Overconfidence for picture cues in foreign language learning

Previous research shows that participants are overconfident in their ability to learn foreign language vocabulary from
pictures compared with English translations. The current study explored whether this tendency is due to processing
fluency or beliefs about learning. Using self-paced study of Swahili words paired with either picture cues or English
translation cues, picture cues garnered higher confidence judgements but not faster study times, and this was true
whether judgements of learning were made after a delay (Experiment 1) or immediately (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3,
when participants learned Swahili words with only one type of cue (pictures or English translations) and then estimated
which one would be more effective for learning, the majority of participants believed pictures would be more effective
regardless of whether they had experienced those cues during learning. Experiment 4 showed the same results when
participants had experienced neither type of cue during a learning phase. These results suggest that metacognitive
judgements in foreign language vocabulary learning are driven more by students’ beliefs about learning than by processing
fluency as reflected in self-paced study times.

既往研究表明，相较于英语翻译，参与者对其从图片中学习外语词汇的能力过分自信。本研究旨在探讨这种倾向是否源于处理流畅度或对学习的信念。通过自我调节的斯瓦希里语单词学习，并配以图片提示或英语翻译提示，研究发现图片提示虽然获得了更高的自信心判断，但并未加快学习时间，这一结果在判断学习后延迟（实验1）或立即（实验2）进行时均成立。在实验3中，当参与者仅使用一种类型的提示（图片或英语翻译）来学习斯瓦希里语单词，然后估计哪种提示对学习更为有效时，大多数参与者认为图片提示将更为有效，无论他们在学习过程中是否接触过这些提示。实验4在参与者在整个学习阶段未接触过任何类型提示的情况下，也显示出相同的结果。这些结果表明，在外语词汇学习中的元认知判断，更多是由学生对学习的信念所驱动，而非反映在自我调节学习时间中的处理流畅度。