While it is true that good learners do not use a dictionary for every unknown word and try to guess the meaning first, it is rarely possible to guess the meaning of all unknown words accurately, and checking in a dictionary is usually necessary. Another way in which a teacher can improve dictionary use is to recommend a dictionary for their students.
As noted above, there are a wide array of dictionaries available, and learners may be confused about the type of dictionary which suits them best. A third way in which teachers can improve dictionary use is to engage in learner training with dictionaries, for example quizzing students on the different abbreviations used in a dictionary, or asking which of the different meanings of a word is the one used in the context in which the word is found.
This type of learner training works best if all students are using the same dictionary. A final way in which a teacher can improve dictionary use is by encouraging students to check meanings in more than one dictionary. This will enable them to understand that a dictionary is a source of information, and turn them into researchers, in much the same way that they will research information from more than one source for assignment use.
Gillett, A. Learning vocabulary: Dictionary use. Olwyn, A. Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd. Redman, S. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Scholfield, P. Like the website? Try the books. This extract from Unlock the Academic Wordlist: Sublists contains all sublist 1 words, plus exercises, answers and more! The following checklist summarises the information on this page. Use it to check your understanding. Read more about recording vocabulary in the next section. Read the previous article about word roots.
Scroll to Top. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn. The Academic Collocation List ACL is a list containing 2, of the most frequent and useful collocations which occur in written academic English. Academic vocabulary consists of general words, non-general academic words, and technical words.
Resources for vocabulary contains additional activities and information requires users to be logged in. Learning vocabulary depends on knowing how much to learn, the type of vocabulary to study, and how to study it properly. Username Password. Subscribe to the newsletter. Reference management tools. Using a reference style. Different kinds of reference styles. Style format. Elements of the reference list. Quick guides to reference styles. Documentary note style.
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LU glossary. English-Swedish LU Glossary. Svensk-engelsk LU-ordlista. About Awelu. Start Language Dictionaries General information on dictionary use.
A dictionary is a reference book about words and as such it describes the functioning of individual words sometimes called lexical items. It does so by listing these words in alphabetical order in the form of headwords, the words listed as entries in the dictionary. Even though this section focuses on dictionaries, it will be useful initially to distinguish between a dictionary , an encyclopedia and a thesaurus.
Both a dictionary and an encyclopedia are reference works, but whereas an encyclopedia conveys knowledge about the world as we know it e.
A further distinction can be made between a dictionary and a thesaurus, where the latter can be seen as a word book which is structured around lexical items of a language according to sense relations, most notably synonomy words having the same or very similar meanings Kirkness, Click on the link below to access the online version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica.
One distinction that can be made is that between dictionaries that deal with one single language and those that deal with several languages.
Firstly, a dictionary that deals only with one language is called a monolingual dictionary. Secondly, a dictionary that deals with two languages e. English-Swedish is called a bilingual dictionary.
For example, Norstedts Stora Svensk-Engelska Ordbok Norstedts, presents headwords in Swedish, whereas meanings translation equivalents are given in English. Example sentences are often given in both languages. Thirdly, a dictionary that deals with more than two languages is called a multilingual dictionary.
All these types of dictionary can furthermore be divided into general or specialised dictionaries. The general dictionaries, as the name implies, deal with the more general side of one or several languages. For example, Norstedts Stora Engelsk-Svenska Ordbok Norstedts, is aimed a covering some , of the most commonly occurring words of English. A specialized dictionary, on the other hand, focuses on a more narrow and specialized part of a language, for example the words used in engineering, medicine, aviation, experimental psychology, etc.
The specialized dictionary is thus typically a subject-specific technical dictionary, but other types exist too, e. Even though dictionaries can be used for many different purposes, a useful distinction that can be made is that between comprehension decoding and production encoding purposes. Nation provides the following lists of typical uses: Typical comprehension uses are: Looking up unknown words that are encountered when listening or reading Confirming the meanings of partially known words Conforming guesses from context Typical production uses are: Looking up unknown words needed to speak or write Looking up spelling, pronunciation, meaning, grammar, constraints on use, collocations, inflections and derived forms of partly known words.
Confirming the spelling, pronunciation, meaning etc. Checking that a word actually exists Finding a different word to use instead of a known one a synonym Correcting errors and mistakes Since this website is dedicated to academic writing, it will make sense to take a closer look at the process involved in production encoding of written language and the dictionary use typically needed in this process.
In terms of what type of information is given in a typical entry, here is an example of what is normally found in a mono-lingual dictionary here based on the structure in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English LDOCE : 1.
Spelling : the headword itself is given in its normal spelling, printed in bold. Headwords are arranged alphabetically in a dictionary. Frequency information : symbols indicating how frequent the word is in spoken and written English. For example, a box saying W2 means that the headword in question belongs to the second thousand most common words in written English. Word class : the word class also called part-of-speech of the word and other grammatical information is provided following conventional abbreviations, such as n for Noun and v for Verb.
Sense s : when a word has more than one meaning, then the different senses are numbered. When a sense or a group of senses belong to a different word class, this is indicated. For each sense, a definition is given which at the same time also functions as an explanation of its meaning.
Collocations, phrasal use and the syntactic operation of the word : examples are given of how the headword may be combined with other words to form idiomatic language usage. Naturally, dictionaries differ in terms of what information is provided and in what order, but the above example typically illustrates what types of information are included in an English Foreign Language EFL dictionary entry. As was stated above, it is worthwhile spending some time with the initial pages of a dictionary, where the entry structure and its symbols are explained.
