THE APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF REINFORCEMENT TO THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: AN EXPERIMENT WITH LIBYAN MALE PREPARATORY SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM CULTURALLY DIVERSE RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of immediate knowledge of results and a token economy system, singly and in combination on the learning of English as a second language.; Two hundred forty students were randomly selected out of four randomly selected schools. Within each school the subjects were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. Four teachers were randomly selected to teach six consecutive English units. The students in each school were instructed together, then they returned to three separate classrooms where they were assigned identical work sheets.; Group 1. When all questions were answered the correct answers were read immediately.; Group 2. When all questions were answered, the group leader read the correct answers, then he checked the worksheets. While collecting the sheets the group leader dispensed tokens whose number depended on the number and value of correct responses. Students were then allowed to exchange tokens/or reinforcers.; Group 3. After the questions were answered, the students were allowed to leave.; A criterion referenced test was developed and validated (Pophan, 1978). The test was analyzed with a 2 x 3 factorial analysis of variance design. When appropriate the Tukey method (Winer, 1971) was used.; In both settings (rural and urban) immediate knowledge of results groups achieved significantly higher than the control groups. The combination of immediate knowledge of results and a token economy group, achieved significantly higher than both the immediate knowledge of results and the control groups. No significant differential effects on English language achievement of urban and rural students as a function of their participation in different reinforcement strategies was found. The findings were consistent with previous research. This provides a positive step towards establishing the generalizationability of the reinforcement theory and thus strengthening it.