The Effects of the Verbal Developmental Capability of Naming on How Children Can Be Taught

Naming, a verbal developmental capability that is a source for children to acquire language incidentally, may affect how they learn best in school. We tested the presence/absence of Naming (Experiment I) and the induction of Naming (Experiment II) on the rates of learning under 2-instructional conditions (9 -participants, ages 5-7) using a counterbalanced reversal design across matched pairs for Experiment I and stage 2 of Experiment II. In stage 1 Experiment II we used adelayed multiple probe design across participants to show the induction of Naming and then in stage 2 we tested the effects of the induction of Naming on rate of learning. The dependent variable in each study was numbers of instructional trials to meet curricular objectives. In Experiment 1, we compared learning under (a) standard learn unit presentations (SLUs) or instructional trials that met the criteria for learn units and (b) model demonstration learn units (MLUs)-- learn units with antecedent instructions. In Experiment I, MLUs correlated with faster rates of learning for all 4-participants with Naming. For the 4-participants who lacked Naming, MLUs did not accelerate learning. In Experiment 2, we induced Naming for those 4-participants and then MLUs accelerated rates of learning. The findings suggest that the onset of Naming allows children to learn and be taught in new ways.