Happy Together? On the Relationship Between Research on Retrieval Practice and Generative Learning Using the Case of Follow-Up Learning Tasks

Abstract

Generative learning activities are assumed to support the construction of coherent mental representations of to-be-learned content, whereas retrieval practice is assumed to support the consolidation of mental representations in memory. Considering such functions that complement each other in learning, research on how generative learning and retrieval practice intersect appears to be very fruitful. Nevertheless, the relationship between these two fields of research is “expandable”—research on generative learning and retrieval practice has been pursued so far largely side by side without taking much note of each other. Against this background, the present article aims to give this relationship a boost. For this purpose, we use the case of follow-up learning tasks provided after learners have processed new material in an initial study phase to illustrate how these two research strands have already inspired each other and how they might do so even more in the future. In doing so, we address open- and closed-book formats of follow-up learning tasks, sequences of follow-up learning tasks that mainly engage learners in generative activities and tasks that mainly engage learners in retrieval practice, and discuss commonalities and differences between indirect effects of retrieval practice and generative learning activities. We further highlight what we do and do not know about how these two activity types interact. Our article closes with a discussion on how the relationship between generative learning and retrieval practice research could bear (more and riper) fruit in the future.