Assessment of reading learning and recombinative generalization by a stimulus pairing procedure

• Grant number: 24/00497-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Deisy das Graças de Souza
• Grantee: Giulia Mengatto
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Graduação (ProGrad). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/50909-8 - INCT 2014: Behavior, Cognition and Teaching (INCT-ECCE): relational learning and symbolic functioning, AP.TEM

Abstract

The aim of the present study will be to evaluate the effect of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure (S-S: written words and pictures) on: (a) the emergence of reading (textual behavior) of the words presented in the pairing and (b) the emergence of reading of new words, formed by recombined syllables from the paired words (for the measurement of generalization by recombination of units). The participants will be five typically developing children, aged between 6 and 8 years, who exhibit a repertoire of picture naming but do not read written words. The stimuli will consist of 21 written disyllabic words (stimuli A), nine of which will be paired with corresponding pictures (stimuli B: for example, the written word "FROG" and a picture of a frog); the other 12 words, not paired with pictures, will be used in generalization tests: six recombined words and six control words. The main experimental task, conducted on a computer, will be the S-S pairing, which aims to establish relationships between written words and pictures. Each trial will be initiated by the presentation of a guiding cross, displayed in one of the four corners of the screen; clicking on the cross will initiate the presentation of a written word, followed by the presentation of the corresponding picture, with temporal intervals between stimuli and between trials being respected. Each pairing will be treated as a trial, and the trials will be organized into blocks of 36 attempts. The teaching procedure will be conducted in three stages, with three word-picture pairs per stage (Subsets 1, 2, and 3). The stages will alternate between teaching sessions and reading probe sessions, following a multiple probe design. Pre- and post-tests of reading the words in the subset will be conducted for each subset, in at least four pairing blocks, or additional blocks until a 100% reading criterion is reached in two consecutive post-tests. To assess whether and when participants demonstrate emergence of reading (not directly taught), according to the multiple probe design, five reading probes will be conducted, including all 21 words (9 taught, 6 recombined, and 6 controls), one before and one after each teaching stage. The procedure requires low student response cost and, depending on the results, may be incorporated into reading instruction programs.