Running head: WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
What’s Happening in Instructional Technology:
Surprising Trends and Their Consequences
Setsuko Phegley
California State University – Monterey Bay
IST524 Instructional Technology
Professor Bude Su
September 23, 2012
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
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MODULE 1: CHOMSKY’S REVIEW OF SKINNER’S VERBAL BEHAVIOR
INTRODUCTION
For this assignment I found a book about Noam Chomsky who is an American linguist,
philosopher, and cognitive scientist who took the opposing view to the idea of Behaviorism. The
book is called “Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed” (2008) by John Collins.
The book starts with the author’s criticism against Chomsky as a radical controversial figure who
wrote the review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1959). In spite of some problems in his
confusing writing style, Chomsky points out the flaws in Behaviorism which does not explain
the syntax of a language. The syntax is the study of the rules to form sentences, and Chomsky
states that the minimal requirement of a grammar generates infinity of structures. The formal
grammar, or he called a finite state machine, can make humans process language. This is
Chomsky’s methodological foundation.
LINGUISTICS AND COGNITIVISM
Chomsky develops linguistic theory and identifies the transformation of grammars which
can apply to any language. Generative grammars, sets of rules to frame possible sentences, might
be the models of mentally represented rules. Chomsky’s claim is that the linguistic competence
is mainly innate cognitive capacity as opposed to a behavioral collection. The competence, or the
grammar, interacting with other cognitive systems will result in the complexity of linguistic
behavior.
The controversial part of Chomsky’s ‘cognitive turn’ is that linguistic competence is
native to the human mind/brain. The definition of linguistics generates the question to account
for the relation by experience (empiricism) and knowledge (rationalism). People develop
language by experiences, and people acquire language by an internal biological process that is
largely insensitive experiential input.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
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AGAINST BEHAVIORISM
Though Chomsky was believed to be the first person casting a deep impact on the view
against B. S. Skinner’s behaviorism, behaviorism was already in the declined state in the 1960s
when Chomsky’s review was published (Virues-Ortega, 2006). By that time many scholars and
students began to feel the flaws of Skinner’s behaviorism as inadequacy. To refute against B.F.
Skinner’s Verbal Behavior Chomsky says that linguistic phenomena cannot be operant
conditioning demonstrated in laboratory experiments because the human beings demonstrate
their creativity with language, and some native structure, not feedback alone, takes place for
mature competence.
To answer the argument about the language as inside or outside the mind, that means
whether language learning is internal or external state, Chomsky codifies the difference between
‘I-languages,’ the grammar part of language learning, and ‘E-languages,’ more mechanical mathlike learning. The author thinks the external language explained by Chomsky is inconsistent but
can serve as child’s initial acquisition of knowledge of language. The rest of the book explains
more on syntax and minimalist programs of language which, in my opinion, are more technical
in linguistics.
From around 1960s, many other cognitive thinkers like Chomsky started to replace the
behaviorists who once dominated the psychological study. Refer to Table 1. for the summary of
cognitive theory.
Table 1.
Summary Table of Cognitive Theories.
Concept
Cognitive Theories
Processes/
Related Ideas
Piaget’s
Cognitive
Characteristics/Descriptions
• Piaget believed that children play an active role in
their cognitive development.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
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• Children use the processes of organization and
adaptation (assimilation and accommodation) to
understand their world.
• Children go through four cognitive stages:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational,
and formal operational.
Vygotsky’s
• His theory consists of three basic claims about
Sociocultural
development: (1) Cognitive skills need to be
Cognitive
interpreted developmentally, (2) cognitive skills are
Theory
mediated by language, and (3) cognitive skills have
their origins in social relations and culture.
The Information- • This view emphasizes that individuals manipulate
Processing
information, monitor it, and strategize about it.
Approach
• The development of computers stimulated interest in
this approach.
Evaluating the
• Their contributions include an emphasis on the
Cognitive
active construction of understanding.
Theories
• One criticism is that they give too little attention to
individual variation.
