Imagine learning new words is like exploring a foreign land. You have your trusty map of flashcards for isolated words, but what about the beautiful landscape of contextualized vocabulary? Well, scientists investigated whether retrieval opportunities during reading also enhance word learning. In two experiments, participants learned foreign words and then read a story to reinforce their knowledge. The story contained target words that required either recalling their meaning from memory or inferring the meaning from context. After a day or two, a test measured word retention. Reading the words in either retrieval or inference contexts boosted retention compared to control words. Surprisingly, the inference context led to even higher retention than the retrieval context in one experiment. However, in another experiment with more extensive learning and feedback, both retrieval and inference contexts resulted in similar levels of retention. These findings suggest that while retrieval is important for intentional exercises, its benefits may be less pronounced during incidental, contextualized learning where an informative context can outweigh the need for retrieval opportunities. Still, when retrieval success is enhanced with feedback, retrieval opportunities are just as beneficial as exposure to rich contextual information. Interested in diving deeper into how context impacts vocabulary learning? Check out the full article!

Abstract
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.

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