i Instructional Demonstrations are More Effective than Consequences Alone for Children with

127 Pages·2016·3.91 MB·English

Instructional Demonstrations are More Effective than Consequences Alone for Children
with Naming

Kieva Hranchuk

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
under the Executive Committee
of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2016

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© 2016
Kieva Hranchuk
All rights reserved

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ABSTRACT

Instructional Demonstrations are More Effective than Consequences Alone for Children
with Naming
Kieva Hranchuk

In Experiment 1, a demonstration study, I first tested the number of exposures to
incidental learning conditions (naming experiences) required for 4 typically developing
preschool-aged males with the naming developmental cusp and capability, to master the
names of novel 2D non-contrived stimuli (i.e., symbols for pound, lira, tilde, percent,
omega, and ampersand). Each stimulus required 1 to 5 naming experiences to master as
both listener and speaker (with more needed for the speaker responses). Prior research
found that without the naming cusp, children did not learn from instructional
demonstrations presented before the opportunity to respond, however, following the
establishment of naming, they could. In Experiment 2, using an ABAB (BABA) reversal
design counterbalanced across two dyads, I compared the same participants’ rates of
learning under two different instructional methods: 1) instructional demonstrations
presented before the opportunity to respond through learn units (IDLUs) and 2) standard
learn unit instruction (SLUs). The children learned at an accelerated rate (cumulative
correct responses to mastery of objectives) under the IDLU conditions and with between
30% and 50% accuracy on first presentations following a model. The IDLU condition
was more efficient (fewer trials to criteria). In this case, the degree of superiority for
IDLUs, compared to SLUs alone for children with naming was tested for the first time in
Experiment 2. These findings, together with prior findings, suggest more effective
teaching procedures for children with the developmental cusp and capability of naming.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. v
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ix
DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... xi
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................... 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
Interaction Between Development and Instruction ................................................. 3
Stage-Theory Developmental Psychology .................................................. 4
Piaget’s Stage-Theory of Cognitive Development ......................... 4
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development .................................. 5
Kantor’s Interbehavioral Reactional Biography Conception .......... 6
Behavior-Analytic Developmental Psychology .......................................... 8
Behavioral Cusps ............................................................................ 9
Verbal Behavior Development Theory ......................................... 10
Language Acquisition and Naming ....................................................................... 12
Proposed Sources of Initial Reinforcement Responsible for Naming ...... 13
Naming Theory and the Echoic .................................................... 13
Verbal Behavior Development Theory ......................................... 14
The Role of the Echoic ...................................................... 14
Conditioned Reinforcement for
Observing Responses ........................................................ 14

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Conditioned Seeing ........................................................... 15
Stimulus Equivalence and Relational Frame Theory .................... 16
Naming as an Independent Variable ......................................................... 17
Naming as a Dependent Variable .............................................................. 19
Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) ........................................... 20
Other Procedures to Induce Naming ............................................. 21
Types of Naming Cusps ............................................................................ 21
Naming by Exclusion Cusp ........................................................... 21
Naming with Actions Cusp ........................................................... 22
Naming with Auditory Stimuli Cusp ............................................ 23
Naming with Contrived Stimuli Cusp ........................................... 24
Joint Attention ....................................................................................................... 26
Fast Mapping ............................................................................................. 27
Slow Mapping ............................................................................... 30
Educational Implications of Incidental Language Learning ................................. 31
Rationale for Current Study .................................................................................. 33
CHAPTER II - EXPERIMENT I: A TEST OF EXPOSURES TO LEARN NAMES ..... 35
Method .................................................................................................................. 35
Participants ................................................................................................ 35
Setting and Materials ................................................................................ 37
Target Responses and Measures ............................................................... 39
Dependent Variable ....................................................................... 39
Independent Variable .................................................................... 39

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Data Collection ......................................................................................... 40
Interobserver Agreement (IOA) ................................................................ 41
Design ....................................................................................................... 41
Procedure .................................................................................................. 41
Pre-Naming Experience Probe Sessions ....................................... 41
Naming Experience Sessions ........................................................ 42
Post-Naming Experience Probe Sessions ..................................... 43
Results ................................................................................................................... 44
Discussion ............................................................................................................. 50
Rationale for Experiment II ...................................................................... 51
CHAPTER III - EXPERIMENT II ................................................................................... 52
Method .................................................................................................................. 52
Participants ................................................................................................ 52
Setting and Materials ................................................................................ 52
Target Responses and Measures ............................................................... 53
Dependent Variable ....................................................................... 53
Independent Variable .................................................................... 54
Data Collection ......................................................................................... 54
Interobserver Agreement (IOA) ................................................................ 54
Design ....................................................................................................... 55
Procedure .................................................................................................. 55
Standard Learn Unit Instruction (SLUs) ....................................... 55

