THE COGNITIVE-CODE APPROACH

M. VIJAYALAKSHMI,
Research Scholar, (PP.ENG.0096)
RayalaseemaUniversity .
Kurnool, Andhrapradesh (AP), INDIA.

There are many theories on English as second language teaching or foreign language
teaching. The cognitive-code approach of the 1970s emphasized that language learning
involved active mental processes. Lessons focused on learning grammatical structures but the
cognitive code approach emphasized the importance of meaningful practice, and the
structures were presented inductively, i.e. the rules came after exposure to examples. There
was, however, little use of examples from authentic material.

Key words: ESL, meaningful practice, grammatical structures ....etc.

INTRODUCTION

As its name implies the cognitive approach deals with mental processes like memory and
problem solving. By emphasizing mental processes, it places itself in opposition to
behaviorism, which largely ignores mental processes. Yet, in many ways the development of
the cognitive approach, in the early decades of the 20th century, is intertwined with the
behaviorist approach. For example, Edwin Tolman, whose work on "cognitive maps" in rats
made him a cognitive pioneer, called himself a behaviorist. Similarly, the work of David
Krech (aka Ivan Krechevsky) on hypotheses in maze learning was based on behaviorist
techniques of observation and measurement. Today, the cognitive approach has overtaken
behaviorism in terms of popularity, and is one of the dominant approaches in contemporary
psychology.

English language teachers need to know about cognitive theory:

In the genes of cognitive theory, there is a great deal of intuitive appeal to the cognitive
approach to teaching. The teachers, no matter native teacher or non-native, are ready to
consider cognitive theory as the foundation for teaching if they apply the following issues
that that distill the theoretical basis of cognitive foreign language learning.

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  It must be noted that the application of cognitive theory implies a responsibility to
teach both content and process.

 The learner is at centre stage; the teacher, educator, or instructor becomes a facilitator
of learning, carrying the task of adapting the newly learned foreign language
structures to the needs of learners.

 Cognitive theory acknowledges the role of mistakes; therefore, a cognitive-minded

foreign language teacher makes learners aware of the rules and should encourage
students to create correct structures in applying the rules.

 The theory attaches more importance to the learner's understanding of the structure of
the foreign language than to the facility in using that structure

 Cognitively- minded foreign language teachers pay attention to assimilation:

assimilation of what has already been learnt or partly learnt since how new rules are
presented is important.

 There is a fundamental relationship between language and culture. Foreign Language

is at the heart of language teaching and learning. The way the teachers teach language
reflects the way how much they have mastered and understood the target language as
a profession.

 In Cognitive Theory, language practice drills are employed to train learners to talk
and to help them master the basic structural patterns of the target language.

Historical Background:

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the fields of psychology and linguistics were experiencing a
sort of upheaval. Behaviorism, which had dominated psychology for several decades, was
called into question by cognitive psychologists, who asserted that stimulus-response
conditioning could not account for all the complexities of human learning. With respect to
language learning, a young linguist named Noam Chomsky questioned B. F. Skinner's
assumption that language use was also purely a conditioned behavior. In 1959 Chomsky
wrote a critical review of B. F. Skinner's book Verbal Behavior (1957), in which he pointed
out that humans are constantly producing and understanding new utterances, a process that
cannot be explained by behavioristic theories.

These developments in psychology and linguistics eventually filtered into foreign language
classrooms. During much of the 1950s and 60s the Audio lingual Method, which was based
on behaviorist psychology and structural linguistics, had dominated American classrooms. As
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these theories were called into question, the Audio lingual Method lost credibility as well. In
addition to violating the new theories of learning, the ALM's focus on memorization and
drills left little opportunity for students to use language creatively, and therefore did not
foster the ability to communicate in spontaneous situations. In addition, some students and
teachers expressed frustration with the lack of implicit grammar explanation and the lock-step
pace of the class, which allowed for little variation in learning styles or speeds.

By 1970 the behaviorist assumptions of the ALM had been largely replaced, at least in
principle, with a "cognitive code approach" to language learning. Rivers (1981) affirms that
the cognitive code approach "was much discussed but ill defined and consequently never
gained the status of what one might call a method" (p. 49). Nevertheless, cognitive principles
began to play a significant role in foreign language classrooms and continue to do so.

Advantages

Cognitive-code approach refers to a theory of second language teaching and learning as a

ferment of cognitivist psychology, structural applied linguistic, Chomsky’s theories
developed in the 1960s.

Cognitive-code approach has some advantages over the other foreign language learning and
teaching theories:

1. It revived the re-emergence of grammar in the classroom.

2. It put more emphasis on guided discovery of the rules: this is the rule-governed nature
of language.

3. It rejected the habit formation of Behaviorist theory. There is language acquisition

rather than habit formation.

4. Learning is not a habit formation but requires cognitive processing and mental effort
because learners are thinking beings.

5. It stressed on the learning of the rules via meaningful practice and creativity.

6. It liberated the teachers from the strait jackets of Grammar Translation Approach,
Audio- Lingualism and Structural-situational methods.

Disadvantages:

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It placed a great deal of emphasis on the development of a second language as a combination
of skills. At its core, cognitive-code learning represents a theoretical, rather than a
pedagogical approach.

1. Cognitive-Code Approach is essentially a theoretical proposal because it did not lead

to the development of any teaching method in relation to classroom procedures and
activities.

2. There is little use of examples from authentic material.

3. It never took off in a big way; this theory did not gain support over time.

4. Human thinking is said to be an invisible process, and therefore cognitive processes

are hypothetical constructs.

5. Human information processing is resembled computers, which perhaps

oversimplifies the human mind; human brain is much more sophisticated than
computer systems.

6. As a theory, it often ignores past experiences and culture influence while we process
information.

7. CCA does not consider individual personalities of people and how personalities are
formed; there is too much emphasis on social context.

8. It is a depersonalized theory; in other words, it does not take into consideration

feelings or unconscious actions or reactions.

9. According to Carroll (1966:102), “the theory attaches more importance to the learner
understands of the structure of the foreign language than to the facility in using that
structure.

10. Another disadvantage is that it is extremely time intensive on the part of the foreign
language teacher or educator, who, acts as a facilitator, has to invest a huge amount of
time and effort on a per student basis.

Conclusion:

CCA came to the fore when Chomsky stated a severe attack on Behaviorist learning
Approach in 1957. Behaviorism and structuralism were rejected by Chomsky’s theory of
language (1965), which refuses the learning theories of behaviorism. Chomsky argued that
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humans are born with a wired device, which he called language acquisition device (LAD),
where Universal Grammar (UG) operates. CCA accepts the Universal Grammar of Chomsky,
which underlies all Grammars (Hinkel, 2006). Not everyone agreed with the Chomsky’s
theory of SLA. . In the current perspective on second language learning, CCA is largely seen
as an updated variety of the traditional grammar-translation method, with an attendant goal of
overcoming the shortfalls of the audio- lingual approach.

Carroll, J. B. (1966). The contribution of psychological theory and educational research

to the teaching of foreign languages. In A. Valdman 108 (Ed.), Trends in language
teaching (pp. 93–106). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hinkel, E. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching the four skills. TESOL Quarterly,
40 (1), 109–131.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.
Rivers, W. M. (1981). Teaching foreign-language skills. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

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