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HILARY NESI
Introduction
Dictionaries are tools which people use to access information about words. Their purpose
is to provide “user-adapted access to data” (Leroyer, 2009, p. 113), so they must contain
information that is relevant to users, and they must also have an access system to enable
that information to be retrieved. The choice of information to include in a dictionary reflects
the dictionary maker’s beliefs about dictionary users’ wants and needs, and the design of
the access system reflects the dictionary maker’s beliefs about the dictionary users’ pur-
poses, circumstances, and skills. These beliefs are not always made clear to users, however,
and studies of dictionary use often reveal tensions between users’ beliefs about the types
of dictionary they should use and the types of dictionary they actually prefer to use, as
well as ignorance regarding the range of dictionary types and the various features of
dictionary access systems.
“Users in general never need information in general” (Tarp, 2009, p. 46). The type of
information that a user needs will always depend on the type of user and the type of
situation in which the need occurs. Applied linguists should be aware of the different
types of dictionary user and dictionary using situations in order to inform their practice
as dictionary designers, dictionary reviewers, and teachers of dictionary skills.
Dictionary users vary in terms of their familiarity with the target language, their familiar-
ity with the specific registers of that language, their dictionary-using skills and experiences,
and their educational level and scientific and cultural knowledge.
Many electronic dictionaries offer the opportunity to search multiple monolingual, bilin-
gual, general, and specialized dictionary sources simultaneously. The bilingual components
in these compilation dictionaries often contain mistranslations, yet they are widely used
in many countries. The publishers of the Kingsoft PowerWord translation tool for English
and Chinese, for example, claim that it has over 20 million users. Highly reputable mono-
lingual dictionaries such as the Concise Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary are included in some electronic dictionary compilations, particularly
those for handheld devices (pocket electronic dictionaries). Their inclusion helps to sell
the product, but there is evidence to suggest that users rarely consult them and tend to
rely on the bilingual sources instead (Nesi & Boonmoh, 2009).
and reduced coverage. Like learners’ dictionaries they tend to make use of illustrations
for words whose meanings can be visualized, but which require complex language to
define. In some dictionaries for young children pictures replace definitions entirely, and
these might appear to be equally suited to non-native speakers in the early stages of
learning a foreign language. In fact, however, dictionaries for native-speaker children often
illustrate the meaning of words that the children already know, at least partially. In this
case the pictures may be too imprecise to be useful to language learners who have never
encountered the words before.
All kinds of dictionary users are sometimes faced with the problem that they know the
meaning but not the form of the word they want to find. Thesauruses are designed to help
users in this respect, by grouping words into searchable conceptual categories. Visual
dictionaries such as those in the Oxford-Duden Pictorial dictionary series are also organized
conceptually and are particularly useful as a means of explaining technical terms for objects
that can be visualized. Another approach to the same problem is provided by learners’
dictionaries, such as the Longman Language Activator, which help users with limited vocabu-
laries by listing as headwords only the basic words that they are most likely to know and
suggesting in the entries for these words alternative forms with more specific meanings.
Electronic dictionaries which enable searches for words within entries can perform a
similar function, by showing which words are defined using the basic words the user has
in mind.
According to Tarp (2009), dictionary users’ needs are always “punctual” in that they are
concerned with filling an immediate knowledge gap. In this they differ from other types
of learning material such as textbooks which provide information to be learnt as part of
the systematic study of a given topic. It might be argued that users sometimes approach
a dictionary in order to memorize words and their meanings, using it as a ‘learning dic-
tionary’ rather than as a “consultation dictionary” (Hausmann, 1977, p. 144). Tarp points
out, however, that when this happens dictionaries “lose their distinctive nature as refer-
ence works” (2008, p. 46).
Cognitive Situations
In “cognitive” situations (Tarp, 2008) the user simply wants to use a dictionary to gain
new knowledge. This situation can occur in many different social contexts, with any kind
of dictionary, although the search functions in electronic dictionaries seem to make it
particularly easy for users to browse dictionary information and store their findings for
later review. Many online dictionaries enable users to ‘jump’ from entry to entry by click-
ing on words in the definition, for example, and some also provide facilities for copying
entries and creating and annotating lists of words.
Communicative Situations
Communicative situations, on the other hand, occur when dictionary use is motivated by
problems with language reception (while reading or listening), or production (while writ-
ing or speaking). In these situations users want to find the information they need as quickly
as possible, with as little disruption as possible to the communicative activity.
4 dictionary use
Dictionary Choice
The user’s choice of whether to use a large or small print dictionary, an online dictionary,
or a pocket electronic dictionary should be influenced by the purpose of the consultation
and the physical circumstances of dictionary use. An online dictionary may be the best
choice whilst word-processing an essay, for example, but the same user may prefer a print
dictionary when reading a novel for pleasure.
Traditionally monolingual dictionaries have been oriented toward receptive rather than
productive use, so the earliest learners’ dictionaries were very innovative in the way that
they provided pronunciation, grammar and usage information for writers and speakers.
L1 dictionaries are now beginning to include these features too (see above).
Print-dictionary consultation is too slow for conversational needs and only the smallest
are easily portable, so in the past dictionaries were not widely used to support speaking
and listening. Pocket electronic dictionaries are much more convenient in this respect and
studies report on their use by students when listening to teachers in the classroom, often
also noting the teachers’ disapproval of this kind of use (Stirling, 2005). Pocket electronic
dictionaries with audio functions can even help users take part in conversations, by pro-
nouncing difficult words.
Typically, dictionary skills are thought of as the skills needed to look up words and
interpret dictionary entries. However, there is a strong case for also teaching users about
the range of dictionaries on offer, and encouraging them to critically evaluate the advan-
tages and disadvantages of different dictionary choices.
References
Atkins, B. T., & Varantola, K. (1998). Language learners using dictionaries: The final report on
the EURALEX/AILA research project on dictionary use. In B. T. Atkins & K. Varantola
(Eds.), Using dictionaries: Studies of dictionary use by language learners and translator (Lexicographica
Series Maior, 88, pp. 21–81). Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer.
East, M. (2008). Dictionary use in foreign language writing exams: Impact and implications. Amsterdam,
Netherlands: John Benjamins.
dictionary use 5
Suggested Readings
Dolezal, F. T., & McCreary, D. R. (1999). Pedagogical lexicography today: A critical bibliography on
learners’ dictionaries with special emphasis on language learners and dictionary users (Lexicographica
Series Maior, 96) Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer.
Fuertes-Olivera, P. A. (2010). Specialised dictionaries for learners (Lexicographica Series Maior, 136).
Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer.
Hartmann, R. R. K. (2001). Teaching and researching lexicography. London, England: Longman.
Herbst, T., & Popp, K. (1999). The perfect learners’ dictionary(?) (Lexicographica Series Maior, 95).
Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer.
Nesi, H. (2003). The specification of dictionary reference skills in higher education. In R. R. K.
Hartmann (Ed.), Lexicography: Critical concepts (pp. 394–412). London, England: Routledge.
Welker, H. (2006). O uso de dicionários. Brasilia, Brazil: Thesaurus.