Transfer of learning strategies: contrast of self-instructional and traditional training formats with EMR children.

Twelve mentally retarded children were taught anticipation and paraphrase strategies imbedded in either a self-instructional format that provided strategy initiation and modification routines or a traditional didactic training format: six children in a control condition received no explicit strategy instructions. Maintenance tests were administered 1 and 3 weeks following three training sessions; generalization tests were given in the afternoon of each training and maintenance session. Although no differences were found for self-instructional vs. traditional training formats, both conditions were superior to the control condition on the maintenance tests. Strategy generalization did not occur during training or short-term maintenance. On the final generalization test, however, significant improvements in recall accuracy were noted for both format conditions. In the self-instructional condition, several children successfully generalized the strategies during the early phases of training to facilitate gist recall.