Establishment of Structural and Functional Metaphorical Responses in 4th and 5th Grade Students as a Function of Multiple Exemplar Instruction Across Reader and Writer Functions

A non-concurrent multiple probe design across dyads was used to test the effects of multiple exemplar instruction across reader and writer responses on the emergence of metaphors in 4th and 5th grade students. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 rotated responding across reader and writer responses to train the structure of metaphors while probing for the emergence of metaphor function on a listener. None of the participants in Experiment 1 were able to produce metaphors according to a structural algorithm prior to the start of the study. Participants were paired into writer and peer reader groups (a total of 3 pairs) and a peer yoked-contingency game board was employed as a motivating operation in which the participants competed against the experimenter to reach the top of the game board in order to earn a chosen reinforcer. Participants moved up on the game board if the writer produced a metaphor as was determined by an algorithm used by the peer reader. Experiment 2 rotated responding across reader and writer instructional trials to train the function of metaphors. The participants in Experiment 2 were able to produce metaphors at the start of the study however the metaphors did not function to evoke a target emotion from a reader. Results for Experiment 1 showed that Multiple Exemplar Instruction across reader and writer responses to teach the structure of metaphors was effective but did not result in the emergence of an emotional function on a listener. Experiment 2 showed that Multiple Exemplar Instruction across the emotional function of reader and writer responses resulted in the emergence of an emotional function on a listener during post-probe conditions.