A multi‐element analysis of language facilitation games with educationally deprived Mexican migrant workers

A behavior analysis was conducted to identify simple ways to promote language use among non‐English‐speaking migrant workers during relatively unstructured periods of an Adult Basic Education class. The context for the analysis was a language facilitation game which involved a modified version of “Go Fish” requiring the migrants to match English words printed on cards. This game and two variations involving a simple alteration of the stimulus on the cards and changes in the game's rules were examined. A multi‐element analysis revealed that more English and less Spanish was spoken as a function of the complexity of both the antecedent and consequent stimuli involved in the games.