The limited benefits of rereading educational texts

Though rereading is a study method commonly used by students, theoretical disagreement exists regarding whether rereading a text significantly enhances the representation and retention of the text’s contents. In four experiments, we evaluated the effectiveness of rereading relative to a single reading in a context paralleling that faced by students in the classroom. Participants read educational texts (textbook chapters or a Scientific American article) under intentional learning instructions. Learning and memory were tested with educationally relevant summative assessments (multiple choice, short-answer questions, and text summaries). With only several exceptions, rereading did not significantly increase performance on the assessments. We also found that reading comprehension ability did not alter this pattern. It appears that when using ecologically valid materials such as a textbook chapter, immediate rereading may have little or no benefit for improving performance on educationally relevant summative assessments.