Abstract
Interviews with undergraduate students from the University of Ljubljana, who are majoring in English and can be considered language specialists, investigated habits of dictionary use, ...look-up abilities, and perceptions of the utility and quality of definitions and illustrative examples. This contrasts with a parallel study (Farina et al. 2019) with undergraduates majoring in business and economics. Like the parallel study, this study was based on fourteen questions and nine contexts containing a clearly-marked common word used in an infrequent sense; participants had to locate the sense in a dictionary that, at the time of the studies, was the online Merriam–Webster Learner’s Dictionary, rebranded today as The Britannica Dictionary. Participants were asked to think aloud as they looked up words. Among other results, the study revealed that its participants, while they were linguistically-educated and experienced, did not fully grasp the complexity of presenting dictionary information online.
Abstract
This article reports on findings from interviews with students from the University of Ljubljana. The study is based on fourteen questions about participants’ habits of dictionary use, their ...look-up abilities, and their perceptions of the utility and quality of definitions and illustrative examples. Students were given nine contexts containing a clearly-marked common word used in an infrequent sense; they had to locate the relevant sense in the online Merriam–Webster Learner’s Dictionary (MWLD). A think-aloud method enabled the researchers to follow the students’ look-up process and record their problems as well as their suggestions on how to improve the content and presentation of information in the dictionary. Recommendations are provided on: the improvement of drop-down menus; the inclusion of the form(s) of a target word; illustrative examples; the use of italics, boldface, and colors as well as what types of information should be displayed or available if needed.
The lexicographical treatment of kinship terminology in Sepedi.Kinship terminology in Sepedi is extensive and forms a complex system. In contrast to languages such as Afrikaans, English and German ...the lexicographer faces greater challenges in respect of the identification of kinship terms and the lemmatisation and treatment thereof in Sepedi dictionaries. Preparational studies of the kinship terminology system are a prerequisite for successful user guidance. The Sepedi lexicographer is the mediator, especially between the inexperienced dictionary user and this complicated kinship terminology system, and therefore has to provide for effective lemmatisation and sufficient treatment of kinship terms. The nature and extent of kinship terminology in Sepedi are analysed and it is indicated that kinship terminology in Sepedi is problematic, especially in respect of the lemmatisation of compounds, and in particular, derived single-word forms and phrases, such as for example multiple possessive constructions. In order to ease access to kinship terms in dictionaries, a lexicographic convention for the lemmatisation of kinship terms is suggested. Corpus occurrences of kinship terms are indicated and space is allocated for a critical evaluation of the lemmatisation and treatment of kinship terms in Sepedi dictionaries.
The present article was inspired by the plenary lecture given by Rufus Gouws at the XX International Congress of EURALEX in Mannheim: "Dictionaries: Bridges, Dykes, Sluice Gates" (Gouws 2022). His ...emphasis on the lack of a dictionary culture and the responsibilities that not only lexicography has towards society, but that society also has towards lexicography is an important perspective that is relevant for many societies, including Georgian society. While Gouws uses this term as an umbrella term to refer to both the user-friendliness of dictionaries, on the one hand, and the ability and willingness of society to use dictionaries and their knowledge of dictionary-use skills, on the other, in the present article we concentrate more on the latter aspect of the term dictionary culture. Numerous studies conducted in the field of dictionary use since the 1970s have revealed that many users did not know how to use dictionaries, were not familiar with the structure of entries, could not identify what part of speech this or that word was, had no idea of homonymy, polysemy and related issues; this led to errors in comprehension, translation and other tasks related to foreign language acquisition. These studies, conducted in different countries, also clearly showed the need to teach dictionary use in schools and universities. Unfortunately, despite efforts from lexicographers and educators to improve this situation, and despite some positive steps taken in this direction which will be discussed in the paper, there is still no satisfactory teaching of dictionary use in educational institutions that would help create or sustain dictionary culture. The aim of this article is to discuss problems in dictionary use in the Georgian context and share our experience of introducing the teaching of lexicography and developing dictionary-use skills at Georgian universities.
Although mobile dictionaries are widely used in English as a foreign language (EFL) education, few studies have examined the different types of mobile dictionaries that Chinese students use. This ...study looks at monolingual, bilingualised and bilingual mobile dictionaries used by Chinese university EFL learners when completing a reading activity. Mixed methods were used to investigate the engagement of 125 learners with three different dictionary apps. A self-report questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to understand learners’ uses and motivations when using mobile dictionaries. Results of the questionnaire show that most learners look up almost exclusively the first entry definition, the Chinese translation of the target word and, to a lesser degree, part of speech information. Spelling, example sentences and other aspects of vocabulary knowledge were largely ignored by the participants in the study. The interview data allowed us to hypothesise that three strategies are shared by the participants across the three study conditions: (1) the “so-called relevance” strategy, (2) the “choose the first definition” strategy, and (3) the “availability principle” strategy. This study addresses gaps in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) research, providing language teachers, researchers and policymakers with ways to understand how mobile dictionaries are used in English language learning.
