Does Recalling Improve Your Memory When Learning a Language?

Recalling a language is not like remembering where you left your car keys.

It’s not just useful when you test for language exams in order to obtain a passing mark.

Recalling makes any information last in the memory for a long time. When learning a language, it can aid in efficiently retrieving vocabulary and grammar patterns necessary for producing writing or speech, as well as comprehending the language.

What makes recalling an effective strategy for learning anything? And how do you implement this in language learning?

What is Recalling?

Recalling is the act of pulling information from your memory in the absence of cues that will make you remember it. You retrieve the information in order to use it in various situations, such as when locating your car keys or answering questions in a test.

In order to recall, you mentally ask a question that would cause you to obtain information from your brain. The success of your recall depends on how strongly connected the information is in your brain, and the time that has passed between the last recall.

It all starts with absorbing information into your brain some time in the past – such as through a book, video, podcast, course, or a demonstration from an instructor. As time passes by, this input can be recalled when you intentionally seek it to use for certain situations.

• As a medicine student, recalling helps in remembering a ton of terminologies in the medical field
• In mathematics, students recall a ton of formulas for solving problems
• In sports, it’s important to remember the right form or stance via muscle memory
• In music, mastering an instrument or singing a song requires recalling of the notes and lyrics
• In art, creating a masterpiece might require pulling from various inspirations stored in the memory

Applied to language learning, language learners recall words, grammar, and cultural nuances while engaging in conversations. Whenever they take tests, recall plays an important role to bring out answers from their memory and into the paper.

Active Recall versus Passive Review

Active recall is generally more cognitively demanding than passive review, which is easier to do. It’s a deliberate effort that puts information into your long-term memory. It sets you up for longer retention.

Passive review is when you study with your notes or book open or attend to a course lesson in order to absorb information. Reviewing is important because it allows you to refresh the knowledge in your memory.

If you need a strategy for effective learning, active recall is almost always the winner. Passive review can help complement recall whenever you fail to retrieve information due to forgetting, such as when you forget the translation of a foreign word.

Why Practice Recalling?

Out of all the many strategies that you can employ as a language learner, why spend a good deal of time doing recall?

Reason 1: The Brain’s Default is Forgetting

Without recalling, most of the information in your brain will decay and be subject to forgetting.

Hermann Ebbinghaus introduced the forgetting curve, which illustrates how soon we forget information. It suggests that in a matter of days, we forget more than 50% of what we learned.

Unless your memory of the language study is vivid and you experienced it through an emotional event, expect the information to be gone in a few days.

Because learning a whole language deals with massive information, forgetting becomes more costly as you take in thousands of words and grammar rules during your study.

Especially if you forget the basics, you could struggle to build complexity on top of it.

Reason 2: Every Recall Strengthens Your Memory

This is what I like with recalling – every successful recall is a guaranteed learning moment.

If I notice a foreign word from a book and I remember what it means without looking up in the dictionary, I know I remembered it well and I’ve acquired a new word.

The feedback from recall is straightforward: Do I remember the information or not?

And no, it’s not just an overnight satisfaction that wears off the next day. Information retained through recalling lasts for a long time – way longer than through passive learning.

This technique is perfect if you need to retain knowledge in the long-term, in case you’ll need it at a later time.

Reason 3: Recalling is a Skill

To use a piece of information in the future, you inevitably have to recall it from your brain. Without practice, summoning the memory becomes a struggle.

Think of it like any other skill such as playing the guitar. You start slow while being more conscious of your every move trying to get it right. With recall, you intentionally retrieve knowledge from your brain slowly at first, then with more familiarity you go faster.

The harder the process at first, usually you get rewarded with a stronger memory. That’s why information that’s harder to recall often sticks longer in the brain when you recall it successfully, compared to something easier.

How Do You Practice Recall?

Given how important recalling is for learning, how can you get started with it?

What to Recall

As a language learner, your memory can benefit from a variety of rich information. My experiences so far suggest the following information to recall.

1. Vocabulary – The most common and obvious use of recall is with words. When you’re dealing with thousands of words in a language, you inevitably forget some of them when not recalled.

