Department of Education, Utrecht University.
Cogn Sci. 2022 Apr;46(4):e13135. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13135.
Retrieval practice of isolated words (e.g., with flashcards) enhances foreign vocabulary learning. However, vocabulary is often encountered in context. We investigated whether retrieval opportunities also enhance contextualized word learning. In two within-subjects experiments, participants encoded 24 foreign words and then read a story to further strengthen word knowledge. The story contained eight target words in a retrieval context, which required participants to recall word meaning from memory to understand the text (e.g., "She borrowed a knyga"), and eight target words in an inference context from which meaning could be inferred (e.g., "She read a knyga" [book]). After 1 to 2 days, a posttest measured word retention. Reading the words in either the retrieval or inference context increased retention, compared to control words not included in the story. Moreover, in Experiment 1, retention was significantly higher in the inference than in the retrieval condition. In Experiment 2, in which encoding before reading was more extensive and feedback was available, no differences in retention were found between the inference and retrieval + feedback condition (both increased retention, compared to control words). Overall, the findings suggest that the benefits of retrieval may be less pronounced during incidental, contextualized learning than during intentional exercises and that retrieval success must be considered when adding retrieval opportunities to contextualized learning. Under low retrieval success, the better comprehension afforded by an informative context may outweigh the benefits of retrieval opportunities (Exp.1). Yet even when retrieval success was enhanced and feedback was added (Exp. 2), retrieval opportunities were only as beneficial as exposure to rich contextual information.
孤立单词的检索练习（例如，使用闪卡）可以增强外语词汇学习。然而，词汇通常是在上下文中遇到的。我们研究了检索机会是否也能增强上下文词汇学习。在两个被试内实验中，参与者编码了 24 个外语单词，然后阅读了一个故事以进一步加强对单词的理解。故事中包含八个目标词，其中八个目标词在检索语境中，要求参与者从记忆中回忆单词的意思以理解文本（例如，“她借了一本书”），而另外八个目标词在推理语境中，意思可以从语境中推断出来（例如，“她读了一本书”）。在 1 到 2 天后，进行了一次后测来衡量单词的保持情况。与不在故事中的控制词相比，阅读检索或推理语境中的单词可以提高保持率。此外，在实验 1 中，推理条件下的保持率明显高于检索条件。在实验 2 中，在阅读之前的编码更广泛且有反馈的情况下，推理条件和检索+反馈条件之间的保持率没有差异（与控制词相比，两种条件都提高了保持率）。总的来说，这些发现表明，在偶然的、上下文化的学习中，检索的好处可能不如在有意的练习中明显，并且在将检索机会添加到上下文化学习中时，必须考虑检索的成功。在检索成功率较低的情况下，丰富的上下文提供的更好的理解可能会超过检索机会的好处（实验 1）。然而，即使检索成功率得到提高并添加了反馈（实验 2），检索机会也只是与接触丰富的上下文信息一样有益。
