Chapter one. The influence of teaching vocabularies

1.2 Vocabularies: Instruction and Practise
The dictionary skills of a language learner depend upon dictionary look-up strategies and the language learners’ ability to use the best possible strategy in a particular context and for a specific purpose. Contexts of use may range from educational to vocational to professional ones. Likewise, implementation contexts may vary from classroom task to test to professional implementation contexts. Dictionary skills may be influenced by dictionary skill teaching/learning practice or the lack of it. Moreover, the role of dictionaries in the educational system may determine the development of dictionary skills. Thus, the inclusion of dictionary use and skills in educational programs and syllabi facilitates the development of these skills and enhances the importance of dictionaries as an educational and life-long learning tool (Walz 1990; Wingate 2004).
It is interesting to note how looking up the term dictionary in the Cambridge, Collins, Longman, Macmillan, Merriam-Webster, and Oxford online dictionaries provides definitions that refer to the information contained in dictionaries, the format dictionaries may take, the way information is arranged, and the languages it contains. Definitions for the word dictionary and reference book also refer to the fact that you look them up to find or discover information as they are a reference resource. No mention is made, however, of the important role they play in language learning. Dictionaries are language learning tools. They can be used in classrooms and also as a self-learning resource. But it seems that this role is still not perceived as a relevant one. Moreover, no clear picture of the role of dictionaries in language learning is given in syllabi. Whereas grammar and vocabulary are clearly structured in General English and English for Special Purposes courses and tests, no such structure appears to be existent regarding dictionaries. An exception would be translation courses and tests where terminological resources and dictionaries are given full consideration for obvious reasons. Unawareness of the importance of a dictionary when learning a new language is also reflected in the fact that dictionary skills are not included as an important measurement in language testing like other language skills (e.g., reading, writing, speaking, and listening). But mastering dictionary skills is important in the language learning process, particularly regarding reading and writing. Reference skills and dictionary skills, as part of the former, are also relevant to solve problems of communication in the business or working contexts: a proficient dictionary user may solve doubts on deciding the correct word or ways to say something in a particular situation. For instance, he or she may also check whether a message has been properly understood or not or may carry out a more effective reading of information relevant to his/her job aided by dictionaries.
Thus, the purposes, goals, and values of dictionary skills and the context where these skills may be developed (primary/secondary school, undergraduate/graduate/master programs, employment, and professional environments) need to be analyzed, so that the skills can be clearly related to proficiency levels and the abilities defined within such levels.
Language learner dictionary skills are directly related to language proficiency level. But they are also related to the general reference skills of the learner, the purpose of the task, the level of complexity of that task, and the required output. The input mode will also determine the need for dictionary look-up or the lack of it. Thus, reading multimodal texts (for example image plus text) or a clear/defined context in which a word appears may influence the decision or the need to look up information in a dictionary. Complexity of task and language proficiency level can be explained in the following example. Beginner students will first need to know the word related to the concept or idea they need to communicate and will later add on information on how to use that word in a more proficient way. Paving this way gradually brings learners from one level to the next one. A beginner student trying to ask for a cup of tea will first need the word “tea” and may later add on verbs like “drink, have,” continue with more advanced vocabulary, and try to learn about “taste, sip, pour, enjoy or serve a cup of tea.” He or she may combine “tea” with nouns like “towel, bag, pot or ceremony” as well as modify it with words like “herbal, green, iced, or complimentary” and will then use it in expressions like “Would you like some tea?” or “Could I have some more tea?” Thus, the fact that the learner does not know the basic word(s) he/she needs to convey a message is more pressing than being able to use that word in a grammatically correct way, in a way that does not break pragmatic conventions or rules, or in a socially, culturally, and inter-culturally efficient manner.
With low proficiency levels, using dictionaries to look for a translation is also a matter of confidence. Even if a learner has grasped the meaning of a word, checking this meaning in a dictionary gets rid of the learner’s uncertainty, thus giving them some kind of assurance.


