Chapter one. The influence of teaching vocabularies

CHAPTER TWO. VOCABULARY TYPES


2.1 Electron vocabularies
There is confirmation that learners who check dictionaries to find the meaning of words while they involve in reading and listening boost their learning vocabulary (Hulstijn, Hollander, & Greidanus, 1996; Knight, 1994; Rezaei & Davoudi, 2016). It provides quick and direct admission to several layers of vocabulary knowledge. It can serve many purposes, especially in providing the definition of words. The existing literature on vocabulary learning strategies illustrates that language learners can find out new vocabulary on their own by using dictionaries. Moreover, the use of dictionaries of the voice of the learner facilitates vocabulary learning as easily as text understanding (Hulstijn, Hollander, & Greidanus, 4 1996; Knight, 1994). Also, Neubach & Cohen, 1988 as cited in Kobayashi, 2006 reported that consulting a dictionary improves the retention of learning the terminology. There has been a growing interest in the role of electronic dictionaries for learning foreign languages. Accordingly, there has been an increase in students’ use of electronic dictionaries for EFL purposes (Dashtestani, 2013). Electronic dictionaries (EDs) have advanced rapidly in the last three decades (Rezaei & Davoudi, 2016). From the first human-readable electronic dictionary (ED) available for the public in the late 1980s, EDs have been obtained on CD-ROM, small hand-held calculator-type reference works (i.e. Pocket ED), and online (Nesi, 2009). Research shows, according to Rezaei & Davoudi, (2016)that EDs are in many respects valuable. Compared with the bulk of paper dictionaries and slow retrieve, the increasing popularity of EDs can be credited to better readability and their ease of use, which makes the consultation process less time-consuming (Stirling, 2003; Kobayashi, 2006 as cited in Rezaei & Davoudi, 2016). In addition to CD-ROM and handheld devices, researchers also began to show interest in online dictionaries, due to the rapid advance of the Internet, smartphones, and iPads, and other ways of obtaining information (Rezaei & Davoudi, 2016). Students are clearly affected by the technology that has driven the world and got interested in the latest technological products. Electronic Dictionaries (EDs) are becoming widespread as new technological tools of vocabulary learning among L2 learners will be used more broadly by language learners. Since dictionaries have not been researched widely in Palestine, research into the use of them caught the researcher attention and urged her to explore students’ experiences in using e-dictionaries in learning new vocabularies in Educational Readings in the English Language. It will also help in filling the gap in the scarcity of research in this area. The use and benefits of dictionaries and e-dictionaries in learning new vocabularies has expanded rapidly in the past two decades (Dashtestani, 2013; Knight, 1994; Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001; Hulstijn, 1993; Fan, 2000; Hua & Zarei, 2013; Davoudi, 2016; Stirling, 2003; Kobayashi, 2006; Li & Xu, 2015; Nesi, 2009). Hence, this segment highlighted some of the subjects that administered with this area and guided this exploratory work. Dashtestani, 2013 conducted a comparison survey to compare between Iranian EFL students’ and teachers' perspectives on the role of e-dictionaries. Participants of the study were 126 EFL students and 73 EFL teachers and were invited to reply to questionnaires. Among them, 81 students and 66 teachers participated in follow-up interviews. Both EFL faculty and students held moderately positive attitudes toward the role of electronic dictionaries for learning EFL. They also suggested that there are several obstacles and challenges, including lack of training on the use of electronic dictionaries, students’ use of unsuitable versions of electronic dictionaries, lack of facilities to use electronic dictionaries in EFL 5 classrooms, and distraction from learning caused by using electronic dictionaries in the schoolroom. The analysis of data further revealed that the bulk of Iranian EFL students uses electronic dictionaries installed on their cell phone telephones. The pupils expressed a penchant for using electronic dictionaries over paper dictionaries. Stirling, (2003) also described EFL teachers and students' reactions to pocket electronic dictionaries (PEDs), more or less significant features of these devices, and practical techniques and natural processes for using them to enhance, rather than restrict with the learning process. The attitudes of teachers, according to Stirling, 2003 varied between “Great to see students using dictionaries independently” to “I will not have them anywhere near my classroom.” Moreover, some students looked up more than twenty words a lesson, while others merely used them at home to get extra information about Lexis studied in grade. The aim of Fan's, (2000) study is to investigate the look-up behavior of