Generally speaking, a slightly higher proficiency in a language is needed when using a monolingual dictionary than a bilingual dictionary see Nation, It was seen as a sign of weakness. I always thought I had to know everything by my own.
This was ridiculous! It took so long for me to accept a dictionary as a normal tool for my conversation. Nhan, Vietnam I often use dictionaries to look up the meaning,using and pronunciation of words. Looking up may be take me a lot of time but it's help me spell the words well. Sometime I can get some interesting information from appendices such as how to write a letter, an email or the structure of airplane and so on.
Kathe, Canada We use dictionaries to examine other parts of root words and to check spellings thereof. Susana Del Buono, Argentina I think any good dictionary is useful in class. Lower level students prefer a bilingual dictionary but when they reach an intermediate level I make them use an English-English one. I think that Advanced Students must use and have their own English-English dictionary to find the words in context and learn how to use them.
Angela, Brazil I encourage my students to use dictinaries to develop their autonomy in the learning process and their searching skills as well. Dictionaries can be really helpful. Gak, Pakistan no i do not use dictionaries in class i try to give them correct meaning myself and try to clear with living example and try to find out around the student and trying to clear vision.
Willi, Germany In my opinion it depends on the level of the student. Up to lower indermitate they should use a bilingual dictionary. Sunny, China I use lots of dictionaries in my classroom,for example, chinese dictionary,english-chinese dictionary,english-english dictionary,in general, I only want to know the meanings of words; but in some time, I have learnt english words by english-chinese dictionary; in some ways I have leant the origin of words or deeper meanings of words by english-english words.
Vero, Madagascar I'm not a teacher but when I was student, dictionaries used to be helpful for me. I think pupils in primary schools don't really need dictionaries. After primary school, dictionaries can help both students and teachers to discuss about a topic. Dictionary hasn't to be used systematically in a classroom, the teachers can organise the use of this interesting tool.
I won't explain much especially for vocab. Cristina, Chile I use it to get further information about a particular entry pronunciation, expressions, or the like also to look for synonyms, and prepositions which are more commonly used with verbs. I don't usually use bilingual dictionaries. Cliff, Myanmar As a teacher of English, I encourage my students to use dictionaries.
I also tell them to look for synonyms rather than meaning. In stead of asking everything from a teacher, I have convinced them to be autonomous. Lini, Australia I teach literacy to adults. The following activities have been useful in my classroom:1 Give them a list of spelling of familiar words where they have to find out whether it is right or wrong.
Fred Silva, Brazil I've been learning English for 2 years and one thing I've noticed is that students who use an English-English dictionary usually develop faster than the others. One of the reasons I use a dictionary in class is due to the fact that my pupils can look for the IPA of a word they don't know how to pronounce when they are at home. Ilias, Morocco I think that dictinaries are extremly important for students,In fact our teacher asks us to bring our dictionaries and personally, he is right because learning a new language requires a dictionary.
Katherine,Taiwan I seldem use dictionaries in my classroom. But I think English dictionaries are useful for me. Because I am preparing for the Ielts Test. I have to read lots of words and sentences,use dictionaries will made me become more efficient and know many meanings I don't understand. Vincent, South of Korea A dictionary is essential item for students who are learning foreign languages.
I have used it to understand the meaning of word which I don't understand in the text. I have made a mini-note that I wrote the spell and meaning of words which I didn't know.
So whenever I go out I take and read in the subway, bus and so on. I select words before hand and write them on the board;then ask them to look up their meaning and pronunciation and tell me the meaning in their mother tongue. If the meaning or pronunciation is wrong I tell them.
In this way their vocabulary and pronunciation improves over the time. Alfiya, Russia It's withouth doubt that we should use dictionaries during classroom activies. The problem is our college I work at doesn't have proper dictionaries for the students studying law, finance, IT technology and other special subjects.
As they should know peculiar vocabulary not only in Russian but English as well they should consult the books that could be helpful for understanding and translating those texts we study. Unfortunately, specific dictionaries cost a fortune expecially bilingual ones.
To sum it up, we use only small dictionaries, and the most important words in the texts I explain to my students by myself. Didier FRANCE To prepare the final exam my trainees are able to used any technical dictionaries to understand the meaning of a new technical word. But the D day must be done without any aids. Vocabulary learning is vital for improving, so I do dictionary sessions, and, based on the level and age-group, I choose topics or articles and let students work on them. It makes them curious, and becomes sort of "addictive", in the sense that they continue looking up words for their homework.
I also choose dictionary resources on the Web for them to use. Meg, China fewer and fewer students use dictionary in class, they would rather use cellphone to look for information. ZLL, China Honestly, a dictionary won't help too much unless you use it agilely and effectively. And students can't learn well when they spent most of time looking up meanings of words in dictionary. The best way, in my opinion, is to ask your teachers.
The main reason is that the dictionary doesn't only have the meaning or transaltion of a specific unknown word. But also it has the correct pronunciation with the phonetic characters that we beleive is really important for the class. We believe the student must pronounce correctly the words, so it will be easy for them to interact with so called native english speakers.
Hui, China I am using a English-English,English-Chinese Oxford 2 in 1 dictionary in the classroom, I also encourage my student to use this kind of dictionary, they look at English explanation first, then they look at Chinese explanation only when they hardly understand the english explanation.
Subject-specific dictionary Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary. Which dictionary do you think is the best choice? What problems might you have using these definitions in real life? This license allows others to distribute, alter and build upon a created work, even commercially, as long as the original source is credited. Want to keep learning? This content is taken from Coventry University online course. See other articles from this course.
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