 Importance of knowledge of vocabulary has been shown in many studies  Many studies on late foreign vocabulary acquisition of Modern languages available  No systematic research with respect to Ancient Greek (only marginal to Latin)  However, AG is being taught at secondary schools  Better understanding of language acquisition leads to better language teaching

 To investigate effectivity of paired-associate and activity based learning on Ancient Greek vocabulary acquisition and retention  To incorporate theory in teaching practice

 Theoretical background  Experimental data  Conclusion, discussion and didactic suggestions

 Knowledge of vocabulary is important in second language acquisition  Speakers should have acces to about 95% of a text (Nation 1990)  For this, vocabulary items are needed  How can this status best be achieved?

 Two hypotheses concerning the most effective way of acquiring foreign vocabulary (Modern Languages)  A) paired-associate (Mondria 2003, de Groot 2010)  Motivation: the concept is already in the brain, it only needs to acquire a new ‘label’. Everything else is just distracting and time-consuming.

 B) Involvement Load Hypothesis (Hulstijn & Laufer 2001): more involvement leads to better acquisition.  Involvement as an attempt to define deep processing of vacabulary, three aspects  Need: motivation for learning  Search: finding the meaning of an unknown word  Evaluation: comparing with other words or context  More involvement required achieved by activity based learning  Both hypotheses are supported by experimental data.

 There is no systematic research with respect to Ancient Greek vocabulary acquisition  Textbooks only provide bilingual word lists, vocabulary activities are marginal  Can we incorporate current research in Modern Languages? › Which point of view? › Ancient Greek exhibits some peculiarities  Additional experimental data are needed  This study is a first attempt to provide experimental data

 Peculiarities of Ancient Greek: › No spoken language > input is only written › Traditional method of teaching › Different alphabet › Unfamiliar concepts › Input limited to classroom  Classroom setting, including › School age › Beginners › Diversity of tokens › Students’ learning preference

 75 participants, third year high-school, age  Beginners (approximately one year experience)  Learning task of 20 tokens in 20 minutes  Tokens taken from a chapter in the textbook  Oral and written instruction  Announced immediate post-test, unannounced delayed post-test one week later  Each test lasted 10 minutes, all tokens tested  Awarded with 0.5 grade extra for their last assessment

 3 test conditions: › Paired-associate only › Multiple choice only (activity based learning) › Multiple choice, followed by paired-associate  Multiple choice as activity based learning because it fits the teaching conditions (see characteristics) : › Written task › Easy exercise for beginners › Controlled environment › Focus on vocabulary

 Distribution of the students over the three groups was random  After the immediate post-test a questionnaire about the students’ learning preferences was given

Paired-asociate ἡ πατρίςvaderland τ ὸ ἔ ποςverhaal Multiple choice glosses Ἡ πατρίς ἡ το ῦ Ὀ δυσσέως Ἰ θάκη ἐ στίν. a. vaderlandb. vriendelijkc. naar binnen Τ ὸ ἔ πος τ ὸ το ῦ Τρωικο ῦ πολέμου καλόν ἐ στιν. a. gaan naarb. verhaalc. water

 If one of the above outlined hypothesis is correct, paired-associate or multiple choice is expected to have a lower score.  If both hypotheses are correct, the paired- associate + multiple choice condition is expected to have the best score. Paired-associateMultiple choicePA + MC Word-list +-+ Need +++ Search -++ Evaluation -++

Ἡ πατρίς ἡ το ῦ Μενελάου Σπάρτη ἐ στίν. ἡ πατρίς Τ ὸ ἔ πος τ ὸ το ῦ Ὀ δυσσέως καλόν ἐ στιν. τ ὸ ἔ πος

I liked it more I liked it less I found it more difficult I found it easier I found it more boring I found it more excited I have learned less I have learned more It made me more uncomfortable It gave me more confidence I learned faster I learned slower It’s all the same to me

Test condition → test ↓ paired- associate multiple choice glosses paired- associate + multiple choice glosses immediate post-test mean: 19,40 s.d. :1,73 mean: 16,11 s.d.: 3,30 mean: 17,74 s.d.: 3,00 delayed post-test mean: 14,12 s.d.: 3,89 mean: 11,69 s.d.: 3,37 mean: 11,00 s.d.: 3,74 vocabulary loss mean: 5,28 s.d.: 3,17 mean: 4,42 s.d.: 2,52 mean: 6,73 s.d.: 3,24

