Language Learning Theory: Recognition of Words and Verbs

September 7, 2022 12:42 AM

I'm very confident using flashcards for language learning. I use Anki, and I'm very happy with. However, I'm interested in how 'tough' I should be grading myself when it comes to recognition, and any learning theory there might be on the subject. When I test myself on production, I only accept 100% correct answers. Some examples and my current method below the fold.

Examples
Words - I tend to err on the side of provided I'm close enough, to mark it as correct. e.g.
Abuelo : Grandfather (If I give the response 'Granny', I mark it as correct. In the 'real world' this isn't a recognition error which will make a huge difference. I'm likely to not hear the end of a word anyway, so provided I know it's a grandparent, the comprehension will work itself out.)

Verbs- I feel like i should be tougher
Ayer, diste : Yesterday, you gave (If I give the response, "yesterday, you said", I mark it as incorrect - right person, right tense, wrong verb. I only mark correct if I get all three pieces of information right.)

What I'm looking for:
People's experiences being both 'tough' and 'approximate'.

What I'm not looking for
Tips on using flash cards or language learning.

posted by Braeburn to Education (4 answers total)

What is your goal and how do you react to false positives (overly lenient, marked correct, but isn’t completely) and false negatives (overly strict, marked incorrect, though it’s only off by something insignificant)? Do you feel like you’re cheating, or accomplished, or like getting punished, or righteous, just to name some stronger reactions, and what is more likely to motivate you to work toward reaching your goal? Then decide which side you’d rather err on, as there will always be close calls.
posted by meijusa at 12:55 AM on September 7, 2022

Any theory has to take into account that there's enormous variety in how people learn. Try one way, see if it works well for you, and if not then try a different way. Personally, I'd tell myself "Close" but mark the word wrong so that I get more practice and can get it right the next times. I don't see this as grading or assessment - I'm just learning for myself and I want to help myself know what a given word means.
posted by trig at 2:30 AM on September 7, 2022

Best answer: With Anki, when I'm almost-right-but-not-quite I'll often mark it one way or another based on when I'm going to see the word again - if I'm close, and the word or phrase is due to turn up again in a couple of days, I'll go "ah close enough, I'll get it next time", but if I'm close and it's not due to recur for a year I'll say I got it wrong to put it back in more frequent rotation. Sometimes I'll do that even if I got it right but it was really hard and I wasn't at all confident.

I'll also sometimes go "ah close enough" regardless of when a word is due to repeat if I decide it's something I don't really care about; sure, it'd be nice to be able to recognise it, but it's not something I'll ever need. (For example, production of a word that I know a bunch of synonyms for.)

I find that for me, if I'm absolutely strict, I end up getting frustrated and bored ("oh this one again"). I also find that strictness encourages a kind of perfectionism that isn't actually useful when I try to use the language in practice - if I'm having a conversation with someone, I figure it's better to be comfortable saying something that I'm pretty sure is comprehensible but maybe isn't perfect, rather than getting stressed out making sure everything I say is absolutely correct. Depends how you learn, though! I like to mess around and try things out and learn through having a project and kind-of pick up the necessary skills as I go, which doesn't work for everyone.
posted by severalbees at 6:23 AM on September 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Like severalbees, I'm more lenient when I'm going to see something again soon. If it's over a week though, I'll mark it with an orange flag so that I know when I see it again that I struggled as little last time too. If I'm doing an orange flagged card and don't get it right, I'll relearn that one and take the flag off, even if it otherwise would've been soon. I get a mix of ones where I forget the same but twice and ones where the second time I'm fine and drop it down through green and blue flags as I keep checking to make sure I have all the bits in my head.
posted by blueberry monster at 4:51 PM on October 14, 2022