Load-managed problem formats: Scaffolding and modeling the translation task to improve transfer

Kelly Washbourne

Abstract

Does the “expert blind spot”, our “unconscious competence”, lead us to undermine the effectiveness of our translation assignments? This study characterizes the translation task as schema-based, and thus prone to cognitive overload for the learner. Accordingly, schema acquisition tasks featuring reduced-goal specificity and goal-free problems for training the novice are reviewed. The argument is put forward that we need 1) to use more scaffolding to reduce cognitive load, 2) to vary task architecture for learning (including the use of planning pre-tasks), and 3) to provide diagnostic help for the student translator to attain context-independence for ‘high road transfer’. Formats for expertise modeling are considered—reverse tasks, completion examples, and other whole-task models—as instructional designs for load-managed translation tasks that improve problemsolving, schema acquisition, process-orientation, and metacognitive monitoring.

Keywords:
Table of contents

Translation has been called a prime example of an ill-structured domain (Kiraly 2005). In Morrison et al’s (2011, 4) definition of an ill-structured task (or domain), there may be more than one solution, more than one path, and unknown task constraints, including unavailable information. Simple examples in the translation classroom would include improving work processes, carrying out a ‘transcreation’ of a promotional text, or even justifying decisions with a translation log or thinkaloud protocol. This sort of task stands in contrast to the reiterable, algorhythmic solutions applied to problems calling for predictable procedures or routines. [ p. 339 ]Perhaps the most important aspect of ill-structuredness for translation is that it is a process calling for creative solutions rather than dualistic ‘right/wrong’ ones, and a higher-level cognitive task rather than procedural or single-component skill tasks. Translation, moreover, calls for many schema-based or non-recurrent skills (i.e., executed in different ways across problem situations (Van Merriënboer 1997)), for example a transfer task involving a unique combination of problems such as, say, a source text with a substandard level of writing, a brief prescribing that the translator leverage certain terminology, and perhaps any number of other constraints, be they extrinsic, cognitive, situational, rhetorical, or attitudinal (to borrow Darwish’s (1999, 20) terms).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Ambrose, Susan A., Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, and Marie K. Norman
2010How Learning Works: Seven Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Bruner, Jerome S.
1960The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Clark, Ruth Colvin, and Richard E. Mayer
2008E-learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.Google Scholar
Clark, Ruth Colvin
2010Evidence-based Training Methods: A Guide for Training Professionals. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.Google Scholar
Clark, Ruth Colvin, Frank Nguyen, and John Sweller
2006Efficiency in Learning: Evidencebased Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Collins, Allan, John Seely Brown, and Susan E. Newman
1989 “Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics”. In Knowing, Learning and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser, ed. by L. Resnick, 453–494. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Craig, Ian, and Sanchez, Jairo
2007A Translation Manual for the Caribbean (English-Spanish)/ Un manual de traducción para el Caribe (Inglés-Español). Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.Google Scholar
Darwish, Ali
Towards a Theory of Constraints in Translation”. Draft version 0.2. 1–32. http://​www​.translocutions​.com​/translation​/constraints​_0​.1​.pdf.
Druckman, Daniel, and Robert A. Bjork (eds)
1991In the Mind’s Eye: Enhancing Human Performance. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Englund Dimitrova, Birgitta
2005Expertise and Explicitation in the Translation Process. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frederiksen, Norman
1984 “Implications of Cognitive Theory for Instruction in Problem Solving”. Review of Educational Research 54 (3): 363–407.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gagné, Robert M.
1965The Conditions of Learning. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.Google Scholar
Ge, Xun, and Susan M. Land
2004 “A Conceptual Framework for Scaffolding Ill-Structured Problem-solving Processes Using Question Prompts and Peer Interactions”. Educational Technology Research and Development. 52 (2): 5–22.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gerjets, Peter, Katharina Scheiter, and Richard Catrambone
2004 “Designing Instructional Examples to Reduce Intrinsic Cognitive Load: Molar versus Modular Presentation of Solution Procedures”. Instructional Science 32: 33–58.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gick, Mary L., and Keith J. Holyoak
1983 “Schema Induction and Analogical Transfer”. Cognitive Psychology 15: 1–38.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
[ p. 352 ]
González z Davies, Maria
2004Multiple Voices in the Translation Classroom: Activities, Tasks, and Projects. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halff, Henry M.
1993 “Supporting Scenario- and Simulation-based Instruction”. In Automating Instructional Design: Concepts and Issues, ed. by J. Michael Spector, Martha Polson, and Daniel J. Muraida, 231–248. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Hannafin, Michael, Susan Land, and Kevin Oliver
1999 “Open Learning Environments: Foundations, Methods, and Models”. In Instructional-design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, ed. by Charles M. Reigeluth, 115–140. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hayes, John R., and Jane G. Nash
1996 “On the Nature of Planning in Writing”. In The Science of Writing: Theories, Methods, Individual Differences and Applications, ed. by C. Michael Levy and Sarah Ellen Ransdell, 29–55. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Kalyuga, Slava
2010 “Schema Acquisition and Sources of Cognitive Load”. In Cognitive Load Theory, ed. by Jan L. Plass, Roxana Moreno, and Roland, Brünken, 48–64. New York: Cambridge University Press.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kester, Liesbeth, Fred Paas, and Jeroen J.G. van Merriënboer
