Method

According to research launched by James Madison University1, the following is the retention efficiency rate of different learning methods:

  1. Listening: 5%
  2. Reading: 10%
  3. Audiovisual: 20%
  4. Demonstration: 30%
  5. Discussion groups: 50%
  6. Practice: 75%
  7. Teaching Others and Using Information Immediately: 90%

There are many ways to learn–most of which are based on acquiring know-how, including material that must be committed to memory or learned by rote. For example, memorizing the periodic table may see you using repetition in different orders like their symbols, names, and atomic numbers. However, in learning a foreign language, much more involvement is needed; most people can’t just memorize a new language and its vocabulary. Learning a new language will focus on pronunciation, listening, writing, reading, and practicing. And through continual lessons, new vocabulary will come. Current methods of learning a language are not designed to learn and retain vocabulary, and the ‘forgetting curve’ of vocabulary learned in lessons is significant. This is also true in other fields where acquisition of knowledge is based on memorizing words–words dedicated to a profession, formulas, principles, concepts, etc. What happens is that a certain amount of information previously learned is forgotten as time goes on.

The problem of forgetting is due to three factors.

  1. Time required to review a lesson;
  2. Lack of sufficient repetition to imprint it in long-term memory;
  3. Waste of time reviewing words, formulas, concepts, etc. that have already been mastered, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of long-term retention of knowledge learned;

Problem number 1 is that a lot of people take time to learn, but very few are willing to invest time to review the matter seriously;

Problem number 2 is that in the number of people who take time to revise, few revise more than once. However, a revision must be repeated several times and at different times to be effective;

Problem number 3 is that when a review is done, there is unproductive time to review material already memorized through the one that needs to be memorized. This fact considerably reduces the percentage of effectiveness of revision carried out.

The problems listed above are credible while still approachable and solvable using tried and tested learning methods and through applications dedicated to learning concepts that require memorization of words, words dedicated to a profession, formulas, principles, concepts, etc.

1- How Memory Works, James Madison University