Comparing the Effectiveness of Restricted-Operant and Free-Operant Teaching Arrangements on Measures of Acquisition and Fluency Outcomes

Discrete-trial teaching (DTT), a restricted-operant teaching arrangement, and frequency-building instruction (FBI), a free-operant teaching arrangement, represent two instructional strategies derived from operant conditioning. Researchers and practicing behavior analysts have used both to establish and firm up novel stimulus-behavior relations. Despite the effectiveness of both procedures, few studies have compared the two techniques and assessed the effects on the emergence of fluent responding. The current study extends the research to typically developing college students to directly compare DTT and FBI. We taught participants the numerals 0-10 in unknown foreign languages (i.e., Mandarin, Arabic, and Hindi) using both procedures. Under both conditions, we held constant the number of practice trials and frequency of reinforcement. Results found quicker acquisition under restricted-operant conditions for all participants, though none of the participants met the desired frequency aim prior to the end of the study. We discuss the results of the study in the context of planning for learning across three stages of learning.