劃重點=浪費時間:10大學習技巧哪個最有效?

In a world as fast-changing and full of information as our own, every one of us — from schoolchildren to college students to working adults — needs to know how to learn well. Yet evidence suggests that most of us don’t use the learning techniques that science has proved most effective. Worse, research finds that learning strategies we do commonly employ, like rereading and highlighting, are among the least effective.
我們生存的這個世界變化極快、信息量大，從中小學生到大學生再到職場人士，所有人都應該知道怎樣更好學習。但是有證據表明，我們之中的大多數人並不會使用最有效的學習技巧。更糟糕的是，研究發現我們經常使用的學習策略，如重讀和劃重點，都是最沒有效率的學習技巧之一。

The scientific literature evaluating these techniques stretches back decades and across thousands of articles. It’s far too extensive and complex for the average parent, teacher or employer to sift through. Fortunately, a team of five leading psychologists have now done the job for us.
有關學習技巧評估的科學文獻早在幾十年前就開始出現，現在已有上千篇文章。一般家長、教師和老闆要從中挑選精華，數量太過龐大，內容太過複雜。幸運的是，現在，一個由五名頂尖的心理學家組成的團隊已經替我們完成了這項工作。

In a comprehensive report released on Jan. 9 by the Association for Psychological Science, the authors, led by Kent State University professor John Dunlosky, closely examine 10 learning tactics and rate each from high to low utility on the basis of the evidence they’ve amassed. Here is a quick guide to the report’s conclusions:
1月9日，美國心理科學協會發布了一篇全面的報告。肯特州大學的教授John Dunlosky同其他作者一起，仔細研究了十種學習技巧，並基於他們收集的證據，根據實用性的高低給這些學習技巧打了分。以下是報告結論的大致內容：

The Worst
最差學習技巧

Highlighting and underlining led the authors’ list of ineffective learning strategies. Although they are common practices, studies show they offer no benefit beyond simply reading the text. Some research even indicates that highlighting can get in the way of learning; because it draws attention to individual facts, it may hamper the process of making connections and drawing inferences.
在這些作者最沒有效率的學習策略列表中，突出顯示和下劃線的劃重點方式排在第一位。雖然這些都是很常見的學習做法，但是研究表明除了幫助閱讀文本之外，這些沒有任何益處。一些研究中甚至顯示，劃重點有可能會影響學習進程；因爲劃重點會讓人把吸引力轉向了各個獨立的事實，它有可能會妨礙學習者理清各個事實間的關係和做出推論。

Nearly as bad is the practice of rereading, a common exercise that is much less effective than some of the better techniques you can use. Lastly, summarizing, or writing down the main points contained in a text, can be helpful for those who are skilled at it, but again, there are far better ways to spend your study time. Highlighting, underlining, rereading and summarizing were all rated by the authors as being of “low utility.”
與劃重點差不多的另外一個學習策略是重讀，這也是一種常見的做法，比起其他好的策略來說效率更低一些。最後，做彙總或是列出文章中的主要觀點對於擅長做這些事的人來說是有幫助的，但是同剛纔的策略一樣，還有一些策略要比總結好得多，更能充分利用時間。突出顯示、下劃線、重讀和做彙總都被論文作者們評爲“實用性低”的學習技巧。The Best
最佳學習技巧

In contrast to familiar practices like highlighting and rereading, the learning strategies with the most evidence to support them aren’t well known outside the psych lab. Take distributed practice, for example. This tactic involves spreading out your study sessions, rather than engaging in one marathon.
與人們通常使用的劃重點、重讀相反，那些最好的、有最多論證支持的學習策略，出了心理學實驗室反而就沒什麼人知道了。比如說，分散式學習。這種學習策略的方法是把學習的時間分散開來，而不是像跑馬拉松一樣地一次性完成學習。

