Spaced repetition and English grammar

Does anyone have any experience using spaced repetition systems to learn English grammar? I have been using this book called "English grammar acrostic dictionary" and it uses a srs. I know that srs is used for learning foreign languages, but I have not heard of it being used for grammar.

In all honesty, I had never heard of spaced repetition systems being used to teach/learn grammar before reading your post.

I hadn't heard of spaced repetition systems at all.

I've also never heard about it. I suggest you learn grammar from sentences.

liche123 said:

Does anyone have any experience using spaced repetition systems to learn English grammar? I have been using this book called "English grammar acrostic dictionary" and it uses a srs. I know that srs is used for learning foreign languages, but I have not heard of it being used for grammar.

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Can you share your learning experience? I'm curious to know how it works.

Esgaleth said:

Can you share your learning experience? I'm curious to know how it works.

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It is a mnemonic system for English grammar organized in a hierarchy format, and It's great for when you have forgotten a grammar rule. The spaced repetition system keeps them locked in memory. It is a shame that more people don't know about this.

liche123 said:

It is a mnemonic system for English grammar organized in a hierarchy format, and It's great for when you have forgotten a grammar rule. The spaced repetition system keeps them locked in memory. It is a shame that more people don't know about this.

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Thanks to the Internet almighty, I have a look at the book itself and got idea of how it is organised. What I was curious to know is how/to what extent keeping the rules 'locked in your memory' could contribute to speaking which is clearly the top of any language learning.

No wonder quite many have never heard of this method because practice is believed to make perfect not just remembering the rules.

Still, any personal sharing of how the learning is going on will be highly appreciated.


ps Mnemonic flashcards, at least the way they are presented on-line, have never struck a chord with me. I strongly believe that knowing a word implies much more than just understanding its meaning.

Esgaleth said:

Thanks to the Internet almighty, I have a look at the book itself and got idea of how it is organised. What I was curious to know is how/to what extent keeping the rules 'locked in your memory' could contribute to speaking which is clearly the top of any language learning.

No wonder quite many have never heard of this method because practice is believed to make perfect not just remembering the rules.

Still, any personal sharing of how the learning is going on will be highly appreciated.


ps Mnemonic flashcards, at least the way they are presented on-line, have never struck a chord with me. I strongly believe that knowing a word implies much more than just understanding its meaning.

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What I have noticed is that when learning a new language you have to have a certain amount of overlearning or a high recall speed for hearing and speaking. The problem with relying on just practice is that there is not enough repetition with "all" of the points in grammar. You can see this more clearly when dealing with math, as it requires all of the previously learned material. I believe the lack of a systematic process for handling memory is the root of all academic failure.


The spaced repetition system uses flashcards as a front-end, and the basis of the system is a memory algorithm for the forgetting curve of memory decay.

The creator of the algorithm has an article on learning myths- Memory and Learning: Myths and Facts

liche123 said:

I believe the lack of a systematic process for handling memory is the root of all academic failure.

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You may believe that, but academic failure can have many causes.

liche123 said:

Does anyone have any experience using spaced repetition systems to learn English grammar? I have been using this book called "English grammar acrostic dictionary" and it uses a srs. I know that srs is used for learning foreign languages, but I have not heard of it being used for grammar.

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Srs can indeed be used for learning grammar. The knowledge should be prepared in an appropriate question-and-answer format. The question part should contain a gapped sentence with contextual 'anchors' that help you associate the grammatical structure with certain words in the question part, e.g. Q: I _____ (write) a book at the moment / A: I'm writing a book at the moment. After a certain number of reviews, the association between the present continuous structure (I'm writing) and the time expression (at the moment) will be locked in the learner's memory. This is obviously a simple example. PM me and I can post you a link to good website where you can memorize grammar in this way. Unless Administrator allows me to post a link in my first message?

alibaba76 said:

Unless Administrator allows me to post a link in my first message?

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We don't allow people to post links in their first post- it helps reduce spam and advertising.