For parents: how to quiz your child on vocabulary

Short sessions, several days

The most important decision is when you practice, not for how long. Five to ten minutes on three or four days before the test does more than one long evening the day before, even when the total time is the same. Research on spaced practice is unusually consistent on this point.

Pick a regular time that doesn’t compete with something fun: after the afternoon snack, in the car on the way to practice or while dinner is in the oven. A session that is short and has an end is easier to agree to. Stop when the time is up, even if some words didn’t stick. You will get to them tomorrow. If the test is already tomorrow, there is a plan in Vocabulary test tomorrow?.

Let your child try first

Read the word and wait. Count silently to five before you help. The effort of searching memory is what makes the word stick, so an answer that comes after some thinking is worth more than one you give right away.

That holds even when the guess is wrong. In experiments with adults, a wrong guess followed by the right answer led to better memory than only reading the answer. So ask for a guess instead of accepting “I don’t know,” and then give the right answer right away.

Come back to the missed words after a few others, and once more at the end. Words your child got right should come back the next day too. Getting a word right once doesn’t mean it has stuck.

Practice in both directions

Ask first from the new language to your own, which is easier, and then from your own language to the new one. People get best at the direction they practice, and going from their own language is what your child needs in order to write and say something themselves. Check the homework, or ask the teacher, which direction the test goes.

Out loud or in writing?

Quizzing out loud is quick and works anywhere, and your child gets to say the words, which helps memory in itself. But if the test at school is written, spelling needs practice too. A word that sounds right can still be misspelled.

• Early in the week: out loud, in both directions.
• Midweek: your child writes the answers, on paper or in an app. Check them together right away.
• The evening before: the whole list in writing, just like on the test.

You don’t need to know the language yourself. Have your child read the word out loud to you, and check the textbook if you are unsure about the pronunciation. Go by the list, not by your gut.

How to avoid the nagging

Research on how parents help with schoolwork shows that the way you help matters more than how much. Help that leaves some decisions to the child, focuses on the work and happens in a good mood goes together with better results and motivation than help that is controlling or irritated.

• Let your child choose when you practice, before or after dinner, and which direction to start with.
• Say what improved. “Yesterday you had four words, today seven” gives your child more than “good job.”
• Keep corrections short. Give the right answer and move on, without a lecture and without a sigh.
• Stop when it locks up. A break, or a new session tomorrow, is better than ten more minutes in a bad mood.

When the app helps

You can’t always sit next to them, and teenagers often want to manage on their own. Learn It is a free iPhone and iPad app with no ads that handles the quizzing itself. Your child types in the week’s words and practices with Spelling, Multiple choice or Flashcards. In Spelling they write the whole answer and see right away whether it was right, and after the round they can practice just the ones they missed. Swap sides flips the quiz, so both directions get practiced. The app is used from elementary and middle school through high school, for homework questions in other subjects too.

The app doesn’t replace you. A good mix is for your child to practice alone in the app for a couple of days, and for you to do a round out loud at the end of the week. There are also 100+ ready-made quizzes, such as Family in Spanish, Colors in French and Seven times table.