X. X. LOU, L. P. LI
tionaries (pocket dictionaries) are most commonly used in stu-
dents’ classroom learning.
Paper Dictionary
In 1935 Michael West who had compiled the first English
teaching dictionary called New Method English Dictionary. It
has a history of about 80 years so far. At that time people had
an idea that there should be a special English dictionary for
foreign students. And after that, many kinds of paper diction-
aries have been compiled. In 1947, the editors at Random
House, aware of the rapid growth of English, published the
first great dictionary of the postwar period: American College
Dictionary (ACD). Edited by the noted lexicographer, Clarence
L. Barnhart, the ACD revolutionized dictionary-making in the
United States by introducing a number of innovations, among
which was the inclusion of many new words and meanings.
Then there are many famous English dictionaries such as
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Oxford Ad-
vanced Learner’s Dictionary, the Merriam Webster Dictionary,
and so on.
Electronic Dictionary
The definition of pocket electronic dictionary is to fix the
contents into CMOS chip, put the corresponding information
into the hardware electronic equipment, to refer and read the
information through a certain interface. The pocket electronic
dictionary is also called hand-held electronic dictionary and
chip electronic dictionary (qtd. in Zhang, 2003). In 1983 the
first English-German electronic dictionary was born in Ger-
many, about 50 grams, just containing 4000 words, and it took
three minutes to find out the word “cewichet”. Since then, elec-
tronic dictionary development witnesses three periods to update.
And we are familiar with the third and fourth generation (Lu,
2006). With the development of electronic technology, elec-
tronic dictionaries includes online dictionaries, CD-ROM dic-
tionaries which can put the words into the computer and update
on the internet. So it became a strong competitor to the paper
dictionaries. And also many electronic dictionaries store the
words from Oxford, Longman and other famous paper diction-
aries, so they are more authoritative and comprehensive. The
electronic dictionary is a new kind of source in these years and
it is loved by more and more English learners for its conven-
ience, speed and various-functions including its pronunciation,
tests and even games for entertainment.
English Dictionary Applications
With the gradual improvement and development of the re-
formative teaching, the position of English dictionaries is up-
grading continuously. To conduct students using dictionary
correctly and efficiently, many educators transfer their re-
searches to the skills of using dictionaries. In the field of Eng-
lish dictionary application and the learning of language, many
experts have made empirical researches the use of English dic-
tionaries, especially its influence on vocabulary acquisition and
they have found that the main function of dictionaries is for
readers to find out and check the meaning of the words. This
will not only help the students to read and comprehend but also
to improve the acquisition of vocabulary (Béjoint, 2002: p. 154).
So for English learners, the English dictionary is one of the
necessary tools for English learning. Then it is necessary for
students to know what exactly the dictionary is and what its
function is, and how to use it efficiently.
Literature Review on Dictionary Researches
Knight (1994) did a research on the impact of electrical dic-
tionaries on vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.
Students were divided into two groups at random, in which the
experimental group was using the online dictionary while the
control group was not. Subjects were supposed to read two
short Spanish passages on line, and each word looked up in the
dictionary would be recorded automatically. After reading,
students were required to take some notes in English and later
take two vocabulary tests. One test asked the students to ex-
plain Spanish words in English, and the other demanded them
to choose the right answer from five alternatives. Tests were
carried out two weeks later again in the same way so as to
measure the effect of long-term memory. Results showed that
compared to the controlled group, the experimental group ex-
celled in both vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.
Summer (1988) did an experiment on the relationship be-
tween dictionary using and vocabulary acquisition. The subjects
were randomly divided into four groups, only three of which
could use the dictionaries. Among the dictionary-using groups,
one was given definition; the second group was showed some
examples; the third group provided with both; and the last one
was not allowed to use dictionaries. It was found that any type
of dictionary would benefit reading comprehension to some
different degrees and the most effective one was the definition
with examples. Therefore, he came to the conclusion: Though
not a perfect tool, dictionaries have been proved very useful in
bringing the students to a deeper understanding of the target lan-
guage and helping them use the vocabulary correctly in writing.
There is no doubt that a good learning dictionary is not only
the source for students to get English cultural knowledge but
also a way to encourage them to learn by themselves for it can
stimulate the students’ interest in English learning. What’s
more, it is a useful tool to form habits of finding and solving
problems by themselves, because using an English dictionary
needs a certain skills. Hartmann and James (1998: pp. 206-220)
indicate that the dictionary using skill is users’ abilities to find
out information, and this process refers to the users’ behaviors,
preferences and their habi ts .
Chen (2007) interviewed 189 freshmen and sophomores and
made an on-the-spot investigation into their choices of English
dictionaries, methods of finding words in dictionaries and oth-
ers. She investigated the differences and similarities between
English majors across different grades in dictionary skills and
concluded that dictionary-using skills can not be automatically
improved with students’ English study, but by the instruction
on dictionary-using. Teachers need to raise students’ awareness
of dictionaries using and provide necessary instructions and
training.
Zhao (2004) investigated the English dictionary strategies of
non-normal English major undergraduates, and discovered that
the students did not know well how to use English dictionaries.
Also teachers seldom supply any instructions to the students.
Others such as Shi (2005), Pan and Wang (2007), Fan and Xiao
(2006) and so on who had ever investigated students’ diction-
aries using all agreed that English learners need to choose the
suitable dictionaries according to the characters of dictionaries
and their own different English levels. At the same time, these
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