The main difference between this and the classic flashcards is that in this one you don’t need to self-grade. You are given multiple choice or typing challenges (maybe other types in future) and you are graded based on that, and of course your performance will feed back into the spaced repetition system to schedule that card to be resurfaced some time in the future.
I generally don’t like multiple choice, as I find it too easy in most cases. Typing out a word helps me memorize it (a bit like writing by hand supposedly does), though when I’m tired and cannot be bothered I currently just do flashcard (non-typing) mode.
And with that, I do like to be able to grade myself, as some words are so easy I don’t need to seem them again for a long time, whereas other I’ll have forgotten withing minutes. Only the user themselves can know how hard a word is for them, so I do like the current system.
In fact, I would suggest something a little bit similar to that even for the typing mode, namely that a user can click (Count as correct this time) so that a little typo would not mess up the spaced repetition system.
Thanks for the feedback, Mark! I plan to keep the classic flashcards around for those like yourself that prefer it!
I see what you’re getting at with the “count as correct this time” suggestion. I can’t say I’m keen on adding it though since it will add clutter to the UI for something that is rarely needed, and the downside of “messing up the spaced repetition system” isn’t that severe IMO.
I’d also enjoy having the option to “count as correct this time”. It’s a little demotivating to see readlang mark the answer as wrong when I knew it’s just a typo…
Concerning the new mode, I’ll just copy what I also sent in an e-mail:
on mobile, the keyboard covers a large part of the screen, the placement of the “submit” button should take this into account so that it’s not necessary to close the keyboard after typing each word
in the multiple-choice questions, would it be possible to throw in words that are easily mistaken for each other?
Some ideas about possible candidates:
words that translate to the same word(s) but are not marked as synonyms
words that are similar in form (measured e.g. by the Levenshtein distance)
infer the problematic pairs of words from the previous answers (I sometimes have pairs of words that I keep mixing up)
I hope this is only an addition and not a replacement for current card formats. While I do enjoy the Blitz mode, it would be a shame for people who prefer the older formats to not have them anymore. But having an additional option like this for the review system is great.
My main issue with this practice session is the way it displays the word’s context. It does not always display the entire context sentence the way the other card formats do. For longer sentences, they seem to get cut off with ellipses, either before or after the part of the sentence the target word is in. It would be nice to have the entire context sentence during reviews, which is what I’m used to after using the old format for so long.
I do prefer Blitz to active/typing mode because the latter is quite time-consuming if you’re reviewing 100+ words per day. I’ve been using the passive/comprehension cards exclusively, and that’s just because they take less time to review. Blitz mode uses a multiple choice format, so there is no typing. It’s much faster, but still does a better job at incorporating active recall than the passive cards do.
I’d also enjoy having the option to “count as correct this time”. It’s a little demotivating to see readlang mark the answer as wrong when I knew it’s just a typo…
Noted. I’ll keep this in mind.
on mobile, the keyboard covers a large part of the screen, the placement of the “submit” button should take this into account so that it’s not necessary to close the keyboard after typing each word
You can also press the “Return” key on the on-screen keyboard to submit your answer. I’ve only tested this on iOS but I assume on Android this is the right arrow button at the bottom right of your screenshot. Please let me know if this is working for you!
I like the idea of better distractors for the multiple choice challenge. I can see this being something that some users like and some don’t if they feel they are being tricked. But I do think that sprinkling in some more challenging distractors would be good. I’ll bear it in mind, but for the time being, if you want to really make sure you are learning the vocab thoroughly, you’ll need the Mastery or Classic Flashcards modes since it’s true that the current multiple choice distractors are mostly not that challenging.
Hi Sid, welcome to the forum and thanks for the feedback!
Responding to your points:
Yes, I plan to retain the old system. I think I’d only consider removing it if it seemed that almost no-one was using it anymore and it was a burden to maintain, neither of which are true at the moment. (Well, the maintaining part is a bit true since the code is old and messy, but that goes for a lot of Readlang, I’m gradually trying to improve it )
Yeah, makes sense. I’ve removed the length limit for now so it’ll show the whole context sentence (only exception is on mobile where there’s still a limit in an attempt to avoid the buttons overflowing off the bottom of the screen, but the limit is 3X longer than before). My reason for restricting it was to avoid the feeling of overwhelm when a really long sentence appears, but let’s see what it feels like seeing the whole context. So far I think I do prefer it.
Thanks John! I’ve just pushed an update that should stop this happening. Please refresh any Readlang tab you have open to ensure you’re running the latest version and let me know if you notice any other problems!
Here are my initial impressions after quickly trying out the new practice session:
Space Repetition Stats: I wondered if it integrates the existing spaced repetition statistics from the traditional flashcards. It felt strange to start with the word “die,” which seems too easy and a low priority based on my existing stats (admittedly, I haven’t practiced in a while, so that might be the reason!).
Multiple Choice Difficulty: I agree with other comments that the multiple-choice format might be too easy most of the time. There’s often one clear correct answer alongside unrelated, random (though sometimes funny) alternatives. While I don’t see an easy way to make it more challenging, it could be useful for beginners and might be worth keeping.
Mixing Practice and New Word screen: I found it confusing that the practice session mixes question types with “New Word” or “New Phrase” screens. Sometimes, it just shows a sentence and the meaning without requiring an action (just “continue” or “explain”). Other times, it asks what you want to do with the word (active recall, passive recall, etc.). This happens in both blitz and mastery modes. Apparently, it’s a feature, but I really did not get it and I found it disruptive during the practice session.
Active and Passive Recall in the Same Session: This one is actually a feedback (kind of a feature request) I’ve had for a very very long time for the traditional flashcards, and I experienced the same issue in the new practice modes. It seems counterproductive to mix active and passive recall for the same word in the same session. Imagine seeing an active recall flashcard for “whatever” followed by a passive recall card for the same word just a minute later. Of course, you’ll remember it because you just saw it! However, you might not get the passive recall question right if you encountered it in a later session, one hour later or so. This has been my experience, at least. As a result, the second part of the session (where you see the passive/active counterparts) feels like a burden with little learning benefit. It often leads me to mindlessly click the correct button to complete the session. Similarly, when you get a word wrong, you have to answer it correctly twice more in the same session. It feels like, “Okay, I missed it, but of course I remember 30 seconds later! Test me in an hour, and it might be a different story.” This aspect discourages future practice sessions. In my opinion, it would be much better to see a word only once per session and schedule it for passive/active recall in future sessions according to spaced repetition principles.
Number of Words: This feedback also applies to traditional flashcards. While it’s great to choose the number of words to practice, more granular control (beyond 8, 15, and 25 words) would be fantastic. This way, users could choose a long session when they have time and energy, or a shorter one when they’re short on time. For example, I’d love a default setting of 1 or 2 cards for quick learning opportunities during short breaks (like waiting in line at the supermarket). Currently, 8 words are too much for those situations, and failing to complete the session can be frustrating and discourage me from starting in the first place. (The old workaround of using a custom URL like Readlang might not work anymore, and I haven’t looked for a new one yet.)
Sorry for such a long message and thanks for the forum and for considering my feedback.
Just one remark:
words that start with a capital letter are easy to spot, as the right answer in multiply-choice usually also starts with a capital.
Like in this list where I had to choose : Terceirizando
|comprometido|committed|Tomorrow|
|desencadeia|triggers|Tomorrow|
|guloseimas|treats|In 5 days|
|Terceirizando|Outsourcing|In 5 days|
True. I think of the multiple choice is a way to get a bit more exposure to the word but doesn’t truly test if you know it or not. I think the best way to prove that is to write or speak the word in a new sentence of your own. The typing of the word in the current “Mastery” mode is pretty good, but many people find typing too much work. I can think of some other non-typing challenge types that would be interesting to add, like:
Re-arrange word tokens to form the whole sentence, or part of the sentence if it’s very long
Arrange tokens representing parts of the word you’re learning. e.g. What means "computer" in Spanish?, and you see tokens: den, dor, or, ben, a, cer. Then you need to click on them to build the word ordenador
It should only ask you what to do with the word (active, passive or delete) in Mastery mode. If this happens to you again in Blitz mode please let me know since this would indicate a bug. My thinking with this screen is that it gives you a chance to:
Remind yourself of a word/phrase that you may not have seen in a while without the pressure of getting a challenge right/wrong.
