scholarly journals Language Difficulty and Prior Learning Influence Foreign Vocabulary Acquisition

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Sayuri Hayakawa ◽  
James Bartolotti ◽  
Aimee van den Berg ◽  
Viorica Marian
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Retention ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Initial Acquisition ◽  
Language Difficulty ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Better Than

When learning a foreign language, words that are the hardest to learn are often the easiest to forget. Yet, there is also evidence that more challenging learning contexts can lead to greater long-term retention. Here, we investigate the effect of language difficulty on vocabulary retention by teaching participants novel words that varied in both imageability and similarity to a known language over a period of four weeks. We found that easier words (high-imageability and familiar) were generally retained better than harder words (low-imageability and unfamiliar). However, when words were fully learned during training, the more difficult unfamiliar words were later recalled with higher accuracy than easier familiar words. The effect of language difficulty on vocabulary retention therefore varies depending on how well words were initially encoded. We conclude that greater challenges can reap greater long-term rewards so long as learners establish a strong foundation during initial acquisition.

Immediate and Long-Term Retention for Pictorial and Verbal Stimuli

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1079-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse E. Purdy ◽  
Roy R. Luepnitz
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Verbal Stimuli ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Verbal Labels ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Representational Pictures ◽  
Recall Mode ◽  
Better Than

Although nouns of high imagery are generally recalled better than nouns of low imagery, both Palermo and Yuille have shown that retention for the former decreases with time. The present study tested the hypothesis that this decreased effectiveness occurs because images stored in long-term memory are accessible only through their verbal labels. 64 subjects were presented pictures and later asked to draw them or provide one-word descriptions. Other subjects were presented words and asked to recall them or draw representational pictures. Recall was tested immediately and 48 hr. later. Regardless of recall mode, subjects viewing pictures showed significantly greater recall than subjects viewing words, and for all subjects immediate recall was better.

scholarly journals The Indirect Effects of Testing: Can Poor Performance in a Vocabulary Quiz Lead to Long-Term L2 Vocabulary Retention?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohei Kanayama ◽  
◽  
Kiwamu Kasahara ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Initial Test ◽  
Vocabulary Retention ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Group A ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Group B ◽  
L2 Vocabulary

Taking a test on learned items enhances long-term retention of these items. However, it is believed that good performance in a test contributes to subsequent high retention of the tested items while poor performance does not. Recent studies have sought to find the optimal way to make up for this poor performance, and have indicated that giving the subsequent learning session soon after the test is one such way. This study is different from previous studies in that we used L1–L2 word pairs to examine whether restudying immediately after the failure in the test is useful for long-term retention. First, in the initial study session, all the participants (n = 52) were shown and asked to remember 20 English and Japanese word pairs (e.g., deceit:詐欺). A week later, Group A took the first test session (Initial Test) before the restudy session. On the contrary, Group B took the restudy session before the Initial Test. An hour after this session, both groups took Posttest 1. Then, Posttest 2 was conducted a week after Posttest 1. The results showed that Group A had significantly lower scores than Group B in the Initial Test (2% vs. 55%). However, the results were reversed in Posttest 1 (84.2% vs. 53.2%) and Posttest 2 (55% vs. 43.5%). This study found that a restudy session soon after poor performance in the Initial Test enhanced long-term L2 vocabulary retention because learners benefited from the indirect effects of testing. Thus, English teachers should take such effects into consideration when organizing vocabulary quizzes and restudy sessions.

scholarly journals Speech processing and plasticity in the right hemisphere predict variation in adult foreign language learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenghan Qi ◽  
Michelle Han ◽  
Yunxin Wang ◽  
Carlo de los Angeles ◽  
Qi Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Initial Learning ◽  
Long Term Retention

Foreign language learning in adulthood often takes place in classrooms where learning outcomes vary widely among students, for both initial learning and long-term retention. Despite the fundamental role of speech perception in first language acquisition, its role in foreign language learning outcomes remains unknown. Using a speech discrimination functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task and resting-state fMRI before and after an intensive, classroom-based, Mandarin Chinese course, we examined how variations in pre-training organization and pre-to-post reorganization of brain functions predicted successful language learning in male and female native English-speakers. Greater pre-training activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to Mandarin speech was associated with better Mandarin attainment at the end of the course. After four weeks of class, learners showed overall increased activation in left IFG and left superior parietal lobule (SPL) to Mandarin speech, but in neither region was variation related to learning outcomes. Immediate attainment was associated with greater pre-to-post reduction of right IFG activation to Mandarin speech but also greater enhancement of resting-state connectivity between this region and both left IFG and left SPL. Long-term retention of Mandarin skills measured three months later was more accurately predicted by models using features of neural preparedness (pre-training activation) and neural plasticity (pre-to-post activation change) than models using behavior preparedness and plasticity features (pre-training speech discrimination accuracy and Mandarin attainment, respectively). These findings suggest that successful holistic foreign language acquisition in human adulthood requires right IFG engagement during initial learning but right IFG disengagement for long-term retention of language skills.

Long-term retention of transient news events

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGARET G. O'CONNOR ◽  
MARY ALICE SIEGGREEN ◽  
KRISTIE BACHNA ◽  
BRINA KAPLAN ◽  
LAIRD S. CERMAK ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Remote Memory ◽  
Recency Effects ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
News Events ◽  
Better Than

Many retrospective analyses of remote memory have demonstrated recency effects in that memory for events proximal to the time of testing is superior to memory for events from remote time periods. However, the rate at which information decays over time and the specific pattern of forgetting may vary depending upon the distinct attributes of stimuli used as indices of memory. Studies examining long-term forgetting of well rehearsed, conceptually integrated information underscore preservation of remote events, some of which are thought to be permanently stored in memory. A different pattern of forgetting emerges in relation to recall of discrete facts whereby recall declines according to a negatively accelerated decay curve. In the current study long-term retention of transient news events was examined. Results were examined in relation to the effects of age and sex. All age groups demonstrated recency effects in that events from the recent past were recalled better than remote events. Age did not exert a negative influence on recall of remote or recent events with the exception of younger participants who did not recall items predating their dates of birth. Older female participants were less adept at recalling very old events than their male counterparts. (JINS, 2000, 6, 44–51.)

scholarly journals Effect of the Instruction Time of the Day on Student Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasim Muhammad ◽  
Gaganpreet Sidhu ◽  
Seshasai Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
First Year ◽  
Instruction Time ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Early Afternoon ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Better Than

<p class="Abstract">In this work, we analyze the effect of the instruction time of the day on student learning in a programming course taught to first-year undergraduate students in an engineering program. A total of 174 students were split into three different sections, each having a different class time. All sections were taught the same material and by the same instructor. It was found that students in the morning and early afternoon sections performed better than the students in the late afternoon section. In all three sections, there is evidence of long-term retention of concepts, which is attributed to the intervention based active learning environment that uses the principles of constructivism. Specifically, the techniques of reinforcement and feedback help with long term retention and avoiding learning of wrong concepts with immediate corrective feedback.</p>

Long-term retention is greater following closed-book tests than open-book tests

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja K. Agarwal ◽  
Jeffrey D. Karpicke ◽  
Sean H. Kang ◽  
Henry L. Roediger ◽  
Kathleen B. McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Open Book ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

Retrieval practice promotes long-term retention irrespective of the placement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
alice latimier ◽  
Arnaud Rierget ◽  
Son Thierry Ly ◽  
Franck Ramus
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

The current study aimed at comparing the effect of three placements of the re-exposure episodes on memory retention (interpolated-small, interpolated-medium, postponed), depending on whether retrieval practice or re-reading was used, and on retention interval (one week vs one month).

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