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I believe SRS is overused. The spacing effect is, of course, real and quite important. However, it lends itself to decontextualizing what you're learning. For
by sharp11 10y ago
I believe SRS is overused. The spacing effect is, of course, real and quite important. However, it lends itself to decontextualizing what you're learning.
For example, foreign language vocabulary is best learned in context (ie., in sentences, within conversations). That's the only way to know how it's actually used. Otherwise, you're just learning a mapping between first and second languages.
There are other benefits to learning in context, as well. It's more fun, sustains long-term interest better, and these emotional benefits enhance memory as well.
Most interestingly, there are efficiencies to learning in context. For example, one can learn two new words in one sentence.
For all these reasons, I believe it's quite unfortunate that the first language learning tool everyone grabs is some kind of SRS flashcard system. And similar arguments apply in other domains.
- wahnfrieden 10y agoSRS is most effective when used to retain what you learn, not as a way to learn new material for the first time.
- kevinstubbs 10y agoSpaced repetition and learning in context are not mutually exclusive. [0] Secondly, there are many many advantages to learning vocabulary out of context. I am very interested in foreign languages, and have self-studied to elementary proficiency in Italian, German, and Russian. Memrise is my go to app for picking up vocabulary out of context, because it is the fastest path to a bigger vocabulary. For a lot of vocabulary, at least for the languages I've come across so far, there is a direct one to one mapping for the essential things.. E.g. you can learn the word for "book", "fire", "box", "sky", etc. out of context. Certainly, learning in context has advantageous for improving grammar and in some situations verb usage - therefore a more balanced approach. An easy example of the advantage of in-context language learning is that in German and Italian, knowing somebody uses different verbs than knowing a thing. If you were to study a verb like "to know" in Memrise, you rely on the flashcard's definition to be thorough enough to clarify their usages. [0]: "A Trainable Spaced Repetition Model for Language Learning", writes about how spaced repetition is used by Duolingo. https://s3.amazonaws.com/duolingo-papers/publications/settles.acl16.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/duolingo-papers/publications/settle...
- sharp11 10y agoThanks for the link to that paper -- I hadn't seen that. I agree that SR and learning in context are not mutually exclusive--but they're challenging to integrate. Duolingo is not a good example -- they teach through random sentences, out of context. Your examples - concrete nouns - are where you miss the least by simply mapping onto English. But I would suggest that this is the very easiest part of learning a second language. I think many learners underestimate how much of language is not derivable by plugging vocabulary into grammar rules. There's so much that is just "that's how we say it". And you need to pick that up in context.