The Effects of a Teacher-Training Intervention on Student Interns' Use of Naturalistic Language Teaching Strategies

Abstract

Four student interns were taught to use environmental arrangement strategies and delayed prompts to enhance the number of teaching occasions and to facilitate communicative requesting of students with severe language delays. A multiple-probe design across interns was implemented to evaluate the effects of the training on interns' use of the intervention procedures. Three of the four interns immediately increased their use of the strategies when the intervention was introduced. A specific component of the intervention, researcher-generated vs. intern-generated teaching occasions, was analyzed separately. The use of researcher-generated and intern-generated teaching occasions varied across interns with no clear preference found. To assess observer reactivity, unobtrusive data were gathered and revealed fewer teaching occasions for all participants (relative to scheduled observations), but their rates remained above those in baseline. Limitations and implications of this investigation for practice and research are discussed.