Explicit Instruction: The Intersection of Teaching and Behavior Analysis
Explicit instruction is a well-established, evidence-based teaching practice widely used in education to promote mastery of academic skills and socially appropriate behaviors. Rooted in both educational theory and behavioral analysis, explicit instruction provides clear, structured, and systematic opportunities for students to acquire and apply new skills.
Let’s explore how explicit instruction bridges these two disciplines, offering practical examples to guide practitioners in the classroom and beyond.
What is Explicit Instruction?
Explicit instruction involves directly teaching students what they need to learn by clearly modeling and explaining concepts, providing guided practice, and gradually transferring responsibility for learning to the student. Key components include:
- Clear learning objectives that specify what students will know or do.
- Direct explanations and modeling of the skill or concept.
- Frequent opportunities for practice with feedback.
- Data-driven decisions about when to move from guided to independent practice.
Behavior analysts often view this process as a form of task analysis, breaking complex behaviors or skills into smaller, teachable steps, and employing antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) strategies to reinforce desired outcomes.
Academic Example:
Teaching Multiplication Facts
Consider teaching students the multiplication table. Without explicit instruction, students may rely on rote memorization without understanding the underlying concept. Here’s how explicit instruction supports mastery:
- Set the Objective: Clearly state, “Today, we will learn how to multiply numbers by 2.”
- Model the Skill: Use a number line to visually demonstrate what it means to add 2 repeatedly.
- Guided Practice: Provide opportunities for students to solve problems like 2 × 3, offering immediate feedback (e.g., “That’s correct! 2 groups of 3 equals 6.”).
- Independent Practice: Gradually move to independent problem-solving, using progress-monitoring tools to check for mastery.
Behaviorally, this process aligns with prompt fading, as the teacher gradually reduces guidance while ensuring students can perform the task independently.
Heather Volchko, BCBA
Social Behavior Example:
Raising a Hand to Speak
Explicit instruction is equally valuable for teaching social behaviors. Let’s apply it to teaching a student to raise their hand before speaking in class:
- Set the Objective: State, “In our classroom, we raise our hand and wait to be called on before speaking.”
- Model the Behavior: Demonstrate the expected behavior, narrating each step (e.g., “Watch how I raise my hand and wait patiently for my turn.”).
- Practice with Feedback: Role-play scenarios where students practice raising their hands, receiving reinforcement like verbal praise or a token economy reward for correct responses.
- Generalize the Skill: Provide opportunities to use the skill during various activities, gradually reducing prompts to encourage independence.
Behavior analysts might describe this as shaping, reinforcing successive approximations of the desired behavior until the student demonstrates it consistently.
Why Explicit Instruction Works
Explicit instruction is effective because it aligns with the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), particularly:
- Active Student Engagement
Ensuring students are consistently responding and participating. Active engagement allows students to practice new skills repeatedly, receive immediate feedback, and refine their performance through guided correction. This high level of interaction increases retention and helps identify any barriers to learning early in the process.
- Reinforcement
Strengthening desired behaviors or skills with contingent feedback. Reinforcement motivates students to persist in learning tasks by linking their efforts to meaningful outcomes. By using both tangible rewards and behavior-specific praise, educators can encourage skill acquisition and build intrinsic motivation over time.
- Error Correction
Providing immediate feedback to guide learning and reduce misconceptions. Error correction prevents students from practicing incorrect responses by redirecting them toward the correct behavior or answer. This process also helps clarify expectations, ensuring students develop a strong foundation of understanding before moving on to more complex tasks.
- Data Collection
Monitoring student performance to inform instructional decisions. By collecting data on student progress, educators can pinpoint where additional support is needed or when it is time to reduce scaffolding. This evidence-based approach allows for targeted interventions and ensures that instruction is tailored to meet individual student needs.
In both academics and social behaviors, explicit instruction helps address skill deficits by systematically building knowledge and competencies while ensuring students have the tools and support needed to apply these skills confidently and independently in real-world contexts.
Practical Tips for Practitioners
To effectively implement explicit instruction, focus on creating a structured and engaging learning environment where students can actively participate and succeed. Follow these strategies to enhance your practice:
- Use Visual Aids
Incorporate visuals like anchor charts, task cards, or videos to model skills. Ensure these resources are clear, accessible, and directly aligned with the skill being taught.
- Embed Reinforcement
Use behavior-specific praise or tangible rewards to reinforce effort and accuracy. Tailor reinforcers to student preferences by conducting preference assessments to maximize their impact.
- Practice Across Contexts
Ensure students apply skills in various settings to promote generalization. Use role-play scenarios, peer-mediated activities, or cross-curricular tasks to expand the skill’s application.
- Monitor Progress
Regularly collect data to identify when to scaffold support or introduce more complex tasks. Use progress monitoring tools, such as checklists or graphs, to visualize student growth and inform your next steps.
Heather Volchko, BCBA
These practices can be seamlessly integrated into your instruction to create a systematic, data-driven, and engaging process that supports meaningful learning outcomes for your students. By blending explicit instruction with the principles of behavioral analysis, educators can empower students to succeed academically and socially. Whether teaching math facts or classroom routines, practitioners can use this systematic approach to demystify learning, making success achievable for every student.
written by
Heather Volchko
Heather Volchko is a school-based consultant and program evaluator specializing in emotional and behavioral disorders, trauma-informed behavior analysis, organizational behavior management, and leadership psychology. She has been a coordinator, teacher, and paraprofessional in therapeutic, alternative, self-contained, resource, and correctional settings. Outside of her professional work, she has worked abroad with various international education organizations as well as stateside with organizations facilitating upward mobility with disadvantaged populations. Heather is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with her Bachelors in Special Education, Masters in Educational Psychology, and is currently pursuing her doctorate.
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