Frequency of measurement and data utilization as factors in standardized behavioral assessment of academic skill

A study was conducted to investigate the effects on students' spelling achievement of variations in teacher assessment procedures. Teachers measured student spelling performance at a constant level of task difficulty using different measurement frequencies and different rules to interpret the data. Each teacher wrote two consecutive 3-week goals for improved spelling performance for two sets of 100 spelling words and then measured student performance either daily or weekly by dictating randomly selected words from each 100-word list. Teachers were trained to apply either a predetermined set of decision rules or their own judgment to the data to decide if the spelling program they had implemented for the student was effective. Ineffective programs were changed or modified. Results indicated that daily measurement was significantly more effective than weekly measurement in increasing spelling achievement and that, under certain conditions, decision rules were more effective than teacher judgment in determining when to make program changes or modifications.This research was conducted pursuant to Contract 300-77-0491 between the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (now called Special Education Programs) and the University of Minnesota Institute for Research on Learning Disabilities.     

Stressed and word-final syllables in infant-directed speech

Comparisons between infant-directed and adult-directed speech were conducted to determine whether word-final syllables are highlighted in infant-directed speech. Samples of adult-directed and infant-directed speech were collected from 8 mothers of 6-month-old and 8 mothers of 9- month-old infants. Mothers were asked to label seven objects both to an experimenter and to their infant. Duration, pitch, and amplitude were measured for whole words and for each of the target word syllables. As in prior research, the infant-directed targets were higher pitched and longer than adult-directed targets. The results also extend beyond previous results in showing that lengthening of final syllables in infant-directed speech is particularly exaggerated. Results of analyses comparing word-final versus nonfinal unstressed syllables in utterance-medial position in infant-directed speech showed that lengthening of unstressed word-final syllables occurs even in utterance-internal positions. These results could suggest a mechanism for proposals that word-final syllables are perceptually salient to young children.     

小学生动机归因量表的编制

该量表是以动机认知的归因理论为基础,用以测试小学生学习归因倾向的工具。样卷经过三次预测,取样８５２名。全表共有２４个项目,由２（成功,失败）×２（语文,数学）共４个分量表组成。常模采用划级评定形式。本量表的信度和效度令人满意,适用于三年级以上智力正常的儿童。     

EFFECTS OF CONTINGENT REWARD AND INSTRUCTION ON ORAL READING PERFORMANCE AT DIFFERING LEVELS OF PASSAGE DIFFICULTY

This study examined the effects of reinforcement contingencies designed to increase the performance of existing reading skills as well as the effects of instruction—modeling and practice—designed to increase skill level for oral reading fluency across three levels of reading materials. Results showed that a combination of contingencies, modeling, and practice was effective in producing substantial increases in reading fluency for all participants at their assigned grade levels. These results demonstrate one strategy for experimentally determining those instructional components that are required to increase oral reading rate.     

Community-referenced leisure skill clusters for adolescents with multiple disabilities

We evaluated the effectiveness of a training package used to teach student-selected community-referenced leisure skill clusters — ordering a pizza-to-go and renting a video from a local vendor — to two adolescents with multiple disabilities. The adolescents were taught the leisure skills (e.g., ordering the pizza) as well as related behaviors necessary to perform those leisure skills (e.g., using a phone, interacting with the delivery person, cutting and serving pizza, cleaning up). The students were taught functional skill clusters, problem-solving skills, and assistance-seeking skills. Training consisted of didactic instruction, feedback, a least intrusive prompting procedure for incorrect responses, and verbal praise and natural consequences for correct responses. Simulation training was conducted at school and in vivotraining was conducted in the local community. A multiple baseline design demonstrated the controlling effects of treatment. Also, follow-up probes conducted up to five months after treatment showed these students maintained treatment gains. Applied issues related to the efficiency of the training package, general and specific skills training, and factors influencing skill maintenance are discussed.     

Nonstable concurrent choice in pigeons

Six pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules in which the arranged reinforcer ratios changed from session to session according to a 31-step pseudorandom binary sequence. This procedure allows a quantitative analysis of the degree to which performance in an experimental session is affected by conditions in previous sessions. Two experiments were carried out. In each, the size of the reinforcer ratios arranged between the two concurrent schedules was varied between 31-step conditions. In Experiment 1, the concurrent schedules were arranged independently, and in Experiment 2 they were arranged nonindependently. An extended form of the generalized matching law described the relative contribution of past and present events to present-session behavior. Total performance in sessions was mostly determined by the reinforcer ratio in that session and partially by reinforcers that had been obtained in previous sessions. However, the initial exposure to the random sequence produced a lower sensitivity to current-session reinforcers but no difference in overall sensitivity to reinforcement. There was no evidence that the size of the reinforcer ratios available on the concurrent schedules affected either overall sensitivity to reinforcement or the sensitivity to reinforcement in the current session. There was also no evidence of any different performance between independent and nonindependent scheduling. Because of these invariances, this experiment validates the use of the pseudorandom sequence for the fast determination of sensitivity to reinforcement.     

