Incremental reading

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Introduction to incremental reading by SuperMemo 15 Freeware Introduction to incremental reading by SuperMemo 15 Freeware.png
Introduction to incremental reading by SuperMemo 15 Freeware
Using incremental reading with an Anki add-on: extracting a portion out of an article and creating a cloze deletion Incremental Reading add-on (v4.7.14) for Anki (v2.1beta27) (annoted).jpg
Using incremental reading with an Anki add-on: extracting a portion out of an article and creating a cloze deletion

Incremental reading is a software-assisted method for learning and retaining information from reading, which involves the creation of flashcards out of electronic articles. "Incremental reading" means "reading in portions". Instead of a linear reading of articles one at a time, the method works by keeping a large list of electronic articles or books (often dozens or hundreds) and reading parts of several articles in each session. The user prioritizes articles in the reading list. During reading, key points of articles are broken up into flashcards, which are then learned and reviewed over an extended period with the help of a spaced repetition algorithm.

Contents

This use of flashcards at later stages of the process is based on the spacing effect (the phenomenon whereby learning is greater when studying is spread out over time) and the testing effect (the finding that long-term memory is increased when some of the learning periods are devoted to retrieving the to-be-remembered information through testing). It targets people trying to learn for life a large amount of information, particularly if it comes from various sources.

History

The method itself is often credited to the Polish software developer Piotr Woźniak. He implemented the first version of incremental reading in 1999 in SuperMemo 99, providing the essential tools of the method: a prioritized reading list and the possibility to extract portions of articles and to create cloze deletions. [1] The term "incremental reading" itself appeared the following year with SuperMemo 2000. [2] Later SuperMemo programmes subsequently enhanced the tools and techniques involved, such as webpage imports, material overload handling, etc. [3]

Limited incremental reading support for the text editor Emacs appeared in 2007. [4]

An Anki add-on for incremental reading was later published in 2011; [5] for Anki 2.0 and 2.1, another add-on is available. [6]

Incremental reading was the first of a series of related concepts invented by Piotr Woźniak: incremental image learning, incremental video, incremental audio, incremental mail processing, incremental problem solving, and incremental writing. "Incremental learning" is the term Wozniak uses to refer to those concepts. [7]

Method

When reading an electronic article, the user extracts the most important parts (similar to underlining or highlighting a paper article) and gradually distills them into flashcards. Flashcards are information presented in a question-answer format (making active recall possible). Cloze deletions are often used in incremental reading, as they are easy to create from the text. Both extracts and flashcards are scheduled independently from the original article.

With time and reviews, articles are supposed to be gradually converted into extracts and extracts into flashcards. Hence, incremental reading is a method of breaking down information from electronic articles into sets of flashcards.

Contrary to extracts, flashcards are reviewed with active recall. This means that extracts such as "George Washington was the first U.S. president" must ultimately be converted into questions such as "Who was the first U.S. president?" (Answer: George Washington), or "Who was George Washington?" (Answer: the first U.S. president), etc., or cloze deletions such as "[BLANK] was the first U.S. president", "George Washington was [BLANK]", etc.

This flashcard creation process is semi-automated – the reader chooses which material to learn and edits the precise wording of the questions. In contrast, the software assists in prioritizing articles and making the flashcards and does the scheduling: it calculates the time for the reader to review each chunk according to the rules of a spaced repetition algorithm. This means that all processed pieces of information are presented at increasing intervals.

Individual articles are read in portions proportional to the attention span, which depends on the user, their mood, the article, etc. This allows for a substantial gain in attention, according to Piotr Wozniak. [8]

Without spaced repetition, the reader would quickly get lost in the glut of information when studying dozens of subjects in parallel. However, spaced repetition makes it possible to retain traces of the processed material in memory. [ citation needed ] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forgetting curve</span> Decline of memory retention in time

The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. A related concept is the strength of memory that refers to the durability that memory traces in the brain. The stronger the memory, the longer period of time that a person is able to recall it. A typical graph of the forgetting curve purports to show that humans tend to halve their memory of newly learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless they consciously review the learned material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaced repetition</span> Learning technique performed with flashcards

Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently, while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect. The use of spaced repetition has been proven to increase the rate of learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperMemo</span> Spaced repetition memorization/learning software

SuperMemo is a learning method and software package developed by SuperMemo World and SuperMemo R&D with Piotr Woźniak in Poland from 1985 to the present. It is based on research into long-term memory, and is a practical application of the spaced repetition learning method that has been proposed for efficient instruction by a number of psychologists as early as in the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnus</span>

Gnus, or Gnus Network User Services, is a message reader which is part of GNU Emacs. It supports reading and composing both e-mail and news and can also act as an RSS reader, web processor, and directory browser for both local and remote filesystems.

