Question

Reinforcement schedules can be applied in our daily lives. As parents or educators, how can one use reinforcement schedules to assist a child with language development? Furthermore, what type of reinforcement schedule would you use and why?

Answer 1

Learning a new language may pose a great challenge if it’s not continuously done and when the environment is not favourable. Reinforcement schedules will come handy when we teach language to children. Again the reinforcement schedule should also take each child’s learning speed and learning style into account because the same schedule might not work for all as there is no panacea.

So, I would apply Fixed Interval schedule where the child will be in touch with the language continuously. This will help the child recall words, phrases, rules that it learnt easily. If the interval is not fixed, then the child might forget whatever it learnt earlier and recalling will consume more time. When continuity is lost, the child will have difficulty connecting the concepts that it learnt previously.