As the practice increases, improvement rate gradually increases; and automaticity of errorless performance becomes the hallmark of skill. That is why it is said that ‘practice makes a man perfect’. T RANSFER OF L EARNING The term transfer of learning is often called transfer of training or transfer effect. It refers to the effects of prior learning on new learning .
Transfer is considered to be positive if the earlier learning facilitates current learning. It is considered to be negative transfer if new learning is retarded. Absence of facilitative or retarding ef fect means zero transfer. Psychologists use specific experimental designs in the study of transfer effects.
One such design is presented in Table . Suppose you want to know whether learning of English language affects learning of French. To study this you select a large sample of participants. Now you randomly divide the sample into two groups, one to be used in the experimental condition and the other as control group.
The experimental group of participants learn English language for a year and is tested to find out their achievement in English. In the second year, they study French. In the end this group is tested to find out its achievement scores in French. The control group in the first phase does not learn English language and just does its routine work for one year.
In the second year, these participants learn French for a year and their achievement scores are obtained. The achievement scores in French of the two groups are then compared. If the achievement score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group, it implies that positive transfer has taken place. If the score is lower than the control group, it means negative transfer has taken place.
If the two groups perform equally well, then it shows that transfer effect is zero. It must be noted that in the study of transfer effect, a distinction is made between general transfer and specific transfer . It is now a well-known fact that prior learning always leads to positive general transfer. It is only