The effect of presentation rate on foreign-language vocabulary learning.
The present study examined the effect of presentation rate on foreign-language vocabulary learning. Experiment 1 varied presentation rates from 1 s to 16 s per pair while keeping the total study time per pair constant. Speakers of English studied Dutch-English translation pairs (e.g., kikker-frog) for 16 × 1 s, 8 × 2 s, 4 × 4 s, 2 × 8 s, or 1 × 16 s. The results showed a nonmonotonic relationship between presentation rate and recall performance for both translation directions (Dutch → English and English → Dutch). Performance was best for intermediate presentation rates and dropped off for short (1 s) or long (16 s) presentation rates. Experiment 2 showed that the nonmonotonic relationship between presentation rate and recall performance was still present after a 1-day retention interval for both translation directions. Our results suggest that a presentation rate in the order of 4 s results in optimal learning of foreign-language vocabulary.
a Department of Psychology , Erasmus University Rotterdam , Woudestein, Rotterdam , The Netherlands.
René
R
Zeelenberg
Mario
M
de Jonge
Huib K
HK
Tabbers
Diane
D
Pecher
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001245:Association Learning; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D019303:Multilingualism; D013334:Students; D013997:Time Factors; D014175:Translating; D014495:Universities; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary
Cued recall; Language learning; Spacing; Study time; Vocabulary learning