Effect of Repeated Testing to the Development of Vocabulary, Nominal Structures and Verbal Morphology

Abstract

The repeating testing has shown to increase the general proficiency level of the students. Metsämuuronen (2013) showed with an experimental study that the overall achievement level in a secondary language enhanced statistically significantly whit repeated testing design. Previously, Tuvling (1967) and Karpicke & Roediger (2008) showed with a laboratory experiment that remembering the material studied is the most efficient with repeated testing sessions rather than with repeated studying sessions. An explanation for this, given by Lasry, Levy and Tremblay (2008), is that the repeated testing leads to multiple traces to the memory, which optimizes recall. This study concentrates on the increase in the proficiency level in Vocabulary, Nominal structures and Verbal Morphology after the set of exhaustive testing sessions. It also reviles change in the proficiency levels of the students in these areas during the study process. The experimental group gained more than the control group in all areas though the difference is statistically significant only in the content of Vocabulary. The effect sizes are high (Cohen's d > 1.0). In all areas of interest, the learning curve was of wide U-shape after the elementary period of studies.