•Chinese EFL learners paid greater attention to word definitions and part of speech when using mobile dictionaries.•Their mobile dictionary use was closely related to the current task.•They preferred to read only one definition of the polysemous word and Chinese translations if available.•The non-English majors performed more searches concerning word spelling, definition, part of speech and pronunciation with significant differences.•Learners in the bilingualised group made more intensive use of the mobile dictionary than the other two groups.
Abstract
This study examined the self-reported practices of 300 elementary and high school Quebec teachers regarding dictionary use (paper and electronic) in the classroom as a function of teaching ...level and attitudes towards dictionaries. ANOVA results highlighted the diversity of teachers’ pedagogical intentions and students’ learning goals while consulting dictionaries. Results, however, revealed a traditional portrait of dictionary use (e.g., correcting spelling, finding a word definition). In addition, teaching levels did not significantly influence teaching content and activities, nor teachers’ perceptions of students’ goals while using a dictionary. Nonetheless, teachers’ attitudes towards dictionary use were found to significantly predict their classroom practices: those with a positive attitude reported a greater variety of pedagogical intentions (e.g., searching for synonyms) and reported more frequent and diversified dictionary-related activities. In sum, findings underscore the importance of training students and teachers in dictionary use to acquire (and teach) proper and diversified dictionary skills.
Mobile applications and dedicated websites as online dictionaries have been common resources in language learning and teaching settings for years. Primarily used for looking up unknown words in ...reading, writing, and vocabulary learning activities, online dictionaries have been considered highly feasible, individual learning materials. However, their situated use in synchronous video-mediated interactions has remained largely unexplored despite their potential to help L2 learners resolve word-knowledge-related troubles, thus creating opportunities for meaning negotiation. Using Multimodal Conversation Analysis, this study describes the active use of online dictionaries in task-oriented video-mediated L2 interactions of Virtual Exchange participants in higher education. The close examination of the screen-recorded interactions shows that online dictionaries play an essential role in the social accomplishment of intercultural tasks. The findings indicate that L2 learners do not only look up unknown words, but they also look up the synonyms of already known words and validate their existing knowledge. Moreover, online dictionaries operate in a context-specific sequential environment consisting of diverse participant roles (describer/recipient), embodied actions, and grammatical action formats. Additionally, we observe that Wikipedia and image search emerge as supplementary tools to dictionary look-ups. The findings bring new insights into computer assisted language learning, video-mediated interactions, and Virtual Exchange.
Abstract
This study used an online correction task to explore the extent to which different types of warning notes in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online were heeded when users tried to ...correct errors in the use of L2 target words. The task was completed by 332 participants, yielding 1,819 answers produced after clicking on links to relevant entries. Warning notes were categorised in terms of their formatting features, but there were found to be inconsistencies in the way the dictionary associated different categories with different kinds of learner error. Participants judged warning notes with more visual enhancements to be more useful, but in the correction task the position of the warning notes also seemed to affect the degree to which the warnings were successfully applied. Different types of warning notes in learners’ dictionaries have not been examined previously in any depth, and the results suggest that some adjustments to formatting and placement might make them more effective.
Abstract
This study investigates the dictionary use of graduates in English and German as well as their attitudes towards teaching and learning dictionary skills in the classroom. The first section ...of the paper offers a historical overview of research on dictionary use and dictionary didactics in Hungary. This is followed by the detailed description of the quantitative research, which aims to investigate the participants’ (n=197) self-reported preferences and attitudes regarding dictionary use, their dictionary consultation behaviour, and the role of dictionaries as an aid to language learning and teaching. The research results partly confirm the trends revealed in previous international studies (e.g. increased use of online tools, reluctance to pay for dictionaries, low prestige of teaching dictionary use); they also show that there is a need for dictionary use skills to be taught from an early age and for placing a special emphasis on features and search strategies in the case of digital dictionaries. Based on these findings, the authors plan to design a core ‘dictionary skills’ module (with teaching aids and handbooks), which could be incorporated into a variety of courses in tertiary education.
Lexical ambiguities and pragmatic issues represent major concerns for Saudi EFL learners’ dictionary use preferences. These concerns have been often reflected when students are requested to translate ...texts embedded with polysemous, homonymous, and pejorative lexical items, which are extensively used in Arabic texts. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the lexical and pragmatic issues impeding Saudi EFL learners from the better use of dictionaries especially when translating texts from Arabic to English. The present study uses the contextual variability of meaning of Cruse (2000) as its approach assuming that the meaning of a particular word can vary from context to context. A number of 39 Saudi EFL learners in Saudi University were asked to translate some short Arabic passages from Arabic to English, which include several lexical and pragmatic issues like polysemy, semantic change, dialectal issues, pejorative and ameliorative meanings, tonal register and social registers and so on. The study reveals that Saudi EFL learners demonstrate preferences for literal equivalence over dynamic and free equivalent. In addition, they are often unaware of lexical and pragmatic issues relating to the meaning that may hinder the correct application of dictionary information. This study recommends that EFL learners have to be informed about the dictionary use behavior while studying translation courses.
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