JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS 2014, 47, 165–170 NUMBER 1 (SPRING)

TACT TRAINING VERSUS BIDIRECTIONAL INTRAVERBAL TRAINING

IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
KATERINA DOUNAVI
UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID, SPAIN, AND MAGIKO SYMPAN CENTRE, GREECE

The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a
function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received
foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal
training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal training resulted in the emergence of a
greater number of untrained responses, and may thus be more efficient than foreign-to-native
intraverbal training.
Key words: emergent relations, foreign language acquisition, intraverbals, tacts

There is increasing demand for individuals to
speak a second language (European Union, 2006),
but few behavior-analytic studies have focused on
foreign-language instruction with typically devel-
oping populations. According to Skinner’s (1957)
analysis, learning a foreign language includes the
acquisition of several different verbal repertoires,
including listener responses, mands, tacts, and
intraverbals. Of specific interest in the current
study are three verbal operants commonly targeted
in foreign language instruction: (a) the foreign
language tact, in which the learner emits a foreign
word as a response to a nonverbal stimulus; (b) the
native-to-foreign (N-F) intraverbal, in which the
learner emits a foreign word as a response to its
native equivalent; and (c) the foreign-to-native (F-
N) intraverbal, in which the learner emits a native
word as a response to its foreign equivalent
(Petursdottir & Haflidadottir, 2009).
Skinner (1957) viewed verbal operants as
functionally independent (e.g., Miguel, Peturs-
I thank Karola Dillenburger and the associate editor for
their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.
This study is part of the author’s doctoral dissertation.
Portions of the data were presented at the sixth international
convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis
International (2011).
Address correspondence to Katerina Dounavi, who is now
at the School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast,
69-71 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL, United Kingdom
(e-mail: k.dounavi@qub.ac.uk).
doi: 10.1002/jaba.86
dottir, & Carr, 2005), but functional interdepen-
dence occurs under some conditions (e.g.,
Grannan & Rehfeldt, 2012). Some studies have
suggested that when two relations share a
common novel stimulus or response topography,
teaching one relation is more likely to result in the
emergence of the other relation (e.g., Petursdottir,
Olafsdottir, & Aradottir, 2008). In a study with
two typically developing preschool children,
Petursdottir and Haflidadottir (2009) found
that N-F intraverbal training, despite requiring
more sessions, was more likely to result in
emergent tacts and intraverbal responses com-
pared to F-N intraverbal training. The authors
suggested that this was due to the shared novel
(i.e., foreign) topography between foreign tacts
and N‐F intraverbals. However, not all of their
results were consistent with that interpretation.
The goal of the present study was to evaluate
foreign tact and bidirectional intraverbal training
in teaching a foreign-language vocabulary to
adults and further evaluate possible emergence
of untrained responses following each type of
training.
METHOD
Participants and Setting
Two native Spanish speakers participated:
Pedro, a 37-year-old man, and Carlota, a 29-
year-old woman. Pedro had a high-intermediate