Dictionary minimum can significantly save time necessary for looking up the word and optimize the process of reading and writing texts on one`s own. One of the advantages of bilingual English-Russian or English-Tatar Dictionaries (ERD or ETD) for learners is close connection with the educational process. Dictionaries of this type offer the units that are to be mastered at a certain stage of learning. Students following their progress, recognize its effectiveness, and are motivated for better results of their work. The ERD or ETD for learners make a simple tool for individual work, as they fill the gaps of knowledge of students. Individual work creates a more stable motivation in the process of mastering new knowledge and consolidating the original lexis database. Contemporary studies on methods of teaching make an accent on organization of individual work of students, as it indicates certain mental characteristics of a personality. Work with the dictionary is largely a constituent element of independent work of students. One of the tasks of the teacher is to show the students to use and work with a bilingual dictionary to develop the learning ability of a student. The following operations are to be demonstrated and practiced under the supervision of a teacher: search for words in alphabetical order; plural form of nouns; meanings of ambiguous words; same-rooted words; conversed words; collocations; idioms, etc. This aforementioned list shows what an important role in the study of foreign language skills is the creation and usage of the ERD or ETD for learners, especially in cross-cultural communication (Gilazetdinova 2014). At the contemporary stage of teaching English as a foreign language at the preference is given to printed versions of dictionaries as it reassures that the user knows the alphabet, has an idea about the structure of the dictionary. Working with traditional printed form dictionary requires concentration and logical thinking. Translation made with the help of a printed bilingual dictionary is neither downloaded, nor copied, it a product of intellectual labor of the author. Therefore, for the secondary school students it is recommended to use a paper dictionary. An important role in the development of speech and vocabulary is played by literature. The expansion of the vocabulary of the students can be achieved through reading pieces of fiction presented in textbooks, or selected by a teacher. Fiction opens the world of human emotions, to the inner world of the character. By learning to through empathy with the characters students recognize and widen their understanding of moral values. Artistic form helps students to understand the beauty of foreign literary, for instance, the rhythm of Shakespeare's sonnets, the sonnet number 66, Hamlet's soliloquy, etc., and forms good taste in fiction. Excessive moralizing of characters can turn students off literature; they must be given the opportunity of reading fiction and translating it using the ERD or ETD. Education through language of art implies language competence of the learner and skills of using dictionaries. Summarizing the above, we can conclude that to achieve this challenging goal as mastering a foreign language it is necessary to use all means available to students; in particular, books, printed and electronic dictionaries. Their combined use and assistance of a teacher will help students to achieve their objectives.
While the complex skills necessary for successful dictionary consultation have been recognized by researchers, it is not clear what is involved in dictionary-use skills. One of the reasons for the lack of research on dictionary-use skills instruction and its effectiveness is that the actual skills and strategies involved in successful dictionary consultation are not well known. However, various researchers have attempted to describe some of the strategies involved in learners’ dictionary usage (Lew & Galas, 2008). Scholfield (1982) determined the dictionary look-up to be a process involving seven steps, each requiring different strategies. The first step is to locate the new word(s) or phrase(s), which might involve several complex strategies. For example, learners might have difficulty comprehending an idiomatic phrase even though they understand all of the individual words that comprise the phrase. Thus, it may be necessary for them to search for the correct meaning under different headwords. The second step is to find the base of the inflected forms if the word to be searched is inflected. This requires a certain level of morphological awareness, since learners are required to remove the inflections. The learners also need to be familiar with the method the dictionary uses to list irregular forms. The third step is to search for the unknown word from the alphabetically organized list in the dictionary. This third step sounds simple to people whose first language works with the same alphabetic system as the target language. However, if the learners’ first language has a different alphabetic system, the organization style in the dictionary may need to be taught. In the case that learners cannot find at least one main entry for the unknown word, they may have to consider one of the following steps: a) to look up each main element if the unknown item is a compound or a phrase; b) to search for the stem