Which term describes applying previously learned knowledge to new learning situations?

• A. Automatization
• B. Transfer
• C. Restructuring
• D. Generalization

Answer: (B)

Transfer describes taking what you’ve already learned and using it in a new learning situation. It’s when prior knowledge, strategies, or skills help you approach a different task or context without starting from scratch. In Spanish learning, for example, recognizing that noun gender patterns you’ve learned in familiar words can help you guess the gender of a new noun, or applying a verb conjugation rule you’ve mastered to a new verb you haven’t seen before. This is different from automatization, which is about making a skill automatic through practice and not about applying it to a new context. Restructuring involves reorganizing your understanding to fit new information, and generalization is about applying a learned response to similar stimuli; transfer more broadly captures using knowledge across different contexts.