Using Brief Experimental Analysis to Increase GRE Vocabulary Knowledge

Abstract

BEA is a tool that "test drives" different interventions to select a promising intervention for each participant, which can be implemented over time. Research indicates that for school-aged children, Brief Experimental Analysis (BEA) can be used to select effective academic interventions, especially in oral reading fluency (Burns & Wagner, 2008). On the GRE, university students emphasize the verbal component because they perceive it as especially difficult (Loken, Radlinsky, Crespi, Millet, & Cushing, 2004).

We selected three interventions commonly used to teach word definitions: interspersal, incremental rehearsal, and traditional flashcard drill. Although traditional flashcard drill procedures have been used for vocabulary instruction (e.g., MacQuarrie, Tucker, Burns, & Hartman, 2002), research suggests that interspersal procedures yield better results than traditional flashcard drill procedures for definitional knowledge and retention of knowledge over time (Petersen-Brown & Burns, 2011).

We aimed to extend the traditional use of BEA to select an effective vocabulary intervention for college students. We then measured the effectiveness of this intervention across time in an extended analysis using a cumulative acquisition design.