A Comparison of the Effects of Fluency Training and Accuracy Training on Application and Retention

Abstract

The effects of fluency training on the acquisition and retention of a composite skill were compared with those of training to accuracy only. Participants were 30 college students, and the task was a stimulus equivalence task, similar to the one used by Binder (1995) in earlier assessments. Participants learned associations between Hebrew symbols and nonsense syllables and between nonsense syllables and Arabic numerals. Immediately after training and every 2 or 4 weeks for 16 weeks, they were tested on a composite task that required both associations. Retention of the original component associations was also assessed after 4 months. With respect to the composite skill, fluency training resulted in: a) higher response rates immediately after training and across the 16 weeks; b) better accuracy 4 and 16 weeks after training; and c) less deterioration of accuracy after 16 weeks. Effects on the component skills were similar. The results document that for skilled adult learners, fluency training can aid the acquisition of a higher level skill and increase the retention of accuracy for both the component and composite skills.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Morningside Math Facts Curriculum on Fluency, Stability, Endurance and Application Outcomes

“…A number of research studies to date have demonstrated the attainment of fluent performances as a result of frequency-building with mathematics skills (Hartnedy et al, 2005;Poncy, et al, 2010). Further, the attainment of fluent performances with component mathematics skills has been associated with improvements in endurance (Brady & Kubina, 2010;McDowell & Keenan, 2001) and application (Bucklin et al, 2000;Cavallini & Perini, 2009;Chiesa & Roberston, 2000;Kubina et al, 2004) as well as overall mathematical ability (Carr & Alexeev, 2011;Carr et al, 2008 …”

“…Kubina and Yurich (2012) describe application as the ability to apply one or more element behaviors or pre-requisite skills to more complex behaviors or skills once a specific frequency with those skills is achieved (e.g., the ability to recognise or read letters at a high frequency will result in an improvement in applying this skill to decoding full words). A number of studies to date have demonstrated the ability of fluency-based instruction to improve participants' application of fluent skills to more complex tasks (Bucklin, Dickinson, & Brethower, 2000;Cavallini & Perini, 2009;Chiesa & Roberston, 2000;Kubina, Young, & Kilwein, 2004). However, continued research is necessary in order to further evaluate the occurrence of this outcome as a consequence of fluency-based instruction across behavioral repertoires.…”

Increasing support staff fluency with the content of behaviour support plans: An application of precision teaching

“…The FT group's higher scores in the composite test offer preliminary evidence consistent with this view. In addition, the FT group retained their greater application of knowledge at follow-up, suggesting that more fluent component skills may aid retention in both component and composite skills (Binder 1993;1996;Bucklin et al, 2000).…”

“…In one study, Bucklin, Dickinson and Brethower (2000) compared the effects of fluency training with accuracy training alone on college students' ability to retain and apply learned component skills in an untrained composite task. Findings demonstrated that fluency training produced a higher number of correct responses per minute (rate) for component and composite skill performance, both immediately after training, and after a 16-week follow-up.…”

Fluency Training a Writing Skill: Editing for Concision

“…We focused on response rates because a growing literature (e.g., Binder, 1996;Bucklin, Dickinson, & Brethower, 2001;Kubina & Wolfe, 2005) suggests that procedures that promote fluency can promote important learning outcomes, such as retention (i.e., appropriate, high-rate behavior persists long after training is completed), endurance (i.e., appropriate, high-rate behavior persists for durations greater than the durations of practice sessions), application (i.e., behavior can easily combine with other behaviors to form composites), and adduction (i.e., behaviors combine to form new behavior with little or no additional instruction). Presumably, procedures that produce many fluent editing skills could help editors easily eliminate previously encountered and novel stylistic problems, long after training (Binder, 2004; see the discussion of fluency by Johnson & Layng, 1996).…”