Association for Behavior Analysis International

Researchers in the field of behavior analysis and precision teaching have long had discussions about the difference between free-operant and discrete-trial performance. Many of these discussions have centered around criticisms of both types of approaches for establishing new behaviors in both human and non-human organisms. Limited research exists comparing what differences exist, if any, between teaching new behaviors under restricted conditions (e.g., discrete trial) and freer conditions (e.g., frequency building). The first talk will discuss a series of basic experimental studies using non-human models (rattus) to isolate a series of variables in understanding the benefits of acquiring novel discriminations under both free- and restricted-operant paradigms. The second presentation will extend what we learned in the lab to a translational paradigm comparing both conditioning procedures to teach numerals in non-native languages. The third presentation will then demonstrate how findings from basic and translational arrangements to inform an applied behavior analytic approach to teaching correct Spanish pronunciation to non-native Spanish speakers. Lastly, the fourth presentation will describe how behavior analysts can use these data to program for learning in professional practice. We will then discuss how we can use the findings of these evaluations across the four arrangements to inform the professional practice of behavior analysis.

The target audience is behavior analysts of all kinds. We will show the full range of basic, translational, applied, and the professional practice of behavior analysis, all investigating the same research question.

Two common teaching paradigms exist in which one can measure and assess the acquisition and maintenance of learning: Free-operant and restricted-operant (sometimes referred to as discrete trial) procedures. In a free-operant paradigm, the organism freely makes a response at any given time with no restrictions imposed upon them (Hachiya & Masato, 1991). In a restricted-operant paradigm, the organism has restrictions placed upon them and they cannot respond freely; the organism must wait for an external stimulus before they can respond (Hachiya & Masato, 1991). We investigated whether one specific teaching paradigm will lead to better stability (i.e., persistence in the face of distractions), maintenance (i.e., same levels of performance after a period of no practice), and performance of discrimination tasks (i.e., acquisition of the new response). We conducted a preliminary study to identify the specific methodologies researcher should use to identify the effects of the two teaching paradigms while controlling three distinct variables: (1) Time in the teaching environment, (2) The number of responses emitted in both conditions, and (3) the number of reinforcers delivered in each condition.

A learner’s native language impacts the acquisition of a second language (Moreno-Duron, 2019; Broad, 2020). Learners’ habits in their first language hinder the development of habits to learn a second language (Broad, 2020). The current study used the principles of instructional design and behavior analysis to help improve the articulation of specific sounds in Spanish to non-native Spanish speakers. Using a multiple baseline design, we evaluated a sequence of instructional strategies on the application to novel Spanish words. In the first phase, individuals discriminated between video examples and non-examples of correctly pronounced Spanish words in a restricted-operant (RO) paradigm. In phase two, the learners watched a video model of the correct presentation, and attempted to copy the model. We used TAGteach to reinforce correct pronunciation in an RO paradigm. In phase three, learners then built frequencies on non-sense Spanish words that contained the target sounds in a free-operant arrangement. We collected data on the number of correctly pronounced non-sense Spanish words, as well as measured the application of the trained skills to novel words in third-grade-level stories using the Spanish version of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS).