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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Bachelor Thesis
Brno 2011
Supervisor: Author:
Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. Bc. Matej Lukáč
MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Department of English Language and Literature
Using Dictionaries in ELT
Bachelor Thesis
Brno 2011
Supervisor: Author:
Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. Bc. Matej Lukáč
Annotation
i
Annotation
The aim of the bachelor thesis is to explain the importance of monolingual
dictionaries in English Language Teaching. The theoretical part of the study deals with the
information provided by monolingual dictionaries and shows the role of a teacher in
choosing the right dictionary for a particular class. The practical part analyses a set of
activities based on dictionary work performed with a class of lower secondary school
students. The focus was laid on activities which can be easily integrated in lessons at lower
secondary schools.
Keywords
bilingual dictionary, collocation, defining vocabulary, dictionary entry, ELT, idiom,
lexicographical function, monolingual dictionary
Declaration
ii
Declaration
I proclaim that I have written this bachelor thesis by myself and I used only the
materials that are stated in the literature sources.
I agree with the placing of this thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education and
with the access for study purposes.
In Brno, 4th
April 2011
...............................
Matej Lukáč
Acknowledgement
iii
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my thanks to Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. for the
supervision of my work and the headteacher of ZŠ v Trstenom pri Hornáde for the
opportunity to try out the activities presented in this bachelor thesis.
Contents
1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 3
I THEORETICAL PART ............................................................................................. 4
1. Linguistic Dictionaries ............................................................................................ 4
1.1 Lexicographical function ................................................................................... 4
1.1.1 Satisfaction ................................................................................................ 5
1.1.2 Lexicographically relevant need ................................................................ 5
1.1.3 Extra-lexicographical situation .................................................................. 5
1.1.4 Potential user ............................................................................................. 5
1.2 Bilingual Dictionary .......................................................................................... 6
1.3 Monolingual Dictionary .................................................................................... 7
1.3.1 Learner‟s Monolingual Dictionary ............................................................ 7
2. How to Choose the Right Dictionary? ................................................................... 8
3. How to Use a Monolingual Dictionary? ............................................................... 10
3.1.1 A Dictionary Entry .................................................................................. 10
3.1.2 Collocations in Dictionaries .................................................................... 11
3.1.3 Idioms in Dictionaries ............................................................................. 12
3.1.4 How to Find a Word in a Dictionary? ..................................................... 12
II PRACTICAL PART ................................................................................................. 13
4. Specification of the Classes ................................................................................... 13
4.1 Dictionaries ...................................................................................................... 13
4.2 Group A ........................................................................................................... 14
4.3 Group B ........................................................................................................... 15
5. Activities ................................................................................................................. 15
5.1 Activity 1 – Translation Game ........................................................................ 16
5.2 Activity 2 – What‟s What in the Dictionary .................................................... 18
5.3 Activity 3 – Snake ........................................................................................... 21
5.4 Activity 4 – Place, Animal, Food and Thing ................................................... 23
5.5 Activity 5 – Guess the word ............................................................................ 26
5.6 Activity 6 – Create a Definition of Your Classmate ....................................... 28
Contents
2
5.7 Activity 7 – Collocations (Holidays) ............................................................... 30
5.8 Activity 8 – Pronunciation ............................................................................... 32
5.9 Activity 9 – Derivation .................................................................................... 34
5.10 My Personal Dictionary ................................................................................... 36
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 38
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 40
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 43
Introduction
3
INTRODUCTION
A monolingual dictionary is a necessary tool for all advanced learners of English
language. Teachers at language institutes, universities or lectors in courses for advanced
students of English language recommend monolingual dictionaries as a source of important
information concerning grammar information, collocations, spelling, pronunciation,
context and etymology of words. There are a large number of materials which help
students and teachers to work with dictionaries. However, not all of these materials can be
used at lower secondary schools, because the situation at many primary and secondary
schools is different.
Although teachers see the advantages and positive effects of monolingual
dictionaries, they often encounter various difficulties in presenting them to students. The
lack of financial resources at schools often prevents teachers from updating the edition of
dictionaries or they prefer bilingual dictionaries to monolingual ones. Teachers also cannot
afford to teach dictionary strategies at the expense of other skills students have to master at
the end of the school year. Teachers also face the problem of choosing the right dictionary
for their classes.
The aim of the present study is to help teachers to deal with these problems by
providing necessary information for teachers to lead a lesson or an activity based on
dictionary work, i.e. advantages and disadvantages of a particular kind of dictionaries,
information provided by dictionaries, tips for choosing the right dictionary for a class and
examples of activities which can be easily integrated in an ordinary lesson plan at lower
secondary schools.
The study is divided into two chapters: theoretical and practical part. The first section
of the theoretical part deals with linguistic dictionaries. It explains their lexicographical
function and divides them into categories according to the number of languages used in the
dictionaries. The second and the third sections are focused on monolingual dictionaries and
answer the questions how to choose a dictionary for a class and how to use the dictionary.
The first section of the practical part contains the classification of the classes in
which the activities were performed and explains their structure. Besides the descriptions
of the activities the results of the activities and problems which emerged during the lessons
are also stated in the practical part.
Linguistic Dictionaries
4
I THEORETICAL PART
“Books like friends should be few and well-chosen.”
Samuel Johnson
The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on dictionaries and divides them into several
categories considering different aspects of language. It defines their lexicographical
function and demonstrates the possible usage of dictionaries. Two main types of linguistic
dictionaries are described in detail stressing the advantages and disadvantages of each type.
The importance of the teacher in the process of choosing a dictionary in the class is
highlighted and explained, together with the necessity to teach students how to work with
dictionaries correctly.
1. Linguistic Dictionaries
The aim of the first section is to categorise dictionaries and provide a short
description of the main types. The dictionaries chosen are classified on the basis of the
number of languages involved in a dictionary and the structure of information provided by
a dictionary. The emphasis is placed on monolingual learner’s dictionaries which are
different from dictionaries for native speakers. They do not contain such a wide selection
of words and they focus on the function and general usage of lexical units.
This section also deals with the lexicographical function of dictionaries in order to
clearly define who is a user of a dictionary and user‟s requirements.
1.1 Lexicographical function
“A lexicographical function is the satisfaction of the specific types of
lexicographically relevant need that may arise in a specific type of potential user in a
specific type of extra-lexicographical situation” (Tarp Lexicography 81).
Tarp lists and explains the elements mentioned in the definition above in Specialised
Dictionaries for Learners (“Functions” 42). Referring to this work, the following
subsections describe these elements, provide examples and show the connection of the
elements to the present study.
Linguistic Dictionaries
5
1.1.1 Satisfaction
Laufer and Hadar (189) consider a dictionary a product which should determine and
satisfy the needs of its consumers. The consumers in need in this bachelor thesis are
English language learners (detailed specification of the learners can be found in Section 4
of the practical part). The element of satisfaction refers to the assistance provided to the
users, which means a convenient and quick access to the dictionary data. Young learners
are easily confused by big dictionaries because of redundant information and complicated
codes and symbols. On the other hand pocket dictionaries are usually insufficient for
learners on higher levels because they do not provide enough information.
1.1.2 Lexicographically relevant need
A dictionary should fulfil the satisfaction condition; still it must cover as much
language information as possible. Each entry should provide the phonetic information,
semantic explanation and grammar, but many users also need collocations, idiomatic
expressions, homonyms or antonyms. Learner„s dictionaries for intermediate students are
suitable for the activities from the practical part of this thesis, i.e. each entry should
provide pronunciation in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) form, the part of speech of
the word, irregular plural or verb forms, definition of the word and usage examples.
1.1.3 Extra-lexicographical situation
This element determines the situation when a dictionary can be used. At first sight it
seems that dictionaries should be used when some of the lexicographical needs emerge.
This assumption proves to be incorrect in speaking activities or in situations where a
dictionary is unavailable. Besides activities during which using a dictionary is inevitable,
the practical part also presents activities where using a dictionary is just a part of the
preparation for an activity.
1.1.4 Potential user
Users can be divided into groups according to the type of the lexicographical need.
Nevertheless, there are other criteria to be taken into consideration when users choose their
dictionary. Age group of the users, which is closely related to the native language
competence, determines the structure, number of words and the complexity of definitions.
Very young learners, who cannot read, profit from picture dictionaries. At the age of six,
children have a vocabulary of 6,000 word families (Thornbury 20) and they prefer
Linguistic Dictionaries
6
speaking in shorter sentences. This is reflected in dictionaries with the limited number and
simple definitions of words. Foreign language competence, i.e. the level of the students,
influences the range of information the dictionary should contain. Users might focus on a
particular language skill, e.g. speaking, and consequently they will prefer dictionaries with
extra information about phonetics and phonology. Users with different occupations can
reach for various specialised dictionaries with vocabulary oriented on business, science,
slang, etc.
1.2 Bilingual Dictionary
The dictionary of lexicography defines a bilingual dictionary as “a type of dictionary
which relates the vocabularies of two languages together by means of translation
equivalents” (Hartmann 14). This approach is described as great advantage and
disadvantage. It is not always possible to find an equivalent of a word in other languages
with different cultures. This fact is supported by other lexicographers and linguists.
Piotrowski claims that “a bilingual dictionary can never be adequate in description of
meaning-entities, because the entities are language specific and the second language
equivalents will be related to different entities than the first language items” (74).
Hunt states that a bilingual dictionary is “a necessary but limited tool” (15) and many
learners make mistakes because they are not aware of information about context or culture
missing in bilingual dictionaries. Bilingual dictionaries cannot provide sufficient English
context, they reinforce a naive view of language and they might mislead learners to use
them as a tool for word-for-word translation (Laufer and Hadar 189). Hunt in his
conceptual article strongly recommends the use of monolingual dictionaries (for more
information, see subsection 1.3 below).
Baxter offers another argument in support of using a monolingual dictionary,
“whereas a bilingual dictionary tends to encourage the employment of a single lexical item,
the monolingual dictionary demonstrates that definition is an alternative” (325).
On the other hand all the authors cited above see the importance of bilingual
dictionaries especially for beginners. Hayati and Piotrowski (73) also stress the advantage
of bilingual dictionaries in reading as they offer quick translation which does not distract
readers. A learner can benefit from critical use of bilingual dictionaries or combined usage
of a monolingual and bilingual dictionary. Teachers should encourage their students to use
primarily monolingual dictionaries and to check the meaning of words which students
found in bilingual dictionaries.
Linguistic Dictionaries
7
1.3 Monolingual Dictionary
A monolingual dictionary is “a type of reference work in which the words of a
language are explained by means of the same language” (Hartmann 95). The main
advantage of the current monolingual dictionaries is that they are based on large corpora.
The corpora consist of huge collections of written and spoken English which are analyzed
and the information from this analysis can be used for creating tables of words frequency,
collocations and idiomatic expressions.
More effort which is required from the students using a monolingual dictionary can
be helpful since the demanding process of remembering a word may improve retention
(Hunt 20).
1.3.1 Learner’s Monolingual Dictionary
A learner‟s monolingual dictionary is a sub-type of monolingual dictionary intended
for language learners. According to Tickoo (189), the fundamental differences between
monolingual dictionaries for native speakers and monolingual dictionaries for language
learners consist in the definitions of new vocabulary and the number of illustrative
examples.
Learner‟s dictionaries define new vocabulary using a small explicitly listed defining
vocabulary, which consists of high frequency words, or using a system which allows
defining a word only in words which are more frequent than the defined word. “A passive
knowledge of 2,000 most frequent words in English would provide a reader with
familiarity with nearly nine out of every ten words in most written texts” (Thornbury 21).
Tickoo (187-188) provides definitions of the word cat from three different
monolingual dictionaries (MD):
MD for native speakers – “small domesticated carnivorous quadruped”
MD with ‘simple’ English definitions – “small, domestic fur-covered animal often kept
as a pet”
MD with defining vocabulary – “a small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp
claws, often kept as a pet or for catching mice and rats”
More than half of students, i.e foreign learners who participated in the research
described by Tickoo (188) on how to make definitions more acceptable to users, preferred
definitions formulated in defining vocabulary.
Linguistic Dictionaries
8
Learner‟s monolingual dictionaries also “make abundant use of illustrative examples”
(Tickoo 189) which provide minimum language context for learners to fully understand the
meaning.
2. How to Choose the Right Dictionary?
Since English is a world language with many speakers and its importance is growing
a large number of dictionaries are available to teachers to choose from. This subsection
presents several factors which should be considered when choosing the right dictionary for
a particular class. A teacher‟s decision can have significant consequences for the students
and it always is rather subjective. Therefore I attempt to answer the question „How to
choose the right dictionary?‟ by means of listing advantages and disadvantages of each
choice.
Tickoo (185) mentions two basic criteria which can help a teacher to make his
decision – range of inclusiveness and price. Even if the price is not directly related to
learning English it is still very important together with quality of paper, printing and
binding. Some schools have an access to computer laboratories; hence the teachers are not
limited only to paper dictionaries. They have the possibility to use electronic and online
dictionaries, instead.
Advantages and disadvantages of electronic dictionaries can be described as follows:
they are cheaper
they are quick and easy to use (search function)
they contain updated information
they provide more information (they are not limited by space)
they provide pronunciation examples, pictures
students cannot forget the dictionary at home
the information the entry provides can be adjusted to the level of the students
students can record their pronunciation and compare it with the dictionary records
- students need special equipment and computer skills to use them
- when using electronic dictionaries, students may be distracted by other programs
How to Choose the Right Dictionary
9
Advantages and disadvantages of paper dictionaries can be described as follows:
students do not need any electronic device to use them; portability
the effort made to look up a word may influence the retention
- they are easily torn or damaged
- the content of a dictionary depends on its size; the size and weight of a dictionary
Almost all monolingual dictionaries present their phonological information using IPA
(International Phonetic Alphabet). IPA is a set of phonetic symbols as representation of the
sounds of spoken language and it is advisable for teachers to train their students in using it.
However, some bilingual dictionaries for young learners and beginners (e.g.
) may describe the sound using the alphabet of the first language (e.g.
people /pípl/, fashion /fešn/). Since English pronunciation cannot be always derived by rule
from its written form and English has its special sounds this alphabet is not able to show
the difference between some words, e.g. “bad” and “bed”.
Advantages and disadvantages of IPA can be described as follows:
it contains symbols for all the sounds a human speaking a particular language
can produce
it provides precise pronunciation
it is used in many dictionaries and textbooks
- students have to learn another „alphabet‟
Section 1 above divides dictionaries according to the number of languages used in a
dictionary, but teachers should also focus on the structure of these dictionaries. The word
list in dictionaries can be systematized by the form of the words (alphabetical order,
pronunciation) or the meaning of the words (words are grouped according to their
similarities in meaning).
Systematization by the form offers these advantages and disadvantages
it facilitates the search for words
it groups words according to their prefixes (suffixes, first syllables)
it enables quick checking of spelling, pronunciation of words or meaning
- dictionaries show limited semantic relation between words
How to Choose the Right Dictionary
10
Systematization by the meaning offers these advantages and disadvantages
good at enhancing students‟ vocabulary
additional information provided together with information about the searched word
- a search for a word may be interminable for students
When focusing on the content, teachers should consider the number of words
included in a dictionary, the structure of an entry and additional information as charts,
pictures and appendices. Section 3 below lists items which might appear in an entry of a
monolingual dictionary. To decide which of these items are important for a particular
group of students, teachers can use learner‟s portfolios with competences of a learner at
different levels of English or Rámcový vzdelávací program (RVP) at schools.
3. How to Use a Monolingual Dictionary?
When using a dictionary, the most important thing is to be aware of the information it
contains. Teachers should point out and explain to students how to work with a dictionary
to use its potential. In order to be able to use a dictionary students must understand its
organisation. Lehmann describes the macrostructure and microstructure of dictionaries, in
other words the system of the order of words and the structure of the entries. He offers two
concepts of arranging a word list, by properties of significans (orthographic, phonological,
structural properties) and significatum (semantic order).
The use of the alphabetical order, which is based on orthographic property, is
frequent in monolingual dictionaries. When working with these dictionaries the implied
requirement is the familiarity of the students with English alphabet.
Each dictionary also provides “guide pages to the dictionary” which help a user to
familiarize with the symbols and microstructure of the dictionary.
3.1.1 A Dictionary Entry
Lehmann and Soekemi (204-209) provide a detailed description of a dictionary entry,
listing its parts and pieces of information it may contain. Each entry is identified by a
lemma, which is equivalent to keyword, homonym number and sense number. The purpose
of the lemma is to enable searching the dictionary. It also can indicate additional
information such as stress or syllables of the word. While the homonym number separates
keywords with identical spelling but different meanings, i.e. homonyms, the sense number
How to Use a monolingual Dictionary
11
separates different (but semantically very similar) meanings occurring in polysemous
words.
The lemma is usually accompanied with a phonological representation which is often
in IPA form (see Section 2 above). If a word can be pronounced or spelled in different
ways, the dictionary entry can offer its phonological and orthographic variants. Some of
the dictionaries use the variants to distinguish between British and American English.
Lehmann introduces the term range set which is a predefined set of terms users could
find while using a dictionary. The range set of the style information of a word can include
“formal, informal, slang, vulgar, etc.”
To set forth a structure of a word satisfactorily, entries in a dictionary should contain
information stated in this paragraph. Part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) is
important for students to be able to use the word in a sentence. Derivatives and word
formation help students to enhance their vocabulary. The word formation is often
interlocked with the etymology of a word. Dictionary entries are also the best source of
irregular inflections of words and information about the countability.
To fully understand the meaning and usage of a word, dictionaries provide
definitions, examples in the form of sentences, common collocations or pictures. Electronic
dictionaries may provide also audio-information. Semantic classes (a dog is an animal, an
apple is fruit) and semantic relations (homonymy, antonymy, synonymy) help to
categorize words. Especially in electronic dictionaries, this information allows students to
see the semantic connection between words as they can use search function.
Finally, entries may contain methodology information by means of stating or
correcting common learner‟s errors.
3.1.2 Collocations in Dictionaries
Collocation is a relationship between words; it defines a sequence of words which
usually stands together. The electronic version of Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary and many other dictionaries divide words which collocate with a keyword (the
word “safety” is chosen as an example) into categories:
verbs – assure/improve/run for safety,
nouns – safety belt/ helmet/reasons,
adjectives – comparative/relative safety,
types – air/rail/road safety,
How to Use a monolingual Dictionary
12
prepositions – in/for/to safety,
phrases - there's safety in numbers.
This categorisation assists students in building or developing their sentences. Having
decided the topic and having looked up the keywords, they can learn a range of suitable
expressions for their sentence.
3.1.3 Idioms in Dictionaries
An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning usually cannot be derived from the
meaning of its constituents. Monolingual dictionaries offer a solution to this problem
covering the most common idioms and providing their explanations and situations in which
they can be used. As an idiom is not a single word, problems in finding idioms in a
dictionary can emerge. Students should know that dictionaries, generally, “list idioms
under the first lexical word, not prepositions, articles, or verbs like have and be” (Wright
120).
The exception might be electronic dictionaries which work with a database with
search function which enables them to find all idioms containing searched lexical words.
3.1.4 How to Find a Word in a Dictionary?
The answer to this question might seem trivial. Words in dictionaries are arranged in
alphabetical order and therefore a student with knowledge of English alphabet should
succeed.
What must be taken into consideration is the time spent on looking up a word. To
minimize this time teachers should introduce to students basic dictionary strategies.
Students should learn how to estimate the position of letters in dictionary. Students
will find the word faster if they follow running heads, i.e. the first or last word on the page.
Younger learners might need a card of English alphabet to check the position of the letters.
Summary
The theoretical part of the thesis deals with linguistic dictionaries, the main focus is
laid on learner‟s monolingual dictionaries and the information they contain and their
structure. The chapter covers the lexicographical function of dictionaries and helps to
answer very important questions about choosing a suitable dictionary for a class and
working with this dictionary.
Specification of the Classes
13
II PRACTICAL PART
The practical part of the present study is a collection of activities based on dictionary
work. The activities were performed at a lower secondary school in two mixed-ability
classes. The specification of these classes is also included in this chapter. Each activity
deals with a particular skill which students have to develop in order to use the full potential
of a monolingual dictionary. The common aim of the activities is to present an interesting
way how to introduce a monolingual dictionary to a lower secondary school class without
interfering in Školský vzdelávací program (ŠVP). Additional aims are stated in the
description of a particular activity.
4. Specification of the Classes
This section provides the description of two classes in which the activities presented
in the practical part were performed. The description is necessary for better understanding
of the requirements of the students and it indirectly explains the choice of some activities.
Some activities were performed in both classes which helped me to improve them since I
was able to avoid the problems which emerged in one of the groups.
I used the activities in mixed-ability classes at a lower secondary school. The level of
English of the students was pre-intermediate and intermediate, not all the students in the
classes reached the level and they might be considered elementary or pre-intermediate.
Involving these students in the activities and learning proved to be challenging and
required modifications of the activities. The school was equipped with a special classroom
for teaching English with a blackboard, whiteboard, data projector, computer and the
possibility to move desks. A computer laboratory was also needed for activities which
involved using an electronic dictionary.
4.1 Dictionaries
During the activities each of the students was given a copy of Oxford Basic English
Dictionary (OBED) or used the electronic version of Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary (CALD).
OBED is a dictionary which can help students to learn the most important words of
English language and their usage. The words and phrases are explained in simple English,
Specification of the Classes
14
the entries contain pronunciation in IPA. The dictionary provides examples, basics of word
formation, collocations and idioms. The school had 25 copies of this dictionary available
and although it does not contain sufficient amount of vocabulary for intermediate students
I found it suitable for the classes. Since students did not work with the dictionary on a
regular basis before, the simplified dictionary was a comfortable start for them.
On the other hand, CALD is a dictionary for advanced learners and the paper version
of this dictionary would be too demanding for intermediate students. However, the
electronic version of this dictionary allows the user to adjust the entries and students are
not distracted by the information they do not need.
4.2 Group A
Class 7th
grade at lower secondary school
Age 12-13
Number of students 16
Boys/Girls 11/5
Coursebook Project 3
Level of the class pre-intermediate
Level of the students
Most of the students are at pre-intermediate level. They understand simple English,
can follow teacher‟s instructions, ask questions about topics and answer the questions of
the teacher. There are students who are behind the class but the difference is not as evident
as in group B.
Students with special needs
A student with special needs was present in this group. He suffers from a mental
block which prevents him from communicating with people. It does not affect his IQ,
however, he refuses to talk to teachers and classmates. He can only be examined in written
form. He pays attention in the lesson and follows the instructions of the teacher if the target
of the instructions is the whole class.
Relationship between students
The condition of the handicapped student does not negatively influence relationships
in the class. Students can explain his problem if there is a new person in the class. They
usually divide themselves into two groups: boys and girls. I did not notice any conflicts
between students.
Specification of the Classes
15
4.3 Group B
Class 9th
grade at lower secondary school
Age 14-15
Number of students 20
Boys/Girls 9/11
Coursebook Project 4
Level of the class intermediate
Level of the students
Most of the students are at intermediate level. They understand simple English, can
follow teacher‟s instructions, ask questions about topics and answer the questions of the
teacher. Two of the students have not reached this level yet. They do not understand some
questions or instructions and ask the teacher for translations.
Students with special needs
No students with special needs are present in the class.
Relationship between students
I did not notice any conflicts between students. They usually divide themselves into
two groups: boys and girls.
5. Activities
This section presents activities based on dictionary work. The descriptions of all the
activities have the same structure. In Introduction I explain why I decided to include the
activity in my work and state the source of the activity. The Level specifies the minimum
level of English for students to be able to participate in the activity. Time shows
approximate time needed for the performance of the activity and includes information
about the time needed to prepare the activity. Aims and objectives of the activity are stated
in the Aims part. The Materials part draws attention to the materials and aids needed for
the activity. The Instructions part contains single steps describing the preparation,
presentation and performance of the activity. The result of the activity is showed in the
Example part. Notes contain advantages and disadvantages of the activity, possible changes
which make the activity suitable for classes with different needs and suggestions how to
adjust the activity to suit students at other levels. Reflection is the final part in which I offer
my teaching experience and analyse the results.
Activities
16
5.1 Activity 1 – Translation Game
INTRODUCTION
I decided to include this activity despite the fact that students use a bilingual
dictionary instead of a monolingual dictionary during the activity. As explained in
Subsection 1.2, students sometimes do not realize that two expressions (headword and its
translation) found in a bilingual dictionary are usually not exact equivalents, i.e. they differ
in denotative meaning. For example, the English expression “clock” stands for a device for
measuring and showing time while Slovak expression “hodiny” may be explained as hours,
a clock or lessons (Vögel 77). The activity is based on a game by Hedge (132).
LEVEL
Elementary – Advanced
TIME
The activity takes 6-10 minutes.
The preparation takes less than 5 minutes.
AIMS
- students will practise using a bilingual dictionary
- students will indirectly learn about synonymy and polysemy
MATERIALS
- a bilingual dictionary
- a piece of paper which can be folded and a pen
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students are introduced to a bilingual dictionary. The teacher shows the students
how to look up a word in a dictionary (for more information, see the Reflection
part).
2. The teacher gives a student the dictionary and a piece of paper with a word written
on it. The student finds the word in the dictionary and puts down the translation of
Activities
17
this word. He then folds the paper so that the next student could see only the last
written word.
3. Students continue in this way and when the chain of words is finished the teacher
or a student reads the first and the last word (written in the same language).
4. Students and the teacher discuss the reasons why the meaning of the words differs.
5. If these two words have the same or similar meanings, all the words on the paper
should be read.
EXAMPLE
nosiť → wear → oblečenie → dress → šaty → ... → šaty
nosiť → carry → nosiť →bear → medveď → ... → medveď
NOTES
Since only one of the students can work with the dictionary at the time the teacher
should give the other students an additional task.
An interesting suggestion for teachers of advanced students might be a reversed
strategy of the game. The teacher will give the students two words (“nosiť,” “šaty”) and the
students have to find a chain which connects these words.
REFLECTION
This activity is not very demanding, I found the instructions clear and students did
not seem confused. I helped the first two students with the task, showed them how to fold
the paper and asked them to help the others if needed. The rest of the class was practising
vocabulary from the previous lesson.
During the activity I chose random students to learn how much time a student needs
to look up a word in the dictionary. The results were quite unsatisfactory, because some of
the students needed almost a minute to finish the task, working with the dictionary for 45
seconds. It did not interfere with the lesson, but I realized that if an activity involved
looking up 20 words, 15 minutes of a lesson would be spent unproductively. This
calculation applied to weaker students; the average searching time was about 20 seconds.
After Activity 1 I asked students to find three words in the monolingual dictionary
(“apple”, “house”, “street”). I was observing students and also measured time until each of
the students found the word. The students were not aware of me watching their searching
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strategies. Some of them were moving their lips while spelling the alphabet to determine
the position of the searched word in the dictionary, some chose the way to browse the
dictionary from the beginning to the end until they found the word. I noticed a modest
improvement when I gave the students English alphabet printed on bookmarks and
introduced running heads in Activity 2.
I chose the words “dress” and “bear” from the paper and discussed the possible
meanings of these words with students. Students learned different parts of speech and how
to recognize the meaning of a word in a sentence.
I prepared a chain of words similar to those in the Example part in case students do
not create suitable chains.
Students liked the activity; some of them presented their own chains the next lesson,
although it was not their homework. Students learned that a word can have several
meanings and that the word and its translation are not necessarily equivalent in all the
meanings. Students also improved their searching strategies. Although they were all
familiar with English alphabet, they needed some practice to be able to immediately
determine the place of a letter in the alphabet.
I found this activity a good start for introducing a monolingual dictionary. It can be
easily integrated with a regular lesson at secondary school and does not take much
preparation time. Its variations can be used for all levels of English students.
5.2 Activity 2 – What’s What in the Dictionary
INTRODUCTION
The activity is related to the issues mentioned in Subsection 3.1.1. It practises the
information I found important for students to learn. It also contains hints for looking up a
word in a dictionary. Wright (15) introduces a similar activity. I decided to modify the
original handout of the activity by scanning a page from the dictionary I used in the class
and skipping or adding some terminology.
LEVEL
Intermediate
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TIME
The activity takes 15-20 minutes.
The preparation of the activity is time consuming (1 hour), but required only before the
first lesson with a new dictionary.
AIMS
- students will be familiar with the terminology in a dictionary (headword, entry,
pronunciation, synonym, definition, etc.)
- students will improve strategies for looking up a word in a dictionary
- students will learn how to work with a dictionary
MATERIALS
- a monolingual dictionary for each of the students
- the handout for each of the students (see Appendix 1)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students are given a monolingual dictionary and the handout.
2. They are asked to name the marked parts from the handout. If they struggle, they
can use the box with the terminology from the handout.
3. Teacher then discusses possible functions of the parts with the students. They again
can use the box with the functions from the handout.
4. Exercise 3 is an exercise which can test the students‟ comprehension. Teacher can
use it in the class or as homework.
EXAMPLE
Appendix 1
NOTES
The first pages of dictionaries usually contain a key to dictionary entries. Some
information the key provides might be abundant for students and thus it is not enough to
introduce a new dictionary by browsing the key with students.
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20
This activity is focused on a paper dictionary. The situation with some electronic
dictionaries is simpler, because they allow teachers to adjust their entries appearance so
that it corresponds to the level of the students. This was one of the reasons why I chose to
use Cambridge Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary with my classes. The difference between
the simple and advanced version can be seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
Figure 1. Advanced version of an entry in a dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP, 2008.
Figure 2. Simple version of an entry in a dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP, 2008.
REFLECTION
Students in group A were able to identify and explain the function of the page
number, picture and pronunciation. Students in B were able to identify and explain the
function of the page number, picture, pronunciation, headword and example. Using the
help from the handout both groups succeeded in completing exercises 1 and 2.
During the lesson I noticed that some students did not pay attention or copied the
answers of their neighbours. These were the students who were active in previous lessons
and did not like sedentary activities. I asked these students to take some paper and put
down one piece of the terminology from the help box. They then took a position in the
classroom (which stood for a page) according to the word written on their paper. The other
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students were allowed to help them using the handout or the dictionary. I did not focus on
the exact position of the students I rather asked them about the function of the word or
when we can use this information of an entry. I noticed a positive change in behaviour of
kinaesthetic learners.
I did not manage to include exercise 3 in the lesson, therefore I assigned this as
homework. I pointed out tasks b) and e). I stressed that I am interested in pronunciation in
task b) and that students should explore the dictionary on their own and find the meaning
of symbol . The homework was checked the next lesson and I did not find any
particular problem.
Students learned about the information provided by monolingual dictionaries and
familiarized themselves with the terminology connected with a dictionary. Despite my
effort they did not follow running heads when searching a word in the dictionary. This
changed later when I introduced games and they were motivated to look up a word as
quickly as possible.
5.3 Activity 3 – Snake
INTRODUCTION
This activity offers a way how to present new vocabulary in the class and use a
dictionary during the activity. The activity is based on Wright‟s (29) Endless Words.
LEVEL
Intermediate
TIME
The activity takes less than 10 minutes (if the length of the snake is less than 10 words).
The preparation of the activity takes approximately 6 minutes.
AIMS
- students will practise work with a dictionary
- students will learn new vocabulary (its spelling, meaning and parts of speech)
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MATERIALS
- a monolingual dictionary for each of the students
- a word-snake for each of the students or groups
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students are given a dictionary and a word-snake (printed on paper or written on a
board).
2. Students have to isolate words hidden in the snake. They are expected to find the
parts of speech, pronunciation and the definition of the words in the dictionary. The
students should not be familiar with these words, the teacher has to use new
vocabulary, e.g. from the coursebook.
3. Students practise this vocabulary in other activities.
EXAMPLE
easy word-snake
BETWEEN.ROAD.CROSSROADS.OPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.TRAFFICLIGHTS.WAY.
medium word-snake (there is a redundant letter in the snake)
BETHWEEN.ROAD.CROSSROADS.OPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.TRAFFICLIGHTS.WAY.
hard word-snake (with many redundant letters)
GABETWEEN.HORROAD.ACROSSROADS.DOPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.HOUSWAY.
NOTES
The Example part shows how this activity can be modified to suit students at all
levels. The teacher does not need much time for preparation. The snake can be written on
the board and the teacher does not need to copy handouts.
REFLECTION
At first I wanted the students to bring scissors with them so that they could cut the
snake printed on paper. After the analysis of the activity I saw that this would not help the
aim of the activity and new problems could appear if students made a mistake and cut the
snake at a wrong letter. They would not be able to correct their decisions.
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23
Students were divided into pairs and each pair was given a word-snake on a piece of
paper. I hoped that when divided into groups students would cooperate and find the words
faster. Some students in the pairs worked as individuals. I did not want to interfere in as
some students might be learners with intrapersonal intelligence and therefore I just advised
them to share their words so that they did not have to look up a word which had already
been found by the neighbour.
When students asked me why I included the word “road” two times I stressed that
there are only 8 words and 7 terms in the snake and they should look into the dictionary
and join some words together if possible.
Pairs that finished before the end of the activity were asked to create their own snakes
using nouns from their course books and exchange the snakes in pairs. My intention was to
keep them working while the others finish the activity.
Students successfully identified all the words in the word-snake, were able to
determine their parts of speech and learn their definitions. They also focused on the
spelling of new words. The only complication during the activity emerged when they
divided one term into two words (crossroad – cross and road; traffic lights – traffic and
lights). I expected this problem and solved it by inserting word “road” into the snake and
stating the exact number of words and terms in the snake.
5.4 Activity 4 – Place, Animal, Food and Thing
INTRODUCTION
This activity offers a way how to practise vocabulary in a class using a dictionary.
The activity is based on a well-known game Name-Place-Animal-Thing1.
LEVEL
Elementary – Advanced
TIME
The activity takes approximately 5 minutes for a letter.
No special preparation for the activity is needed.
1 Meno-mesto-zviera-vec
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AIMS
- students will practise work with a dictionary
- students will practise scanning and skimming
- students will revise old vocabulary or learn new vocabulary
MATERIALS
- a monolingual dictionary for each of the students
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students are given dictionaries. Each of the students divides a piece of paper into 4
columns.
2. When the activity begins the teacher chooses a letter from English alphabet and
students have to write a thing, kind of food, an animal and a place which begin with
the chosen letter. The teacher can divide the students into groups and these may
compete. The winner is the group with the highest number of unique entries, i.e.
words beginning on the chosen letters which were not found by other groups.
3. There is a time limit in which they have to complete the task.
4. The teacher then checks the answers and corrects mistakes or discusses the
vocabulary with the class.
NOTES
The teacher can use different variations of this game for advanced students, e.g.
Noun-Adjective-Verb-Adverb.
REFLECTION
This activity was the most favourite among the students. As a teacher I find it a nice
starter of a lesson. Although students produce only single words, they develop their
memory and work with English vocabulary without translating from Slovak to English.
Students were focused on the game and even the most problematic students paid attention.
When I first tried this game in the class I noticed that only few students from group B
used dictionaries. Some boys from the class did not use the dictionary because they already
wrote several words in each column and they were not motivated to continue searching.
Other students did not want to waste their time working with a dictionary and rather relied
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25
on themselves. Some tried to work with a dictionary but they found it too demanding to
read every word on the page and they gave up.
I showed students how the dictionary can help and that they do not have to read
whole entries. Instead, they just have to read first two or three words until they have a
slight idea what the word means. We went through several examples concerning animals. I
asked students which words can occur in the definition of an animal (mammal, fish, bird,
animal, insect, spider, snake, etc.) and showed them these examples:
sheep a farm animal with thick wool, that eats grass and is kept for...
cow a large female farm animal kept to produce meat and milk...
falcon a bird with pointed wings and a long tail which can be trained to...
elephant a very large grey mammal which has a trunk with which it...
Students saw that they only have to read the underlined words to determine whether
the words stand for animals. I set the time limit at 2 minutes. It was long enough for weak
students to find at least one word in each of the columns and it was not too long for
impatient students to get bored.
Teachers should be very careful when choosing a letter for the activity. There are
words which can confuse students because of their spelling or pronunciation, e.g. the letter
K and words “corn” and “know”. On the other hand, when in doubt, the students are
motivated to use dictionaries. I always checked the words students had written. Some
students often copied headwords without remembering their meanings.
The result of the activity was very encouraging. I chose letter “b” 3 times in a week
and then compared the number of words students found during the activity. The number
from the third attempt was almost twice as big as that from the first one. Students used the
dictionary and learned many words with the initial letter “b”.
Some of the students learned how to process the definitions very quickly and were
able to scan pages effectively and found words they had not known before, the others
scanned pages for words they had already been familiar with.
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26
5.5 Activity 5 – Guess the word
INTRODUCTION
I included this activity to focus the students‟ attention on defining vocabulary in
monolingual dictionaries. It helps the students to process the definition of a word which
may be a problem for inexperienced learners.
LEVEL
Intermediate
TIME
The activity takes 15-20 minutes.
The preparation takes 15 minutes.
AIMS
- students will practise work with a dictionary
- students will revise vocabulary
- students will be more flexible in understanding a definition in a dictionary
- students will familiarize with defining vocabulary
MATERIALS
- a monolingual dictionary for each of the students
- a list of words
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students are given dictionaries and a list of words which will be practised.
2. One of the students or the teacher chooses a word from the list, looks up the word
in the dictionary and reads the definition of the word aloud. The other students have
to find the chosen word from the list.
3. The definition can be read more than once if students do not understand it.
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27
EXAMPLE
A sample of a vocabulary list (giving directions):
Long Theatre Building Bus stop
Far Cinema Park Between
School Crossroad Travel Drive
NOTES
To make the activity more difficult, the teacher can leave the list of words out or
increase the number of words on the list.
The great advantage of this activity is that students do not need to be under the
constant supervision of the teacher. The teacher‟s primary role is to be a facilitator.
REFLECTION
Students were divided into 3 groups. I assigned 3 leaders of the groups who were
given the lists of words and whose duty was to choose the student with the right to read the
definition of a word. I changed the leaders during the activity several times for various
reasons. I wanted everybody to feel the responsibility for the group. I noticed that some
students were showing obvious interpersonal intelligence and I wanted them to use their
abilities. The mistakes of the students were usually caused by inability to determine the
word class of a word. If a definition started with a verb (as in the definition of the word
clever below) they were automatically looking for a verb.
I asked the students what kinds of definitions they found in dictionaries and I divided
the definitions into these categories to help the students to see the different possibilities
how to express the meaning of a word:
- the definition uses synonyms (or semantically similar words) of the headword
house = a building which people, usually one family, live in
- the definition describes the headword without using if, it is, when, etc.
clever = having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly
- the definition describes the headword using if, it is, when, etc. + the headword
between = If something is between two amounts, it is greater than the first amount
but smaller than the second.
- the definition states the function of the headword
by = used to show the person or thing that does something
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28
I expected some of the students to have problems with pronunciation, I told them to
ask me for help if they experienced any difficulties. I also emphasized important words
from the definitions which I thought students did not know.
Reading the definitions, students revised and learned the defining vocabulary of the
dictionary. Sometimes I was the person who chose a word and read its definition. The
students usually guessed the word immediately. It was most likely caused by the stress I
put on the most important words in the definition (house = a building which people,
usually one family, live in) which helped the students to focus on the significant words.
5.6 Activity 6 – Create a Definition of Your Classmate
INTRODUCTION
Learners at lower levels of English do not possess enough vocabulary to express their
exact opinions and feelings. They often switch to their native tongues if they do not know
or forget a word. This situation can be avoided if the students realize that instead of
searching for the right word they can describe it. Even a clumsy definition of a word is
better than an unfinished sentence or silence during a speaking activity.
LEVEL
Intermediate
TIME
The activity takes more than 20 minutes and therefore the activity can be divided into three
parts. The introductory part and the final part (1., 3.) are meant to be done in the class the
second part may serve as homework.
AIMS
- students will practise working with a dictionary and writing skills
- students will learn how to act in situations when they are missing vocabulary which
they need to express their ideas
MATERIALS
- monolingual dictionaries for students
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INSTRUCTIONS
1. Students write a description of their neighbours (pets, parents, movies, etc.). They
can use very simple sentences. The teacher then collects the descriptions and
underlines about 6 words on each paper.
2. Students then have to replace the words with the adjusted definitions from the
dictionary.
3. Each student reads his/her description and the others try to say the same using as
few words as possible.
EXAMPLE
Student‟s sentences (with marked words which will be replaced by a definition):
Marek is my classmate. He likes football. He is very clever...
Marek is (a person who is) in the same class as me at school. He likes a game played
between two teams of eleven people, where each team tries to win by kicking a ball into
the other team's goal. He has the ability to learn and understand things quickly and easily.
NOTES
This activity combines writing, work with a monolingual dictionary and prepares the
students for speaking activities.
When underlining words I tried to select nouns or words which can be described
without difficulties.
REFLECTION
Students do not like writing; they are probably afraid of making mistakes or are
dismayed by not being able to express their thoughts. I warned students to be extra careful
when inserting the definition into their sentences. I stressed that they have to follow the
grammar and adjust the person, time or change some words in the definition or their
sentences. Students understood the task and were encouraged when they saw how a short
simple sentence can be modified into a complex one.
Before the next lesson I examined the final writings, corrected serious mistakes or
underlined those which students could correct by themselves. The final part of the activity
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30
was interesting for the students and also for me, because in some cases even I was not sure
what the original sentences looked like.
In my opinion, the activity was successful. The evidence may be the fact that students
started to use some definitions even outside the class as a joke, which was not my primary
intention, although I expected the students to find swear words in the dictionary. Since they
used only mild ones I did not intervene. (e.g. You are stupid. = You are showing poor
judgment. You are fat. = You are having a lot of flesh on the body.)
Students learned to make their writings look interesting using a dictionary, they
practised defining vocabulary and they learned that in some situations it is possible to
describe the meaning if they do not remember a word.
5.7 Activity 7 – Collocations (Holidays)
INTRODUCTION
This activity helps students to speak (or write) in a class. The dictionary here can
serve as a tool for preparation for the class.
LEVEL
Intermediate
TIME
The activity takes 15-20 minutes + 15 minutes as homework.
The preparation of the activity takes about 10 minutes.
AIMS
- students will practise working with a dictionary
- students will learn how to use collocations from a dictionary
- students will practise Simple Past Tense
MATERIALS
- students need a monolingual dictionary
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31
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The teacher chooses a topic for students (holidays). He/she then specifies what
students should speak about in detail (trip, animal, game, food).
2. The teacher explains the students how to find the collocations of a word.
3. Students find and learn several collocations for each word. (This can be done as
homework for the next lesson.)
4. They have to tell the others about their experience from the imaginary holidays.
EXAMPLE
Student A:
I took a weekend trip abroad. I saw a wild animal. I won a computer game and ate fresh
vegetarian food.
Students:
Where did you travel? What kind of animal did you see? What does it look like?
NOTES
The teacher has to choose words which have collocations in the dictionary
appropriate for the level of the students.
Students have to find these collocations and they also have to prepare for the
questions of their classmates. Student A said he saw a wild animal. He can decide which
animal he likes and find the definition of this animal in the dictionary to be able to answer
the questions in English.
REFLECTION
I used the current topic from the syllabus of the class – Holidays. The words chosen
for collocations were trip, animal, game, food. Students were asked to say some
collocations connected with these words without using dictionaries. They were able to
produce good food, win a game and a domestic animal.
This activity was performed together with activity 8 – Pronunciation. Students were
studying the collocations and did not disturb the student whose voice was recorded and
they were able to use the electronic dictionary which is more suitable for collocations and
idioms because of the search function and better structure of the information. Students did
not understand the meaning of some collocations (one-way trip, arcade game, etc.). I
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32
instructed the students to skip them and we together looked at these collocations at the end
of the activity.
Students found many collocations and they were able to use them in a sentence. They
successfully managed to work with the electronic monolingual dictionary and they
practised Simple past tense since they referred to holidays which happened in the past.
5.8 Activity 8 – Pronunciation
INTRODUCTION
Students at lower secondary schools usually do not distinguish the difference in
pronunciation between some vowels (“bed” and “bad”) or consonants (“that” and “debt”).
One of the reasons may be the fact that they cannot objectively hear themselves while
speaking. This activity allows them to compare their pronunciation with the pronunciation
of native speakers.
LEVEL
Beginner - Advanced
TIME
The activity takes 15 minutes for 10 words.
The preparation for the activity is dependant on the availability of a computer laboratory.
AIMS
- students will hear and see the difference between words in pronunciation
- students will practise pronunciation of chosen vowels and consonants
MATERIALS
- computer equipment (PC, microphone, earphones)
- an electronic dictionary with a function which allows to record voice
- a list of words
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INSTRUCTIONS
1. The teacher creates a list of words the pronunciation of which he wants students to
learn. The teacher can focus on particular vowels or consonants. Each student will
be given the list to be able to practise pronunciation of the words in advance (the
list should contain pronunciation in IPA).
2. Each student then listens to the pronunciation of a word from the list and records
his/her voice while pronouncing the word.
EXAMPLE
A part from the list1:
bad /bæd/ bed /bed/
bat /bæt/ bet /bet/
that /ðæt/ debt /det/
dad /dæd/ dead /ded/
NOTES
If the microphones are able to reduce background noise, more students can record
their voices simultaneously. The other students must keep quiet.
REFLECTION
The students have never done this activity before and I think that it will be
completely new for many teachers. My role was to tell students how vowel /æ/ is created.
Students heard and saw the difference between their pronunciation and the pronunciation
of a native speaker and they were not afraid to make for them unnatural sounds2. The
reactions of the students were very positive and I noticed considerable improvement in
pronunciation of vowels /æ/ and /e/. Students also learned how to work with an electronic
dictionary and recording devices.
The following pictures (Figure 3 and Figure 4 below) show the graphical
representation of sound emitted during the pronunciation of words bad and bed by a native
speaker recorded with WavePad Sound Editor.
1 To see all the characters from the list correctly in .doc format you need an IPA font installed in your OS.
2 Although Slovak language contains a letter ä (mäso, päta) whose pronunciation is similar to /æ/ it is often
pronounced as a regular /e/.
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Figure 3. Pronunciation of word “bad”.
Figure 4. Pronunciation of word “bed”.
Like in other speaking activities I was not able to involve the student from group A,
who was not willing to speak during the lesson. He was assigned a special writing task.
5.9 Activity 9 – Derivation
INTRODUCTION
This activity introduces the derivation, i.e. the process of word formation
characterised by adding a prefix or suffix to another word.
LEVEL
Intermediate
TIME
The activity takes 10-15 minutes.
The preparation for the activity takes 10-15 minutes.
AIMS
- students will learn about derivation process in English language
- students will learn the meaning of some suffixes and prefixes
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MATERIALS
- a set of cards with adjectives, verbs, suffixes and prefixes
- a list of the nouns and adjectives
- a monolingual dictionary for each of the students
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The teacher gives the list of nouns and adjectives to students. They have to find
these words in the dictionary and decide which prefix or suffix (un-, in-, ir-, -less,
-ful) can be added to these words.
2. The students then create a circle and each of the students is given a card. They have
to find a match for their cards to create a meaningful word.
3. The teacher can set a time limit and divide students into groups. If a student has
found a match for his/her card in the time limit, his/her group gains a point.
EXAMPLE
un + easy ir + responsible help + less meaning + ful
in + expensive in + complete un + employed ir + relevant
REFLECTION
This activity drew students‟ attention to word formation. Electronic dictionaries offer
a quick and convenient way how to find all the derivation of a word. I therefore wanted
students to try the harder option which meant looking up the derivations in a paper
dictionary.
There were two possible ways for the students how to complete the task. They could
guess the right affix, create a new word and then verify it in the dictionary or they could
find the noun or adjective in the dictionary and then learn the derivations from the
dictionary entry. Students had to try both the ways, because the dictionary entries did not
contain word derivation for words help and meaning.
Both the groups of students (A and B) were competitive and enjoyed game activities.
Students learned how to work with a monolingual dictionary when focusing on word
formation and they learned derived forms of basic adjectives and nouns. During the
activity they deduced the meaning of the affixes mentioned in the activity (in-, ir-, un-,
-ful, -less,).
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5.10 My Personal Dictionary
INTRODUCTION
This is a task for students to record new vocabulary in a monolingual way with
important prepositions, collocations, examples and idioms rather than noting a word and its
translation. It is a learning strategy which might be found interesting by many students and
it is also a good aid for studying for an exam.
LEVEL
Beginner – Advanced
TIME
There are no time limits for the task since students should work on their dictionaries the
whole year. The description of the activity may take 5-10 minutes.
The preparation for the activity takes about 5 minutes, but the teacher should check the
students‟ dictionaries on a regular basis.
AIMS
- students will familiarize themselves with a new learning strategy
- students will see how to use their dictionary skills in studying English
MATERIALS
- a notebook for each of the students
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The teacher asks students to keep a personal dictionary where they record new
vocabulary they learned in the class or at home. Personal dictionaries should
contain at least the information about pronunciation and meaning of the words. The
personal dictionary must be monolingual or bilingualised1.
2. During the lessons the teacher might draw attention to some words which should be
included into students‟ dictionaries.
1 This term is used by Laufer and Hadar and stands for a dictionary which combines learner‟s monolingual
dictionary with a translation of the entries (190).
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NOTES
Students with their teacher can create an online monolingual dictionary of the class
which includes all the vocabulary students should know and all the exams or activities in
the class could be based on this dictionary.
REFLECTION
Objective evaluation of this activity cannot take place until all the students create and
use their personal dictionaries in the class or studying for exams. The following lines are
based on my observation in the class and first samples of the personal dictionaries.
Some of the students had already been writing their personal bilingual dictionaries
before I suggested the monolingual ones. They would not have been willing to write two
dictionaries simultaneously and they insisted on translations in their dictionaries because
they found them very helpful for exams (they often sit an exam on vocabulary where they
have to write the English equivalents of Slovak terms). I had to admit that a bilingual
dictionary is more suitable for this kind of examination and therefore I decided to change
the assignment. Students were allowed to note Slovak equivalents in their dictionaries and
thus create bilingualised dictionaries since Laufer and Hadar‟s research on effectiveness of
monolingual, bilingual and bilingualised dictionaries in the comprehension of new words
also showed that both skilled and unskilled users benefit from a bilingualised dictionary
more than from a monolingual one (193).
Writing their personal monolingual dictionaries students develop all the dictionary
skills they were introduced to in previous activities and acquire the learning strategy which
is required from students at advanced levels of English language.
Conclusion
38
CONCLUSION
The aim of the bachelor thesis was to demonstrate how dictionaries, mainly
monolingual ones, can be used in a lower secondary school class and provide teachers with
a set of activities that use the potential of dictionaries to the full. However, not only
teachers can benefit from the present study. Learners of English language who do not have
enough experience with a monolingual dictionary can find new information which could
motivate them to start using a monolingual dictionary or help them to develop their
dictionary skills.
The theoretical part explains the lexicographical function of dictionaries, introduces
two most common linguistic dictionaries and compares them, listing advantages and
disadvantages of each type.
Bilingual dictionaries are recommended mainly for beginners, at other levels they are
an important aid in producing the language, but learners can avoid many mistakes if they
combine the use of a bilingual dictionary with a monolingual dictionary, a powerful tool
for learners and teachers which provides a huge amount of easily accessible information.
The rest of the chapter is focused on learner‟s monolingual dictionaries. Section 2
lists advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of monolingual dictionaries which
can help a teacher in choosing the right dictionary for a class.
Section 3 is devoted to a dictionary entry, its parts and pieces of information it
contains. Special attention is paid to collocations and idioms since students at lower
secondary schools are usually not familiar with them. A reader will learn how to find an
idiom in a dictionary and see the categorization of collocations.
The practical part of the thesis offers a set of activities which develop skills needed
for a learner to find and process the information from a monolingual dictionary. Having
tried all the activities a learner will be able to benefit from the dictionary even without the
supervision of a teacher. The activities deal with the motivation of students to work with
monolingual dictionaries and the terminology which is related to monolingual dictionaries.
Teachers will find several ways how to introduce new vocabulary, grammar or word
formation in the lesson. Learners will see how to look up a word in a dictionary, what kind
Conclusion
39
of information is contained in a dictionary entry, familiarize with idioms and collocations,
practise defining vocabulary of a monolingual dictionary, improve their pronunciation,
writing and speaking skills and learn how to effectively use a monolingual dictionary in
producing the language.
Besides improving dictionary skills the aims of activities always contain teaching
grammar or vocabulary, which allows the activities to be easily integrated in a lesson at
lower secondary school. Based on my experience with the students I believe that using
monolingual dictionaries at lower secondary schools significantly improves students‟
language and learning strategies. I learned that dictionaries do not necessarily have to be
restricted to studying since teachers can use them as an aid for games. Working with
Oxford Basic English Dictionary and Cambridge Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary I
confirmed that intermediate students can benefit from using dictionaries for elementary or
advanced students. However, if it is possible, teachers should choose dictionaries
according to the advice stated in the theoretical part.
Finally, I hope that the bachelor thesis will be a source of inspiration for those
teachers who will decide to use monolingual dictionaries in their lessons and that the notes
will help them to adjust the activities for their classes.
In the introduction of the theoretical part I quoted Samuel Johnson. Referring to this
quotation I think that a monolingual dictionary definitely belongs to books which should
be owned by every learner of English.
References
40
REFERENCES
Hartmann, R. R. K., and Gregory James. Dictionary of Lexicography. London: Routledge,
2002. Print.
Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: a Guide to the Use of the
International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999.
Hedge, Tricia. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford UP,
2008. Print.
Hunt, Alan. "Evaluating Bilingual and Monolingual Dictionaries for L2 Learners." Kansai
Gadai University Journal of Inquiry and Research (1996): 15-27.
Laufer, Batia and Linor Hadar. “Assesing the Efectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and
„Bilingualised‟ Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words.”
The Modern Language Journal, Volume 81, No. 2. 1997. pages 189-196.
Piotrowski, Tadeusz. "Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries: Fundamental Differences."
Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan L. Tickoo. Singapore:
SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1989. 72-83. Ser. 23.
Soekemi. "How to use a dictionary?" Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan
L. Tickoo. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1989. 204-212. Ser. 23.
Tarp, Sven. "Functions of Specialised Learners‟ Dictionaries." Specialised Dictionaries for
Learners. Ed. Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera. 2010. 39-52. Print.
Tarp, Sven. “Lexicography in the Borderland between Knowledge and Non-Knowledge.
General Lexicographical Theory with Particular Focus on Learner‟s Lexicography.”
Lexicographica. Series Maior, Volume 134. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008.
308 pages.
References
41
Thornbury, Scott. How to Teach Vocabulary. Harlow: Longman, 2009. Print.
Tickoo, Makhan. "Which Dictionary and Why? Exploring Some Options." Learners'
Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan Tickoo. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional
Language Centre, 1989. 184-203. Ser. 23.
Vögel, Radek. Basics of Lexicology. Brno: Masarykova Univerzita, 2007. Print.
Willis, Dave. The Lexical Syllabus: a New Approach to Language Teaching. London:
Collins ELT, 1990. Print.
Wright, Jon. Dictionaries. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.
Online sources
Baxter, James. "The Dictionary and Vocabulary Behavior: A Single Word or a Handful?"
TESOL Quarterly 14 (1980): 325-36. JSTOR. Web. 15 Jan. 2011.
Hayati, Majid. "The Effect of Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries on Vocabulary
Recall and Retention of EFL Learners." The Reading Matrix 6 (2006). Web. 1 Mar.
2011. <http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/hayati_fattahzadeh/article.pdf>.
Lehmann, Christian. "Lexicography." Christian Lehmann - Lexicography. 18 Sept. 2010.
Web. 09 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.christianlehmann.eu/ling/ling_meth/ling_description/lexicography/inde
x.html>.
References
42
Dictionaries
Amery, Heather, and Stephen Cartwright. . Praha: Svojtka &,
2008. Print.
Ashby, Michael, and Angela Crawley. Oxford Basic English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford
Univ., 2004. Print.
Caforio, Aliberto. A Learner's Dictionary of English: Slovensko-anglický, Anglicko-
slovenský Slovník. , 2002. Print.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Vers. 3. [Cambridge]: Cambridge University
Press, 2008. Computer software.
Appendices
APPENDICES
Appendix 1
1. Fill in the boxes.
(turn the paper if you need any help)
2
4
5
7
1
6
8
9
3
Appendices
Exercise 1 – Help
Example Definition Pronunciation
Running Head Part of Speech Homonym Number
Pictures Headword Number of Meanings
2. Which number from exercise 1 tells you about (whether)
a) the pronunciation of a word?
b) the spelling of a word?
c) the first word on a page?
d) the word is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb?
e) how we use the word in a sentence?
f) the meaning of the word?
g) the word has more than one meaning?
3. Open your dictionary on page 214 and answer these questions:
a) How many headwords do you count on the page? _____
b) How many of these headwords are pronounced with
the sound /k/ on the beginning?_____
c) Which of the words can be used as nouns?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
d) How do examples differ from the definitions?
______________________________________________________________________
e) What can symbol mean?
