Behaviorism

Behaviorist teaching methods have proven most successful in areas

where there is a correct response or easily memorized material.
Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that, when applied to a
classroom setting, focuses on conditioning student behavior with
various types of behavior reinforcements and consequences called
operant conditioning. There are four types of reinforcement:
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, presentation
punishment and removal reinforcement, and each can be applied
effectively to get your students to behave in the classroom.

View of Knowledge
Behaviorists such as Watson and Skinner construe knowledge as a repertoire of
behaviors. Skinner argues that it is not the case that we use knowledge to guide our
action; rather knowledge is action, or at least rules for action (152). It is a set of
passive, largely mechanical responses to environmental stimuli. So, for instance, the
behaviorist would argue that to say that that someone knows Shakespeare is to say that
they have a certain behavioral repertoire with respect to Shakespeare (152). Knowledge
that is not actively expressed in behavior can be explained as behavioral capacities. For
example, I know a bluebird when I see one can be seen as effectively equivalent to I
have the capacity to identify a bluebird although I am not now doing so (154). If
knowledge is construed as a repertoire of behaviors, someone can be said to
understand something if they possess the appropriate repertoire. No mention of
cognitive processes is necessary (15657).

View of Learning
From a behaviorist perspective, the transmission of information from teacher to learner
is essentially the transmission of the response appropriate to a certain stimulus. Thus,
the point of education is to present the student with the appropriate repertoire of
behavioral responses to specific stimuli and to reinforce those responses through an
effective reinforcement schedule (161). An effective reinforcement schedule requires
consistent repetition of the material; small, progressive sequences of tasks; and
continuous positive reinforcement. Without positive reinforcement, learned responses
will quickly become extinct. This is because learners will continue to modify their
behavior until they receive some positive reinforcement.

Implications for Teaching

Behaviorist teaching methods tend to rely on so-called skill and drill exercises to
provide the consistent repetition necessary for effective reinforcement of response
patterns. Other methods include question (stimulus) and answer (response) frameworks
in which questions are of gradually increasing difficulty; guided practice; and regular
reviews of material. Behaviorist methods also typically rely heavily on the use of positive
reinforcements such as verbal praise, good grades, and prizes. Behaviorists assess the
degree of learning using methods that measure observable behavior such as exam
performance. Behaviorist teaching methods have proven most successful in areas
where there is a correct response or easily memorized material. For example, while
behaviorist methods have proven to be successful in teaching structured material such
as facts and formulae, scientific concepts, and foreign language vocabulary, their
efficacy in teaching comprehension, composition, and analytical abilities is
questionable.

Compliment Good Behavior

The simplest way in which to apply positive reinforcement is to praise a student
when she behaves well or successfully completes a task. You could employ a
system of giving gold stars that result in a small prize when enough have been
earned. Take advantage of the effectiveness of simple statements of praise.
When offering praise, however, opt for a specific statement such as, "you really
showed mature insight right there" as opposed to a vague statement such as
"nice work." The fact is that students can sense when praise is generic or
disingenuous. Reserve such comments for when you really mean them, so your
students won't take them as empty words.

Support Praise With Evidence

Saying nice things to your students will work fine for a while, but they might
stop believing you unless you can show them exactly why their behavior
warrants praise in the first place. Whenever possible, show them the proof: point
out the specific act and explain why it was so important. Another way to provide
concrete examples of good behavior is to have them keep their work in
portfolios for you to review regularly. The routine of reviewing keeps you from
appearing as though you've gone out of your way to issue some praise, and
having their work right in front of you gives you the opportunity to cite specific,
concrete examples of their accomplishments.

Utilize Negative Reinforcement

Negative reinforcement isn't punishment. Rather, it's when reward good
behavior by taking away something your students see as negative. For example,

your class clown always makes inappropriate comments during health lessons
and disrupts the class. He also really doesn't like writing book reports because
the writing is boring. You could offer to let him do his book report another way,
perhaps as a diorama, on the condition he behaves appropriately during health
lessons. By removing something he sees as negative, you've reinforced a
separate, positive behavior.

Apply Unpleasant Consequences When Necessary

Sometimes punishment is necessary to discourage undesirable behavior, but
you must be careful not to go too far and embarrass your students. And just as
there are positive and negative reinforcement for good behavior, two methods
are appropriate for applying punishment. Presentation punishment is the type
we are most familiar with: a student misbehaves and you act by adding a
punishment like a detention or time-out. Removal punishment is similar to
negative reinforcement: you remove something the students see as good
because they have behaved badly. For example, if they refuse to stop
encouraging your class clown's inappropriate comments, you could threaten to
cancel an upcoming field trip, or an upcoming class party.

How Not To Use

Errors are not bad! : Error Analysis showed that there are multiple reasons for errors
(developmental, mistakes, hypothesizing, overgeneralization, etc) Errors have valuable
information encoded in them which can be of great importance to the educator.

Find out more information on how to not to use behaviorism in our online SLA course. Get
information and discounts on our course HERE.
Strategies For Use

Reward being correct, but ENCOURAGE when incorrect: Almost every teacher of young
learners rewards students with words of praise. However, all students respond better when
rewarded for doing well regardless of age or level. On the other hand, encouraging students when
wrong is far more beneficial to the psyche of the student.
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Strategies for encouragement

Use a nonjudgmental voice- be soft and understanding

Smile while correcting- as to say, its no big deal

Reassure- its ok, youre doing well.

Student upset by mistake- get eye level and encourage

Higher level students get upset by mistakes- reassure them that you, the
educator, still make mistakes and its your native language.

Above all, use intrinsic (inner) motivation above extrinsic (outward) motivation