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Test-Enhanced Learning
Tse Chi Shing
by Professor

Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology

Test-Enhanced Learning learning, and in turn boost their final-test performance
in a laboratory study.
Tse Chi Shing The effectiveness of test-enhanced learning in foreign
by Professor
vocabulary acquisition in university students depends
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology on their working memory capacity and trait test anxiety.
Working memory capacity is like a mental workspace
in which a person can process information from
multiple sources simultaneously (e.g., consolidating
what have just been learned into long-term memory,
while processing the incoming information) and is
Academic Achievement and Motivation of Chinese Students strongly associated with fluid intelligence. Trait test
Hau Kit Tai effect was weaker when trait test anxiety was higher
by Professor anxiety reflects how anxious a person is in typical
evaluative situations. Research shows that the testing
for students with lower working memory capacity, but
Choh-Ming Li Professor of Educational Psychology it was not correlated with trait test anxiety for students
Department of Educational Psychology with higher working memory capacity. This suggests
that students with smaller working memory capacity
Traditionally, testing has often been regarded as an are more likely preoccupied by irrelevant thoughts or 36
assessment of how much students have learned. When worries and therefore do not have sufficient cognitive
resources to trigger the testing effect. In contrast,
Understanding Student Learning Experience Using preparing for a final examination, some students tend students with larger working memory capacity are
to repeatedly read their notes or textbooks, rather than
Technological Tools do some practice tests. Cognitive psychologists have less affected by trait test anxiety, such that they still
shown that testing can be used not only to evaluate showed a significant testing effect even when their trait
Wilfred W.F. Lau “learning processes.” The “testing effect” refers to the some boundary conditions for the benefit of testing.
by Professor students’ “learning products,” but also to facilitate their test anxiety was high. This study has clearly identified
Nevertheless, more investigations should be done to
Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction finding that a practice test on the study materials leads verify whether similar results would occur in classroom
to better performance in a final test than restudying
them for the same amount of time. This improvement settings (e.g., secondary schools), in different student
in memory occured when studies involved various populations (e.g., primary school pupils), and for other
study materials (e.g., topics in Integrated Humanities).
types of study materials (e.g., vocabulary, pictures and
textbook passages), test questions (e.g., fill-in-the- Not all students are benefit equally by practice testing,
Harnessing Online Games in Constructivist Learning blank, essay and multiple-choice), and populations suggesting that practice tests do not always enhance
(e.g., children, high school students, and healthy older
Morris S.Y. Jong (a) when students perform more difficult practice to undertake research on the impact of anxiety and
by Professor adults). The testing effect can be made more salient learning. Professor Tse has recently received a General
Research Fund from the Research Grants Council
tests, (b) when they are tested on a small, rather than
Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction large, amount of study materials in the practice tests, divided attention on the testing effect. This research
will examine how students’ mood (neutral vs. anxious)
and (c) when they are provided corrective feedback
after the practice tests. While the findings of these and attention (full vs. divided) may (potentially or
previous studies might suggest that teachers should jointly) modulate the benefit of testing and hopefully
shed more light on when frequent testing can be
promote frequent testing extensively to improve
students’ learning, Professor Tse has demonstrated implemented to maximise its benefit to students’
that a practice test does not always enhance students’ learning.