Testing Effect and Retrieval Learning
What type of activities have been shown to support durable learning in students? From a cognitive perspective, we can place learning activities into two broad categories: encoding activities and retrieval activities. Encoding related activities focus more on “putting information in” to long-term memory. Retrieval related activities focus more on “taking information out” of memory – i.e. practicing the extraction of information from our long-term memory. For example, when students listen to a teacher, read articles, watch videos, or create concept maps or write essays while looking at their notes, they perform encoding activities. These student actions are completed as part of putting information in memory accurately and elaborating on it. On the other hand, when students complete practice tests, write learning journals, instruct peers, or create concept maps or write essays from memory (e.g. without referring to their notes), they perform retrieval activities. As the student actions are completed without referring to their notes, they are required to retrieve the information from their memory system.
Empirical studies have found that students need to reconstruct memories and strengthen retrieval routes. A mix of encoding and retrieval activities are beneficial. As Bjork, Dunlosky & Kornell (2013) write, “to be a sophisticated learner requires understanding that creating durable and flexible access to to-be-learned information is partly a matter of achieving a meaningful encoding of that information and partly a matter of exercising the retrieval process.” But when comparing the efficacy of encoding versus retrieval types of activities, especially when reviewing material for tests, we see that retrieval activities are more effective in supporting durable learning. The results of such studies describe the testing effect. “Taking a test on material can have a greater positive effect on future retention of that material than spending an equivalent amount of time restudying the material, even when performance on the test is far from perfect and no feedback is given on missed information” (Roediger III & Karpicke, 2006a). The testing effect has been demonstrated in hundreds of studies since 1909 including studies on language learning, general knowledge, visuospatial materials, science, social science, statistics and in medical education. The studies have used real university exams, online testing, and in-class testing (Roediger III & Karpicke, 2006a). Below are two studies that demonstrate the benefits of retrieval learning (i.e. the testing effect).
Study 1: Encoding vs. Retrieval Practice (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b)
Students studied two TOEFL texts and took three tests at different times. The first was an immediate test after the last learning session, the next was after a 2-day delay, and the third was after a 1-week delay. Group A studied the text four times (study-only). Group B studied the text once (7-min)