Spaced-repetition apps (Anki, Quizlet) beat paper cards but share their limits: learners rarely self-study, cards hold too little (collocation, usage), they build mainly receptive knowledge, and ready-made sets fit badly. Spacing isn’t enough on its own; add generation, elaboration and better feedback.
Part 1 (2014-10-13)
Deliberate vocabulary learning is justified (Nation 2008), but cards are an “initial stage”; class time is needed for productive use. Generative use helps retention (Joe 1998).
Part 2: three levers (Brown, Roediger & McDaniel 2014, Make It Stick)
- Generation: partial cues (foot – s _ _ e) beat showing the answer.
- Elaboration: connect to prior knowledge, multiple contexts.
- Feedback: staged hints; slightly delayed rather than instant.
- Classroom: pair testing, improving cards together, word circles, true/false personal sentences, mini-stories with target words (Sökmen 1997).
Product design (Claude, from Kerr)
Card fields for collocation, example and usage; learner-authored cards; production prompts; staged hints; several contexts per item; A/B-test feedback timing.
Connections
Spaced retrieval is the best-supported technique · Vocabulary apps - reward design outruns learning design · Output tasks after reading boost vocabulary retention