Training letter discrimination in preschool children by manipulation of the confusability of alternative letter choices in a matching-to-sample task

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Deborah Ellen Ortman (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Rosemery Nelson

Abstract: Based on Gibson's theory of teaching children to discriminate letters by means of distinctive features, three groups of preschool children (N = 22) were trained to discriminate letters of the alphabet using three different types of matching-to-sample alternatives: (l) three units of high-confusion alternatives, (2) three units of low-confusion alternatives, or (3) a sequence of low-confusion alternatives to be mastered followed by a series of middle- and then high-confusion alternatives. Results of posttest 1, given after a criterion of two consecutive errorless training days on the third unit, indicated no significant improvements over pretest scores among the three training groups or the delayed-treatment control group. Likewise, on posttest 2, given after each child had received a standard number of 14 training sessions, no significant improvements over pretest scores were found among the three training groups or the delayed-treatment control group. Neither the number of errors made during training nor the number of days to reach criterion differed significantly for any of the three training groups. Although the results failed to achieve statistical significance, the direction of most mean differences was as predicted and was consistent with previous literature. The high-confusion and sequence groups made greater gains at posttest 1 than the low-confusion group, but required more training sessions to reach the criterion to be given posttest 1. These differential gains were not apparent at posttest 2 when all groups had received a standard number of training sessions. Based on these results, suggestions for future research were made.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1976
Subjects
Reading (Preschool)
Education, Preschool

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