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Dictionary Using Habits of Electrical Engineering Students in Lahore, Pakistan

The modern-day dictionaries, particularly the EFL learner dictionaries have improved enormously on their micro-macro and super structure, yet the potential users of these kinds of dictionaries are not fully aware of this comprehensive improvement. As a result, the wealth of information, both linguistic and encyclopedic goes unheeded by the potential learners. The main cause of all this is attributed to the lack of requisite reference skill (Dictionary using skills) by the learners. The aim of this study is to find out the extent to which the students of electrical

A Study of Dictionary Use by Saudi EFL Students at Qassim University

Dictionaries are an indispensable tool for learning a foreign language in general. Dictionaries provide students with valuable information in all aspects of language. They include phonological, morphological, syntactical and semantic information in addition to etymological and usage information. Unfortunately, there is currently a paucity of research on dictionary use by EFL learners and very little is known about the behavior and preferences of dictionary users and the complex operation involved in a dictionary consultation. The main objective of this study is to identify types of dictionaries used by Saudi students, the frequency of dictionary use, and the lexical information examined while using a dictionary. Two data-collection instruments were used in this study, namely a questionnaires and interviews. The results of the questionnaire show that Saudi students do not take full advantage of the different dictionaries available, and that they are not trained on how to make full use of the dictionaries. For example, most of them pay attention only to the definition or meaning of a word while neglecting the pragmatic aspect of the word, collocations as well as word formation knowledge.

Which Dictionary? A Review of the Leading Learners' Dictionaries

1988

Three major dictionaries designed for learners of English as a second language are reviewed, their elements and approaches compared and evaluated, their usefulness for different learners discussed, and recommendations for future dictionary improvement made. The dictionaries in qrlstion are the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary," the "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Usage," and "COBUILD," the Collins dictionary with a completely new defining style. Elements considered include treatments of pronunciation and grammar, layout, coverage (including geographical terms and proper names, new words, specialist terms, idioms, and Americanisms), and the language used for defining terms. Areas suggested for improvement or consideration in future dictionary development include the treatment of likely learner misconceptions about words and the information given about frequency and collocational range of words in use. Each dictionary is seen as having important advantages for different learner groups. (MSE)

Improving Dictionary Skills in

2004

This article proposes ways of improving dictionary skills amongst the Ndebele. One way of accomplishing this is incorporating the teaching of dictionary skills into teacher training syllabi. Teachers can impart their knowledge to students and a dictionary culture can develop for enhancing effective use of current dictionaries and helping in the compilation of future ones. In general lexicographers are aiming at producing dictionaries that are 'user-friendly', that is, accessible to their users. Current and future Ndebele dictionaries are likely to remain underutilised unless users develop requisite skills for dictionary use. This article outlines some aspects of dictionary studies that could be incorporated in the training syllabi for potential Ndebele language teachers. Anticipated problems of implementation and possible solutions to these problems are also discussed. Opsomming: Verbetering van woordeboekvaardighede in Ndebele. Hierdie artikel stel maniere voor vir die verb...

Arab EFL Learners' Use of Electronic Dictionaries

Modern educational and computer technology has greatly affected the design of electronic dictionaries. Various types and sizes have been produced ranging from hand-held devices to multimedia dictionaries on CD-ROMs. Unfortunately, little literature exists on their efficacy and the way these are used; therefore, there is now a pressing need for uncovering the way EFL learners use these tools. This dictionary user profile, survey questionnaire, was constructed to fulfill this need and unearth the electronic dictionary-using habits of Arab EFL learners and underline the various facts about the names of the electronic dictionaries they owned, the reasons when, where, why and how dictionary users employed these dictionaries and whether there was any particular information they used more often. Endeavour was made to pinpoint any difficulties in using any category of information and reveal participants' look-up habits and attitudes towards dictionaries. Although it is widely believed that electronic references are more useful than hardcopy references, findings from this research showed that electronic and print dictionaries were used similarly. Disappointingly, users were not fully aware of the bulk of information and features offered by dictionaries. More research remains to be carried out to reveal the image of electronic dictionaries among EFL learners and more specifically how real-world electronic look-ups are performed.

Improving learner's dictionaries: a discussion based on an interdisciplinary approach

Fórum Linguístico, 2020

Learner's Lexicography has reached a high standard of quality in language description. However, it is still necessary to face an old and, at the same time, always new challenge: increasing the user-friendliness of learner's dictionaries. This work deals with how to improve learner’s dictionaries, focusing on the user profile and the user's needs. To achieve this aim, notions from Psycholinguistics, Contrastive Linguistic, Applied Linguistics, Lexicology and Cognitive Psychology were central for this research. This study covered the delimitation of the user profile and the relevance of their mother tongue and the user's learning needs in relation to their proficiency level in the foreign language. At last, I carry out a brief analysis of entries in learner's dictionaries to discuss how straightforward and user-friendly the information provided is. This work allows the conclusion that an interdisciplinary approach can improve the user-friendliness of learner's ...

Review of EFL Learners' Habits in the Use of Pedagogical Dictionaries

English Language Teaching, 2013

A dictionary is an important device for both: EFL teachers and EFL learners. It is highly needed to conduct effective teaching and learning. Many investigations were carried out to study the foreign language learners' habits in the use of their dictionaries in reading, writing, testing and translating. This paper is shedding light on this issue; by pooling efforts carried out by researchers in forms of papers, articles and theses, on how EFL learners behave towards dictionaries in different learning situations. Different learning techniques have been discussed, to add to other experiences in the pedagogy of foreign languages. The findings of these surveys are collected here to enhance the work of foreign language teachers and learners in their classes, as well as it would be of practical help to textbook designers and lexicographers.

The Dictionary Use at the University of Kufa: A Case Study

اداب الكـوفة, 2008

It seems self-evident that dictionary consultation constitutes an important stage in the process of language learning. Dictionaries provide students with valuable information in all aspects of language. They include phonological, morphological, syntactical and semantic information in addition to etymological and usage information (Al-salami,1988). Unfortunately, students are unable to make full use of the vast amount of information provided in dictionaries. The reason behind that is the inadequate training of learners in the use of dictionaries (Berwick and Horsfal ,(1996); Wright, (1998); Nesi , (2000). If we want our students to be efficient users of dictionaries we have to know how they use these sources of information. Very little is known about the behaviour and preferences of dictionary users and the complex operation involved in a dictionary consultation(Hartmann and James, (1998). This paper discusses the results of a questionnaire distributed to a random sample of students of University of Kufa regarding the types of dictionaries used, the frequency of use, the main reason for consultation……etc. The final conclusion reached is that our students do not make full use of the riches found in the dictionaries and they are not trained on how to make full use of the dictionary. We suggest that the reference skill of our students should be developed through the teaching of lexicography at all stages and the training on dictionary use.