Dual Coding Language Learning: Pair Words With Images
Dual coding language learning pairs each word with a vivid image so verbal and visual memory reinforce each other. Learn the theory and how to apply it.
6 min read
The Science of Vocabulary
What the research says about remembering words, and what it does not say.
Vocabulary learning is one of the better-studied corners of cognitive psychology, which means most of the advice you meet online has a real experiment behind it somewhere. It also means a lot of that advice has been stretched well past what the experiment showed.
These articles go back to the primary work: Hermann Ebbinghaus measuring his own forgetting in 1885, Allan Paivio’s dual coding theory in 1971, Atkinson and Raugh’s keyword method in 1975, Piotr Woźniak’s SM-2 algorithm in the late 1980s, and the modern FSRS scheduler that now ships inside Anki.
Where a finding is solid, it is stated plainly. Where the popular version has drifted from the study, that is stated too. The aim is that you can tell the difference between a technique with decades of replication behind it and a technique that simply sounds scientific.
3 articles
The Keyword Method for Language Learning (1975)
The keyword method links a foreign word to a sound-alike native word plus a vivid image. Learn Atkinson & Raugh's 1975 memory trick, with examples.
6 min read
Spaced Repetition for Language Learning: SM-2 vs FSRS
Spaced repetition for language learning explained: the forgetting curve, SM-2 vs FSRS vs Anki, and the daily review intervals that actually work.
6 min read
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