What term is used to describe the overall process of teaching a skill step-by-step until full mastery is achieved?

The term that accurately describes the overall process of teaching a skill step-by-step until full mastery is achieved is chaining. Chaining involves breaking down a complex skill into smaller, manageable steps, and teaching each step in a sequence, linking them together to form the complete skill. This approach allows learners to slowly and systematically acquire the necessary skills.

In the context of skill acquisition, chaining can be further categorized into forward chaining, backward chaining, and total-task chaining, each of which follows a unique method for conveying the steps involved. The emphasis is on ensuring that each component is mastered before moving onto the next, making full mastery of the entire skill attainable.

While task analysis is related, as it involves breaking down a skill into its component parts, it does not describe the actual process of teaching those steps. Discrete trial teaching refers to a structured method for teaching skills using specific trials, which may not encapsulate the entirety of a sequential learning process like chaining does. Varying tasks and instructions addresses the diverse conditions of learning but doesn’t specifically pertain to the comprehensive step-by-step mastery of a skill. Thus, chaining is the most accurate term for this teaching process.