Rote learning: characteristics and techniques to enhance it

The learning process is a very complex phenomenon., and more in humans.

Regardless of how old the person is, and whether they are being educated at school or only through other means, learning means mobilizing a large amount of resources both in our body and in the way we interact with the environment and with others.

For this reason, in order to try to better understand how we manage to adapt to the environment, many times subdivides learning into several types of learning, each of which has characteristics own. In this article we will see what is rote learning, what are the characteristics that define it, and several examples.

• Related article: "The 13 types of learning: what are they?"

What is rote learning?

Although all forms of learning are related and often overlap with each other, what characterizes rote learning is that it is all based on retain information as accurately and literally as possible, without trying to create an interpretation of it that is easier to link with the knowledge we already have and therefore easier to "store" in memory.

Therefore, rote learning prioritizes accuracy over flexibility when interpreting new information that we must integrate into our memory.

Thus, rote learning usually requires a conscious effort to remember something, and a good attention management so that other stimuli or memories are not mixed with the experience of being memorizing

In addition, it must be taken into account that rote learning is practically the opposite of meaningful learning, and therefore there are many differences between the two.

While rote learning is based on the integration of memories as faithful as possible to the information with which we enter into contact the first time we set out to memorize it, in meaningful learning the most important thing is to develop our own network of concepts and memories that explain in the best possible way what we must learn, without worrying so much about fidelity with respect to the original.

Characteristics of this memorization process

Among the characteristics of this type of learning we find the following.

1. Requires voluntary effort

In this way of learning you have tomake an effort to memorize elements and at the same time concentrate in this task, so that the attention

2. It uses several types of memory

Various types of memory are involved in rote learning that, working at different rates, allow information to be consolidated in the brain.

For example, on the one hand there is the work memory, which serves to mentally manipulate ideas and concepts seconds after coming into contact with these novel elements; then this information goes into short-term memory, which lasts several hours, and finally, if it is memorized well, This passes into long-term memory, which works for months or years..

• You may be interested in: "Types of memory: how does the human brain store memories?"

3. Create mental representations as faithful as possible

In rote learning, all behavior that is oriented to maintain a mental representation faithful to the original concept to memorize. Anything that has to do with distorting this representation is discouraged.

4. Create imperfect memories

This characteristic is typical of all types of learning, and has to do with the fact that all memories are distorted as time goes by, unless it is about certain contents of semantic memory (the one that contains vocabulary like the word “Russia”).

Therefore, the fidelity that is sought with rote learning is relative, it is not intended to keep that exact information forever.

Techniques to learn this way

These are some of the most used rote learning techniques:

Repetition

Consists in repeat over and over again the reading or pronunciation of the contents to be memorized, first very frequently and progressively less frequently.

phonetic approximations

This technique is based on looking for an association between the words to be memorized and others that are already known, whose words have a similar pronunciation and that we can relate to the new concepts in some way.

story method

This consists of drawing a narrative created by us that allows unite in the same narrative thread all the words to remember.

mental tests

In this case, we review by asking ourselves questions that we must answer based on what we have studied. In this way, we discover things that we did not know or had forgotten, when going back to review to do it better next time.

Advantages and disadvantages

It is common to find criticism of the idea of ​​learning from memorization, but it must be borne in mind that rote learning It is very important in many aspects of life.. For example, it is impossible to learn a new language without using techniques adapted to rote learning, and the same is true of many aspects of general culture.

Thus, the key is to know the advantages and disadvantages of rote learning in order to know when to encourage it and when to favor other methods.

For example, the main drawbacks of rote learning is that it requires somewhat monotonous and mechanical methods based on repetition and review of content already seen. This makes it boring, since each new repetition contributes little more than the consolidation of the memory, something that in itself does not have to be very stimulating.

The advantages of rote learning, for its part, are that it allows learning a wide variety of elements from very similar and easy-to-master methods. once the habit has been generated, on the one hand, and that its fruits are noticeable in the short term as long as time and perseverance is invested in it corresponding.

Bibliographic references:

• Cowan, N. (1995). Attention and Memory: An Integrated Frame Network. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Eysenck, M.W. (2012). Fundamentals of cognition. New York: Psychology Press.