Abstract:

Most students in a foreign language learning environment tend to regard Google as an oracle capable of solving any linguistic doubt. If something is not in Google, youngsters seem to believe, it is not relevant or worth it. The functionalities and potential of Google is, no doubt, immense: it can search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. It is a multimodal God(gle) with so many special features that it can, normally, help the user find exactly what he/she is looking for in a matter of seconds. Nonetheless, it is also a fact that not all the “raw” information retrieved by Google (or, in general, by other major searchers) is reliable or qualified, and that more source-specific, expert-guided information search tools such as online pedagogical dictionaries designed by professional lexicographers may deserve more attention than they are usually given on the part of, for instance, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students.

The main objective of this study is to provide a pedagogical framework to determine the types of information available in online dictionaries so that students may become aware of the types of information and associate them to their linguistic needs, particularly those related to learning a new concept and its corresponding term. To this end, a lexicographical multimodal analysis has been designed to analyse:
(1) the information modes employed in online dictionaries and
(2) the affordances that each mode provides.

Relating to the method, a series of specialised online dictionaries were selected in order to design the framework that enables us to compare and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, dictionary entries are analysed as a multimodal ensemble with different macrostructural designs.

Our framework will provide a starting point for teachers to decide which dictionary they want their students to work with for a specific terminological task and for students to become aware of the online dictionary typologies and potential in their language learning process.

Keywords:

Multimodality, multimodal affordances, dictionary typology, foreign language learning.