bilingualized dictionaries of Hong Kong students. It centered on the frequency of usage of dictionary information and how useful such information is comprehended. Fan, (2000) also established, a comparison between students more proficient in English vocabulary and those less proficient in identifying the dictionary searching behavior which may enhance L2 vocabulary learning. The issues under study included more than 1000 recent admitted students to the seven tertiary institutions of Hong Kong. The instrument for data collection comprised a questionnaire and the Word Levels Test. This investigation found that the overwhelming majority of students use bilingualized dictionaries and they find them useful. At the same time, the findings of the study have revealed that most students make only limited use of bilingualized dictionaries The findings revealed various thematic aspects such as the learner’s preference to use monolingual dictionaries than bilingual English Malay dictionaries. This finding suggests that students seem to deliver a fuller perception of the strength of such monolingual dictionaries in finding the correct senses of the words with multiple senses through the process seeking the meaning of L2 words using L2 definitions. The survey confirms the parameter for the strength of the monolingual dictionary as pointed out and recommended by many other previous researchers such as Fan (2000), Baxter (1980) and Nation (2001). In this sense, the study affirms the findings of previous works, which argue for the effectiveness, and advantages of the monolingual dictionary use in learning English especially for students at higher degrees of instruction. As L2 learners progressively depend on electronic reference materials, Kobayashi, 2006 thought that it has become important to investigate how such materials are applied and what impact they have on L2 learning. Electronic pocket dictionaries (EDs) have particularly become popular among Asian learners of English in the past decade. The survey compared the role of EDs with PDs among Japanese university 6 students. It also tested the relationships between students’ ED use and their role in lexical processing strategies (LPS; consult, infer, or snub), their vocabulary learning, and their interpretation. This study investigated these issues both quantitatively and qualitatively, through multiple investigative techniques. The findings showed that EDs had become common tools for Japanese scholars of English; the majority of pupils (72% of 279 students) owned an ED, and those who owned it tended to utilize it alone, although they too owned a paper Dictionary PD. The answers showed the complex nature of the effects of EDs. EDs look to increase the frequency of dictionary consultation by students, especially by low-proficiency students.
With the unique features, the use of electronic dictionary causes some problems as well. Electronic dictionaries can prevent students guessing skills and contextualized thinking in vocabulary acquisition. EFL learners tend to separate words from the context and they do not realize that using the context would help them understand the meanings. With the fast-speed search functionality of electronic dictionaries, they would immediately look up the meanings of all unknown words and phrases in a sentence while actually getting the meanings of one or two key words plus guessing meanings from context would serve the purpose in the same way. Moreover, electronic dictionaries can cause distraction. It often takes place when students use electronic dictionaries in the classrooms. It happens when students are trying to look up the meaning of new words. They tend to go straight ahead and look up every unknown word they come across because it is easy and fast for them to get the meanings and other relevant information from electronic dictionaries. However, according to Peters’ (2007) research, those words are not related to the focus of the lesson in most of the cases. As a result, students might ignore what the teacher is saying and pay little attention to the lesson. Electronic dictionaries can also be very disturbing when students use them in the classroom. The voice of electronic dictionaries that suddenly occurs in class could be very annoying or surprising to the teacher and the students who are busy doing their work. The using of electronic dictionary by one student could affect the rest of students because they would be easily hearing pronunciations and explanations of irrelevant words while their teacher is teaching, which could discourage them from focusing on the lesson. As a result, it might be a great disturbance for both teachers and students during the learning process. Additionally, there are also arguments of whether to trust the correctness of pronunciation and explanation in electronic dictionaries because some of them are not accurate due to various reasons. This could also cause students to be confused when they judge over the teacher’s correct pronunciation or provided meaning.

