Does pre-testing promote better retention than post-testing?

Alice Latimier (1) , Arnaud Riegert (2) , Hugo Peyre (3) , Son Thierry Ly (4) , Roberto Casati (5) , Franck Ramus (1)

1 LSCP - Laboratoire de sciences cognitives et psycholinguistique
2 PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques
3 Hôpital Robert Debré
4 PSE - Paris School of Economics
5 IJN - Institut Jean-Nicod

Compared with other learning strategies, retrieval practice seems to promote superior long-term retention. This has been found mostly in conditions where learners take tests after being exposed to learning content. However, a pre-testing effect has also been demonstrated, with promising results. This raises the question, for a given amount of time dedicated to retrieval practice, whether learners should be tested before or after an initial exposure to learning content. Our experiment directly compares the benefits of post-testing and pre-testing relative to an extended reading condition, on a retention test 7 days later. We replicated both post-testing (d = 0.74) and pre-testing effects (d = 0.35), with significantly better retention in the former condition. Post-testing also promoted knowledge transfer to previously untested questions, whereas pre-testing did not. Our results thus suggest that it may be more fruitful to test students after than before exposure to learning content. npj Science of Learning (2019) 4:15 ; https://doi. INTRODUCTION The testing effect is a strong and well demonstrated effect. 1-5 As opposed to common learning practices such as reading, taking tests, and more generally retrieval practice during the learning phase contribute to better long term retention 6 by reducing the forgetting rate of information across time. 7 The benefits of retrieval practice have been demonstrated in both laboratory and classroom settings 8,9 and for both simple (e.g. word lists) and complex (e.g. prose passages) material. 10 In a meta-analysis, Rowland 11 reported a mean effect size of g = 0.50 [IC-95%: 0.42, 0.58] from 61 studies comparing the effects of testing vs. restudying on the ability to learn new information after a first exposure to learning contents. In another meta-analysis, Adesope et al. 12 found a mean effect size of g = 0.61 [IC-95%: 0.58 and 0.65] by comparing retrieval practice to other practices. The testing effect may also lead to better retention of previously untested information and to greater knowledge transfer than restudying. 13-15 A recent meta-analysis 16 on the transfer of retrieval practice effects found that retrieval practice yielded transferrable learning relative to a restudying control condition (d = 0.40, 95%CI [0.31 and 0.50]). However, transfer does not necessarily occur in all circumstances and with all types of content. 14 Pan and Rickard 16 made a distinction between untested application and inference questions and untested information seen during the first exposure to material. Interestingly, they found a transfer effect of retrieval practice on application and inference questions, but not on untested information seen during initial study. The testing effect has mainly been shown in the context of tests given after exposure to learning contents. However, a pre-testing effect has also been shown in laboratory settings with promising results. Indeed, taking a test before being exposed to learning content enhances retention compared with no retrieval practice. 17-23 Although the pre-testing effect was demonstrated on written materials (prose passages as well as paired words), a

Domaines: Sciences cognitives

Alice Latimier, Arnaud Riegert, Hugo Peyre, Son Thierry Ly, Roberto Casati, et al.. Does pre-testing promote better retention than post-testing?. npj Science of Learning, 2019, 4 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41539-019-0053-1⟩. ⟨hal-02324042⟩