The Self-Explanation Effect: How Explaining Ideas to Yourself Deepens Comprehension | Chapterly Blog
The Self-Explanation Effect: How Explaining Ideas to Yourself Deepens Comprehension Quick Answer: The self-explanation effect is the finding that readers who pause and explain ideas to themselves in their own words as they read—asking "what does this mean?", "why does this follow from what came before?", and "how does this connect to what I already know?"—comprehend and retain significantly more than readers who simply move through text. The technique is simple: pause after each major paragraph or section, close your eyes or look away, and explain what you just read in your own words before continuing. You are halfway through a dense chapter on behavioral economics. The sentences make grammatical sense. You can follow the argument paragraph by paragraph. But if someone asked you to explain what you just read, you would struggle. The words went in, but the understanding did not stick. This experience is so common that researchers have a name for it: the illusion of comprehension. And one of the most effective antidotes is a technique called self-explanation. What Is the Self-Explanation Effect? The self-explanation effect was first documented by Michelene Chi in a landmark 1989 study at the University of Pittsburgh. Chi observed students working through...