Vocabulary Learning During Reading: Benefits of Contextual Inferences Versus Retrieval Opportunities

Retrieval practice of isolated words (e.g., with flashcards) enhances foreign vocabulary learning. However, vocabulary is often encountered in context. We investigated whether retrieval opportunities also enhance contextualized word learning. In two within-subjects experiments, participants encoded 24 foreign words and then read a story to further strengthen word knowledge. The story contained eight target words in a retrieval context, which required participants to recall word meaning from memory to understand the text (e.g., “She borrowed a knyga”), and eight target words in an inference context from which meaning could be inferred (e.g., “She read a knyga” [book]). After 1 to 2 days, a posttest measured word retention. Reading the words in either the retrieval or inference context increased retention, compared to control words not included in the story. Moreover, in Experiment 1, retention was significantly higher in the inference than in the retrieval condition. In Experiment 2, in which encoding before reading was more extensive and feedback was available, no differences in retention were found between the inference and retrieval + feedback condition (both increased retention, compared to control words). Overall, the findings suggest that the benefits of retrieval may be less pronounced during incidental, contextualized learning than during intentional exercises and that retrieval success must be considered when adding retrieval opportunities to contextualized learning. Under low retrieval success, the better comprehension afforded by an informative context may outweigh the benefits of retrieval opportunities (Exp.1). Yet even when retrieval success was enhanced and feedback was added (Exp. 2), retrieval opportunities were only as beneficial as exposure to rich contextual information.