Introduction: The Nature of Theories

Reward for doing something right with language reinforced that linguistic behavior. For example, one theory of learning, including one theory in language learning, maintains that humans are sensitive to the frequency of events and experiences and that this sensitivity shapes their learning. Language is made up of a number of components that interact in different ways. Teachers and learners of languages often believe that what is taught and practiced is what gets learned. The same theory might predict that learners who begin language study in high school will be less likely to approach a native-like standard of pronunciation than those learners who have access to significant amounts of target-language input much earlier in life. Behaviorism was a psychological theory of learning that focused on behaviors, as its name implies. For behaviorists, all actions are the result of some kind of conditioned response.