Learning Vocabulary Through Assisted Repeated Reading: How Much Time Should There Be Between Repetitions of the Same Text?

Repeated reading, which involves the reading of short passages several times, has been demonstrated to be beneficial for second language fluency (Chang & Millett, 2013) and vocabulary acquisition (Liu & Todd, 2014). Despite the increasing interest in repeated reading, no study has addressed the effects of time distribution—how different encounters with the same text should be spaced for repeated reading to have the strongest impact on second language learning, specifically on vocabulary acquisition, the focus of the present study. This study includes two groups of 16-year-old learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Taiwan (N = 71). One group carried out assisted repeated reading (i.e., with audio support) once every day for 5 consecutive days (intensive distribution); the other read the same text once every week for 5 consecutive weeks (spaced distribution). The results revealed that intensive practice led to more immediate vocabulary gains but spaced practice led to greater long-term retention.