Teaching a small foreign language vocabulary to children using tact and listener instruction with a prompt delay

Author(s)

Cortez, Mariele Diniz ^{[1, 2]} ; da Silva, Leticia F. ^[2] ; Cengher, Mirela ^[3] ; Mazzoca, Rafael H. ^{[1, 2]} ; Miguel, Caio F. ^[4]

Affiliation

^[1] Inst Nacl Ciencia & Tecnol Comportamento Cognicao, Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Psicol, Sao Carlos - Brazil

^[3] Univ Maryland Baltimore Cty, Dept Psychol, Baltimore, MD 21228 - USA

^[4] Calif State Univ Sacramento, Dept Psychol, Sacramento, CA 95819 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS; v. 55, n. 1 OCT 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

This study consisted of a systematic replication of previous research examining the effects of tact and listener instruction on the emergence of native-to-foreign (NF) and foreign-to-native (FN) intraverbals in children who had experienced difficulties learning to read and write. We assigned different sets of stimuli to tact and listener conditions, and taught 4 children to tact or respond as listeners in a foreign language using a progressive prompt delay with differential reinforcement. All participants mastered tacts and listener responses in the foreign language. For all participants, tact instruction yielded greater emergence of intraverbals compared to listener instruction. Tact instruction also produced all possible bidirectional (NF and FN) intraverbals relations for 3 of 4 participants, but listener instruction never resulted in the emergence of all possible relations. These results replicate previous findings suggesting that tact instruction is a more efficient way to teach a foreign language and extend them to progressive prompt-delay procedures. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/50909-8 - INCT 2014: Behavior, Cognition and Teaching (INCT-ECCE): relational learning and symbolic functioning
• Grantee: Deisy das Graças de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants