The use of preferred target stimuli on the acquisition of a small foreign vocabulary
Use the child’s favorite pictures as foreign vocabulary targets—mastery and generative use emerge faster.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cortez et al. (2025) taught three kids new Spanish words for pictures.
They compared two sets of pictures: high-preference and low-preference.
The team used an alternating-treatments design so each child got both sets.
What they found
Kids mastered Spanish labels faster when the pictures were their favorites.
They also used the new words in untaught sentences more often with the liked pictures.
Preference acted like a learning booster for both naming and talking about the items.
How this fits with other research
Gilliam et al. (2013) saw the same boost: tacts turned into mands only for high-preference items.
Wooderson et al. (2022) reviewed 37 learners and found foreign tact training beats other verbal drills; Cortez adds the simple tweak of picking fun pictures.
Hu et al. (2023) stretched foreign verbal training to Mandarin-speaking preschoolers with autism; Cortez shows the same principle works with neurotypical early-elementary kids.
Why it matters
Before you print flashcards, run a quick picture preference assessment. Let the learner rank the photos, then teach foreign labels with the top picks. You will cut study time and get more spontaneous use of the new words.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a growing body of research examining the efficacy of teaching a foreign language using procedures that would lead to generative learning. This study assessed the acquisition of foreign tacts and the emergence of bidirectional intraverbal responses (native-foreign and foreign-native) as a function of target stimulus preference. Three children learned to tact two sets of pictures (low- and high-preferred targets) presented in an adapted alternating-treatments design. Emergent intraverbal responses were evaluated across both directions before and after instruction. The results showed that all participants met the mastery and emergence criteria for the high-preferred stimulus set in fewer trial blocks than for the low-preferred stimulus set. The high-preferred set also yielded greater emergence of all intraverbal relations. The results replicated previous findings in that tact instruction was effective in producing emergent intraverbal responding. Moreover, our data suggest that preference for targets is an important variable to ensuring optimal foreign language learning.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2025 · doi:10.1002/jaba.70019