Lots of things make memory strong. I have shown hundreds of times that content can be mastered without writing, without workbooks and tests–tests as they are usually done. When we build interactive environments that rely on different kinds of responses in order for activity to continue, we are testing. We are drawing out responses. We are staying current. We are finding out where the student is all along the way, sometimes every moment. In this regard, writing is about as slow as you can go, unless you use very short responses. I love short, written responses because I can cover and reinforce so much more with the student.
You can work with text in many ways to retain it, and all adults and school-age kids I’ve known like working with text. Writing does add important options, such as making your own greeting card or other message, but the main thing is to learn the processes that are vital to communication in any form. Master those processes–decoding language and putting it together–and you have built powerful memory for text.
Written exercises are often part of an age-old tradition for keeping students busy and managing behavior. Writing eventually becomes very important in communication, but it is one of the slowest ways to learn language in the early stages.
Tags: Academia