Thus, as Vygotsky (1978: 28) emphasizes, speech which initially is provoked by and
dominated by activity is gradually moved to the starting point of an activity and,
instead of describing it, it now ‘…guides, determines and dominates the course of
action’.
1.2 How children learn languages
Theories of language learning have always been influenced by assumptions
about the nature of learning and the nature of language. As, according to Lightbown
and Spada (1999: 26), no theory can provide a full account of the way languages are
learnt but, rather, each can be used to explain a different aspect of children’s language
development, this section discusses some influential theories in the area of both first
(L1) and second (L2) language development, and to the way they have influenced
classroom practice. These theories are classified according to the emphasis they put
on either the role of behaviour (behaviouristic theories), the innate ability of human
beings (nativist theories) or on the importance of human interaction (interactionist
theories) for the acquisition of language.
1.2.1 Behaviourist Theories
According to Richards and Rodgers (1986: 47), a combination of
behaviouristic assumptions about the nature of learning, with structural assumptions
about the nature of language led to what is referred to as the ‘audio-lingual’ method to
second language teaching. The main characteristics of this method are briefly
discussed below.
The audio-lingual method
Audiolingualism considers the learning of a language as similar to any other
kind of learning, taking place through a mechanical process of stimulus-response till
correct structures are established in the form of habits. According to Skinner (1957),
as referred to in Littlewood (1984: 5), habit formation in language learning was
considered to involve the following steps:
1. The child imitates the sounds and patterns which he hears around him
2. People recognize the child’s attempts as being similar to the adult models and
reinforce (reward) the sounds, by approval or some other desirable reaction
3. In order to obtain more of these rewards, the child repeats the sounds and
patterns, so that these become habits
4. In this way the child’s verbal behaviour is conditioned (or shaped) until the
habits coincide with the adult model
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