What it means to learn a word
What it means to learn a word
To learn a word is to know how it sounds and how it is spelled, what it means, how it is used, and to recall it when you need it. Those are five skills, or five connections in memory, as we call them in the app. They form at different speeds, so we count each one separately.
I understand
I recall
I spell
I know by ear
I use
01 — 10
What each correct answer teaches
Recognising departure among four options does not mean recalling departure when you need it. Each skill has its own practice, and a correct answer speaks only for the skill it tested.
I understand
This skill is the link between the word and its meaning.
A correct answer means
that you know what this word means
And it does not mean
that you will recall the word when you need it
I recall
This skill is the link between a meaning and the word itself.
A correct answer means
that from the meaning you recall the word
And it does not mean
that you will spell it without a mistake
I spell
This skill is the link between the word and its spelling.
A correct answer means
that you spell the word correctly
And it does not mean
that you will recognise it by ear
I know by ear
This skill is the link between the word and its sound.
A correct answer means
that you recognise the word when you hear it
And it does not mean
that you will understand it in a text
I use
This skill is the link between the word and the sentence it stands in.
A correct answer means
that you put the right word into a sentence
And it does not mean
that you know all of its meanings
02 — 10
Read the same, learned differently
Twenty learners read a novel and met 34 unknown words in it. Nobody taught the words on purpose; the only practice was reading. They recognised the meaning of 43% of the words, but could recall it for only 14%, three times fewer. Spelling was learned worse than meaning, although form is usually assumed to come along by itself. The authors' conclusion: reading alone brings a word to recognition and almost never to recall, and form needs practice of its own. That is why we count each skill separately and train each with its own exercise.
Of the 34 words, reading taught…
meaning recognition
43%
spelling recognition
34%
everything at once
28%
part of speech
20%
meaning recall
14%
Pellicer-Sánchez & Schmitt, 2010
18
aspects of a word have to be known to own it: form, meaning and use, each from several sides.
Nation, 2001
60%
A “60% learned” scale does not work: in the data the answers fell apart into “barely know it” and “know it”, with no middle.
Bruton, 2009
03 — 10
We ask rather than show
Learners were given forty words with translations to remember. Once a pair had been recalled a single time, one group kept being asked and the other was shown the answer again. A week later the first group remembered twice as much.
≈ 80%
remembered a week later among those who kept being asked
36%
remembered among those who kept being shown
and 33% among those only shown, without a single test
The learners were meanwhile sure that looking the words over was more useful. A week later it turned out the other way round. So we ask even when it feels as though everything is already learned.
Karpicke & Roediger, 2008 · Science · meta-analysis by Adesope et al., 2017: 272 comparisons
04 — 10
Forgetting is slower than it is thought to be
Textbooks draw a steep forgetting curve. In our data a word holds level for the first month and only then starts to go, a little at a time.
How many answers stay correct if you come back to the word after… days
the first month is a plateau93.50%91.02%86.89%1–23–67–1314–2930–8990–179180–364
Our data: 2.67M answers, adjusted for word difficulty and learner strength. The reliable stretch is 14 to 180 days
05 — 10
Tomorrow, not today
A word repeated a day later is remembered about three times better than one repeated straight away. And before this, nearly every repeat happened on the same day.
How it was · when a word was repeated
the same day · 82.93%
later — 17%: after 1–2 days 4.26%, after 90 days or more 0.93%
How it is now · a repeat waits for time to pass
learned
today
repeat
tomorrow
repeat
in a week
repeat
in a month
Our data; repeats inside one exercise were not counted
×3
is how much better a word holds if it is repeated after a gap rather than at once (about +200%). Which schedule matters less; that there is a gap matters.
Karpicke & Bauernschmidt, 2011
⅕
of the horizon you want to remember for is a good gap for a repeat. For a year it is rarer, about a twentieth. Missing it slightly is cheap.
Cepeda et al., 2008 · more than 1350 participants
06 — 10
How hard a task is
One skill can be tested leaving many prompts or none at all. The fewer the prompts, the harder you have to try, and the more a correct answer weighs.
recognise
pick one of four
prompt: the answer is on screen
match
match a whole group
prompt: the answer is on screen, with interference
find
find the form in a grid of letters
prompt: the letters are there, in noise
assemble
build the word from letters
prompt: the parts are given, the order is not
write
type it from nothing
prompt: none
Honestly, there is no even five-rung ladder in our data: the difference between “recognise” and “write it yourself” is large and reliable, while neighbouring rungs are often equal. So the rungs carry no percentages.
Our data: 2.75M answers · share correct: choice 91.96%, matching 86.70%, assembly 78.59%, writing 73.50%, search 69.44%
07 — 10
How a correct answer becomes memory
Every answer in an exercise — your own or a teacher's assignment — is recorded against the connection it tested.
01
Answered correctly — the connection got stronger
We record exactly the connection the question tested: recognised the meaning and “I understand” grows, spelled the word and “I spell” grows.
02
Cleared a rung — you move up
Next time the word is asked more strictly: fewer prompts, more effort. That is how a connection reaches “write it from nothing”.
03
The word gets a repeat date
The stronger the connection, the further the repeat moves away. We will call when the word starts being forgotten — not before.
This is how it looks at the end of a session
departure
right the first time · I understand
08 — 10
This is not a game
A word's memory on the card, five skills, “3 of 5 mastered”, “1 to repeat”, is not points and not a reward. It is the answer to what you already remember and what is due for a repeat.
None of this is here
365days+9,999XP213
day streaks
points and levels
leaderboards
There is only word memory
departure
3 of 5 mastered
1 to repeat
five connections, “3 of 5 mastered” and “1 to repeat” — what you remember and what it is time to repeat
Instead of a streak
A reminder at the moment a repeat has come due
Not every day, but exactly when a word starts being forgotten.
Why no games
In rigorous studies games affect neither the wish to learn nor how regularly people study
Of 0.49 across all studies, 0.29 remains in randomised ones — and only on knowledge. Motivation 0.13 and behaviour 0.12: no effect found.
Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 32, 77–112
09 — 10
Two numbers on the card
“Mastered” counts how many of the word's skills you already have. It only grows. “To repeat” says whether it is time to come back to the word. It appears and disappears.
today
departure
1 of 5 mastered
1 to repeat
two weeks later
departure
3 of 5 mastered
nothing to repeat
a month later
departure
3 of 5 mastered
1 to repeat
We call for a repeat when the word has started being forgotten — that is when a repeat gives the most. So “mastered” never rolls back: what is forgotten is the word's availability right now, not the fact that you learned it.
Bjork & Bjork, 1992 · the lines “… of … mastered” and “… to repeat” come from the product
Five connections are already counted in every set. Start with one.