title: A context analysis of contingent teacher attention.
abstract: The present two-experiment study compared the relationship between on-task student behavior and three measures of contingent teacher attention: total amount, contingent amount, and proportion of the total amount contingent on the target behavior. Toward this goal, a real-time observational system was developed for assessing multiple categories of teacher attention contingent upon a variety of student behavior categories. Using this system, observational data were collected in a self-contained classroom for a mentally retarded adolescent (Experiment 1) and in a remedial summer school classroom for a regular first-grade student (Experiment 2). Results from the two experiments showed the proportional measure of contingent teacher attention to account for nearly five times more variance in time on-task than contingent amount. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of concurrently available teacher attention in the functional analysis of classroom behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, NY 13244-2340.
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Martens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008282:Mainstreaming, Education; D008297:Male; D012056:Reinforcement, Social; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology