Enhancing learning through testing: Investigating the practical uses and theoretical understanding of the forward testing effect.

最近的研究提供了有希望的证据，在学习过程中进行内插测试可以前瞻性地增强学习和新信息的保留，这种现象被称为前向测试效应（FTE）。例如，让人们在学习了一篇文章的每个部分后回忆内容，与重新学习每个部分相比，可以使下一部分的记忆增加一倍。内插测试的这种潜在好处已被证明可以增强对外文翻译词对、文本段落、讲座视频、艺术家绘画风格和其他类型信息的学习和记忆；它可以减少走神（即走神），增强记笔记的能力；它不仅可以增强对特定内容的记忆，还可以提高知识的整合（例如对文本和讲座视频的理解）。考虑到人们的学习努力（如注意力、动机）在整个学习阶段往往会下降，而学习努力的减少会导致学习效率的降低和学习成果的受损，探索有效的策略来维持学习努力和保持学习效率是很重要的，比如FTE。尽管实证研究结果很有希望，但FTE的许多关键特征尚未得到充分理解。如果不深入探讨其机制和边界条件，其现实意义和理论基础以及教育翻译和开发都将受到阻碍。因此，当前项目的主要目的是全面介绍FTE，并将该技术应用于加强教育实践。已经提出了几种解释来解释内插测试如何以及为什么促进新信息的学习，当前项目的第一个目标是测试这些帐户。例如，我们最近提出了一种期望-动机理论：重复测试导致测试期望增加，这与实现成功回忆的难度的元认知意识相结合，从而产生增强的学习动机。为了验证这一理论，目前的研究将测量考试预期、学习投入（例如，注意力、记笔记、走神）和考试表现。将采用前沿实验（如预注册）和统计分析（如贝叶斯多层次中介分析和结构模型拟合）方法。第二个目的是研究FTE的边界条件和调节因子。内插式测试对每个人都有益吗？换句话说，谁将从重复测试中受益，谁将遭受损失？考试难度重要吗？部分测试（即只测试部分内容）是否能像测试所有内容一样有效地产生预期效益？远期收益是持久的吗？提出了一些研究来探索这些关键问题。一个关键和创新的目标是探索FTE的实际（和教育）效用。提出了几项研究来调查：(1)课堂上的外语教学；(2)重复考试是否能减少考试焦虑；(3)学习者是否意识到插值测试（元认知意识）的潜在好处，并在学习过程中进行自我测试（元认知控制）；(4)内插测试是否可以作为一种有益的补救技术来减轻老年人的学习和记忆缺陷。总的来说，本申请中提出的工作将使FTE的关键特征得到更好的理解，并促进其对学习者、教育工作者和研究人员的理论和实践意义的开发。

Recent research has provided promising evidence that administering interpolated tests during learning can prospectively enhance learning and retention of new information, a phenomenon termed the forward testing effect (FTE). For instance, asking people to recall the content after studying each section of a text passage, by comparison with restudying each section, can double the recall of the next section. This prospective benefit of interpolated testing has been shown to enhance learning and recall of foreign-translation word pairs, text passages, lecture videos, artists' painting styles, and other types of information; it reduces mind-wandering (i.e., zoning out) and enhances note-taking; it not only enhances memory of specific content but also improves knowledge integration (e.g., comprehension of texts and lecture videos). Given that people's study effort (e.g., attention, motivation) tends to decline across a study phase and attenuated study effort leads to a reduction in learning efficiency and impaired learning outcomes, it is important to explore effective strategies to sustain study effort and maintain learning efficiency across a study phase, such as the FTE.Although the empirical findings are promising, many critical features of the FTE are yet to be fully understood. Without a much deeper exploration of its mechanisms and boundary conditions, its practical significance and theoretical basis, as well as educational translation and exploitation, will be hindered. Therefore, the main aims of the current project are to develop a full account of the FTE and to apply this technique to enhance educational practice.Several explanations have been proposed to explain how and why interpolated testing facilitates the learning of new information, and the first aim of the current project is to test these accounts. For instance, we recently proposed an expectancy-motivation theory: Repeated tests cause increasing test expectancy, which combines with metacognitive awareness of the difficulty of achieving successful recall to create enhanced learning motivation. To test this theory, the current research will measure test expectancy, learning engagement (e.g., attention, note-taking, mind-wandering), and test performance. Cutting-edge experimental (e.g., pre-registration) and statistical analysis (e.g., Bayesian multilevel mediation analysis and structural model fitting) methods will be employed.The second aim is to investigate the boundary conditions and moderators of the FTE. Are interpolated tests beneficial for everyone? Put differently, who will benefit or suffer from repeated testing? Does test difficulty matter? Can partial testing (that is, only partial contents are tested) induce the prospective benefits as effectively as testing on all contents? Are the forward benefits long-lasting? Several studies are proposed to explore these critical questions.A key and innovative aim is to explore the practical (and educational) utility of the FTE. Several studies are proposed to investigate (1) the FTE in the classroom; (2) whether repeated testing can reduce test anxiety; (3) whether learners appreciate the prospective benefits of interpolated tests (metacognitive awareness) and administer self-tests during learning (metacognitive control); (4) whether interpolated tests can be profitably employed as a remedial technique to mitigate older adults' learning and memory deficits.Overall, the work proposed in this application will allow key critical features of the FTE to be better understood and facilitate exploitation of its theoretical and practical significance for learners, educators, and researchers.