Lemma navigation by excellent secondary school students of Ancient Greek

Abstract

Under the high cognitive pressure of a translation task, secondary school Classics students often make dictionary mistakes. Research indicates that successful students use a lemma's meta-information to engage in a feedback loop between text and dictionary. Using eye-tracking data of expert learners, this study examined how successful students employ the different types of lemma information while limiting their cognitive load. We found that students primarily manage their cognitive load by using boldface definitions as stepping-stones, but navigate through meta-information when it (1) can effectively reduce the amount of definitions and (2) refers to (morphological) features directly visible in the text. Alternatively, they use meta-information as a backup plan, when they are stuck or want to confirm a hypothesis.

Keywords

• dictionary use
• translation skills
• eye tracking
• stimulated recall interviews
• cognitive load management