Emergence of Intraverbal Relations with Stimuli and Responses in a Foreign Language: Effects of Learning with Responses in Foreign or Native Language

Abstract A foreign language can be learned by acquiring relations among verbal elements in the native and the foreign language and demonstrating emergence. We explored the emergence of intraverbals with stimuli and responses in a foreign language after acquiring relations between two elements (e.g., cow and calf) in the native language. Six adults in the Native-Foreign (N-F) Group learned intraverbals with stimuli in the native language and responses in the foreign language (e.g., saying the foreign name of cow). Six adults in the Foreign-Native (F-N) Group learned intraverbals with stimuli in the foreign language and responses in the native language. All participants demonstrated emergence of 10 types of intraverbals. Those in the N-F Group demonstrated more emergence than those in the F-N Group. These findings indicate that the used procedures result in emergence of foreign-foreign and other intraverbals and suggest important learning effects with potential applications for designing procedures for teaching foreign languages.