Experiment testing sentence items
Tom 
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Introductory reading: How I'm learning German http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2002/122.htm Sentence items http://www.antimoon.com/how/usingsm-makeitems-sentence.htm Michal and I have conducted an experiment to see whether sentence items really help one PRODUCE his own sentences (not just UNDERSTAND sentences in a foreign language). The experimental setup was as follows: 1. I have a German SuperMemo collection with about 1500 sentence items. We extract a set of items from my collection which have been repeated successfully at least 3 times. The set contained over 1100 items. 2. Michal chooses an item at random and then presents me with a sentence in Polish or English that I am supposed to translate into German. The sentence is NOT exactly the same as the sentence in my collection. (To make the test more difficult, Michal modifies the sentence.) 3. I try to write down the sentence in German. 4. Michal verifies if the sentence is correct. Throughout the test, I was trying to use phrases that were in my collection. I did not try to "write around the phrase" -- write the same thing using simpler words. My goal was to check if I can use the sentences in my collection in an active manner. When I wasn't sure about something (which happened very frequently), I was forced to "guess" or "use my intuition". Obviously, I could not consult a dictionary or the Internet. The results The total number of sentences was 20. 14 sentences (70%) were COMPLETELY correct. 6 sentences (30%) contained at least one mistake. |