Learning a foreign language: Effects of tact and listener instruction on the emergence of bidirectional intraverbals

The team worked with four preschoolers who spoke only English. They taught each child eight Spanish words for common objects.

Kids got two kinds of lessons. In tact lessons they saw a picture and said the Spanish word. In listener lessons they heard the Spanish word and pointed to the picture.

The teachers switched the lesson type every day. They counted how many children could later say the English word when they saw the picture and hear the Spanish word.

Tact lessons won. After learning to name the picture in Spanish, kids could give the English name without more teaching.

Listener lessons did not work as well. Pointing at the right picture did not help kids say the English word later.

The difference showed up for every child and every word set.

May et al. (2016) got the opposite result. They taught listener and intraverbal links first and saw emergent tacts appear. The two studies seem to clash, but they taught different language pairs and tested different emergent skills.

Rajagopal et al. (2025) later showed that tact training also works for adults learning to name private sensations. Together the papers say the tact route is strong across ages and topics.

Schroeder et al. (2014) warned us to check both directions early. Cortez et al. did exactly that and gave clear numbers BCBAs can use when picking lesson types.

If you want emergent translation, start with tact trials. Have the child say the new word for the picture first. After a few wins, probe the reverse relation. You may not need extra listener drills. This saves time in preschool language groups and keeps sessions fun.