Why Getting It Wrong First Helps You Learn a New Language

This post was co-authored by Tabitha J. E. Chua, M.A., a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore, and Steven C. Pan, PhD, also from the National University of Singapore.

New research suggests that the guessing-with-feedback exercises found in language learning apps and programs are effective.

Source: Alexey Demidov / Pexels

Imagine you are learning Spanish. You see the word “el perro” and four pictures. The pictures show, respectively, a dog, a cat, a bird, and a fish. You have not studied any vocabulary words yet. Do you prefer to just be told the answer, or would you rather take a guess first, even knowing you have a three-in-four chance of getting it wrong? Most language learners hesitate to guess until they feel confident. But a growing body of cognitive science research suggests that guessing first is precisely what you should do.

This counterintuitive technique is called pretesting. It involves attempting to answer questions about something you have not yet learned. You then receive immediate feedback with the correct answer.

Across a growing body of research, a rather surprising finding is that this process of struggling, guessing, and often failing before receiving feedback significantly boosts later memory and understanding. For the millions of people using language learning apps such as Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, this process is not just a lab experiment. It is a core mechanism powering their daily practice—a practice which includes guessing with feedback.

A new study provides the first formal experimental evidence that pretesting in word-picture format actually benefits second language vocabulary learning. Published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, this research demonstrates that attempting to guess a vocabulary word before formally learning about it can significantly improve how well adults remember new words in a second language. This finding, which adds to a body of research showing the benefits of various learning strategies on acquiring language skills, even extends to the case of vocabulary presented through words and images. The main finding is clear: your brain learns better when it guesses first and receives feedback immediately afterward.

In the study, we conducted four controlled experiments involving 341 adults with no prior knowledge of Spanish. Participants learned Spanish nouns using two different methods. The first method involved pretesting (i.e., guessing-with-feedback), where participants made a multiple-choice guess about the meaning or written form of a vocabulary word before being presented with a correct answer in word-and-picture form. The other method involved simply studying word-picture pairs. After participants had finished learning through either of these two methods, we assessed their memory through cued recall tests (i.e., tests where participants had to type in the Spanish word or definition) and multiple-choice recognition tests (i.e., participants were presented with four or six options and had to select the correct image or word).

Across experiments, we also investigated two presentation formats: word-to-image and image-to-word. In the case of pretesting in word-to-image format, participants saw a Spanish word and chose the matching picture. In the image-to-word format, on the other hand, they saw a picture and chose the correct Spanish word. In the case of studying, the formats were essentially identical; participants always saw a word and a corresponding picture presented together. These formats mirrored different ways in which vocabulary words in a second language are often learned.

A new study found that "pretesting" on words and pictures is helpful for learning words in a new language.

Source: Ling App / Pexels

The results were striking. Across all four experiments, pretesting consistently outperformed the non-guessing condition. It yielded significant improvements on both types of subsequent memory tests, regardless of whether the format used during learning was word-to-image or image-to-word. Even incorrect guesses proved valuable—that is, the benefit of pretesting was observed even when a word had been guessed incorrectly. Beyond just memory, participants also reported preferring the pretesting method over passive reading for learning new vocabulary.

So why does guessing help? There have been a few theoretical explanations as to why pretesting benefits memory for purely verbal word pairs (e.g., doctor-nurse). These explanations generally involve unique processes that are triggered in the brain during the act of guessing, such as the activation of elaborate mental networks or improved attention. We suspect that those processes may have also been involved in our results, but given that both words and images were used, it is likely that the human brain’s higher memory capacity and fidelity for images also played a role. Overall, the superior memory for images in conjunction with the effectiveness of pretesting likely explains the benefits observed in the study.

The take-home conclusion for language learners is simple and actionable. Do not wait until you feel ready. Do not avoid making mistakes. When a language learning app asks you to match a word to a picture, take an active guess. Even if you are wrong, learning is still taking place—provided that you actually get to see the correct answer shortly afterward.

Hence, for those designing their own study routines, it may be a good idea to choose exercises that encourage trying first and then learning from feedback. The evidence is increasingly clear: guessing first is not a weakness. It is a powerful strategy for making new words stick.