I was talking to a friend the other day who decided now was the right time to tell me about a moment I had said something completely inappropriate in a meeting. I had no idea I had done it until he mentioned it. The meeting was a year ago and I have no memory of it, or what I said. However, the time I fell over at school (40 years ago) and cracked my leg against some brickwork, I can remember as if it was yesterday! Significant moments stay with us, ordinary and everyday stuff fades away! Welcome to the forgetting curve!
Memory, as we all know, has a way of tricking us. Often the things we remember didn’t happen the way we remember them at all. Memory is very unreliable. And so, when it comes to learning English, or any language or anything for that matter, we need to consider how we are going to remember what we are being taught.
There are books written about the stuff, how to remember and keep information in your head! But a key element of learning languages is not learning how to remember, but how not to forget! Enter Hermann Ebbinghaus!
Hermann was a German psychologist who discovered the forgetting curve. Basically, it’s a curve that shows how much we forget over a period of time. Have a look….
So what does this tell us? Well, it tells us that if you learn something once you’re only going to remember 60% by the time 3 days has passed. This I completely understand, I’m still trying to remember what I had for breakfast!
But, if you go back and review what you have learned 3 times in one week, so the next day, then two days after that and then three days after that, the curve flattens and by day 7 you will have retained over 90% of that knowledge. That’s impressive stuff!
A key element of learning languages is not learning how to remember, but how not to forget.
What does this mean for language learners. Well, my experience tells me that many students forget what they have learned. They race through course books, move from the passive voice to the conditionals without review or careful revision. As everyday passes the things that have been learned are slowly seeping out of the brain and into oblivion. And the new things they are trying to put into the brain will be lost in no time.
Teachers know the power of careful and measured progression. The learning process requires constant revision to allow what has been learned to seep deeper into the memory and ultimately become knowledge. And future learning only works when it builds on previous knowledge (enter Vygotsky! We’ll talk about him in another post).
With no review, 40% of what you learn is lost within 3 days!
So learning languages requires a commitment. And that commitment depends on both student and teacher. The teacher needs to educate on how to retain that knowledge and the student needs to commit to doing the hard work to succeed. It’s a partnership and one that can be very successful when both parties work together to achieve their goals.
Here’s a shout out to Hermann!
