Spaced Retrieval Improves Retention and Transfer of Foreign Vocabulary

One strategy that has been shown to promote long-term retention is spaced retrieval practice. In this study, we used standard and dropout procedures of spaced retrieval training to examine whether they produce superior retention and transfer relative to repeated restudy in novel vocabulary learning. Across three sessions spaced two days apart, participants learned 30 Swahili words with their English definitions via spaced testing or by restudying. Definitions were the same (fixed) across days in Experiment 1 or different each day (variable) in Experiment 2. A week later, all participants were tested using either the same (repetition) or new (transfer) definitions from study. It was found that standard spaced retrieval practice improved recall of repetition and transfer items compared to repeated restudy with both fixed and variable learning. We also found that although the dropout procedure takes less time, standard spaced retrieval results in more transfer. These findings have important implications for choosing learning techniques to achieve the best outcomes.