Language Teaching and Dictionary Use: An Overview

Abstract

The main objective of language teaching is to improve language proficiency with regard to reading, writing, speaking and listening. The dictionary is one of the aids that can be used to attain this goal. There are however a number of stumbling blocks in the way of optimal utilization of dictionaries. Poor reference skills and a lack of knowledge with regard to dictionary typology seem to be the most prominent among these. It is argued that reference skills could be developed by the teaching of reference strategies, preferably by integrating dictionary-using exercises with other language learning activities, and by structuring these exercises according to the stages of the actual reference process. Dictionary pedagogy should ideally be introduced in the L1 class during primary education, but students will definitely still benefit if dictionary skills are taught during the intermediary stages of second or foreign language learning. It is anticipated that students who have become convinced of the problem-solving potential dictionaries through personal experience will become independent learners who will continue using dictionaries even after the years of formal education.

A Survey Study of the Dictionary Use Sub-strategies of English Majors in Saudi Arabia: Dictionary Related Aspects

“…A survey questionnaire was designed to collect data for this study. Informed by the literature (namely Carstens, 1995;Kent, 2001;Nesi & Haill, 2002;Huang, 2003;Elola, Rodríguez-García, & Winfrey, 2009), we devised the dictionary use strategy questionnaire (DUSQ) which was intended to cover all aspects of dictionary use. In designing the DUSQ, we aimed to pinpoint all possible processes that an L2 learner in general and an English major, in particular, using a dictionary may be involved in prior to, during as well as after the lookup endeavor.…”

Developing a dictionary culture through integrated dictionary pedagogy in the outer texts of South African school dictionaries: the case of Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: IsiXhosa and English

“…Beyer and Faul 2010;Nkomo 2014a, b;Taljard et al 2011). Carstens (1995), Gouws (2013), Klein (2007), Van der Merwe (2012), Taljard et al (2011) all concur that dictionary culture is a serious concern for lexicographers in South Africa. This sentiment is shared by lexicographers who have conducted related work in Namibia, Zimbabwe and other African countries (Beyer and Faul 2010;Hadebe 2004;Maphosa and Nkomo 2009;De Schryver 2010, 2013;Nkomo 2014a, b).…”

“…Dictionary pedagogy is, therefore, a form of lexicographic training that is directed at the potential dictionary users (cf. Carstens 1995), as opposed to the professional training of lexicographers or prospective lexicographers (cf. Gouws 2001, Hartmann andJames 1998: 145-6).…”

“…A dictionary may then be studied from the point of language pedagogy, considering how it enhances language learning or how it complements the practices of both language teachers and learners (cf. Carstens 1995). Inversely, studies of language pedagogy may focus on how language teachers interact with their learners using a variety of resources, including dictionaries.…”

“…Yet not much is known regarding what teachers do in response to dictionary requirements in the curriculum where such requirements are specified. With the exception of a few studies such as Carstens (1995), Hadebe (2004) and Van der Merwe (2012), studies of dictionary use in African communities have largely focused on what the learners can do or claim to do with dictionaries. As teachers are often regarded as walking dictionaries by learners and the community at large, an ongoing research whose results shall be reported in the near future, considers how teachers in a small South African town of Grahamstown understand and respond to the responsibility that CAPS places on them regarding dictionary pedagogy.…”