Chinese Vocabulary Transfer Lab Study Spring 2006

Experiment to test the knowledge component hypothesis as it applies to explicitly learned declarative chunks. Over the course of approximately 448 practice trials of Chinese vocabulary practice, certain schedules of practice were delivered to test several transfer hypotheses implied (but not implemented) by the model of practice used for in-vivo experiment optimal training schedules.

These schedules made use of the fact that there are 6 ways to test (Pinyin->English, Sound->English, Hanzi->English, English->Pinyin, Sound->Pinyin, Hanzi->Pinyin) vocabulary knowledge given current tutor capability. There were 21 total within-subjects conditions each with a particular sequence of the 6 types of trials. For instance, to look for unit learning we compared a condition where subjects practiced a Hanzi-Pinyin pair with a study (a presentation of the entire pair) followed by a drill 4 trials later with a condition where the preparation was identical expect that prior to Hanzi->Pinyin practice subjects had 2 trials of English->Pinyin practice for the same word. In this case, if the Hanzi->Pinyin practice benefits from prior English->Pinyin practice it seems to imply that the Pinyin response is being learned as a unit somewhat independently of any particular association.