The Significance of Spaced Learning Technique in Enhancing English Language Acquisition and the Cognitive Process involved in Language Learning: A Study

Abstract

Cognitive process is the mental activity of acquiring and processing of information through thoughts, experiences and senses. Learning, on the other hand, is the process of accumulating knowledge through experience, study or through teaching methodologies. Though cognition and learning appear to be two different entities, they are inexorably linked with each other. Learning requires cognition, while cognition involves learning. In the process of learning a language or an art, memory plays a vital role in the cognitive system. Learning at the rudimentary level, especially in the lower grade, happens through rote method where the information is slowly transmitted from the sensory memory to the long-term memory. Through this cognitive process, the development of word power or vocabulary is gained and understanding of sentence structure is achieved. The learner, thus, gains knowledge of syntax and semantic usage of a language. In the process, the learner inevitably undergoes three phases of acquiring knowledge from the basic level of acquiring vocabulary, to the intermediary level of gaining fluency, and to the final level of gaining proficiency in language. Spaced Repetition System, shortly known as SRS is a method of reinforcing data in the memory of learner at systematic intervals, has larger scope in the learning process, which is highly effective at rudimentary and intermediary levels. Nevertheless this method appears to be anew, it has already been practiced in the Vedic period where the Indian disciples learnt the scriptures from their masters by systematic repetition. This paper attempts to understand the interconnection of the cognitive process in the learning of English as a second language by the technique of SRS.