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Instructional Demonstrations Followed by Learn Unit Instruction
(IDLUs) ......................................................................................... 56
Results ................................................................................................................... 58
Discussion ............................................................................................................. 80
CHAPTER IV - GENERAL DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 81
Educational Implications ....................................................................................... 88
Serendipitous Finding ........................................................................................... 89
Limitations ............................................................................................................ 90
Future Research ..................................................................................................... 92
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 94
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 96
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 112
Appendix A ......................................................................................................... 112
Appendix B ......................................................................................................... 113

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Demographic Information for Each Participant .................................................... 35
2. Verbal Behavior Developmental Information for Each Participant ...................... 36
3. Two-Dimensional Target Stimuli Selected for Naming Experiences for Each
Participant ............................................................................................................. 38
4. The Range of the Number of Exposures Required for Each Participant to
5. Acquire the Names of Novel 2D stimuli ............................................................... 49
6. Outline of Design and Sequence of Curricular Objectives Taught to Each
Participant ............................................................................................................. 57

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. The cumulative number of single naming experiences required for
Participants A, B, C, and D to learn names of novel 2D non-contrived
stimuli as a speaker ............................................................................................... 45
2. The cumulative number of naming experience sessions required for
Participants A, B, C, and D to learn names of novel 2D non-contrived
stimuli as both a listener and a speaker ................................................................. 47
3. Mean number of naming experience sessions required for Participants
A, B, C, and D to learn names of novel 2D non-contrived stimuli as both
a listener and a speaker ......................................................................................... 48
4. Dyad 1 (Participant A and B’s) correct responses to 20 learn unit sessions
for mathematics objectives, with methods of instruction (i.e. SLU vs. IDLU)
counterbalanced between participants .................................................................. 60
5. Dyad 1 (Participant A and B’s) correct responses to 20 learn unit sessions
for reading objectives, with methods of instruction (i.e. SLU vs. IDLU)
counterbalanced between participants .................................................................. 62
6. Dyad 2 (Participant C and D’s) correct responses to 20 learn unit sessions
for mathematics objectives, with methods of instruction (i.e. SLU vs. IDLU)
counterbalanced between participants .................................................................. 64
7. Dyad 2 (Participant C and D’s) correct responses to 20 learn unit sessions
for reading objectives, with methods of instruction (i.e. SLU vs. IDLU)
counterbalanced between participants .................................................................. 66

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8. Dyad 1’s cumulative record of correct responses to master 4 mathematics
objectives under the IDLU condition and 4 mathematics objectives under
the SLU condition ................................................................................................. 68
9. Dyad 1’s cumulative record of correct responses to master 4 reading
objectives under the IDLU condition and 4 reading objectives under the
SLU condition ....................................................................................................... 69
10. Dyad 2’s cumulative record of correct responses to master 4 mathematics
objectives under the IDLU condition and 4 mathematics objectives under
the SLU condition ................................................................................................. 70
11. Dyad 2’s cumulative record of correct responses to master 4 reading
objectives under the IDLU condition and 4 reading objectives under the
SLU condition ....................................................................................................... 71
12. Mean number of total correct responses during the first 20 learn
unit session for each objective under both the SLU and IDLU conditions ........... 73
13. Percentage of correct responses to first trials of new objectives when no
instructional demonstrations were provided as compared to when instructional
demonstrations were provided for Participants A, B, C, and D ............................ 74
14. Participants’ mean learn units to criterion across both methods of instruction
(i.e. SLU vs. IDLU) for both Mathematics and Reading Objectives .................... 76
15. A visual comparison of the mean number of single naming experiences
required to learn the names of novel 2D stimuli in Experiment 1, and the
mean number of learn units to acquire reading and mathematics objectives under
the IDLU conditions in Experiment 2 for Participants A, B, C, and D ................ 77

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