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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Studies
Vol. 9:1 (2026) ► pp.45–72

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The effects of interleaving and blocking practice on L2 contextualized grammar learning

 | Guangzhou University, China
 | Guangzhou University, China
Published online: 17 June 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.00047.buh
Abstract
The present study tested the effects of interleaving versus blocking practice on contextualized grammar learning. An unfamiliar structure for the learners, the pronoun "y" in French, was used in meaning-focused activities, which are more challenging than existing studies, at three different tenses (past, present, and future) according to an AAA-BBB-CCC schedule in one group and an ABC-ABC-ABC schedule in another. Two groups from two intact classes (n=22 and n=23) of first-year Chinese students studying French participated in the study. A pretest-training phase-posttest design was adopted as in existing studies. The blocked group used the structure with greater fluency (reduction of mid-clause pauses) during the training phase and the posttest while the interleaving group used the structure more accurately, but at the expense of fluency. Blocked practice seems to promote an initial stage of proceduralization in the application of the rule, but with more errors produced than in the interleaved group.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Blocked vs interleaved practice in general skills
    • 2.2Blocked et interleaved practice in L2 learning
    • 2.3Contextualized practice of a target structure
    • 2.4Motivations for the current study
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Design
    • 3.3Target Structure
    • 3.4Treatment
      • The training phase
      • The pretest and posttest
    • 3.5Measuring instruments
      • Performance during training
      • Performance during the tests
      • Fluency
      • Accuracy
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Fluency changes during the training phase
    • 4.2Accuracy changes during the training phase
    • 4.3Fluency changes between the tests
    • 4.4Accuracy changes between the tests
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Blocked vs interleaved schedule and development of fluency during the training phase
    • 5.2Blocked vs interleaved practice and accuracy during the training phase
    • 5.3Evolution between pretest and posttest
      • Fluency
      • Accuracy
  • 6.Conclusions and limitations
  • Author Contribution
  • Data Availability
  • Declarations Competing Interests
  • References
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2025. Do large language models learn like humans: Interleaved and spaced practice in morphological learning. Acta Psychologica 260 ► pp. 105518 ff. DOI logo

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