The Associate Technique: Assessing Intraverbal Repertoires in the Classroom

This paper discusses the rationale for and practical development of associate technique (AT) examinations for classroom use, and reveals ecologically valid investigations regarding the use of the AT in undergraduate and graduate education. The AT is a method for testing what students "know about" a certain subject matter, measuring specialized vocabulary by sampling the minimal intraverbal repertoires a student can write given textual stimuli. The format allows test writing and test scoring to be simple, and the technique can be used for all e ducation levels in almost all realms of study. Reliability and validity measures for the AT are robust. The scoring criteria, student reactions, and support for applying the AT to pedagogy are discussed.