8 Effective & Simple Retrieval Practice Ideas For Your Language Lessons
The Powerful Tool of Retrieval Practice in Language Lessons I am pretty sure that I always use retrieval practice to some extent in my language lessons. Many of you do too, but most probably without knowing what might be called? What is Retrieval Practice? Retrieval practice is a very powerful learning strategy. Rather than continuing to cram students’ brains full of information, retrieval practice is actually the practice of getting knowledge out of a student’s brain. The process or retrieval has been proven to improve language retention. As language teachers, we promote retrieval practice in our lessons to assess learning. Consider: vocab testing, questioning, mini-quizzes, low-stakes testing, ‘brain dumps’, plenaries…
Retrieval Practice Grids in MFL
The Practice of Retrieval ‘When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if, instead, we focus on getting information out of students’ heads?’ (Agarwal, 2017) Whilst I feel the quotation is useful in introducing retrieval practice, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as: ‘the process of getting something back from somewhere’, it’s a process teachers do automatically on a daily basis. This could be in the form of recaps at the beginning of lessons, through questioning or activities during the lessonas well as in a mini-plenary or a final plenary. It is also the idea of summative assessments at the end of a unit or in KS4, for GCSE…
Qualified German and French Teacher – Simplifying Language Learning
