READING AND RECOMBINATIVE REPERTOIRE: EFFECTS OF AMMOUNT OF TRAINING AND STIMULUS COMPOSITION

Abstract

Based on the stimulus equivalence paradigm, this study evaluated the effects on the development of recombinative reading of a training procedure that combined two-syllable words and syllables. Nine preschoolers participated; six were exposed to two phases of teaching and testing of conditional relations between spoken words,printed words, and pictures, and tests of naming the printed words; three were tested only. On each phase, the training was compound or included words only. The sequence was counterbalanced among participants. Combinations of two out of four syllables formed 12 words taught on each phase. Combinations of letters from the same syllables formed 14 words used only for testing. Scores of reading acquisition were high from the beginning and rapidly reached perfect accuracy. Experimental participants scored higher than participants tested only. Participants trained with words first obtained higher scores in the next phase, with compound training. These results indicate that recombinative reading would benefit from jointly teaching words and syllables. The fast acquisition of reading with comprehension and the different levels of recombinative (generalized) reading among participants replicated previous findings concerning the effectiveness of the equivalence paradigm for teaching reading with comprehension and point to the relevance of teaching procedures fostering the recombination of units as a mechanism underlying generalized performances.Key words: reading acquisition, stimulus equivalence, control by elements, recombinative reading, preschoolers