Â鶹ӳ»­

Title

The use of virtual procedures derived from in-person mand and tact training to teach foreign language vocabulary

Mentor

Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir, Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

Biosketch

Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir, Ph.D., is an associate professor of behavior analysis in the Department of Psychology. She completed her master‘s and doctoral degrees in behavior analysis at Western Michigan University, and her Bachelor‘s degree in Psychology at the University of Iceland. Before she came to the Â鶹ӳ»­ in 2024, she was on faculty at Texas Christian University, where she also served as chairperson of the psychology department from 2019 to 2023. Petursdottir is originally from Akureyri, Iceland.

Petursdottir runs the Language and Learning Lab (3L). Other lab members include behavior analysis graduate students Abraão Figureira de Melo and Sadie Klassen, and several undergraduate research assistants. Research in 3L focuses mostly on the role of basic learning processes in language and cognition, and on application to teaching language and academic skills to both children and adults. Petursdottir also collaborates with behavior analysts in clinical settings on research on teaching language and communication skills to children with neurodevelopmental disorders. 

Petursdottir is a previous editor-in-chief of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and has served as an associate editor and on the editorial boards of other major behavior analysis journals, such as the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. She has also served in numerous leadership roles in her field, for example, as president of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and president of the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis.

Project overview

The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of adapting Mand training procedures into computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to teach foreign-language vocabulary. In Mand training, a student learns new words or phrases through opportunities to use them in context to request items or information they are motivated to obtain. For example, a student might practice asking for "milk" and "a spoon" after being given a bowl of dry cereal. Previous research shows that even adult learners of foreign languages can benefit from Mand training procedures over and above other vocabulary training procedures, such as practicing with flash cards showing pictures of items or native-language words. However, Mand training in prior research was completed through face-to-face interactions using 3D items with which the learner could engage upon request. By contrast, modern-day foreign-language vocabulary instruction and practice often occurs through human-computer interaction, such when using commercially available CALL applications (e.g., Duolingo) or virtual flashcards. Although it is possible to simulate mand training in computerized instruction, it is unclear to which extent the benefits of face-to-face mand instruction will persist in the absence of opportunities to engage with real 3D items. The study, therefore, will compare the effects of a simulated computerized mand training procedure on various learning outcomes with a control procedure that is more similar to virtual flash card practice.

The student involved in this project will:

1. learn about the conceptual and practical foundations of the project and read relevant literature,
2. assist with obtaining informed consent and testing participants after completing human subjects training,
3. learn to process computer-generated data files and tabulate results,
4. learn to graph and interpret single-case experimental design (SCED) data, and
5. learn how the overall results are interpreted to reach a conclusion.

At the end of the semester, the student should be able to fluently and accurately give an oral description of the study background, method, and results (e.g., as appropriate to a poster presentation), to create and maintain organized data files, and to graph SCED data.

Pack Research Experience Program information and application