AUTHOR=Aljabri Sameer 

TITLE=Exploring EFL students’ preferences and practices of study strategies: repeated reading versus testing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1457504

DOI=10.3389/feduc.2024.1457504

ISSN=2504-284X

ABSTRACT=The aim of this study was to investigate both the hypothetical study strategy (preferences) and actual study (practices) of Saudi EFL undergraduate students regarding rereading versus retrieval practice. A total of 202 EFL students were presented with a scenario where they had studied a textbook chapter once and then asked to choose the learning strategy that best reflected their typical approach during different stages of the learning process: the beginning, middle, and end. Then they read a text and responded to both open-ended and forced report questionnaires to explore their actual study behaviors when studying the text. Results showed a consistent preference for restudying throughout all stages of the learning process (36.5, 39.8, 53.6% respectively). Across the learning processes, retesting strategy has been chosen increasingly as the learning process proceeds (16–18.2 - 28.2%) while rereading is decreasing (35.9–23.8 - 13.3%). In the actual study behaviors, the majority of participants reported tendency to rely excessively on restudying and rereading strategies (55.6 and 24.6% respectively) rather than more effective testing strategies (19.8%). Teachers need to educate students that retrieval practice strategies aid in monitoring their learning progress, enhancing learning, strengthening memory recall, and promoting long-term retention.