of the unknown word if it has a suffix; c) to browse nearby entries in case the unknown word is of an irregularly inflected form or is a spelling variant of another word; d) to search in the addendum. When the learners find the new word they wished to search for, but encounter multiple definitions, the next step would be to eliminate the unsuitable meanings listed in the entry. In order to do so, the learners have to read all the definitions listed under the entry to choose the most appropriate one for the context where the word was found. The sixth step is to understand the definition and to integrate it into the context where the word was used. For monolingual dictionaries, understanding the definition might involve further steps since the learners might encounter another unfamiliar word in the entry. Finally, if none of the definitions listed under the entry seems to fit, the learners have to attempt to infer the meaning of the word from the information they gather from the given definitions. This strategy is often required during a dictionary consultation since no dictionary can provide enough information to capture all possible meanings a word can convey (Wingate, 2004). The above steps describe possible strategies involved in dictionary consultation and how complex it can be for a learner to be able to conduct a successful dictionary look-up. However, Wingate (2004) speculated that those steps described by Scholfield (1982) do not offer a comprehensive list of strategies required for a dictionary look-up, since these steps are the ones involved in reading. He maintained that the list of strategies would be much longer if the purpose of dictionary use is for writing. In order to provide empirical evidence of the extent to which language learners actually utilize the strategies described by Scholfield (1982), Wingate (2004) conducted an introspective study on dictionary use for reading comprehension. The study investigated the strategies used by intermediate learners of German when looking up unknown words using bilingual and monolingual dictionaries. It also aimed to find out whether the type of dictionary determined the type of strategies required and which strategies were needed to be taught to the learners. The subjects of the study were 17 Chinese intermediate learners of German who were studying at a university in Hong Kong. They were asked to think aloud while identifying unknown words in two articles from authentic German news magazines and looking up the words in the dictionary. The results showed that partial reading of dictionary entries was the most frequent behavior, which led the participants to an unsuccessful use of dictionaries. Oftentimes, the learners were not able to find the entry for the unknown word because they did not conduct a sufficiently thorough search. It was found that many of the strategies described by Scholfield were not utilized by the participants, leading to unsuccessful dictionary consultations. Thus, Wingate concluded that “...learners do not just know the necessary strategies by themselves but need instruction and repeated practice to acquire them...” (p. 11). Upon observing the results of her study and incorporating Scholfield’s steps, Wingate (2004) divided the necessary dictionary-use strategies into three areas: 1) dictionary-specific strategies, which relate to the knowledge of dictionary conventions; 2) language-specific strategies, which morphologically and syntactically analyzes the unknown word; and 3) meaning-specific strategies, which involves skills such as identifying the most appropriate meaning of a polysemous word. As Wingate mentioned, while the research results described the importance of dictionary-use skills instruction, they cannot be generalized to learners of other languages since they are based on qualitative research. Moreover, her study was only concerned with dictionary look-ups involved in reading. Therefore, she emphasized the need for further studies that focus on other language activities such as writing. The most comprehensive and well known set of dictionary-use strategies was presented in Nesi’s (1999) taxonomy of reference skills, consisting of 40 strategies divided into six stages. The first two stages involve techniques that are used before dictionary consultation, which include strategies such as knowing the types of dictionaries in order to determine which one to buy, and deciding on the necessity of dictionary consultation. Stage three is concerned with finding the entry information for the unknown word. Two skills included in this stage are 1) knowing dictionary structures, and 2) understanding how information is presented. Fourteen strategies for interpreting entry information are described in the fourth stage. Some of the strategies involve identifying relevant information and interpreting phonetic symbols. Stage five refers to recording information from the entry. During this stage, strategies such as choosing a recording method and creating a vocabulary notebook can be used. The last stage addresses understanding issues that are concerned with dictionary consultations and involves strategies such as knowing the purpose of using dictionaries and their various styles. All of the strategies presented in Nesi’s paper were constructed based on a survey that was conducted with language teaching professionals.