Rejuvenating Behaviourism as a Modern Psycholinguistic Theory of Language Teaching and Learning

The philosophical argument in the 17 century between rationalists and empiricists on whether the source of knowledge is reason or sense experience further extends to psycholinguistics. A parallel controversy arises in psycholinguistics between behaviourists who claim that language learning proceed empirically in human beings and innatists who claim that the capability for language acquisition is inborn in human beings. Behaviourism is a congeries of formulations arising out of empirical philosophy. This paper stresses the importance, relevance and application of behaviourism as a psycholinguistic theory to modern language teaching and learning. The pedagogical implications are discussed and relevant recommendations made. This effort is aimed at assisting the modern language teacher tap the benefits inherent in this age long theory.