Self-explanations
Having students generate explanations is a recommended instructional practice and is
also an effective study strategy for students to adopt.
Explaining to oneself in an
attempt to make sense of new information is considered beneficial as self-explanations promote
greater processing of causal information, conceptual relationships and more coherent mental representations of text (Albó et al., 2020).
Self-explanation is a powerful learning strategy because
it helps learners to create inferences about causal connections and conceptual relationships that
enhance understanding (Bisra et al., 2018). The process of self-explanation also helps the learner realise
what they don’t know, by filling in missing information and modify
fusions of new information with prior knowledge when discrepancies or deficiencies are detected (Bisra et al., 2018).
Kiran Bisra and her team at Simon Fraser University (2018) found that when students are prompted to self-explain
(usually this is in written form, though a few studies involved spoken self-explanation) this improves their learning
outcomes with an average effect size of 0.55 (using Hedge’s g). An impressive effect, similar in effectiveness to “mastery learning” and “peer tutoring” (Jarrett, 2018).
References
Albó, L., Beardsley, M., Amarasinghe, I., & Hernández-Leo, D. (2020, July). Individual versus computer-supported collaborative self-explanations: how do their writing analytics differ?. In 2020 IEEE 20th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT) (pp. 132-134). IEEE.
R. E. Mayer and P. A. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of research on learning and instruction, 2nd ed. Routledge: London, 2017.
C. E. Weinstein, T. W. Acee and J. Jung, "Self‐regulation and learning strategies," New directions for teaching and learning, vol. 2011(126), June 2011, pp. 45-53.
Bisra, K., Liu, Q., Nesbit, J. C., Salimi, F., & Winne, P. H. (2018). Inducing self-explanation: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30(3), 703-725.
C. H. Legare and T. Lombrozo, “Selective effects of explanation on learning during early childhood,” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 126, October 2014, pp. 198–212.
L. K. Allen, D. S. McNamara and M. McCrudden, "Change your Mind: investigating the effects of self-explanation in the resolution of misconceptions," in D. C. Noelle, R. Dale, A. S. Warlaumont, J. Yoshimi, T. Matlock, C. D. Jennings and P. Maglio (Eds.), Proc. Cog Sci 2015, pp. 78-83. Pasadena, CA: Cognitive Science Society.
D. S. McNamara and J. P. Magliano, “Self-explanation and metacognition: The dynamics of reading.” in Handbook of metacognition in education. Routledge, 2009, pp.72-94.
Self-explanation is a powerful learning technique, according to meta-analysis of 64 studies involving 6000 participants. Christian Jarrett, December 2018. Link to the article.