An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including software installed on tablet or desktop computers, mobile apps, web applications, and as a built-in function of E-readers. They may be free or require payment.

Most of the early electronic dictionaries were, in effect, print dictionaries made available in digital form: the content was identical, but the electronic editions provided users with more powerful search functions. But soon the opportunities offered by digital media began to be exploited. Two obvious advantages are that limitations of space (and the need to optimize its use) become less pressing, so additional content can be provided; and the possibility arises of including multimedia content, such as audio pronunciations and video clips.
Electronic dictionary databases, especially those included with software dictionaries are often extensive and can contain up to 500,000 headwords and definitions, verb conjugation tables, and a grammar reference section. Bilingual electronic dictionaries and monolingual dictionaries of inflected languages often include an interactive verb conjugator, and are capable of word stemming and lemmatization.
Publishers and developers of electronic dictionaries may offer native content from their own lexicographers, licensed data from print publications, or both, as in the case of Babylon offering premium content from Merriam Webster, and Ultralingua offering additional premium content from Collins, Masson, and Simon & Schuster, and Paragon Software offering original content from Duden, Britannica, Harrap, Merriam-Webster and Oxford. One of the problems of vocabulary learning is how to select what words to teach. Harmer (1991: 86) presented criteria, which are rather more scientific have been used in the selection of vocabulary, they are:

1. 
   Frequency. In teaching and learning vocabulary, words which are most commonly used are the ones we should teach first.
   
2. 
   Coverage. In teaching and learning vocabulary, word is more useful if it has one very specific meaning – so the argument goes.
   

While Richards (2000:8) presents which used in determining word lists or selecting vocabulary, they are:

1. 
   Teach ability. Concrete vocabulary is taught early on because it can easily be illustrated through pictures or by demonstration.
   
2. 
   Similarity. Some items may be selected because they are similar to words in the native language.
   
3. 
   Availability. Some words may not be frequent but are readily “available” in the sense that they come quickly to mind when certain topics are thought
   
4. 
   Coverage. Words that cover or include the meaning of other words may also useful.
   
5. 
   Defining Power. Some words could be selected because they are useful in defining other words.
   

According to Harmer (1991: 432) there are four aspects of vocabulary that the students need to know about it, namely:

1. 
   Word meaning.
   

According to Harmer that the first thing to realize about vocabulary items are that they frequently has more than one meaning. When we came across a word, and try to decipher its meaning, we will have to look at the context in which it is needed. One word may have more than one meaning and the meaning of the word depends on the context. Thus, in teaching vocabulary students should be taught with a variety of context word to show various meaning.

2. 
   Word use.
   

Harmer say that “What a word means can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used and this something students need to know about”.There are three cases which students need to recognize in the word use:

1. 
   Idiomatic use. Word meaning is frequently stretched the use of idiom for example“cats and dogs”. Can be put into such a fixed phrase as it’s raining cats and dogs, it means very heavy.
   
2. 
   Metaphorical use. Metaphorical is the use of a word to indicate something, which is different from its literal meaning. Such as the word “hiss” which describes the way people talk as in “Don’t move or you are dead”. He hissed.
   
3. 
   Word collocation. Word meaning is also governed by collocation that is which words go with each other. In other word collocations are words that are commonly associated. For example “wrist” can collocate with “sprain wrist”, but it cannot collocate with the word “head”. Thus, we cannot have such a collocation as “sprain head”. On the contrary, the word “ache” can collocate with head as in “headache”, but it cannot collocate with the word “wrist”. Thus, we cannot have such a collocation as “wrist ache”Nattingger (1988: 317) exercise to develop and strengthen these associations can be greatly facilitating learning.
   

3. 
   Word formation.
   

Word formation refers to word forms and how they are formed. Some words are nouns, adjective, verbs, etc. the students need to know how to form adjective from nouns, how to form adjective, etc. Such as, cloud (noun) changed to cloudy (adjective). As stated that word can change their shape and their grammatical value, too. Students need to know facts about word formation and how to twist words to fit different grammatical context.

4. 
   Word Grammar.
   

Word grammar refers to such things the way words are used
grammatically. Some verbs are used with “to” (want to, walk to) but some others verbs are used without “to” (can, must) etc. Harmer proposes that just as words can change according to their grammatical meaning, so the use of certain words can trigger the use of certain grammatical pattern.