165
166 KATERINA DOUNAVI
and Carlota had a low-intermediate level of
English language proficiency, as assessed through
a brief online test (http://www.cambridgeesol.
org/testyourenglish/index.php). Both partici-
pants were able to echo unknown words in
English. Most sessions were conducted in the
participants’ homes.
Measurement
The experimenter continuously recorded re-
sponses on a data sheet. Correct foreign tacts were
defined as speaking the word in the foreign
language (English) after presentation of the
corresponding picture. Correct intraverbal re-
sponses were defined as vocalizing the foreign
(English) or native (Spanish) word when pre-
sented with its equivalent and vice versa. A correct
response was recorded only if it occurred within
3 s of the antecedent stimulus presentation. An
incorrect vocalization, no response within 3 s, or
more than one response were all recorded as
incorrect. In addition, for F-N intraverbals,
synonyms of the native target word were recorded
as correct (e.g., participants translated “socket” as
“enchufe,” “toma de corriente,” or both).
A second observer independently collected
interobserver agreement data across all condi-
tions. Data were recorded in 31% of sessions for
Pedro and 33% of sessions for Carlota. An
agreement was scored for each trial on which both
observers recorded a correct or an incorrect
response; otherwise, a disagreement was scored.
Interobserver agreement for each session was
calculated by dividing the number of agreements
by the total number of trials and converting this
ratio to a percentage. Mean agreement was 99.7%
(range, 93% to 100%) for Pedro and 99.8%
(range, 97% to 100%) for Carlota.
Procedure
Stimulus sets and general procedure. The
antecedent stimuli were pictures for tact probes
and tact training and spoken words for intraverbal
probes and intraverbal training. Stimuli were
randomly assigned into four 30-stimuli sets and
integrated into separate PowerPoint presenta-
tions. The pictures were retrieved from the
Internet and depicted on a white background for
3 s. Spoken words were recorded and integrated
into the PowerPoint presentation. For both
participants, foreign tact training was conducted
with Sets 1 and 2 and intraverbal training with
Sets 3 and 4, with five to seven sessions conducted
per day on consecutive days, and an intersession
interval of 30 s to 5 min. Stimuli within each set
were presented in the same order across sessions,
simulating common printed materials (e.g.,
books with lists of translated words). The order
of stimulus presentation within each set was
randomly changed after the participant demon-
strated 30 of 30 correct responses in one session
(30 stimulus presentations) during training. For
both the tact and intraverbal training evaluations,
native-language tact probes were conducted after
foreign tact or F-N intraverbal pretests and before
the baseline probe of the second operant (either
tact or F-N intraverbals). This was done to ensure
the use of the same native word for both
participants and to eliminate ambiguity regarding
the illustrations (e.g., an adjustment was made
when participants tacted a button in Spanish
instead of the cuff ).
Pretests. Pretests were conducted to identify
unknown stimuli to include in subsequent probe
and training sessions. During foreign tact and F-
N intraverbal pretests, the experimenter pre-
sented a PowerPoint for each 30-stimulus set.
Before tact pretests, the experimenter instructed
the participants to name the pictures in English.
Before F-N intraverbal pretests, the participants
were instructed to say the Spanish word when
presented with the English word. Known words
were substituted until a sufficient number of
unknown words had been identified. If one
participant gave a correct response on the pretest,
that word was substituted for both participants.
Baseline and posttraining probes. During base-
line, F-N intraverbal and foreign tact probes were
conducted. Presession instructions were the same
as in the pretests. In the foreign tact probes, the
 TACT TRAINING VERSUS INTRAVERBAL TRAINING
pictures in the designated stimulus set were
presented via a PowerPoint presentation. F-N
intraverbal probes were identical, except that
spoken words were presented rather than
pictures. The experimenter informed the partici-
pant of the number of correct responses at the end
of each probe session; no other consequences
were delivered. Identical probes, with the
addition of an N-F intraverbal probe, were
conducted posttraining to test for the emergence
of untrained relations. The mastery criterion
during posttraining probes was 30 of 30 correct
responses. If a participant scored less than 30 but
at least 27, a second probe session was conducted.
For intraverbal probes, if less than 30 of 30
correct responses were obtained in the second
probe or less than 27 of 30 on the first probe, the
reverse intraverbal relation was trained.
Training. During foreign tact training, the
participants were taught to tact the pictures by
emitting a response in the foreign language
(English) following the presentation of the
corresponding picture. During N-F intraverbal
training, the participants were taught to emit the
correct foreign (English) word after the presenta-
tion of the corresponding spoken word in their
native language (Spanish). During F-N intra-
verbal training, the participants were taught to
emit the correct native (Spanish) word after the
presentation of the corresponding spoken word
in the foreign language (English).
Training sessions were identical to probes
except that correct responses were reinforced with
the presentation of the correct answer in the form
of a spoken word, which had been embedded in
the PowerPoint and scheduled to appear 3 s after
the presentation of the antecedent stimulus. A
correction was automatically provided in the
same way when an incorrect response was
emitted; the participants were not required to
repeat the correct response. Social praise was
intermittently provided during sessions and was
always delivered at the end of sessions for
improved accuracy (i.e., if the participant had
obtained a higher number of correct responses
167
than in the previous sessions). Otherwise, verbal
encouragement to try harder was provided (e.g.,
“You have learned the difficult words now, let’s
see if you can recall more this time.”). The
mastery criterion during training was 30 of 30
correct responses for two consecutive sessions.
Design
The effects of tact and bidirectional intraverbal
training on the emergence of untrained intra-
verbal responses were evaluated via a pretest–
posttest design with replication across stimulus
sets and participants. The sequence of probe
conditions was counterbalanced across partici-
pants and stimulus sets. For intraverbal training,
the sequence of the different training conditions
was counterbalanced across participants.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Foreign tact training resulted in the emergence
of bidirectional intraverbal relations that reached
mastery level for both participants (Figure 1, top).
Furthermore, intraverbal training in the N-F
direction resulted in the emergence of the reverse
intraverbal and the foreign tact relations at
mastery level (Figure 1, bottom). Results were
different when intraverbal training was provided
in the F-N direction: Emergent responses
occurred, but these were below mastery level.
When training was provided for the reverse
intraverbal relation (N-F, Spanish to English),
foreign tacts emerged at mastery level. The fact
that emergent relations (foreign tact relations)
shared a response with the trained relation (N-F
direction intraverbals) might account for the
present results (Petursdottir et al., 2008; Polson
& Parsons, 2000).
In addition to the emergence of untrained
relations, the current results suggest differential
efficiency of the training methods. For both
participants, N-F intraverbal training was the
most efficient (i.e., 17 sessions for Pedro and 18
sessions for Carlota), followed by foreign tact
training (i.e., 19 and 21 sessions for Pedro and 24
168 KATERINA DOUNAVI