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL), British, or Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI)/Computer-Aided Language Instruction (CALI), American, is briefly defined in a seminal work by Levy as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning". CALL embraces a wide range of information and communications technology applications and approaches to teaching and learning foreign languages, from the "traditional" drill-and-practice programs that characterised CALL in the 1960s and 1970s to more recent manifestations of CALL, e.g. as used in a virtual learning environment and Web-based distance learning. It also extends to the use of corpora and concordancers, interactive whiteboards, computer-mediated communication (CMC), language learning in virtual worlds, and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rote learning</span> A memorization technique based on repetition

Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, associative learning, spaced repetition and active learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorization</span>

Memorization is the process of committing something to memory. It is a mental process undertaken in order to store in memory for later recall visual, auditory, or tactical information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flashcard</span> Tool for systematic learning

A flashcard or flash card is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are often used to memorize vocabulary, historical dates, formulae or any subject matter that can be learned via a question-and-answer format. Flashcards can be virtual, or physical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Study skills</span> Approaches applied to learning

Study skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. Study skills are an array of skills which tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They are discrete techniques that can be learned, usually in a short time, and applied to all or most fields of study. More broadly, any skill which boosts a person's ability to study, retain and recall information which assists in and passing exams can be termed a study skill, and this could include time management and motivational techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leitner system</span> Flashcard learning technique

The Leitner system is a widely used method of efficiently using flashcards that was proposed by the German science journalist Sebastian Leitner in the 1970s. It is a simple implementation of the principle of spaced repetition, where cards are reviewed at increasing intervals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloze test</span> "Fill-in-the-blank" language learning technique

A cloze test is an exercise, test, or assessment consisting of a portion of language with certain items, words, or signs removed, where the participant is asked to replace the missing language item. Cloze tests require the ability to understand the context and vocabulary in order to identify the correct language or part of speech that belongs in the deleted passages. This exercise is commonly administered for the assessment of native and second language learning and instruction.

Studying in an educational context refers to the process of gaining mastery of a certain area of information. Study software then is any program which allows students to improve the time they spend thinking about, learning and studying that information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mnemosyne (software)</span>

Mnemosyne is a line of spaced repetition software developed since 2003. Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that has been shown to increase the rate of memorization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anki (software)</span> Spaced repetition software

Anki is a free and open-source flashcard program using spaced repetition, a technique from cognitive science for memorization. The name comes from the Japanese word for "memorization".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emacs</span> Family of text editors

Emacs, originally named EMACS, is a family of text editors that are characterized by their extensibility. The manual for the most widely used variant, GNU Emacs, describes it as "the extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor". Development of the first Emacs began in the mid-1970s, and work on its direct descendant, GNU Emacs, continues actively; the latest version is 28.2, released in September 2022.

Piotr A. Woźniak is a Polish researcher best known for his work on SuperMemo, a learning system based on spaced repetition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatoeba</span> Online project collecting example sentences

Tatoeba is a free collection of example sentences with translations geared towards foreign language learners. Its name comes from the Japanese phrase "tatoeba" (例えば), meaning "for example". It is written and maintained by a community of volunteers through a model of open collaboration. Individual contributors are known as Tatoebans. It is hosted by Association Tatoeba, a French non-profit organization funded through donations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenCards</span>

OpenCards is a free spaced repetition flashcard program. The software is similar to SuperMemo, Anki or Mnemosyne.

Fresh Memory is a spaced repetition flashcard application, similar to SuperMemo.

A desirable difficulty is a learning task that requires a considerable but desirable amount of effort, thereby improving long-term performance. It is also described as a learning level achieved through a sequence of learning tasks and feedback that lead to enhanced learning and transfer.

References

  1. ↑ "History of incremental reading" . Retrieved December 10, 2017. SuperMemo 99 made the first step towards efficient reading of electronic articles by introducing reading lists and the first primitive reading tools: extracts and clozes. Reading lists are prioritized lists of articles to read. Extracts make it possible to split larger articles into smaller portions. Clozes make it possible to convert short sentences into a question-answer format using cloze deletions.
  2. ↑ "History of incremental reading" . Retrieved January 3, 2018. SuperMemo 2000 greatly increased the efficiency of reading by introducing the concept of incremental reading.
  3. ↑ "History of incremental reading" . Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Emacs Wiki: recent changes to "Incremental Reading"". February 25, 2007. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  5. ↑ Frank Raiser (March 15, 2011). "Anki Incremental reading" . Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Incremental Reading v4.9.13". AnkiWeb. October 13, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Components of incremental learning" . Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. ↑ Piotr Wozniak. "Advantages of incremental reading: attention" . Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Spaced Repetition: Remembering What You Learn" (PDF). Kwantlen Polytechnic University. February 2, 2023.
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