Condition:MC onlyMC + PA Nicer1721 Less nice30 More difficult22 Easier2319 More boring20 More exciting99 Learned less30 Learned more1617 Less confident74 More confident1114 Learned faster1823 Learned slowlier50 I don’t care64

 In absolute sense, paired-associate vocabulary acquisition shows best results for the immediate post-test, as well as for the delayed post-test.  However, vocabulary loss is reduced most in the multiple choice test condition.  Students indicate a clear preference for multiple choice learning

 Combining the experimental data with the students’ preferences, vocabulary acquisition seems most effective when students learn according to the paired-associate method.  Retention seems to be stimulated most when students practice with vocabulary activities.  Students are more motivated to learn vocabulary by doing activities.

 Why has the combination of multiple choice and paired-associate the worst results in the experiment?  Possible explanation: the given word list cancels the effect of the activity, then indeed the activity is time-consuming  → learning by means of word list, retaining by means of activities and create need during both tasks

 Include paired-associate word lists in the textbook › Most textbooks offer detailed paired-associate word lists  Increase the students’ need to acquire vocabulary › E.g. by having regular vocabulary tests, offer classroom time to learn vocabulary, practice vocabulary, etc. → show that vocabulary is important  Include vocabulary activities in the textbook › E.g. fill in blanks, match synonyms, match antonyms, compose polymorphemic words, match semantically / morphologically related items, exclude aberrant words, etc. → activate searching and evaluation of vocabulary

 More experimental data will provide better insight, i.e. different test items, subjects, third post-test, etc.  To investigate (long term) effect of teaching interventions

 de Groot, A. (2010). Language and cognition in bilinguals and multilinguals, London: Psychology Press  Hulstijn, J. & B. Laufer (2001). “Some empirical evidence for the involvement load hypothesis in vocabulary acquisition”. Language Learning 51(3):  Mondria, J.-A (2003). “The effects of inferring, verifying, and memorizing on the retention of L2 word meanings”. SSLA 25:  Nation, I. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury House  Sciarone, A. (1979). Woordjes leren in het vreemde talenonderwijs, Muiderberg: Coutinho

Fill in the blanks. Two words are not used. ἄ φρων – ανοίγει - ἥ δεται - θρόνοις – πίνει – τύπτει – γλυκύ 1.Ο ἱ ἑ ταίροι ἒ ν … κάθηνται. 2. Ὁ Ὀ δυσσε ὺ ς … ο ὔ κ ἐ στιν. 3. Ὁ Πολύφημος τ ὸ ν ο ἴ νον … 4. Ἡ Κίρκη τ ὴ ν ο ἰ κίαν … 5.Τ ὸ φάρμακον μάλα … ἐ στιν.

Which word doesn’t fit in each row? 1.Human body: ὀ φθαλμός – α ἷ μα – π ῦ ρ 2.Parts of the day: ο ἷ ος – νύξ - ἑ σπέρα 3.observation: ἐ πισκοπ ῶ - ὁ ρ ῶ - καλ ῶ 4.necessity: περί – χρ ῆ - δε ῖ 5.Being together: ἅ μα - ἕ πομαι - ρέω

Within groups ANOVA (repeated measurement) Effect of test and condition is significant Tests of Within-Subjects Contrasts Measure:MEASURE_1 Source testmo ment Type III Sum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig. testmomentLinear1108, ,929,000 testmoment * conditie Linear33,171216,5853,739,029 Error(testmoment)Linear314,910714,435

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Source Dependent VariableFSig. Corrected Model test19,055,000 test24,884,010 Intercepttest1 3063,13 1,000 test2826,931,000 conditietest19,055,000 test2 4,884,010 Errortest1 test2 Totaltest1 test2 Corrected Totaltest1 test2 Multivariate ANOVA Effect of condition on test is significant

Between groups ANOVA Test 1: F: p: ≤ (A: multiple choice only; B: paired-associate only; C: mc + pa)

Test 2: F: p: ≤ 0.01 (A: multiple choice only; B: paired-associate only; C: mc + pa)

Test 1-test 2 (vocabulary loss): F: p: ≤ 0.05 (A: multiple choice only; B: paired-associate only; C: mc + pa)