Check that the translation actually makes sense and decide whether to dig deeper (with the explain feature), edit, or delete the word as appropriate. I think nudging learners to check this is a very important since otherwise they could end up learning incorrect meanings of words. Open to other suggestions to achieve this goal
The way it works right now is that if the SRS (space repetition system) sees that a word is fairly new or thinks you don’t yet know the word that well, it will present it in passive mode first, and then later in the same session in active mode. Later on, when the SRS sees that you are getting better at recalling the word, it will show it to you only in active recall mode (typing). If you get it wrong it will repeat in the same session until you get it right, it can drop back to passive mode, and yes, sometimes you need to get it right twice. I personally don’t mind this since I think the repetition helps me to remember it.
Note that right now both directions of the multiple choice challenge are counted as “passive” by the SRS and are picked at random. I feel that even when you are translating from first to learning language, multiple choice is so much easier than typing that it feels closer to passive than active. That said, my tentative plan is to add more challenge types and to give some thought to treating passive-active as a spectrum rather than a binary.
Note that you can start a session, do a couple of flashcards, and leave your browser tab open to continue later. Also, even if you close your browser tab after doing a couple of flashcards, your activity will still be registered in the SRS and be counted towards your daily streak. That said, I think an additional very short session option makes a lot of sense so I’ve added a new 4 cards option (not exactly what you asked for I know, but a bit in that direction).
Yeah, I agree. It’s not clear what the solution is though. There are lots of ways in which a word can be easy to spot and capitalization is only one of them. It’s not obvious across all supported languages how Readlang would know whether it’s OK to change the capitalization of a given word, so solving this isn’t trivial. At the end of the day, the current multiple choice challenge is a nice way to get more exposure but isn’t a true test of knowing the word like the typing in Mastery mode.
Re-arranging word tokens is tricky, especially in languages where word order is free and can be used to express very nuanced changes in meaning. Compare these Czech sentences:
Steve si v sobotu koupil učebnici. “Steve bought a textbook on Saturday.”
V sobotu si Steve koupil učebnici. (V neděli…) “On Saturday, Steve bought a textbook. (On Sunday…)”
Učebnici si Steve koupil v sobotu (ne v neděli). “Steve bought the textbook on Saturday (not Sunday).” Učebnici si Steve koupil v sobotu. (Ale pracovní sešit si koupil až v pondělí.) “Steve bought the textbook on Saturday. (But he didn’t buy the workbook until Monday.)”
Učebnici si v sobotu koupil Steve (ne John). “It was Steve who bought the textbook on Saturday (not John).”
Very good point! It would be annoying to form a correct sentence and be graded as incorrect. It should also provide a translation of the whole sentence you’re expected to arrange, which Readlang doesn’t do right now.
An alternative could be to only present these arrange challenges for very long phrases (say 6+ words long) that you’ve explicitly saved to your account and get you to only arrange those words instead of arranging the whole sentence. The order could still be ambiguous though, and the way I use Readlang these long phrases would be pretty rare
Sounds like this may not be as obviously good an idea as I first thought!
One very small gripe. When you delete a word in the middle of a test, it doesn’t automatically go to the next word, but takes you back to the question.
I’ve made some more small improvements to the new practice session:
When a new word/phrase is shown, you can press the number keys to select from the active/passive/delete options
More new keyboard shortcuts added so that the entire practice session except for editing can be done with keyboard only: List of keyboard shortcuts in Readlang
After deleting a word, it now goes straight to the next word (thanks @Matthew_Jackson for requesting this)
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