Curve of forgetting or the discovery of Hermann Ebbinghaus
At the end of the 19th century, a German scientist (G. Ebbinghaus) conducted a curious experiment. He investigated how long unfamiliar information would be retained in the memory of students if it was not repeated. As a result, the results obtained still bear the name of the scientist (Ebbinghaus Curve), who changed the approach to education around the world.
Briefly about the study. The scientist gave the students a task: to remember unfamiliar syllable orders, and then reproduce them. Then he did the same with literary works, but the speed of forgetting did not change. You can see the results on the chart, but we will duplicate them here:
100% — this is how much the student remembers at the end of the lesson;
50% — so much remains in memory the next morning;
10% — what's left after a week.
How do we solve the problem of forgetting?
Logical answer: repetition. Each next lesson begins with a repetition of the previous one. Each next module begins with a repetition of the previous one. And so on. Often, we repeat the material of the first lesson in 3-4 lessons. And if necessary, we will do it in the twentieth lesson, so that the student learns what he has already learned.
What gives such an approach?
Increase the effectiveness of training up to 2 times. The result that the student sees and feels. We do not strive to "shove" hundreds of hieroglyphs in a month, and then forget them all. Much better is to learn dozens of characters, words and phrases, but remember them for a long time and easily reproduce when listening to Chinese speech or speaking. We recommend the same to those students who learn the language on their own. Works for everyone.
When and how is it better to repeat the material?
We advise you to repeat 3 times after class. The first one is 30-60 minutes after the lesson. The second is right before bed. The third is the next morning. With just 15 minutes of this at a time, you will be surprised at what your memory capacity really is and what your “aptitude” is for the Chinese language.
