Research on Dictionary Use in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: Focus on Reading Comprehension

Description

The purpose of this book is to conceptualise the research on dictionary use within a more general overview of language learning. It brings together some of the findings of studies on dictionary users and uses and shows how research into dictionary use can contribute to the improvement of dictionary design and the clarification of issues in language learning. The book also provides reports on a series of empirical studies on dictionary use in decoding activities (reading comprehension and L2/L1 translation) , which will shed some light on the nature of the issues discussed throughout the book. The book falls into two parts. Part I, »Research on Dictionary Use - State of the Art« is, as its title suggests, a summary of previous studies to tease out relevant issues in each area of inquiry. Part 2, »Empirical Studies« reports on a series of studies the author has conducted in the past 15 years. The first three studies (Chapter 5, 6, and 7) investigate dictionary use in the broader context of language learning. The next four studies (Chapter 8, 9, 10 and 11) report on a series of controlled experiments on the relationship between the macro- and microstructure of the dictionary and reference skills. Finally, the last two chapters (Chapter 12 and 13) report the use of learner language data for a better lexicographical output. Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1: Research on Dictionary Use: State of the Art 1. User-oriented Dictionary Research: a Brief History 1.1. Lexicography: theory and practice 1.2. The user perspective: innovation 1.3. The growing awareness of user needs 1.4. Advances in user-oriented research 2. Research on Dictionary Use in Language Learning 2.1. Dictionary use in vocabulary learning 2.2. Dictionary use in decoding activities 2.3. Dictionary use in encoding activities 2.4. Summary 3. Needs and Skills Analysis of L2 Dictionary Users 3.1. The development of needs analysis in dictionary research 3.2. A framework for needs analysis 3.3. Needs analysis of native speakers as dictionary users 3.4. Needs analysis of ESL/EFL learners 3.5. Skills analysis 3.6. A new framework for needs and skills analysis 3.7. Summary 4. Research on Dictionary Use: Methodological Considerations 4.1. Areas and hypotheses concerning research into dictionary use 4.2. Towards a more comprehensive framework for the research on dictionary use 4.3. Methods for research into dictionary use 4.4. Summary Part 2: Empirical Studies 5. The Effect of Long-term Dictionary Use on Reading Comprehension 5.1. Purpose 5.2. Method 5.3. Results 5.4. Discussion 5.5. Summary 6. How to Assess Dictionary Using Skills for Language Learning 6.1. Two major studies on the assessment of dictionary using skills 6.2. The components of a test of dictionary using skills 6.3. A comparative study of the dictionary skills test 6.4. Summary 7. A Good Dictionary User: What Makes the Difference? 7.1. Background 7.2. Method 7.3. Results and discussion 7.4. Summary 8. Macrostructure Skills: Idiom Look-up Operations 8.1. The treatment of idioms in dictionaries 8.2. Idiom patterns in the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English (1985) 8.3. Idiom look-up strategies: Béjoint (1981) 8.4. Method 8.5. Results 8.6. Discussion 8.7. Summary 9. Microstructure Skills: Process of Dictionary Look-up in L2/L1 Translation 9.1. Background 9.2. Method 9.3. Results 9.4. Discussion 9.5. Summary 10. Microstructure Skills: the Effect of Menu on the Look-up Process 10.1. Purpose 10.2. Method 10.3. Results and discussion 10.4. Summary 11. Macrostructure Revisited: the Effect of Signposts/Guidewords 11.1. Background 11.2. Method 11.3. Results and discussion 11.4. Summary 12. Using Learners’ Error Information for L2 Lexicography 12.1. Background 12.2. JEFLL corpus project 12.3. Collocation errors of English basic verbs 12.4. Corpus analysis procedure 12.5. Results of verb collocation analysis 12.6. Integrating error information into lexicographical description 12.7. Summary 13. L2 Learner Corpora for Pedagogical Dictionaries: The Case of Make 13.1. Background 13.2. Method 13.3. Results 13.4. Summary Conclusion Appendices Bibliography