The use of preferred target stimuli on the acquisition of a small foreign vocabulary

There is a growing body of research examining the efficacy of teaching a foreign language using procedures that would lead to generative learning. This study assessed the acquisition of foreign tacts and the emergence of bidirectional intraverbal responses (native-foreign and foreign-native) as a function of target stimulus preference. Three children learned to tact two sets of pictures (low- and high-preferred targets) presented in an adapted alternating-treatments design. Emergent intraverbal responses were evaluated across both directions before and after instruction. The results showed that all participants met the mastery and emergence criteria for the high-preferred stimulus set in fewer trial blocks than for the low-preferred stimulus set. The high-preferred set also yielded greater emergence of all intraverbal relations. The results replicated previous findings in that tact instruction was effective in producing emergent intraverbal responding. Moreover, our data suggest that preference for targets is an important variable to ensuring optimal foreign language learning.