Reading a text once is useful, the second time it just seems that way. Students often use rereading as a learning strategy. Most research shows that rereading helps with recalling a text, but that rereading only slightly helps in improving learning performance. How significant the benefit of rereading is depends on the time between two readings and how long after reading the test moment is (see figure 1, Rawson, 2012). Despite the small but positive effect of rereading on memory, it probably does not help students to understand the text better. Rereading gives students the false impression that they understand the material because they recognize the text. This leads to them no longer engaging in deep processing of the material: the students do not learn much more from it. For this reason, it is better to encourage students to actively retrieve information from their memory (see retrieval practice). Give a lesson where you explain to the students why it is better to actively engage with the learning material instead of rereading it. Give students advice on different active learning strategies. For example, students can actively engage at home by using flashcards, creating a concept map, or making practice questions. Try to actively engage with the material during the lesson. Start the lesson, for example, with a few questions about last week's material or create a small quiz about the past lessons.
Adesope, O. O., Trevisan, D. A., & Sundararajan, N. (2017). Rethinking the use of tests: A meta-analysis of practice testing. Review of Educational Research, 87(3), 659-701.
Callender, A. A., & McDaniel, M. A. (2009). The limited benefits of rereading educational texts. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34(1), 30-41
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.
Rawson, K. A. (2012). Why do rereading lag effects depend on test delay?. Journal of Memory and Language, 66(4), 870-884.
