Dynamic Interplay Between Practice Type and Practice Schedule in a Second Language

Abstract

To investigate the skill transfer and the effects of practice schedules in the learning of second language syntax, 129 intermediate-level English learners were divided into six groups, based on practice format (input vs. output practice) and practice schedule (blocked vs. interleaved vs. hybrid [blocked + interleaved]). Analyses revealed that the learners tested on the skill they had practiced outperformed those who were tested on the nonpracticed skill. This pattern was particularly pronounced in comprehension processing speed and production accuracy. Moreover, hybrid practice facilitated skill development more than blocked or interleaved practice alone. Furthermore, a dynamic interplay was detected among practice format, schedule, and learners’ prior knowledge. Hybrid practice led to the least transfer from receptive skills (gained through input practice) to productive skills. Unlike interleaved practice effects, the effects of blocked practice on comprehension speed were more susceptible to learners’ prior processing speed.

The Desirable Difficulty Framework as a Theoretical Foundation for Optimizing and Researching Second Language Practice

“…While the results of a 1‐week delayed posttest showed the advantage of interleaved practice over blocked practice, increasing practice was not significantly better or worse than the other two practice schedules. Another recent study, in contrast, showed that an increasing learning schedule led to significantly better outcomes than either blocked or interleaved practice for L2 learners’ spoken grammar knowledge (Suzuki & Sunada, ), which lends direct support to the desirable difficulty framework. In other words, gradually increasing the practice difficulty to match learners’ skill levels helps induce the appropriate level of difficulty throughout training and facilitates learning.…”

“…Nakata and Suzuki (), for instance, pursued this line of work and examined whether spacing differentially affects the learning of semantically related and unrelated lexical sets, and found that semantically unrelated sets benefit more from spacing. Another recent study (Suzuki & Sunada, ) also examined whether blocking, interleaving, and increasing schedules differently affect the learning of comprehension and production skills. They found the advantage of increasing schedule over the blocking and interleaving schedules for measures of production accuracy and comprehension speed (reaction time), but not for measures of production speed or comprehension accuracy.…”

Optimizing Second Language Practice in the Classroom: Perspectives from Cognitive Psychology

“…showed advantages of interleaved practice for L2 grammar acquisition. The benefits of interleaving found in these studies may encourage researchers to further explore interleaving effects in order to arrive at a better understanding of the phenomenon (Suzuki & Sunada, ).…”

Empirical Feasibility of the Desirable Difficulty Framework: Toward More Systematic Research on L2 Practice for Broader Pedagogical Implications

“…Furthermore, Rogers and Leow challenged the validity of our framework by referring to inconsistent findings reported for interleaving effects (Nakata & Suzuki, ; Suzuki & Sunada, ) and distributed practice effects (Kasprowicz et al., ; Li & DeKeyser, ). However, we believe that these inconsistent findings actually support, rather than refute, our framework, because these studies demonstrate how linguistic, learner‐related, and context‐related factors interact with each other to affect L2 acquisition, which is the basic tenet of our framework.…”

“…However, we believe that these inconsistent findings actually support, rather than refute, our framework, because these studies demonstrate how linguistic, learner‐related, and context‐related factors interact with each other to affect L2 acquisition, which is the basic tenet of our framework. Specifically, Nakata and Suzuki () and Suzuki and Sunada () examined the effects of the increasing schedule (blocked practice followed by interleaved practice) on L2 grammar acquisition. While Suzuki and Sunada found the superiority of the increasing schedule over both blocked and interleaved practice, Nakata and Suzuki failed to do so.…”