Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer
Four previous and two new experiments from our laboratory are reported, in which college students learned associations between French and English words in a learning phase and then took an immediate retention test. One week later, a delayed test was followed by relearning. Four difficulty manipulati...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/5/692 |
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| author | Alice F. Healy Vivian I. Schneider James A. Kole |
| author_facet | Alice F. Healy Vivian I. Schneider James A. Kole |
| author_sort | Alice F. Healy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Four previous and two new experiments from our laboratory are reported, in which college students learned associations between French and English words in a learning phase and then took an immediate retention test. One week later, a delayed test was followed by relearning. Four difficulty manipulations were used during learning: blocking versus mixing semantic categories, translation direction, prelearning, and set size. The first new experiment examined the effect of set size on retention, and the second new experiment examined blocking and mixing semantic categories, as well as translation direction, on learning new vocabulary (transfer). Generally, across the six experiments, difficult conditions provided a disadvantage during learning and immediate testing, but made no difference or provided an advantage during relearning and delayed testing. These results suggest that making the initial learning more difficult does not always lead to superior retention. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-199286d76e5a4ae484d056d4eb8ea1cb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-199286d76e5a4ae484d056d4eb8ea1cb2025-08-20T02:33:39ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-05-0115569210.3390/bs15050692Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and TransferAlice F. Healy0Vivian I. Schneider1James A. Kole2Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USADepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USASchool of Psychological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80639, USAFour previous and two new experiments from our laboratory are reported, in which college students learned associations between French and English words in a learning phase and then took an immediate retention test. One week later, a delayed test was followed by relearning. Four difficulty manipulations were used during learning: blocking versus mixing semantic categories, translation direction, prelearning, and set size. The first new experiment examined the effect of set size on retention, and the second new experiment examined blocking and mixing semantic categories, as well as translation direction, on learning new vocabulary (transfer). Generally, across the six experiments, difficult conditions provided a disadvantage during learning and immediate testing, but made no difference or provided an advantage during relearning and delayed testing. These results suggest that making the initial learning more difficult does not always lead to superior retention.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/5/692vocabulary learningretentiontransferdesirable difficulties |
| spellingShingle | Alice F. Healy Vivian I. Schneider James A. Kole Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer Behavioral Sciences vocabulary learning retention transfer desirable difficulties |
| title | Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer |
| title_full | Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer |
| title_short | Exploring Whether Making Second-Language Vocabulary Learning Difficult Enhances Retention and Transfer |
| title_sort | exploring whether making second language vocabulary learning difficult enhances retention and transfer |
| topic | vocabulary learning retention transfer desirable difficulties |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/5/692 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alicefhealy exploringwhethermakingsecondlanguagevocabularylearningdifficultenhancesretentionandtransfer AT vivianischneider exploringwhethermakingsecondlanguagevocabularylearningdifficultenhancesretentionandtransfer AT jamesakole exploringwhethermakingsecondlanguagevocabularylearningdifficultenhancesretentionandtransfer |