An Application Study On The Reinforcement Theory In Preschool English Teaching

“Reinforcement” is one of the earliest concepts appearing in the theoretical system ofBehaviorism. This term originated from Thorndike and was then developed and revised bySkinner and his colleagues who made relevant researches, thus reaching a higher theoreticallevel. As a language learning and teaching theory, the reinforcement theory has both thetheoretical significance and practical value.The reinforcing behaviors really exist in the preschool English classes. However, theyoften unconsciously or randomly occur during the process of preschool English teaching.Appropriate reinforcements from the preschool English teachers can help preschoolersdevelop good language learning behaviors. On the contrary, inappropriate reinforcements canincrease the probability of a bad behavior with the delivery of a stimulus and may haveharmful effects on the preschoolers psychically and mentally.By making a comprehensive illustration about the reinforcement theory and a referenceto the reinforcement researches on preschool language teaching at home and abroad, thisthesis presents an empirical study on the reinforcement theory in preschool English teaching.The experimental method, classroom observation as well as structured interview are adoptedduring the process of the study and relevant data have been collected and analyzed with thenewest SPSS Statistics17.0for Windows and the research findings are as follows:1) As forthe pretest, scores of the experimental group and the control group do not have significantdifference; as for the posttest, scores of the experimental group and the control group do havesignificant difference.2) The applied times of positive reinforcement have high correlationwith the scores of tested preschoolers.3) The applied duration of medium reinforcement dohave positive correlation with the scores of tested preschoolers.4) During the preschoolEnglish classes, teachers are accustomed to using simplified reinforcers Thus the authorsuggests that preschool English teachers should increase the applied times of positive reinforcement, make proper use of medium reinforcement, lay emphasis on the interactivepractices and use diversified reinforcers.All in all, the application study of the reinforcement theory in preschool English teachinghas great significance. On one hand, tracing the development of the reinforcement theory andanalyzing its current application can enrich the theoretical systems of the reinforcement theory.On the other hand, research findings through the experiment and classroom observations aswell as other research techniques can instruct preschool English teachers to make better use ofreinforcements. However, the reinforcement theory lays too many emphases on the effects ofexternal conditions on the internal factors during the language leaning and teaching processthus how to comprehensively and effectively apply the specific reinforcing behaviors duringthe process of preschool English teaching requires further researches.