English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners

English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners
Author: Anthony Paul Cowie
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2002
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780199250844

This is the first history of dictionaries of English for foreign learners, from their beginnings in Japan and East Asia in the 1920s to the present day. Anthony Cowie describes the evolution of the major titles, and their fight for dominance of what soon became an enormous market. He shows how developments in lexical and grammatical theory crucially affected the content and structure of ELT dictionaries.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary
Author: Merriam-Webster, Inc
Publisher: LANGUAGE WORLD
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: English language
ISBN: 9780877795506

Designed to help advance students master spoken and written English as it is actually used, this groundbreaking new dictionary provides in-depth and up-to-date coverage of basic English vocabulary, grammar, and usage. Outstanding features include nearly 100,000 words and phrases, more than 160,000 usage examples, more than 22,000 idioms, verbal collocations, and commonly used phrases, and more than 1,000 original drawings--including 16 pages of full color art. Abundant supplemental information includes 25 pages of grammar.

The Oxford Dictionary of American English

The Oxford Dictionary of American English
Author: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780194399524

The Workbook helps students get the most out of the Dictionary.

Dictionary Use in Foreign Language Writing Exams

Dictionary Use in Foreign Language Writing Exams
Author: Martin East
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2008-07-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027290571

This book provides an in-depth analysis of what happens when intermediate level learners of a foreign language use a bilingual dictionary when writing. Dictionaries are frequently promoted to people learning a foreign language. Nevertheless, teachers often talk about their students’ inability to use dictionaries properly, especially when they write, and this can be problematic. This book paints a comprehensive picture of the differences a dictionary makes and brings out the implications for language learning, teaching, and testing practices. It draws on research in which participants in three studies took writing tests in two test conditions – with and without a dictionary. They were also asked what they thought about the two test types. Their performances and opinions were analyzed in a variety of ways. Conclusions from the data highlight some of the practical issues to be kept in mind if we want to help foreign language learners to use bilingual dictionaries effectively when writing.

Oxford Basic American Dictionary for Learners of English

Oxford Basic American Dictionary for Learners of English
Author: Jennifer Bradbery
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Americanisms
ISBN: 9780194399647

These three new dictionaries are based on extensive research with teachers and language experts in the US, range from Basic to Advanced level, and provide users with invaluable help in building the English skills essential for academic and everyday success. Written specifically for English Language Learners, the dictionaries include rich examples, define words with vocabulary that learners can understand, and offer vibrant illustrations to help explain more difficult words.

Research on Dictionary Use in the Context of Foreign Language Learning

Research on Dictionary Use in the Context of Foreign Language Learning
Author: Yukio Tono
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2012-05-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110915014

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.

The Use and Abuse of EFL Dictionaries

The Use and Abuse of EFL Dictionaries
Author: Hilary Nesi
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2012-02-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110946033

The book begins with a review of research into dictionary use. A number of experimental design problems are discussed, in particular the unreliability of questionnaire responses, and the need for detailed accounts of individual dictionary consultations whilst sampling in numbers sufficient to represent specified populations. The experiments reported in subsequent chapters investigate issues raised in the review. The first two studies find that dictionary use during a reading comprehension test affected completion speed but not test scores. The apparent failure of dictionary use to improve comprehension is attributed to the test itself, the dictionaries, and the users' choice of look-up words. The ability of users to interpret dictionary entries is investigated in three further studies which use computers to gather data on large numbers of individual consultations. The findings indicate that there is little difference between three major EFL dictionaries in terms of speed of consultation and overall productive success. They also indicate that Malaysian ESL subjects, who have higher vocabulary scores, are slower in their reading and less successfull in their interpretation of entries than Portuguese EFL subjects. Finally, the findings suggest that overall productive success is unaffected by the presence or absence of examples. The experimental findings lead to the conclusion that dictionary consultation is a process in which users match pre-existing beliefs about word meaning and behaviour against segments in the dictionary entry. Such segments are often selected because they are familiar-sounding and conceptually accessible, but may contain only incomplete or non-essential information. Where pre-existing beliefs and dictionary information conflict, dictionary information is sometimes overridden. Thus word knowledge acquired from a single consultation is often insufficient to ensure productive success. Although it is probably inevitable that word knowledge will be acquired slowly, through multiple encounters, modifications to the dictionary entry and the training of users might help to avoid serious misinterpretation of dictionary information.

Longman Dictionary of American English

Longman Dictionary of American English
Author: Pearson ELT
Publisher: Pearson Education ESL
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Anglais (Langue)
ISBN: 9781447948025

The Fifth Edition of Longman Dictionary of American English is the key to vocabulary building! Now with the full contents online, plus online Thesaurus and Vocabulary Checker. Clear and comprehensive 109,000 words, meanings and phrases, including words from the Academic Word List 59,000 example sentences, showing thousands of academic words and collocations Clear definitions written using the Longman American Defining Vocabulary of just 2,000 common words Words for content areas such as Science and Social Studies The key to vocabulary building Collocation boxes show combination of words that are often used together, such as strong interest, highly successful, and take a test Integrated Thesaurus explains thousands of synonyms and antonyms 3,000 etymologies explain the origin of words -15,000 etymologies online Learner's Handbook on Writing, Collocations and Grammar Workbook exercises for self-study and classroom use Entire contents online Pronunciation of all the words and example sentences, and pronunciation practice Longman Vocabulary Checker: find out which type of vocabulary is used in the text you are reading and which words you should learn Thesaurus: choose the right word and build your vocabulary Topic Vocabulary: find all the words you need to write about common topics such as Describing Places, Technology, Sports and Relationships Academic Study Center with interactive exercises for vocabulary, reading and writing, and exam practice for TOEFL