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Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis logoLink to Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
. 1974 Winter;7(4):547–555. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1974.7-547

The effects of explicit timing and feedback on compositional response rate in elementary school children1

Ronald Van Houten 1,2, Elizabeth Morrison 1,2, Rowena Jarvis 1,2, Margo McDonald 1,2
PMCID: PMC1311668  PMID: 16795479

Abstract

The effects of several variables on compositional response rate were investigated in three classrooms. After establishing baseline composition rates in each of the three classrooms, an experimental phase was introduced that consisted of: explicit timing of the children's composition period with a stopwatch, immediate feedback on the number of words each child produced, public posting of the greatest number of words written by each child to date, and instructions to try to exceed their highest score. In the second-grade classroom, these conditions were introduced, removed, and re-introduced. In two fifth-grade classrooms, these conditions were introduced according to a multiple baseline, across classes. In all cases, introduction of the experimental conditions led to a doubling of rate of words written by students and an increase in subjective quality ratings of compositions made by independent judges.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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