Using a direct instruction intervention to increase adjective use and generalization

Abstract

Direct instruction principles were used to construct and evaluate an intervention designed to increase students' use of adjectives. It was hypothesized that participants who received the intervention would be able to identify, generate, create sentences using adjectives, and use more adjectives when compared to baseline. A multiple baseline design was used across skill to evaluate the effect of the intervention on adjective use. Analysis of the results indicated a functional relationship between the intervention and adjective use. Each participant increased correct responses on the four assessment probes. Effect size metrics evaluating the frequency and rate of adjective use corroborate visual analysis and suggests a moderate intervention effect. Discussion focuses on these findings and describes both limitations and future directions for research.