You can do it several ways, like asking yourself the English translation of a foreign word, or given an English word you translate it into the foreign language. You can even recall phrases and slangs instead of single words.

Also, while immersing through books, videos, or podcasts, when you notice a familiar word, pause for a while and recall its translation.

2. Grammar – You need this to construct sentences and comprehend deeply during immersion. As a way to recall, you can simply recite the rule after reading it from a book or notebook.

During immersion, you might pick up a grammar point you just learned, which signals that you should pause for a while to recall the rule and apply it via translation.

When it comes to output, grammar is basically a way to express your thoughts and feelings in a richer way. If you can recall a rule that allows you to express yourself more clearly (such as when asking questions or making a request), this would make great practice for that rule – it’s definitely going to stick to your memory.

3. Alphabet – For languages that use symbols other than A to Z, the alphabet is something you mustn’t leave out, no matter how hard they might be (even if it’s Chinese). Forgetting a single letter could ruin your momentum.

The good news is, these characters are present everywhere in the target language, available in multiple formats – symbol, romanization, pronunciation. To guarantee recall of a particular letter, simply associate it with as many information as possible.

Take 水 for example. You can stare at this character for a long time until you can recall it through writing. But remembering also that its romanization is shuǐ, and that it symbolizes water, and that it’s the Simplified version, plus you hear its pronunciation, now you have 5 ways to recall this character!

4. Sounds – The sounds (or phonetics) of a language is just as important as its alphabet. Especially when the conversation gets fast, it could lead you to wonder what the speakers just said.

You can recall single letters or words, but you can also remember phrases, slangs, and whole sentences. Using your mouth to practice what was said helps not just with retention, but also with speaking practice, which is known as shadowing.

5. Common Phrases – This is useful when conversing with a native speaker. Or when you travel abroad and need to speak the foreign language in order to survive. You can easily practice recalling by reciting a phrasebook in your spare time, or in front of a native if you don’t feel awkward doing so.

6. Feelings – When you encounter the word burning in your target language, don’t just recall the word itself. Remembering how the sensation feels when it hurts your skin can help strengthen the word and make you feel the language that you’re learning.

Strong words, phrases, slangs, or sentences will easily stick to your memory with little effort. You might as well take advantage of this to help remember more.

7. Lessons – After studying your notes, reading a textbook, or attending a class, you can intentionally recall what you just learned. Forgetting is particularly nasty right after you received new information, and without doing recap you could lose most of your knowledge overnight.

Feel free to paraphrase your interpretation – it’s when you recall that you’ll find out if you truly grasped the essence of the lesson.

The Tools You Need

How can you start recalling in your target language given the items listed above? What tools are effective for serving your recalling needs?

1. Flashcards – This classic study tool is effective for testing you out, whether you use the physical or digital version of it. It’s perfect for drilling on vocabulary and grammar rules.

2. Spaced Repetition – The wonderful thing about this tool is it’s optimized to make you recall right before you forget the information. The algorithms do the trick from behind the scenes.

3. Apps – In this day and age, many language apps are based off spaced repetition, meaning all you have to do is use or play them.

4. Language Tests – For formality purposes, you can take standardized tests from an established institution in your target language, which can give you motivation to practice recall since you’ll use it for the test

5. Native Speakers – Whether they’re your neighbor or just your language tutor, conversing with natives is an effective way to practice recall while also gaining immediate feedback on your speaking. As you listen to their dialogue, you’ll also discover and notice words or phrases which you can recall from your memory, but at a faster pace.

There are more tools that I can list here. But basically, anything that involves testing your memory without giving any hints will surely help you in recalling.

So even a passive tool like a book, notebook, or video can become active recall if you summon information without these beside you – simply close your notes or textbook, or pause the video and look away from the screen while recalling.

Try Recalling Now

Recalling is a mentally taxing activity. But it gets easier over time as you stick with the habit.

One day, you’ll surprise yourself that you’re automatically recalling information.

It’s worth the mental exercise. Try it in your target language and see how much you can remember.