9. How did traditional behaviourists think Children acquire their L1?

Traditional behaviourists believed that children come into this world as blank slates on which knowledge can be written. Their L1 is acquired as a result of imitation, practice, feedback on success and habit formation.

According to the behaviourist view, both the quality and the frequency of the language the child hears, alongside consistent reinforcement, are important.

In other words, young children need to be presented with accurate quality language on a regular and consistent basis.

It is only through frequently hearing and imitating accurate language that children can receive reliable reinforcement about their use of language and thereby succeed in acquiring language.

Reference: 

East, M. (2021). Foundational principles of task-based language teaching (p. 214). Taylor & Francis.