Which
dictionaries are the best?
A
dictionary is an indispensable tool for a language learner.
However,
dictionaries raise many problems. A number of bi-lingual
dictionaries, for example, are unreliable, and frequently
lead their users into traps. One colleague of mine showed
how an English-Italian dictionary could produce a wonderfully
bizarre letter, starting 'Expensive Mary!' Pocket-sized
electronic dictionaries, on the other hand, whilst having
the enormous advantage of various forms of access (apart
from only alphabetical), have tiny screens, and this seriously
impairs a user's ability to access the appropriate kind
of material.
These
are the kind of problems which lead teachers and methodologists
to design and recommend different kinds of dictionary -
Monolingual learners' dictionaries (MLDs), production dictionaries,
and a new generation of bi-lingual dictionaries which avoid
the difficulties we have suggested. This module will discuss
different dictionaries and their uses.
Why
are dictionaries important? How can we encourage students
to use them?
Even
if we persuade students to buy the right kind of MLDs or
the new bi-lingual learners' dictionaries which are coming
into classrooms around the world, we still have to persuade
them to use them. This is no easy task. Most people find
dictionaries somewhat daunting and about as interesting
as a phone book.
Clearly
it is not enough just to recommend such dictionaries to
students. We need to show them what riches they contain,
and more importantly, they have to be given help with how
to realise their full potential. Teachers have to find time
to take students through details of word meaning and form.
A good dictionary offers students a gateway to language
autonomy (For more ideas on this topic go to our topic archive
at www.eltforum.com/topic_arch.html
and download the development pack: ''Learner Autonomy -
desirable, possible or just a waste of time!').
This
module will look at training students to use dictionaries
and show how they can be used in vocabulary learning.
Which
dictionary is the right one?
A
dictionary is a significant investment. Choosing the right
one will greatly enhance the learner's ability to understand
and produce language autonomously.
Time
spent by teachers and students thinking about how to choose
a good dictionary will be time well spent. When students
think carefully about what a dictionary should contain,
when they are provoked to express their beliefs, and when
they bring these beliefs to the task, many of them will
gain significant insight into the way words work in the
language, and how they are learnt (For more ideas on this
topic go to our topic archive at www.eltforum.com/topic_arch.html
and download the development pack: 'Vocabulary - is it more
than words!' )
This
module will discuss dictionary contents and suggest a procedure
for dictionary choice which is, in itself, an example of
learner training in action
These
are my opinions and you will have your own, download the
Development Pack and join
me in the next live chat session - go to The
Forum for details.
Jeremy Harmer
