Learning a Language on YouTube? Cognitive Science Says This Is How You Should Do It

If you’ve ever paused your language app mid-lesson and typed “how to remember the difference between 日 and 月 kanji” into YouTube… you’re not alone.

It might feel like a last resort—but it’s actually a smart, research-backed move.

Language learners use video all the time: to understand grammar points, hear native pronunciation, or get cultural exposure. But not all watching leads to real learning—and according to Dr. Shelbi Kuhlmann, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Memphis, the difference comes down to how we watch, not just what we watch.

Dr. Kuhlmann explains that students aren’t just watching instructional videos passively. In fact, the most successful learners are doing something different: they’re watching videos with a purpose.

This process is called strategic learning, and it’s not automatic. It involves things like:

• Knowing what you don’t understand

• Actively trying to fill that gap

• Using videos to clarify, test, or reframe what you’re learning

Sound familiar? That’s called self-regulated learning—and it’s one of the best predictors of long-term success.

What the Study Found

Dr. Kuhlmann’s research shows that students who engage in generative learning strategies while watching videos—like self-explaining, taking notes, or pausing to reflect—actually learn more deeply and retain information longer than students who just watch straight through.

She’s not just interested in if videos help, but how students are choosing and using them. Do they go to a video to review, or to explore something new? Do they use one video or combine several sources? And most importantly, how aware are they of their own comprehension as they watch?

These behaviors reveal a lot about what kinds of learners succeed in digital environments—and what kind of tools we need to design to support them.

Not All Video Habits Are Equal: What Sequence Mining Reveals

We usually think of video learning as just hitting play—but behind the scenes, there’s a lot more going on. In her study, Dr. Kuhlmann used a method called sequence mining to uncover patterns in how students actually interact with instructional videos.

What’s sequence mining?
It’s a way of detecting common behavior patterns from digital traces—like play, pause, rewind, and fast-forward. If dozens of students tend to watch a video, pause to take notes, rewind to clarify, and then play again, that specific sequence gets flagged and analyzed.

From this, her team identified four common types of video-watching behaviors:

• Repeated scrubbing: lots of quick fast-forwards

• Extended scrubbing: long, infrequent fast-forwards

• Speed-watching: increasing playback speed

• Rewinding: going back to review specific segments

These behaviors sound small, but they revealed something big: how learners interact with video depends on how much they already know—and it changes how effective the video is.

So What Actually Helped Students Learn?

Surprisingly, two behaviors, rewinding and speed-watching, were linked to better exam performance, but only for students with low prior knowledge.

If you’re new to the material, rewinding helps you review confusing points. That makes sense.

But speed-watching? That’s unexpected. Dr. Kuhlmann explains that students who are new to a topic may use speed-watching strategically to stay focused, conserve mental effort, and get through easy parts more efficiently—without zoning out. It’s not laziness. It’s cognitive management.

Meanwhile, students with higher prior knowledge didn’t benefit from rewinding or speed-watching. In fact, those behaviors sometimes hurt their performance—possibly because they thought they knew more than they did, and sped through useful content.

This is known as the expertise reversal effect: when strategies that help beginners stop being helpful (or even backfire) for more advanced learners.

What This Means for Language Learners

If you’re watching a video about kanji stroke order, or listening to a grammar breakdown in Japanese, your experience may differ wildly depending on your current level. Here's how to apply this:

• Beginner learners:

  • Don’t be afraid to rewind often—you’re building a base.

  • Try speed-watching once you're comfortable with the topic—it can help you stay engaged without overloading.

• Intermediate/Advanced learners:

  • Be careful of skipping too fast—you might miss nuance you think you already know.

  • Check your own understanding honestly. Overconfidence = underlearning.

In other words: your video habits should evolve with your knowledge. What helped you as a beginner might not help you later—and vice versa.

Final Thoughts

Instructional videos have become one of the most powerful learning tools of the 21st century, not because they make things easier, but because they give learners the chance to take control. As Dr. Kuhlmann's work shows, the real magic happens when students use these tools intentionally.

So next time you say “I need to YouTube this,” remember: it’s not just a shortcut. It’s a strategy.