Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application

Information and communication technology (ICT) becomes more prevalent in education but its general efficacy and that of specific learning applications are not fully established yet. One way to further improve learning applications could be to use insights from fundamental memory research. We here as...

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Main Authors: Angelo Belardi, Salome Pedrett, Nicolas Rothen, Thomas P. Reber
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.757262/full
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author Angelo Belardi
Salome Pedrett
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber
Thomas P. Reber
author_facet Angelo Belardi
Salome Pedrett
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber
Thomas P. Reber
author_sort Angelo Belardi
collection DOAJ
description Information and communication technology (ICT) becomes more prevalent in education but its general efficacy and that of specific learning applications are not fully established yet. One way to further improve learning applications could be to use insights from fundamental memory research. We here assess whether four established learning principles (spacing, corrective feedback, testing, and multimodality) can be translated into an applied ICT context to facilitate vocabulary learning in a self-developed web application. Effects on the amount of newly learned vocabulary were assessed in a mixed factorial design (3×2×2×2) with the independent variables Spacing (between-subjects; one, two, or four sessions), Feedback (within-subjects; with or without), Testing (within-subjects, 70 or 30% retrieval trials), and Multimodality (within-subjects; unimodal or multimodal). Data from 79 participants revealed significant main effects for Spacing [F(2,76) = 8.51, p = 0.0005, ηp2=0.18] and Feedback [F(1,76) = 21.38, p < 0.0001, ηp2=0.22], and a significant interaction between Feedback and Testing [F(1,76) = 14.12, p = 0.0003, ηp2=0.16]. Optimal Spacing and the presence of corrective Feedback in combination with Testing together boost learning by 29 percentage points as compared to non-optimal realizations (massed learning, testing with the lack of corrective feedback). Our findings indicate that established learning principles derived from basic memory research can successfully be implemented in web applications to optimize vocabulary learning.
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spelling doaj-art-15beb3a5d61949449d94dca1383023c32025-08-20T03:28:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-11-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.757262757262Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web ApplicationAngelo Belardi0Salome Pedrett1Nicolas Rothen2Thomas P. Reber3Thomas P. Reber4Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, SwitzerlandFaculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, SwitzerlandFaculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, SwitzerlandFaculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, SwitzerlandDepartment of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, GermanyInformation and communication technology (ICT) becomes more prevalent in education but its general efficacy and that of specific learning applications are not fully established yet. One way to further improve learning applications could be to use insights from fundamental memory research. We here assess whether four established learning principles (spacing, corrective feedback, testing, and multimodality) can be translated into an applied ICT context to facilitate vocabulary learning in a self-developed web application. Effects on the amount of newly learned vocabulary were assessed in a mixed factorial design (3×2×2×2) with the independent variables Spacing (between-subjects; one, two, or four sessions), Feedback (within-subjects; with or without), Testing (within-subjects, 70 or 30% retrieval trials), and Multimodality (within-subjects; unimodal or multimodal). Data from 79 participants revealed significant main effects for Spacing [F(2,76) = 8.51, p = 0.0005, ηp2=0.18] and Feedback [F(1,76) = 21.38, p < 0.0001, ηp2=0.22], and a significant interaction between Feedback and Testing [F(1,76) = 14.12, p = 0.0003, ηp2=0.16]. Optimal Spacing and the presence of corrective Feedback in combination with Testing together boost learning by 29 percentage points as compared to non-optimal realizations (massed learning, testing with the lack of corrective feedback). Our findings indicate that established learning principles derived from basic memory research can successfully be implemented in web applications to optimize vocabulary learning.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.757262/fulldistance educationdistance learningonline learningweb applicationmemorylanguage learning
spellingShingle Angelo Belardi
Salome Pedrett
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber
Thomas P. Reber
Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
Frontiers in Psychology
distance education
distance learning
online learning
web application
memory
language learning
title Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
title_full Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
title_fullStr Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
title_full_unstemmed Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
title_short Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application
title_sort spacing feedback and testing boost vocabulary learning in a web application
topic distance education
distance learning
online learning
web application
memory
language learning
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.757262/full
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