Abstract
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, ] and Feedback [F(1,76) = 21.38, p < 0.0001, ], and a significant interaction between Feedback and Testing [F(1,76) = 14.12, p = 0.0003, ]. Optimal Spacing and the presence of corrective Feedback in combination with Testing together boost learning by 29% 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.
Highlights
Information and communication technology (ICT) changes how we access information and the way we learn
Vocabulary learning lends itself well to assess these questions because the transfer between basic memory research and its application seems rather close: vocabulary learning essentially entails long-term storage of memories for paired associates, a well-researched phenomenon in basic memory research (Steinel et al, 2007)
We found a main effect for the factor Spacing [F(2,76) = 8.51, p = 0.0005, η2p = 0.18]
Summary
Information and communication technology (ICT) changes how we access information and the way we learn. Some meta-analyses report beneficial effects initially that fade after 6–12 months (Cheung and Slavin, 2013; Sung et al, 2016). This fading of effects might represent an initial motivation boost when ICT is first introduced. The authors of that review highlighted the shortage of controlled experiments on recent innovations in education Such efforts could deepen our understanding of the variation of outcomes reported earlier and identify features of apps and learning situations contributing to more successful implementations of ICT in education
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