Combining Retrieval Practice with Elaborative Encoding: Complementary or Redundant?

The benefits of retrieval practice (practice testing) are pervasive across various materials, learning conditions, and criterial tasks, and consequently researchers and educators have enthusiastically recommended retrieval practice for educational applications. Less research has been devoted to examining the effect of combining retrieval practice with other evidence-based learning strategies; this article focuses on an emerging literature that examines the outcomes of combining potent elaborative encoding methods with retrieval practice. Theoretically, several possibilities can be identified. Augmenting retrieval practice with effective encoding strategies could significantly improve learning relative to retrieval practice alone through complementary mechanisms of each or through effective encoding catalyzing retrieval practice effects. Alternatively, effective encoding combined with retrieval practice might not improve learning (relative to retrieval practice alone), because the processing produced by elaborative encoding strategies is overly redundant with those promoted by retrieval practice. The extant literature, which has focused on everyday learning tasks (e.g., name learning) and educationally relevant tasks ranging from learning of arbitrary associations (e.g., new vocabulary meanings) to learning from connected discourse, is reviewed, and helps inform these possibilities. The findings largely converge on the conclusion that incorporating elaborative encoding techniques with retrieval practice prior to, but not concurrent with, retrieval practice provides a boost for learning and retention.