Abstract:

One of the advantages of online dictionaries is their multimodal affordances and the fact that students feel more attracted towards a dictionary model that enhances usability options, that is, a model where reduced search time and user-friendliness are more evident thanks to its digital design (Barham 2017). There is, however, little user guidance regarding the design of e-dictionaries and how this design:
(a) presents different lexicographical information,
(b) relates information type with typography, and
(c) may help users find the information they need (Ptasznik 2014).

Some paper dictionaries contained a foreword and/or short dictionary guidelines meant to help users make the most of a specific dictionary. The majority of online dictionaries do not have such guidelines and when they do, they are difficult to find in the online dictionary macrostructure. Guidelines are meant to support efficient dictionary use. However, as pointed out in Bergenholtz, Bothma & Gouws (2015: 5) most users do not read dictionary guides. In fact, neither reading such guides in full nor going back to them each time the user needs to solve a usage doubt can be seen as a pedagogical approach to dictionary usage training. The problem is that dictionary skill training (Baskin and Mumcu 2018) is not usually embedded into language task development and implementation.

This paper presents a proposal for dictionary skill training that focuses on the issue of dictionary typography (Luna 2004). To this end, a sequence of short pedagogical instructional videos focussing on different typographical devices used in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) online were recorded. The videos illustrated typographical questions in the LDOCE identifying typography/information type relationships. Students (n.80) completed a vocabulary test before and after the instruction and answered a questionnaire to elicit their perception of task difficulty, the learning process through video instruction and task results in relation to training usefulness. A qualitative analysis of questionnaire results is presented and discussed to evaluate the effectiveness of dictionary video training.

References:
[1] K. A. Barham, "The Use of Electronic Dictionary in the Language Classroom: The Views of Language Learners." The Second International Conference for Learning and Teaching in the Digital World/Smart Learning, March 29-30, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine. Pp.1-12, 2017.
[2] S. Baskin and M. Mumcu, “Dictionary Culture of University Students Learning English as a Foreign Language in Turkey,” in International Education Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 101-114, 2018.
[3] H. Bergenholtz, T. J. Bothma, and R. H. Gouws, “Phases and steps in the access to data in information tools,” in Lexikos, vol. 25, pp. 1-30, 2015.
[4] P. Luna, “Not just a pretty face: The contribution of typography to lexicography” in Proceedings of the 11th EURALEX International Congress, 6-10 July 2004, Lorient, France. pp. 847-858, 2004.
[5] B. Ptasznik, “Entry-Internal Navigation in Dictionaries: A Review of the Literatur,” in Acta Neophilologica, vol. XV, no. 2, pp. 177-190, 2013.

Keywords:

Dictionary typography, lexicography, video instruction, dictionary use, online dictionaries.