Sequencing Vocabulary Instruction: Artificial vs. Real Users

There are various widely researched strategies that appear to be helpful in some, but not necessarily all vocabulary learning situations. However, an early report suggested that an extremely simple strategy, in which only the ordering of the material presented is varied, might have very substantial effects on learning and recall. These observations have been used as the basis of many subsequent developments, but rarely been subject to rigorous examination and replication. We have recently been examining both the theoretical foundation, and the practical implementation, of this latter approach. In this paper we present a comparison of data obtained using virtual users, operating in accordance with the underlying theory of memory, with the earlier experimental data obtained with real users.