Children's Direction-Following Behavior in Grades K-S

A sample of 1,417 teachers' classroom directions was obtained from 18 classes in grades K-5, and each direction was task analyzed for: a) the number of behaviors required to execute it; and b) the number of qualifying statements setting conditions on the response. An instrument composed of 54 of these directions was administered to 215 K-5 children. The results indicated that directions given by teachers are very similar in complexity over grades K-5, as measured by the number of behaviors and qualifiers. Seventy percent of the directions contained no more than one behavior and one qualifier. Ninety percent of the students could execute correctly these single behavior and single qualifier directions, indicating that teachers tend to give directions their students can execute correctly. Correct execution decreased as the number of behaviors and qualifiers increased. Performance improved steadily over grades K-3 and leveled off in grades 4 and 5. Significant correlation coefficients were obtained between "Directions Game" scores and scores on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts at grades K-2 (r = .71).