Examining the effects of group-based instruction on emergent second-language skills in young children

The present study evaluated the emergence of second-language intraverbals in typically developing young children following a small-group teaching intervention. Choral responding was employed with a group of six primary school children (5-6 years old) to teach first-language tacts (e.g., “What is this in English?” [“Hospital”]) and related second-language tacts (e.g., “What is this in Welsh?” [“Ysbyty”]). A multiple-probe design across stimulus sets was used to evaluate subsequent emergence of untrained first- to-second-language derived intraverbals (e.g., “What is Hospital in Welsh?” [“Ysbyty”]) and untrained second-to-first-language intraverbals (e.g.,”What is Ysbyty in English?” [“Hospital”]). Data indicated that the choral responding intervention produced robust increases in derived intraverbal relations for three of the six participants.