Technological Solutions for Sustainable Development: Effects of a Visual Prompt Scaffolding-Based Virtual Reality Approach on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension, Learning Attitude, Motivation, and Anxiety

As is indicated by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 4, it is crucial to have access to inclusive and quality education for all. For English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, reading English is a basic skill for learners to acquire and exchange information and to have lifelong learning experiences. To provide a vivid EFL learning environment, a visual prompt scaffolding-based VR (VPS-VR) approach was proposed to enhance students’ reading comprehension skills. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted in an English reading course at a Chinese university. Students from experimental group A (N = 31) learned with the VPS-VR approach, experimental group B (N = 32) learned with the virtual reality (VR) approach, and the control group learned with the traditional instruction (TI) approach. The results revealed the positive effects of the VPS-VR approach on students’ EFL reading comprehension, learning motivation, and English learning anxiety. Furthermore, it was also found that experimental students’ lower-level skills of reading comprehension, such as information location and text comprehension, were significantly improved, rather than the higher-level skills of reflection and evaluation. Fifteen students participated in interviews, and their learning experience and technology acceptance are also discussed.

Functional Communication Training and Most-To-Least Prompting as Treatments for Problem Behavior

Functional communication training (FCT) is a treatment for problem behavior in which the learner is taught a communicative behavior that fulfills the same function as the problem behavior. Although effective, when FCT is used to request breaks from work, limitations include increased time spent in breaks and reduced task-related responding. An alternative treatment is most-to-least prompting (MTL) of a task in which a therapist provides the most helpful prompts for task-related responding (e.g., physical guidance) and gradually reduces the amount of help (e.g., visual prompt and then verbal) until the learner responds independently. We evaluated FCT and MTL in a multiple treatments design with an 11-year-old girl with severe developmental disabilities. Both treatments reduced problem behavior from baseline levels, and academic responding was greater during MTL than during FCT. MTL is an errorless teaching approach conceptualized as an abolishing operation that reduces the aversiveness of a task and makes escape less valuable.

The Effectiveness of the Combination of Visual Prompt-Fading and Direct Instruction Method in Teaching Pattern Building Skills to Students with Intellectual Disabilities

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the combination of visual prompt-fading and direct instruction method in teaching pattern building skills to students with intellectual disabilities. Three students at the age of six and seven diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and enrolled in a full-time inclusion program participated in the study, and multiple-probe design across subjects used to conduct the research. The dependent variable of the study was the participants' level of ability to build a pattern, and the independent variable was the combination of visual prompt-fading and direct instruction method. The data has been collected using tool sets and worksheets consisting of objects and object images. Graphical analysis technique has been utilized for data analysis. The findings of the study showed that a combination of visual prompt-fading and direct instruction method was effective in teaching pattern building skills to students with intellectual disabilities, but it was limited in terms of the generalization of these skills.