the core component of self-explana- tion involves having students explain some aspect of their pro- cessing during learning. (11)
self-explanation may enhance learning by support- ing the integration of new information with existing prior knowledge. (11)
the range of tasks and measures that have been used to explore self-explanation is quite large. (12) This is overall a plus, because it means that it applies to a wide variety of assignments.
studies involving text learning have also shown effects on measures of comprehension, including dia- gram-drawing tasks, application-based questions, and tasks in which learners must make inferences … (12)
most students appar- ently can profit from self-explanation with minimal training. (13)
self-paced administration usu- ally yielded nontrivial increases (30–100%) in the amount of time spent learning in the self-explanation condition relative to other conditions (14)
its effects have been shown across differ- ent content materials within task domains as well as across several different task domains (14)
Self-explana- tion effects have also been shown across an impressive range of learning outcomes, including various measures of memory, comprehension, and transfer. (14)
from:
Dunlosky, et al “Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning Techniques” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14.1 (2013): 4-58.