Source: The science of life-span development. (2004).
Developmental
Theory
CONCLUSION
I learned a lot from this book. I assume myself good at acquiring languages but many
people are not. When I think about the differences between me and others, only the things we
learn mechanically like memorizing words and concepts cannot entirely explain why some excel
over the others. Chomsky indicates various aspects of language learning and how language
learning can generate on the formal grammar or competence and that language can show
individual’s creativity.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
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MODULE 2: CHOMSKY’S REVIEW OF SKINNER’S VERBAL BEHAVIOR TWO
(REPEAT)
INTRODUCTION
For this assignment I found a book about Noam Chomsky who is an American linguist,
philosopher, and cognitive scientist who took the opposing view to the idea of Behaviorism. The
book is called “Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed” (2008) by John Collins.
The book starts with the author’s criticism against Chomsky as a radical controversial figure who
wrote the review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1959). In spite of some problems in his
confusing writing style, Chomsky points out the flaws in Behaviorism which does not explain
the syntax of a language. The syntax is the study of the rules to form sentences, and Chomsky
states that the minimal requirement of a grammar generates infinity of structures. The formal
grammar, or he called a finite state machine, can make humans process language. This is
Chomsky’s methodological foundation.
LINGUISTICS AND COGNITIVISM
Chomsky develops linguistic theory and identifies the transformation of grammars which
can apply to any language. Generative grammars, sets of rules to frame possible sentences, might
be the models of mentally represented rules. Chomsky’s claim is that the linguistic competence
is mainly innate cognitive capacity as opposed to a behavioral collection. The competence, or the
grammar, interacting with other cognitive systems will result in the complexity of linguistic
behavior.
The controversial part of Chomsky’s ‘cognitive turn’ is that linguistic competence is
native to the human mind/brain. The definition of linguistics generates the question to account
for the relation by experience (empiricism) and knowledge (rationalism). People develop
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
6
language by experiences, and people acquire language by an internal biological process that is
largely insensitive experiential input.
AGAINST BEHAVIORISM
Though Chomsky was believed to be the first person casting a deep impact on the view
against B. S. Skinner’s behaviorism, behaviorism was already in the declined state in the 1960s
when Chomsky’s review was published (Virues-Ortega, 2006). By that time many scholars and
students began to feel the flaws of Skinner’s behaviorism as inadequacy. To refute against B.F.
Skinner’s Verbal Behavior Chomsky says that linguistic phenomena cannot be operant
conditioning demonstrated in laboratory experiments because the human beings demonstrate
their creativity with language, and some native structure, not feedback alone, takes place for
mature competence.
To answer the argument about the language as inside or outside the mind, that means
whether language learning is internal or external state, Chomsky codifies the difference between
‘I-languages,’ the grammar part of language learning, and ‘E-languages,’ more mechanical mathlike learning. The author thinks the external language explained by Chomsky is inconsistent but
can serve as child’s initial acquisition of knowledge of language. The rest of the book explains
more on syntax and minimalist programs of language which, in my opinion, are more technical
in linguistics.
CONCLUSION
I learned a lot from this book. I assume myself good at acquiring languages but many
people are not. When I think about the differences between me and others, only the things we
learn mechanically like memorizing words and concepts cannot entirely explain why some excel
over the others. Chomsky indicates various aspects of language learning and how language
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
learning can generate on the formal grammar or competence and that language can show
individual’s creativity.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
REFERENCES
Chomsky, N. (1959). Review of B. F. Skinner, Verbal Behavior. New York, NY: AppletonCentury-Crofts.
Collins, J. (2008). Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed (1st ed.). New York, NY: Continuum
International Publishing Group.
The science of life-span development: Chapter 2. (2004). Adapted from Summary Table 2.1.
Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Theories. McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Retrieved from
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070905738/80324/LSDChap02_1.pdf
Virues-Ortega, J. (2006). Association for Behavior Analysis International. The Case Against B.
F. Skinner 45 years Later: An Encounter with N. Chomsky. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223151/
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