Grammar intervention using graduated input type variation (GITV) for pre-primary children: A single-case experimental...

This study examined the early efficacy of a new theory-driven principle of grammar intervention, graduated input type variation (GITV).

Three Cantonese-speaking children, aged between 4;01 and 5;10, with oral language difficulties participated in this single baseline within-participant single case experimental study. The children received a total of 300 teaching episodes of the target serial verb construction via focused stimulation and recast over 10 30- to 45-minute sessions. The 30 exemplars of the target included low type variation of the verbs in each of the first five sessions, followed by high type variation in the remaining sessions.

Visual analysis revealed that all children improved their performance in the target construction but not the control vocabulary in the probes, suggesting a treatment effect. Maintenance of treatment effects was also observed in all children. Positive results in across-behaviour generalisation to the untrained construction were observed in all children. Generalisation to other less structured linguistic contexts and to the narrative retell discourse context was minimal and observed in one child only.

Preliminary evidence suggested early efficacy of GITV as a principle for grammar intervention. Modifications in the research methodology are recommended for future studies involving children with developmental language disorder.