2010 “Instructional Control of Cognitive Load in the Design of Complex Learning Environments”. In Cognitive Load Theory, ed. by Jan L. Plass, Roxana Moreno, and Roland Brünken, 109–130. New York: Cambridge University Press.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, Don
2005 “Project-based Learning: A Case for Situated Translation”. Meta: Journal des traducteurs / Meta:Ttranslators’ Journal 50 (4): 1098–1111.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krajcik, Joseph, and Phyllis Blumenfeld
2002 “Project Based Learning”. In The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, ed. by R. Keith Sawyer, 317–334. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Maton, Karl
2009 “Cumulative and Segmented Learning: Exploring the Role of Curriculum Structures in Knowledge-building”. British Journal of Sociology of Education 30 (1): 43–57.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nadolski, Rob J.
2004 “Process Support for Learning Tasks in Multimedia Practicals”. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Open University of the Netherlands, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Naylor, J.C., and G.E. Briggs
1963 “The Effect of Task Complexity and Task Organisation on the Relative Efficiency of Part or Whole Training Methods.” Journal of Experimental Psychology 65: 217–224.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newell, Allen, and Herbert Simon
1972Human Problem Solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Nord, Christiane
1991Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Methodology, and Didactic Application of a Model for Translation-oriented Text Analysis. Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.Google Scholar
2005 “Training Functional Translators.” In Training for the New Millenium, ed. by Martha Tennent, 209–223. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Owen, Elizabeth, and John Sweller
1985 “What do Students Learn while Solving Mathematics Problems?”. Journal of Educational Psychology 77: 272–284.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palincsar, Annemarie Sullivan, and Anne L. Brown
1984 “Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-fostering and Comprehension Monitoring Activities.” Cognition and Iinstruction 1 (2): 117–175.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reigeluth, Charles M.
1999 “The Elaboration Theory: Guidance for Scope and Sequence Decisions.” In Instructional-design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory: Vol. 2, ed. by Charles M. Reigeluth, 425–453. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.[ p. 353 ]Google Scholar
Renkl, Alexander
2002 “Worked-out Examples: Instructional Explanations Support Learning by Self-explanations.” Learning and Instruction 12 (5): 529–556.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rumelhart, David, and Norman, Donald
1978 “Accretion, Tuning and Restructuring: Three Modes of Learning.” In Semantic Factors in Cognition, ed. by John W. Cotton and Roberta Klatzky, 37–54. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Salden, Ron, Fred Paas, and Jeroen J.G. van Merriënboer
2006 “A Comparison of Approaches to Learning Task Selection in the Training of Complex Cognitive Skills.” Computers in Human Behavior 22: 321–333.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salomon, Gavriel, and David Perkins
1989 “Rocky Roads to Transfer: Re-thinking Mechanisms of a Neglected Phenomenon.” Educational psychologist 24 (2): 112–142.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schunk, Dale, and Barry J. Zimmerman
1998Self-regulated Learning: From Teaching to Selfreflective Practice. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Simon, Herbert A.
1980 “Problem Solving and Education.” In Problem Solving and Education: Issues in Teaching and Research, ed. by David T. Tuma and Frederick Reif, 81–96. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sweller, John
1988 “Cognitive Load during Problem Solving: Effects on Learning.” Cognitive Science. 12 (2): 257–285.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 “Cognitive Load Theory, Learning Difficulty, and Instructional Design.” Learning and Instruction 4 (4): 295–312.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 “Cognitive Load Theory: Recent Theoretical Advances.” In Cognitive Load Theory, ed. by Jan L. Plass, Roxana Moreno, and Roland Brünken, 29–47. New York: Cambridge University Press.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Teague, Ross C., Stuart S. Gittelman, and Ok-choon Park
1994A Review of the Literature on Part-task and Whole-task Training and Context Dependency (Report No. 1010). Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.Google Scholar
Torrence, Mark, and Gaynor C. Jeffery
1999The Cognitive Demands of Writing: Processing Capacity and Working Memory in Text Production. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Gog, Tamara, Fred Paas, and Jeroen J.G. van Merriënboer
2004 “Process-oriented Worked Examples: Improving Transfer Performance through Enhanced Understanding.” Instructional Science 32 (1–2): 83–98.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G.
1997Training Complex Cognitive Skills: A Four-component Instructional Design Model for Technical Training. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, Lev Semyonovich
1978Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
White. Barbara Y. and John Frederiksen
1990 “Casual model progressions as a foundation for intelligent learning environments.” Artificial Intelligence 42: 99–157.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wiggins, Grant P., and Jay McTighe
1998Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.Google Scholar
Wightman, Dennis C., and Gavan Lintern
1985 “Part-task Training for Tracking and Manual Control.” Human Factors 27 (3): 267–283. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wood, David, Jerome Bruner, and Gail Ross
1976 “The Role of Tutoring in Problem-Solving.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 17: 89–100.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zaro, Juan Jesús, and Michael Truman
1999Manual de traducción: textos traducidos y comentados (inglés-español)—A Manual of Translation: Translated Texts with Annotations (Spanish-English). Alcobendas (Madrid): SGEL (Sociedad General Española de Librería).Google Scholar
[ p. 354 ]