The Effect of User-Specified Language Elements on Learning to Program
Laurence A. Madeo, David A. Bird · Journal of Research on Computing in Education · 1990
It was hypothesized that there is an advantage for novice programmers who were asked to define elements of the language they were learning. Members of an experimental group specified their own operation codes for a language, whereas the control group used fixed codes. On a programming exercise, the experimental group performed worse than the control group. Analysis shows that the use of fixed operation codes and the subjects general aptitude are positively related to scores on the exercise. For the high aptitude subjects, the best predictor of success on the exercise is their aptitude score; for the low aptitude subjects, the best predictor is the form of operation code.