Text Generation Benefits Learning: a Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract Learning can be made more efficient when learners generate the to-be-learned text contents instead of passively receiving them. A multi-level meta-analysis was conducted to provide an overall estimate generation effect’s magnitude and identify theoretically practically relevant moderators. Overall, interventions improved learning with texts compared reading them (Hedges’ g = .41). This benefit not attributable time-on-task found across several conditions settings (e.g., narratives expository texts, multiple generation, assessment tasks). The further suggests that benefits most strongly if cognitive processes stimulated by task complement those already text. In sum, findings suggest suitable for educational applications especially certain are observed.