Rereading texts in language learning

[Cainntear]

In another topic on the forum, we were discussing a paper on what does and doesn't work in learning, and whether it's applicable to language.

One of the things mentioned as ineffective was rereading. In this case, they were talking about rereading instructional material. My own experience is that trying to read an explanation that I've previously read is pretty useless, because my brain goes "I know this already" and switches off (whether it's grammar for a language course, descriptions of a data structure in a computing course or whatever).

But I don't think the same thing holds for rereading (or relistening) to texts in the target language as practice.

Myself, I've done a fair amount of relistening at various times, including keeping multiple Assimil mp3s on my player for listening to on the bus, and similar with other learners' materials in other languages, and I'm pretty sure it helped me -- but I might be imagining it.

Is anyone aware of any research into the effectiveness of this strategy and how best to go about it?

[DangerDave2010]

I'm using a workflow based re-reading short texts for Arabic. I'll decipher a text with a pop up dictionary, add diacritics to clarify pronunciation as needed, then set it to be re-read a few times in a haphazard schedule. I do this with heavy texts, having about 2-4 new words per sentence. It is really seems the most effective strategy for my level.

[Adrianslont]

In another topic on the forum, we were discussing a paper on what does and doesn't work in learning, and whether it's applicable to language.

One of the things mentioned as ineffective was rereading. In this case, they were talking about rereading instructional material. My own experience is that trying to read an explanation that I've previously read is pretty useless, because my brain goes "I know this already" and switches off (whether it's grammar for a language course, descriptions of a data structure in a computing course or whatever).

But I don't think the same thing holds for rereading (or relistening) to texts in the target language as practice.

Myself, I've done a fair amount of relistening at various times, including keeping multiple Assimil mp3s on my player for listening to on the bus, and similar with other learners' materials in other languages, and I'm pretty sure it helped me -- but I might be imagining it.

Is anyone aware of any research into the effectiveness of this strategy and how best to go about it?

I do a lot of relistening on my commute too. And I, too, think it's helpful. I definitely understand more with each listen. I sometimes wonder if my time might be better spent - if it might be more varied - but my commute constitutes a lot of my study time and I drive, so listening it is.

I look forward to other opinions and some research might be interesting - but I tend to find most language acquisition research a bit dodgy....even when it agrees with my own gut feelings.

[tastyonions]

No studies at hand, but coming back to the same text or audio four or five times with about two weeks between each repetition seems to work very well for me. It's how I have used Assimil for quite a while. If nothing else, as I work through the book it gives me an excellent daily reminder of how far I have progressed when I relisten to those lessons that I first went over a couple months ago!

[Cainntear]

I look forward to other opinions and some research might be interesting - but I tend to find most language acquisition research a bit dodgy....even when it agrees with my own gut feelings.

Agreed, but I'm doing a masters in teaching English (probably specialising in computer-assisted language learning) so research is necessary for me at the moment.

[reineke]

Is there a place for repeated reading?
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2224

Rereading books in your L2
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4344

I'd like some guidance on how I can improve my reading
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3165

Selecting extensive reading materials
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2875

[reineke]

In another topic on the forum, we were discussing a paper on what does and doesn't work in learning, and whether it's applicable to language.

One of the things mentioned as ineffective was rereading. In this case, they were talking about rereading instructional material.

Is anyone aware of any research into the effectiveness of this strategy and how best to go about it?

Aren't you chumming the waters here?

Enhancing Motivation through Repeated Listening
Listening in a foreign language is difficult. Previous research has identified a number of strategies that can result in increased comprehension. One such is repeated listening. Self-reported comprehension was found to be significantly better after the second viewing.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.553.8248&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Extensive or Repeated Listening?
http://lib.csghs.tp.edu.tw:8080/%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B1%E5%AD%B8%E5%A0%B1%E7%AC%AC%E5%85%AD%E6%9C%9F%E5%85%89%E7%A2%9F%E7%89%88/05-1.pdf

You'll find these links in the previous thread:

Assisted repeated reading with an advanced-level Japanese EFL reader:
"...Extensive research has been conducted to show the positive effects of RR in English L1 settings. A growing number of L2 reading researchers have demonstrated that RR may be a promising approach for building fluency and comprehension in L2 settings. However, while L1 research has demonstrated a robust correlation between improved reading fluency and enhanced comprehension, L2 fluency research has not yet shown such a strong correlation."
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/April2012/articles/taguchi.pdf

Developing reading fluency in EFL: How assisted repeated reading and extensive reading affect fluency development
Quantitative and qualitative analyses of participants' reading behaviors suggest that assisted repeated reading is equally as effective as extensive reading in increasing EFL readers' silent reading rate, and favorably affects learners' perceptions of reading activities. Assisted repeated reading can potentially develop weak ESL/EFL readers' fluency and help them become independent readers by providing a distinct form of scaffolding.
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2004/taguchi/taguchi.html

Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method
"If you have sympathized with students who stumble through reading passages or pore over every word in an expressionless manner while barely comprehending, this article is for you."
https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/49_3_4_cohen-1.pdf

[NoManches]

No studies at hand, but coming back to the same text or audio four or five times with about two weeks between each repetition seems to work very well for me. It's how I have used Assimil for quite a while. If nothing else, as I work through the book it gives me an excellent daily reminder of how far I have progressed when I relisten to those lessons that I first went over a couple months ago!

I don't want to get too off topic but in regards to listening, it seems to me that listening to the same material a few times would absolutely be beneficial to a certain degree. It's something that I don't do too often, but when I do, I am always surprised at how much I understand with each new pass of the material.

However, I have listened to some audio over and over again (upwards of 50 times) and I think at this point the returns you get are not worth the time. You might start to pick up a fee words or sentences that were previously incomprehensible, or maybe you start to make sense of a complex sentence, but is it worth extra time?


I do think the same thing can be said about reading, although I haven't done a lot of rereading in my L2 (see the links Reinke posted, some of them are questions I've asked on similar topics). It only makes sense that your comprehension will be better the second time around. The question though: is the improved comprehension with the extra time investment? Possibly.

[tastyonions]

Yeah, I don't listen to the same audio or read the same text anywhere near fifty times. Maybe around ten or twelve times total, spread over a few months, if I find a lesson especially difficult, but normally closer to seven or eight times all told: probably two or three in the first session, then another two in the second session, then once or twice in each session after that. Fifty times sounds soul-deadening to me, but each to his or her own.

[Tillumadoguenirurm]

I don't think I understand the question, because isn't that exactly what Assimil and similar programs are built on? I don't know, I don't have much experience with any of them.

As for rereading and relistening freestyle, meaning using mostly native materials, I know that it works for me personaly, because 80% of the English I know come from doing exactly that. I'm well aware that my grammar isn't always perfect, but I do okay most of the time.



I've also been listening to the same French over and over for several weeks now, I started out being able to just about follow a radio talkshow and have ended up being able to understand most of what is said in most types of radio shows (as far as general vocabulary is concerned), can tell the difference between different regional accents and be right, hear whether someone are faking an accent or not, as well as having people speaking (really bad ) French in my daydreams. I don't think that's too bad neither.


Wether there's any point in reading or listening to the same thing over and over again X 50 or any other kind of random number, it probably depends on what level the person is on and what kind of material they are re-doing. Someone on a medium-ish level would quite obviously get more out of listening to a semi-improvised audioclip 20 times than a person closer to an advanced level would.


Of course, any one of them would probably get more out of learning to use the language from the start instead, but as someone said, to each their own.