Supplemental computer-based spaced repetition activities nearly triple long-term vocabulary retention in EFL students compared with conventional instruction alone¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? On an end-of-semester paper-based posttest, vocabulary items the spaced-repetition tutor counted as fully learned received some credit at almost three times the rate of items taught only through conventional class and homework activities (50.1% vs. 16.9%, p < 0.001, one-tailed); across all experimental-group items the rate was 49.9%. → Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen and Tatiana A. Klepikova 2016

Evidence¶

Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen and Tatiana A. Klepikova 2016¶

Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen and Tatiana A. Klepikova. (2016). The effectiveness of computer-based spaced repetition in foreign language vocabulary instruction: a double-blind study. calico journal vol 33.3. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.v33i3.26055

q3 · i? · causal · r2

A randomized controlled double-blind study in which 22 cadets were independently assigned to control or experimental groups for each of 112 lexical units, with 2,464 participant-to-group mappings treated as independent observations and scored on a paper-based posttest. The comparison "was almost threefold (50.1% vs. 16.9%)". No effect size was printed, so no magnitude is coded.

"Based on the test results, the difference between vocabulary items considered fully learned by the adaptive tutoring model (the experimental group) and the control group was almost threefold (50.1% vs. 16.9%) and statistically significant (p < 0.001, one-tailed)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Long-Term Memory — outcome: instruction changes it
• Vocabulary — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Vocabulary Knowledge Grows Incrementally With Repeated Encounters In Varied Contexts — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Spaced Practice Improves Retention — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Double-blind experimental design can be successfully implemented in CALL-based pedagogical intervention research — related
• Lexical units brought to the 'fully learned' stage by the tutor scored significantly lower on the posttest than units students already knew before introduction — related
• Posttest scores increase monotonically across the tutoring algorithm's acquisition stages, supporting its stage criteria, though control-group items did not differ from items still in active acquisition — related
• Spaced Retrieval Improves Retention — a broader claim this one bears on
• Learning benefits of Cognitive Tutor interactivity are supported to varying extents by a growing body of experimental studies — related
• Spaced retrieval practice produces better final retention than massed retrieval even though spacing lowers initial retrieval success, and more absolute spacing enhances long-term retention — a broader claim this one bears on