PEDRO CARLOTA
Probes Probes
30
BL 30
BL Foreign Tact Training
Foreign Tact Training
Number of correct responses

Number of correct responses

25 25

20 20
Intraverbal (N-F) Intraverbal (F-N)
15 15

10 10
Tact
5 5
SET 1 SET 1
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27
Sessions Sessions
Probes Foreign Tact Training Probes
BL Foreign Tact Training BL
30 30
Number of correct responses

Number of correct responses

25 25

20 20

15 15

10 10

5 5
SET 2 SET 2
0 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27
Sessions Sessions

PEDRO CARLOTA
BL Probes BL F-N Intraverbal Training N-F Intraverbal Training
30 N-F Intraverbal Training 30
Number of correct responses

Number of correct responses

25 25

20 Tact 20

15 15 Probe
Intraverbal (N-F)
10 10
Probes
5 SET 3 5
SET 3
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
Sessions Sessions
Probes
N-F Intraverbal BL N-F Intraverbal Training
BL F-N Intraverbal Training 30
30 Training
Number of correct responses

Number of correct responses

25
25

20 20

Probes Probe
15 15

10 Intraverbal (F-N) 10

5 5
SET 4 SET 4
0 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Sessions Sessions

Figure 1. Training and probe sessions for foreign tact training (top) and intraverbal training (bottom). F-N ¼ foreign-to-
native direction intraverbals (English to Spanish); N-F ¼ native-to-foreign direction intraverbals (Spanish to English).
 TACT TRAINING VERSUS INTRAVERBAL TRAINING
and 23 sessions for Carlota). Because additional
training (i.e., reverse intraverbal training) was
required after F-N intraverbal training, this
approach was the least efficient.
The present results differ from those obtained
in studies that have examined transfer of stimulus
control in children, in which no or few emergent
responses have been found (Miguel et al., 2005;
Petursdottir & Haflidadottir, 2009; Petursdottir
et al., 2008). This may be due to the current
study including adult participants, who are
verbally more competent.
It would be interesting to examine how
prompts provided in different sensory modalities
affect the acquisition of verbal operants and
whether the possible differences can be attributed
to an individual’s learning history with specific
prompting techniques (Coon & Miguel, 2012).
Alternatively, the prompts’ formal relation to the
response might be important (e.g., auditory
prompts might facilitate the acquisition of vocal
responses and textual prompts might facilitate the
acquisition of textual responses). Finally, there
might be differences in emergent relations when
probes are conducted in a sensory modality that is
different from training.
In the present study, foreign tact training was
conducted prior to intraverbal training for both
participants; thus, sequential confounding is a
possibility. Also, N-F intraverbal probes were not
conducted during baseline, which does not allow
a direct comparison of pretest and posttest data. It
was assumed that this probe would not provide
additional information, because previous research
had suggested that the acquisition of F-N
intraverbals is faster than the acquisition of the
reverse (Petursdottir & Haflidadottir, 2009).
Therefore, pretesting of F-N intraverbals might
provide sufficient information for the present
purposes. In addition, given that F-N intraverbals
and foreign tacts had been previously tested,
participants might guess which foreign word
corresponded to each native word during N-F
intraverbal probes, and this could confound the
probe results. On the other hand, including an
169
N-F probe might reveal whether guessing is likely
to occur, which could allow researchers to
separate the effects of training from the effects
of mere exposure to the training stimuli.
Therefore, researchers might consider including
N-F intraverbal probes in future studies. In
addition, the type of feedback provided at the
end of probe sessions might be sufficient for
participants to deduce the correct answers. Future
research could build on the current study by
including baseline probes for all tested relations, a
greater number of baseline probe sessions, and
eliminating feedback during probes. Future re-
search should attempt to replicate these findings
across more participants, and maintenance and
generalization measures should be collected.
A careful consideration of Skinner’s (1957)
analysis of verbal behavior and of observed
emergent responses may prove to be useful in
designing effective methods to teach a second
language. Future research should explore the use
of new technologies, such as the development
of programmed self-instruction applications,
to teach foreign-language vocabulary, to enhance
fluency, and to deliver instruction with high
procedural fidelity.
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170 KATERINA DOUNAVI
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Received November 12, 2012
Final acceptance August 8, 2013
Action Editor, Einar Ingvarsson