Sometimes research can surprise and challenge us. One revelation that research repeatedly throws up is that despite the stress attributed to testing, it is a powerful positive driver of learning.
The testing effect - that is to say, the effortful retrieval of what has been learned - has been repeatedly proven to be superior to re-reading or other approaches in helping students to retain information.
Testing isn’t easy, though. Students often struggle with the idea that this more difficult approach yields greater dividends in the long run.
Whether it is a national test in a cold, echoing exam hall or some low-stakes self-quizzing in the safety of the classroom, pupils naturally resist testing. In fact, studies have shown that students actively avoid testing themselves as a strategy unless they are given hints and support.
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Outside of high-stakes exams, the testing approach that my students were most resistant to was the practice of pre-testing. This is an approach in which you test pupils on a topic or text that they have not yet studied, before going on to tackle that topic in depth.
Why does pre-testing improve students’ learning?
It is perhaps understandable that students would reject pre-testing, and teachers, too: the approach can almost feel as if you’re setting pupils up for failure, especially those conscientious students whose confidence is related to consistent sky-high success in the classroom.
And yet, the results from research challenge our assumptions that failure and struggle in a pre-test are a problem. A study by Steven Pan and Faria Sana, from 2021, exploring the benefits of pre-testing found that taking a test before reading a text passage helped people to remember what they subsequently read. Pre-testing even trumped the more typical approach of taking a test after studying a text; the researchers state that while both approaches “enhanced memory relative to a no-test control… pretesting yielded higher overall scores”.
So, how can students struggling in a test, or even giving wrong answers, prove helpful? The challenge of the test appears to prime pupils to read the text carefully and more strategically. It may be that their desire to know the answers helps them to pay closer attention as they read. Clearly, interest, curiosity and the urge to make sense of the text can be enhanced by taking a pre-test.
This method does have to be used with caution, though. When I tried pre-testing with classes, I found that some pupils took the prospect of even a quick test on a topic or text that hadn’t been taught as an affront.
Therefore, you need to take the time to explain the rationale and consider the confidence levels of your class. If students have zero background knowledge or low confidence in their abilities, the approach could backfire.
As with most teaching techniques, pre-testing also requires a certain level of trust between teacher and student.
Like with many insights from cognitive science, we should carefully consider its application to the classroom. But the paradoxical benefits of pre-testing make it something that every teacher should consider - as long as they are prepared to use it with care.
Alex Quigley is national content manager at the Education Endowment Foundation. He is a former teacher and the author of Closing the Reading Gap, published by Routledge
