National College of Business Administration & Economics

Psycholinguistics

Presented To:
Ma’am Sumyyiah

Presented By:
BS (English)
Asad Rasool
Waleed Somroo
Muhammad Adnan
Ayesha Tehreem
Sana Shaukat
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Behavioral Theory
 It was given by B. F. Skinner. Operant behavior and operant conditioning, Skinner's most
widely acclaimed work, is based on a system of both positive and negative reinforcement.

Operant Behavior and Conditioning

While it is commonly known that behavior is affected by its consequences, Skinner's theory of
operant conditioning further states that the process does not require repeated efforts, but is instead an
immediate reaction to a familiar stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning refers to the modification of an organism's behavior by modifying the
consequences of that behavior. To use Skinner's clinical terminology, this is done through
reinforcement -- which can be either positive or negative -- and punishment.
 Stimulus
 Response
 Reinforcements
 Repetition
Reinforces
 any event that increases the probability of occurrence of a preceding behavior
 Positive: benefits the person receiving it examples: praising, repetition
 Negative: has no value to the person receiving, causes the recipient to try to
escape from it Examples: physical punishment, discomfort

Innate Theory
 It was represented by Noam Chomsky.
 It is also known as Nativist Theory
 It is determined for language acquisition that is biologically determined.
 LAD: Language acquisition device, which is used as a mechanism for working out the rules of
language.
 We are all born with an innate knowledge of grammar that serves as the basis for all language
acquisition. In other words, for humans, language is a basic instinct.
 Ideal Social conditioning plays a vital role in language learning
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It has two Structures:

i. Surface Structure
 It differs from man to man and community to community.
 It actually refers like the word has a many surface meanings when uttered.
 It indicates:
i. Accent,
ii. Way of speaking,
iii. Style of conversation
ii. Deep Structure
 It remains same
 The deep meaning of a word remains the same.
 It deals with the basic things of the language.
It also has two Notions:
i. Competence
 Language competence is a system which enable the user to construct and
interpret grammatically correct and meaningful sentence. Also known as
grammatical competence.
 It is an idealized capacity
ii. Performance
 Performance refers to as an ability to construct an appropriate utterance in certain
linguistics and social situations to achieve certain goals and purposes. It is also known
as communicating competence.
 It is the production of actual utterances.

Similarities between Behaviorist Theory & Innate Theory

 Both of them are some way logical in some aspect of acquiring first language.
 Both of them are not totally independent one has been corrected by the other.
 Both of them have emphasis on a specific part of language learning process, but none of them
is completely/wholly appropriate for first language learning.
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Differences between Behaviorist Theory& Innate Theory

Behaviorist Theory Innate Theory

Behaviorists experiment upon Nativists experimented on child

animals
It was theory of Behavior It was theory of Knowledge

They fail to recognize logical problems of Nativists recognizes the lack of the stimulus
language acquisition process
Ignores the creativity of human beings It views language acquisition as a creative
process

Cognitive Theory
 Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development is a description of cognitive development as
four distinct stages in children: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete (egocentrism), and
formal (Operational).
 Memory
 Attention
 Problem Solving

Piaget's stages are:

 Sensory-motor stage: birth to 2 years

 Self-Centered
 Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
 Tend to accommodate new words and situations
 Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
 They start to see things purely from their own perspective
 Operational stage: ages 12 and up
 Formal Stage
 Think more logical
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Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several Ways:

 Piaget said that cognitive development is driven by a child's inbuilt trend to adapt to
new experiences
 Piaget believed that children go through set stages of cognitive development
 Piaget believed cognitive development is the same universally
 Piaget believed that language is a result of cognitive development

Social Interactionist Theory

Social Development Theory argues that social interaction precedes development;
consciousness and cognition are the end product of socialization and social behavior.

 It was published in 1962.

 It is often termed as socio-cultural theory

 He emphasized the cultural and social impacts on cognitive development of human.

Vygotsky proposed another key idea which is called as zone of proximal development. He
suggested that cognitive abilities of children increase if they are exposed to interesting
information. ZPD is the range of tasks which child can’t learn alone but can learn from
others.

Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget:

i. Vygotsky believed that cognitive development is continual.
ii. Vygotsky said that cognitive development is driven by social interaction
iii. Vygotsky said children learn through instruction and guidance
iv. Vygotsky said that it differs across cultures and time

Similarities between Piaget’s & Vygotsky’s Theories

i. Children learn increasingly complex information and skills as they get older
ii. Emphasis on both nature and nurture –
iii. Children's cognitive abilities develop in a sequence and particular abilities develop
at certain stages