Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of positive reinforcement and fading procedure on letter learning of young preschool children. In order to pursue the purpose, three null hypotheses Mere established as follows : firstly, there is no significant difference in letter learning of young children between the reinforcement conditions ; secondly, there is no significant difference in letter learning of young children between the presentation conditions of reading materials ; finally, there is no significant interaction in letter learning of young children between the reinforcement conditions and presentation conditions of reading materials. A 2 × 4 factorial design with repeated measures on the second factor was employed. The 20 preschool subjects, identified as non-readers, were randomly assigned to the two levels of reinforcement conditions. Then, the reading responses of each subject in each group were repeatedly observed under the four different presentation conditions of reading materials. The four conditions were operationalized as flash-card reading programs that involved picture-letter cards, letter-sound cards, fading cards, and a control condition. And, these materials were computerized and presented individually to each subject through the 14" black and white monitor. The findings of the study revealed that : (1) there was no significant difference in letter learning of young children between the positive reinforcement and no-reinforcement conditions : (2) there was significant difference in letter learning between control condition and each of the three presentation conditions, between the picture-letter and letter-sound, and picture-letter and fading conditions, but not between letter-sound and fading procedure ; (3) there was an interaction effect between the two factors. Consequently, the main effects may be interpreted with partial modification : positive reinforcement was significantly more effective in the letter-sound condition ; there was no significant difference in the no-reinforcement condition between the picture-letter and control conditions ; there was significant difference in the positive reinforcement condition between the letter-sound and fading conditions, but not between the picture-letter and fading conditions.