This project successfully taught specific language-based concepts to retarded children with a behavior modification approach and direct verbal instruction, resulting in general intellectual gains. (See TM 504 595 for availability). (Author/CTM)

THIS TECHNICAL REPORT PRESENTS, IN SUBSTANCE, THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF A BOOK IN PREPARATION DEALING WITH STANFORD UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENTS ON PARTICULAR ASPECTS OF THE LEARNING OF RUSSIAN BY AMERICANS WITH NO PREVIOUS EXPOSURE TO SLAVIC LANGUAGES. THE GENERAL AIM OF THE COMPLETED VOLUME WILL BE TO APPLY CERTAIN PRINCIPLES AND RESULTS OF…

Described in this article are five pilot studies that explored the effects of the learning strategy of the total physical response under a variety of conditions using Japanese and Russian with adults and children. Some general conclusions suggest that dramatic facilitation in learning listening skills for a second language is related to acting out…

Presented are proceedings of the 4th annual (1972) meeting of the National Society for Autistic Children including 11 papers given at the meeting. Listed are officers and board members of the society, the convention committee members, and recipients of citations and awards. The president's report notes past goals, accomplishments, and future…

An introductory statement notes the increased interest in the fields of communication theory, linguistics, and psycholinguistics during the period 1953-57 and suggests reasons for this attention. The body of the article summarizes and comments upon some of the relevant literature published since 1953 in these three interrelated areas, limiting the…

Dr. Simon Belasco's paper "Programmed Instruction and the Psychology of Second Language Learning" explores basic assumptions held by curriculum designers and teachers concerning the possibility of second language acquisition in an artificial, unicultural, and contrived classroom environment. Concepts relating to scope and sequence, New Key…

An experiement was conducted to test the hypothesis that interest inventory items would function as reinforcing stimuli in a visual discrimination task. When previously rated liked and disliked items from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank were differentially presented following one of two responses, subjects learned to respond to the stimulus…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of behavior modification on enhancing the self-esteem of low-income Black and Puerto Rican elementary school children. Social reinforcement in the form of teacher praise was given to students who made any legitimate positive statements about themselves. The reinforcement was designed to…

Applied theories in the development of self-instructional, audio-video courses at Florida Atlantic University are explored in this article. Development of intralanguage and extralanguage associations of "verbal context" is proposed as a means by which the student might achieve a desired verbal-operant repertoire through self-instruction. The…

This study identifies the policy variables that are effective in increasing student verbal achievement in urban grammar schools and high schools, and estimates the impact of these variables upon verbal achievement, expected years of education completed by a typical student, and expected lifetime earnings of a typical student. A theoretical model…

Five experiments were conducted to determine whether properties inherent in some training procedures may subtly influence the adaptability of skilled performance of complex tasks. The first two experiments assessed the insensitivity of low-rate performances. Examined in the third experiment was the issue of whether instructions that focus…