believe that “repetitive oral practice, direct teaching, or language imitation serve no purpose except to frustrate the students and teachers”.

However, behaviourism has been criticized by many researchers and theorists. The most prominent of these was Chomsky (1959) who published a strong attack on Skinners’ analysis of verbal behaviour which became well-known. In his review of Skinner’s book, he explained his refusal of the behaviourist view of language acquisition. He believed that language is not a form of behaviour, it is a complex rule-based system and a large part of language acquisition is concerned with the learning of the system. That is, there are a set of grammatical rules in the system and with knowledge of these, unlimited numbers of sentences can be created and produced in the language.

However, behaviourism has been criticized by many researchers and theorists. The most prominent of these was Chomsky (1959) who published a strong attack on Skinners’ analysis of verbal behaviour which became well-known. In his review of Skinner’s book, he explained his refusal of the behaviourist view of language acquisition. He believed that language is not a form of behaviour, it is a complex rule-based system and a large part of language acquisition is concerned with the learning of the system. That is, there are a set of grammatical rules in the system and with knowledge of these, unlimited numbers of sentences can be created and produced in the language.

He added that children are born with an intrinsic, biological talent to learn language, which known as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). The LAD functions as a facilitator that helps children “to process all the language they hear and to produce their own meaningful utterances” . The LAD, however, was underestimated later on by Bruner (1983) when he noted that the LAD “was not able to function without the help given by an adult”.
Who is Jean Piaget?
Jean Piaget (9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology".
Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual." His theory of child development is studied in pre-service education programs. Educators continue to incorporate constructivist-based strategies.