Examine the Impact of Training Duration on Retention

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to provide Special Operations Forces (SOF) language program administrators with evidence-based conclusions and recommendations pertaining to how initial acquisition training (IAT) duration impacts SOF operators' ability to retain their language capability, specifically after formal training has been completed. Three sources of information were synthesized in this report: (1) the current literature, (2) a meta-analytic review, and (3) an original empirical study investigating the relationship between IAT duration and skill-level retention in the SOF language training environment. Despite gaps in the empirical literature on this topic, results from the primary SOF study indicate that IAT duration has an impact on SOF operators' initial proficiency; however, this impact lessens over time for both Category I/II and Category III/IV languages. Recommendations include further research on the relationship between initial training duration and skill-level retention, and a possible reduction in IAT length for Category I/II and Category III/IV languages based on the end-goal of IAT.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA585075

Entities

People

  • Amanda Gissel
  • Cristina Lambert
  • David D. Fried
  • Eric A. Surface
  • Jennifer L. Mcginnis
  • Matthew J. Borneman

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Applied Psychology
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Educational Psychology
  • Foreign Languages
  • Information Science
  • Language
  • Linguistics
  • Literature Surveys
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Statistics
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States Special Operations Command

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.