CAI下小学低年级学生的学习控制水平与元认知监控水平的关系

对５８名小学三年级学生在ＣＡＩ（计算机辅助教学）下自学加法法现（规则学习）以及应用法则进行简便计算（技能学习）时学生学习控制水平（即选择学习内容和控制学习步调的适当性）与元认知监控水平（即对自己学习效果进行评价的准确性）之间的关系进行了探讨。结果表明,（１）在规则学习中,ＣＡＩ学习控制水平与元认知监控水平之间不存在显著性相关,但在技能学习中,两者之间存在显著性相关;（２）规则学习的学习控制水平显著高于技能学习。（３）ＣＡＩ学习控制水平和元认知监控水平两者与学生的学习成绩和时间两者不存在显著性相关。     

Acquisition of stimulus control while introducing new stimuli in fading.

After establishing discrimination between a red positive stimulus and a green negative stimulus, the lowest intensity colors that restricted all responding to the positive stimulus were determined. Then, two new white lines differing in terms of line orientation were each superimposed on one of the colors and were increased in intensity. Thereafter, the intensity of the colors was decreased and eventually eliminated. Probe stimuli consisting of the lines presented against dark backgrounds were presented before each change of stimulus intensity, and probe responding was used to assess the control acquired by various dimension of the new stimuli during the course of fading. The lines acquired control of responding while they were being introduced, and control was strengthened as the colors were attenuated. Such a locus of acquisition was attributed to the starting intensity of the original controlling stimuli and was explained in terms of stimulus blocking. Finally, using probes while introducing the new stimuli enhanced the acquisition of control by the new stimuli.     

Repeated acquisition of conditional discriminations

A new technique was developed to study the repeated acquisition of conditional discriminations. Using a discrete trial procedure, pigeons were required to learn during each session a different two-member chain of conditional discriminations. Key color and geometric forms were used as stimuli. After the pigeons had reached a steady state of relearning (40 to 60 sessions), the technique was used to investigate variables that have previously been shown to affect the repeated acquisition of response sequences. Various (0 to 90 seconds) durations of timeout for errors were investigated in Experiment I. The stimulus change associated with a timeout, rather than its duration, was found to be the critical variable in acquisition of the discrimination. Extended training on a single chain was found to reduce total errors across sessions in Experiment II. Extended training (three sessions) did not, however, change the pattern of within-session error reduction. In some cases, extended training facilitated acquisition of a partially reversed discrimination. In Experiment III, color rather than chain position was found to control behavior, for three of the four birds, as the second stimulus dimension in the conditional situation. The results of these experiments replicate and extend previous findings concerning some of the variables that affect the repeated acquisition of response sequences.     

TEACHING GENERALIZED RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE BEHIND-FRONT DISCRIMINATIONS TO TWO RETARDED CHILDREN1

Typically, a generalized discrimination for two linguistic forms (e.g., “behind the (noun)” and “in front of the (noun)”) has been developed in a sequence of three treatment conditions, with generative usage developed for each form consecutively in the first two conditions and a generalized discrimination developed for those forms in the third condition. Moreover, generalized discriminations have typically been measured by a set of unreinforced probes, rather than by first-trial performances across a series of new tasks, as in some studies that have taught generative usage of a single form of language. In this study, successive sets of instructions were presented to two children. Each set contained four tasks, the four possible combinations of two new nouns with the linguistic forms “Put the (noun) behind the (noun)” and “Put the (noun) in front of the (noun)”. For each set, receptive usage of nouns was taught, and then the four instructions were presented, once each, to test for generative usage of the prepositional forms. First-trial performances were never prompted. After a baseline of five sets of tasks, correct first-trial performances earned praise and tokens. Also, in each set with three or fewer such performances, the specific receptive discriminations were taught to a criterion before presentation of the next set. Successive sets were presented until all first-trial performances were correct in five consecutive sets, whereupon this generalized discrimination was reversed and subsequently reinstated. Similar procedures were then used to teach the same children a generalized productive-discrimination for the forms “behind the (noun)” and “in front of the (noun)”. This study demonstrated the development of generalized receptive and productive behind-front discriminations without the prior development of generative usage in each linguistic form and with measurement of the generalized discrimination across first-trial performances. The method may offer a less time-consuming procedure for the development and measurement of generalized discriminations in receptive and productive language.