49
The image of the dictionary
The attitudes, needs, habits and preferences of dictionary users
Variations in use
:
(i) comprehension, (ii) production, (iii) other test
performance, and (iv) vocabulary learning
.
Reference skills
Teaching dictionary skills
Critical comparisons and reviews of dictionaries (p
.
61)
.
Moreover, Tono (2001) outlined all the empirical studies on dictionary users
since 1962
.
Of these studies, questionnaire-based research was found to be the
method which was mostly-used in investigating the use of English dictionaries, with
both native-speakers and non-native speakers (Nesi, 2000b; Tono, 2001)
.
Other
investigative methods included tests on reading, vocabulary learning, dictionary-using
skills, and observation (Nesi, 2000b)
.
The previous overview shows that research on dictionary use is
multidisciplinary and is an area of lexicography that is interesting and worth
exploring, in view of the high status of the dictionary in L2 learners’ lives
.
Because
dictionary use is a very personal intellectual experience, considerable differences
could occur regarding the kinds of dictionaries, their users, and the methods used in
studies (Tono, 2001)
.
50
According to the classification list of Tono (2001), the present study is
concerned with the attitudes, needs, habits and preferences of dictionary users;
dictionary use for comprehension and for vocabulary learning
.
2
.
5
.
Research on General Dictionary Use
2.5.1. Studies on Printed Dictionary Use
The earliest method in dictionary use research was the survey by
questionnaire, which was pioneered by the American lexicographer Clarence Barnhart
in the early 1960s (Diab & Hamdan, 1999)
.
Barnhart’s study, however, was not so
authentic because it relied on the opinions of college teachers about their students’
dictionary use patterns. The argument is that the relationship between the teachers’
reports and actual dictionary use is indirect since the teachers were not involved at all
in the dictionary-using activity; thus, Barnhart’s study has been regarded as too weak
to yield reliable results (Hartmann, 2003)
.
The first important questionnaire study involving dictionary users directly was
the survey by Tomaszczyk (1979) who asserted that administering questionnaires
directly to the users is the most popular technique of collecting data from dictionary
users (as cited in Béjoint, 1981)
.
Similarly, Nesi (2000b, p
.
3) noted that
“questionnaire-based research is perhaps the commonest method of enquiry into the
use of English dictionaries”; however, she pointed to some of the problems that are
associated with the use of questionnaires in dictionary use research
:
51
Considering the significance of knowing L2 learners’ needs regarding
dictionary use, Tomaszczyk (as cited in Harvey & Yuill, 1997) surveyed 449 learners
of 16 foreign languages to learn about their use of L2 reference resources such as
MLDs, BLDs, technical dictionaries
,
and
restricted dictionaries (dictionaries of slang,
usage, etc
.
). Tomaszczyk recognized several patterns of learners’ dictionary use
.
For
example, the subjects used dictionaries more frequently for reading, writing, and
translation than for speaking and listening
.
In addition, although the subjects tended to
use MLDs more extensively as their proficiency level increased, almost none of them
abandoned using BLDs
.
In addition to Tomaszczyk’s research, similar studies were carried out with
different subjects
.
Baxter (1980) employed a questionnaire to investigate the
dictionary use patterns of 342 Japanese students of English
.
The results showed that
bilingual dictionaries were the primary source of understanding vocabulary for the
subjects, as they tended to use them on a daily basis, unlike monolingual dictionaries
that were rarely consulted
.
However, Baxter alleged that overusing bilingual
dictionaries prevented the students from using their paraphrasing skills in oral
Results are often a measure of the respondents’ perceptions, rather
than objective fact
.
The respondents’ desire to conform, their (perhaps
unconscious) wish to appear in some way better than they really are, or
their inability to recall events in detail may distort the data
.
(p
.
12)
52
activities. The argument is that bilingual dictionaries use a single word as an
equivalent meaning, whereas learner’s monolingual dictionaries use a structure of
words and phrases as a definition
.
In the same way, Béjoint (1981) surveyed 122 students of English at a French
university through a questionnaire to explore their habits of using monolingual
dictionaries
.
Béjoint found that a large proportion of the subjects used the dictionaries
on a daily basis
because they believed that they were more suitable than bilingual
ones. The subjects used monolingual dictionaries more often during writing in order
to find information about meaning, spelling, synonyms, and pronunciation
.
Moreover,
Béjoint’s study suggested that the subjects were not experienced in using their
dictionaries
,
as most of them did not read the front matter and did not make use of the
coding conventions given in the dictionaries
.
Fan (2000) examined bilingualized dictionary use of Chinese EFL students
.
Fan found that the vast majority of informants (90%) consulted bilingualized
dictionaries because they considered them useful for their L2 learning
.
They generally
searched for the meaning of words but sometimes looked up Chinese equivalents,
derived forms, and usage information
.
In addition, the informants indicated that they
rarely looked up collocations and pronunciation information
.
Fan also found that the
students who are advanced in vocabulary knowledge used the information provided in
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