14), ‘Theories that offer very different accounts of the way in which children think
and learn also lead to alternative views on what is involved in teaching them’.
1.1.1 Behaviouristic learning theory
The roots of what has been referred to as ‘behaviouristic learning theory’ can
be found in the experimental work of Pavlov (1927) who demonstrated that it was
possible to teach an animal to make novel ‘responses’ to new ‘stimuli’. Pavlov’s
famous experiment where a dog salivates after a neutral stimulus such as the ringing
of a bell because of a previous association of the bell sound with the sight of food
inspired many psychologists around the world who attempted to discover general laws
which could lead eventually to a scientific theory of learning. A number of theories
were put forward after that which are usually referred to as ‘behaviouristic theories’
or ‘behaviourism’ (see McLaughlin 1987: 7; Brown 1987: 17; Harmer 1983: 29)
Although diverse in many respects, these theories share a common
characteristic which is their attempt to formulate laws which could objectively predict
learning outcomes according to the conditions of learning. As Wood stresses,
‘By creating accounts concerned exclusively with ‘objective’
relationships between conditions of learning and observable responses it
was hoped that a science of behaviour could be constructed that needed to
make no appeal to ‘subjective’ mental states such as ‘interest’ or
‘curiosity’. (Wood, 1988: 4)
The attempt of behaviouristic theories to explain the acquisition of knowledge
as a mechanical process which can be easily observed, described and replicated can,
to a great degree, explain their appeal among educational cycles for many years.
According to Ellis (1999: 20-21), two notions which attract special attention within
the behaviouristic paradigm are those of ‘habits’ and ‘errors’.
For behaviourists such as Watson (1924), a ‘habit’ is constructed by the
regular responses to specific stimuli. Behaviourists, as Ellis (1999: 20) claims,
attribute two characteristics to habits. The first is that they are observable. Thus, for
Watson (1924), psychology can only rely on concrete objects that have a physical
existence and on actions that can be observed. The second characteristic of habits is
that, once they are formed, they become automatic and can only be eradicated when
the stimulus which they are associated with becomes extinct. In order for correct
habits to be established, the learner has to be fed repeatedly with only correct stimuli.
Thus, according to Skinner (1957), teaching should put emphasis on repetition of
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