Paper 1 · Teaching Aptitude
Development of language in children, according to B.F. Skinner, is the result of
ATraining in grammar
BImitation and reinforcement ✓ Correct
CInnate abilities
DMaturation
Correct answer: (B) Imitation and reinforcement — For Skinner language grows through imitation and reinforcement, so that is the answer.
Explanation
★For Skinner language grows through imitation and reinforcement, so that is the answer.
★Skinner is a behaviourist, and behaviourism explains learning as behaviour shaped by stimulus, response and reinforcement.
★A child copies the speech it hears, and correct or rewarded utterances are reinforced, so they are repeated and strengthened.
★Language is thus a learned, conditioned behaviour rather than something that unfolds on its own.
★Training in grammar is a formal, later exercise, not the behaviourist account of how speech first develops.
★Innate abilities and maturation belong to nativist and developmental views, which Skinner's behaviourism does not adopt.
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