Does testing potentiate new learning because it enables learners to use better strategies?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Learning Sciences

Background:

• The forward testing effect suggests that retrieval practice can enhance subsequent learning.
• A proposed mechanism is that testing may encourage learners to adopt more effective encoding strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether interim testing influences subsequent encoding strategy use in foreign language learning.
• To determine if strategy changes mediate the forward testing effect.
• To examine if interim testing improves transfer of learning to novel material.

Main Methods:

• Five experiments (four preregistered) used a foreign language learning paradigm (Chinese-English pairs).
• Participants were assigned to test or restudy conditions, with strategy use assessed via surveys.
• Later experiments employed a within-subject design to correlate individual strategy changes with learning gains.

Main Results:

• A forward testing effect was observed across all experiments.
• No significant differences in reported encoding strategies were found between test and restudy conditions.
• Individual differences in strategy change were moderately associated with the forward testing effect, but did not mediate it.
• Interim testing did not enhance learning by altering encoding strategies or promote transfer to novel characters.

Conclusions:

• Interim testing does not appear to enhance foreign language learning by modifying subsequent encoding strategies.
• The forward testing effect in this context is not explained by changes in strategy use.
• Interim testing did not facilitate the transfer of learned Chinese characters to new ones.