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Altering student responses through changes in teacher verbal behavior
M Broden1, G Copeland, A Beasley
1Juniper Gardens Children's Project.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
|October 1, 1977
Summary
Teachers can increase student verbal responses by asking targeted questions and requiring complete sentences. This simple strategy significantly boosts engagement in special education classrooms.
Area of Science:
- Special Education
- Educational Psychology
- Applied Behavior Analysis
Background:
- Students in special education settings often exhibit low levels of verbal participation.
- Effective strategies are needed to enhance verbal responding in these classrooms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate methods for increasing the quantity and quality of verbal responses in junior-high special education students.
- To determine if specific teacher questioning techniques and response requirements impact student verbal output.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted in a junior-high special education class (n=8).
- Experiment 1: Teacher altered question types to elicit more words per response.
- Experiment 2: Teacher instructed students to use complete sentences and implemented a peer-response system.
Main Results:
- Altering question types doubled the number of words used by pupils.
- Requiring complete sentences increased response length and shifted usage from <5% to ~90% of answers.
- Reverting to baseline conditions decreased verbal responding, confirming intervention effectiveness.
Conclusions:
- Teacher-directed strategies, specifically question modification and complete sentence requirements, are effective in significantly increasing student verbal participation.
- These findings suggest practical, low-cost interventions for improving communication in special education.