65
terminological databanks and translation systems, . . . research corpora, hypertext and
the Internet.” (p. 47). Nesi (2000a, p. 839) presents a good working definition of EDs:
Unlike PDs, EDs offer a wide range of information related to vocabulary such
as thesaurus, corpus, and lexical relationship information, through various lookup
paths and techniques (Cumming, Cropp & Sussex, as cited in Law, 2009). However,
EDs are particularly unique because of their way of retrieving information. Printed
dictionaries arrange information in a way that does not allow setting words based on
their semantic and pragmatic similarities, and collocational patterns. Thus, PDs do not
offer information about how distant words in the dictionary are related (Nesi, 2000a).
On the contrary, the ED provides easy and immediate access to groups of
words in any kind of information created during its making (Nesi, 2000a). In this way,
the ED “search allows the user to locate every occurrence of a word or combination of
The term electronic dictionary (or ED) can be used to refer to any
reference material stored in electronic form that gives information about
the spelling, meaning, or use of words. Thus a spell-checker in a word-
processing program, a device that scans and translates printed words, a
glossary for on-line teaching materials, or an electronic version of a
respected hard-copy dictionary are all EDs of a sort, characterised by
the same system of storage and retrieval.
66
words within the dictionary, thus retrieving multi-word units, collocations, and groups
of similarly-worded definitions” (Nesi, 1999, p
.
62)
.
3
.
2
.
Typology of Electronic Dictionaries
The latest technological advances and the Internet revolution have modified
the concept of the dictionary. Almost all PDs have been converted into CD-ROMs,
or/and have become widely available online. Electronic dictionaries can be classified
into several types, and a number of researchers have proposed different typologies of
EDs using different criteria (e.g. Lehr, 1996; Nesi, 1999, 2000a).
An example of an ED typology is the one presented by Lehr (as cited in de
Schryver, 2003), which classified EDs based on their technical and meta-
lexicographic aspects (Figure 5). With regard to technical analysis, Lehr differentiated
between online and offline dictionaries. Offline dictionaries are then divided into
PEDs and PC dictionaries. The latter type comprises dictionaries in CD-ROM, floppy
disk(s) and in other formats. As for meta-lexicographic analysis, Lehr distinguished
between EDs which are based on their paper counterparts, and newly developed EDs;
each of these types can further be subdivided into EDs which have a print appearance
(look like a PD page) or which have an innovative appearance (do not display like
PDs).
67
Figure 5. Typology of EDs presented by Lehr (translated in de Schryver, 2003, p.148)
Another typology of EDs is that by Nesi (1999); her classification focused on
the types of access to EDs. She pointed that EDs can be stored and accessed in a
number of ways
.
They can be designed as PEDs, which makes them more portable
than a PD
.
They are also available as applications on mobile phones or through the
Internet as online dictionaries
.
They can also be stored on a CD-ROM that can be
installed on a computer hard disk for use with a desktop or a laptop computer
.
68
One year later, Nesi (2000a) proposed another typological classification. She
pointed that the 1990s witnessed the birth of four types of EDs for L2 learning: the
Internet dictionary, the glossary for on-line courseware, the learners’ dictionary on
CD-ROM, and the PED. Her comparison results of the three types have been
summarized in Table 1 (de Schryver, 2003, p. 148).
Table 1 Dictionary Typology for the Electronic Age (Nesi, as cited in de Schryver,
2003, p. 148)
Even if Nesi’s (2000a) comparison had been valid to some extent at that time
in the 1990s, she noted that things were starting to change in the following years, as
highly innovative dictionaries were being developed for the Internet, and some of
which could only be accessed through paid subscription, online courseware were
becoming commercially available and stored on CD-ROMs, CDs were loaded on the
Internet, and PEDs were starting to be designed with more lexicographical attention.
69
Whether EDs are stored on a computer or CD-ROMs, available through the
Web or built into PED, the difference between the three types of EDs is just their size
or storage capacity. The types of information as well as the search possibilities in all
the three types are expected to be the same with the promise of increased multimedia
capacity at all levels as technology advances (Nesi, 1996; Pasfield-Neofitou, 2009)
.
3
.
3
.
Electronic Dictionaries in Language Learning
Language learners relied on PDs for decades; however, with the advent of ED
technology, their preferences and dictionary use patterns have changed dramatically,
and EDs use has become the rule rather than the exception (Chen, 2010). So what
advantages have the users found in such dictionaries that their use is so popular?
In Nesi’s study (1999), the ten PED owners mentioned as good points in their
PEDs which makes them superior to PDs
:
the dictionaries provided a variety of search
routes; they could be expanded and/or linked to other applications; sound was
available; they were easy to carry around and use; and the database contained extra
information (p
.
58)
.
Similarly, PED search could be a motivational factor for users to look up a
large number of unknown words out of curiosity, as they will just need to type in the
letters of the words (Gulliot & Kenning, as cited in Nesi, 1999)
.
In line with this,
Laufer and Hill (2000, p. 60) quoted from Roby’s (1999) study revealing that the
“subjects who had access to . . . [an electronic dictionary] read the passage in
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