Through an understanding of learning theories, both those that are cognitive in focus and those which rely on a stimulus-response paradigm, educators may come to a fuller knowledge of what is involved in languaging acts and to a more complete understanding of how to teach necessary communication skills. This paper provides a brief overview of learning theories and suggests that two specific theories, functionalism (as formulated by John Dewey) and observational learning (developed most recently by Bandura), have particular relevance for the teaching of basic language skills. For teachers, there should be no controversy between cognitive and stimulus-response hypotheses. Rather, teachers should concern themselves with understanding the methods which are most effective with each individual student. Generally, the cognitive recognition of structures and concepts should be assumed, students should be given models for imitation, and practice in the development of skills should be encouraged. (KS)