Cramming information at the last minute may allow you to get through that test or meeting, but the material will quickly disappear from memory. It’s much more effective to dip into the material at intervals over time. And the longer you want to remember the information, whether it’s two weeks or two years, the longer the intervals should be.
在最後一分鐘把信息塞進腦子裏，有可能可以幫助你順利通過考試或者會議，但是這些信息會很快從記憶中消失。在不同的時間段深入研究學習材料是更有效的學習方法。另外，無論是兩週也好兩年也好，如果希望能把這些信息記得越久，就越需要延長分散式學習的時間間隔。

The second learning strategy that is highly recommended by the report’s authors is practice testing. Yes, more tests — but these are not for a grade. Research shows that the mere act of calling information to mind strengthens that knowledge and aids in future retrieval.
報告作者們強烈推薦的第二種學習策略是實際測試。沒錯，要做更多測試，但是不是那種爲了獲得成績而進行的測試。研究表明，單單是回憶腦海中的信息這一過程就能強化知識，並且在未來重拾知識時派上用場。

While practice testing is not a common strategy — despite the robust evidence supporting it — there is one familiar approach that captures its benefits: using flash cards. And now flash cards can be presented in digital form. Both spaced-out learning, or distributed practice, and practice tests were rated as having “high utility” by the authors.
儘管有大量證據支持，但是實際測試並不是常用的學習策略。不過，有一種熟悉的學習方法帶來的益處和實際測試相近：使用記憶卡片。而且現在記憶卡片可以變得數字化了。分散式學習和實際測試都被作者們評爲“高實用性”的學習技巧。

The Rest
其他學習技巧

The remainder of the techniques evaluated by Dunlosky and his colleagues fell into the middle ground — not useless, but not especially effective either. These include:
Dunlosky和他的同事們評估的其他技巧都處於中間地帶——雖然不是完全沒用，但是也沒有多大的效率。這些技巧有：

Mental imagery, or coming up with pictures that help you remember text (which is time-consuming and only works with text that lends itself to images);
心理意象，即看圖片記文字（很耗時間，而且只對能聯想得到圖片的文字有用）；

Elaborative interrogation, or asking yourself “why” as you read (which is kind of annoying, like having a 4-year-old tugging at your sleeve);
學習精細化整合，即邊讀邊問自己問爲什麼（有點煩人，就好像四歲小孩一直拉着你的袖子問問題一樣）；

Self-explanation, or forcing yourself to explain the text in detail instead of passively reading it over (its effectiveness depends on how complete and accurate your explanations are);
自我解釋，即強迫自己解釋文中出現的細節內容，而不是之後再被動地重新閱讀（這種方法是否有效取決於你的解釋是否完整精確）；

Interleaved practice, or mixing up different types of problems (there is not much evidence to show that this is helpful, outside of learning motor tasks);
交叉實踐，即把幾種不同的問題組合在一起（沒有太多證據能說明這種方法有效，除非是學習開車）；

And lastly the keyword mnemonic, or associating new vocabulary words, usually in a foreign language, with an English word that sounds similar — so, for example, learning the French word for key, la clef, by imagining a key on top of a cliff (which is a lot of work to remember a single word).
最後是關鍵詞助記，即把新的詞彙（通常是一門外語）與英語讀音相近的詞聯繫在一起，舉例來說，學習法語詞表示“鑰匙”的單詞 la clef 的時候，想想一把鑰匙放在懸崖（cliff）上（這樣記單詞要花很多功夫）。

All these techniques were rated of “moderate” to “low” utility by Dunlosky et al because either there isn’t enough evidence yet to be able to recommend them or they’re just not a very good use of your time. Much better, say the authors, to spread out your learning, ditch your highlighter and get busy with your flash cards.
這些學習技巧都被Dunlosky和其他作者評爲“中等實用性”或者“低實用性”，因爲其中有些技巧並沒有得到足夠證據的支持，還有些被評爲中和低，單純是因爲它們並不能充分利用時間。作者們表示，分散學習時間、丟掉熒光筆然後去做記憶卡片，你的學習效果會好得多。