I don’t make a point of reviewing the words in my vocab list at all. And Steve Kaufman (the person who started LingQ) has repeatedly stated that he does not either.
After reading/watching many of Stephen Krashen’s videos (on whose work a lot of Steve Kaufman’s ideas are based) it became pretty clear that the whole idea of input based learning is to allow the language to reveal itself to you naturally. In other words, if the word is important for you to know, it will continue to reappear in new contexts. If it does not reappear in material you are reading/listening to, then it probably isn’t a word you really need to know right now, is it?
So, I put way more time into moving through more and more new content. I “review” words by encountering them again in new content. As for for moving them through the levels. This is what I do.
- First time I encounter a word I don’t know, I LingQ it and mark it level one.
- If I encounter the world again, and I know what it means, I move it up to level 2.
- Next time I encounter it, if I know what it means, I move it up to level 3.
- I continue until I get to level 4, and then after than, I mark it known.
So, I have to encounter a word at least 5 times to mark it known. If I encounter a LingQ’ed word and I can’t remember what it means (or if I don’t know it in this context) I move it back to 1 and start over. So, some words might move up to known in a day or two. Others might stay yellow for weeks or months. Some might get marked known, then if I encounter them again and can’t remember them, I mark them 1 and start all over again.
My basic daily study method for LingQ is:
- Choose a new item from the library.
- Listen to the item, without looking at the text. Try to understand as much as I can. Listen again if I feel like I missed some things. Listen as many times as I want until I feel like I have understood as much as I can. (Usually no more than 2-3 times)
- Then read the text, LingQing new words and reviewing ones that had already LingQed as described above. I make sure that I understand as much of the text as possible now.
- Then I listen again while reading along.
- Finally, I listen again without the text to see if I now understand the entire example.
Usually this whole process takes 15-20 minutes depending on the length of the example. If it is a particularly long example, maybe it will take 30.
I also have my settings autamatically add examples to my playlist when I finish them. So, if I want to do any passive studying, I will just put my playlist of old examples on shuffle and listen while I drive, walk, do the dishes, etc. This is about the only time I do “review.” I just allow myself to continue to re-encounter the words in context.
I have been doing this for about 2 years now as my primary way of studying. It is just a daily habit now that only takes up 20-30 minutes of dedicated “study time.” Then I do as much passive listening/reading as I want as the day permits. As I result, I have visited Spain and Mexico and been able to get along just fine. I have read dozens of novels in Spanish. I can read and listen to the news, etc.
The input based system works. It is not as linear as traditional lessons. It is not as easy to quantify as traditional tests. But the results are clear as far as I am concerned.