A description of teacher-student verbal interactions in a resource room versus regular classrooms

Abstract

The focus of this study was the description and classification of verbal operants as described by Skinner (1957) that were used by a resource room teacher and two regular education teachers, the compliance responses of two students identified as learning disabled who attended all three classes, and the actual tasks that existed in each setting. These descriptions were used to compare the similarities and differences that may account for student success in a resource classroom and lack of success in mainstream classrooms. The results indicated that the verbal operants could be used to determine the tasks that existed in each setting. Comparisons showed that the greatest differences among the settings existed in the type of "mand" stated, the proportion of instructional to management "mands," the frequency of compliance to instructional "mands," and the teacher consequence for compliance or non-compliance with "mands."