A multi-element analysis of language facilitation games with educationally deprived Mexican migrant workers

A behavior analysis was conducted to identify simple ways to promote language use among non-English-speaking migrant workers during relatively unstructured periods of an Adult Basic Education class. The context for the analysis was a language facilitation game which involved a modified version of “Go Fish” requiring the migrants to match English words printed on cards. This game and two variations involving a simple alteration of the stimulus on the cards and changes in the game's rules were examined. A multi-element analysis revealed that more English and less Spanish was spoken as a function of the complexity of both the antecedent and consequent stimuli involved in the games.