Using Monolingual Dictionaries In

Home , Defining vocabulary, Idiom

MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2011

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. Bc. Matej Lukáč

MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature

Using Dictionaries in ELT Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2011

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. Bc. Matej Lukáč

Annotation

The aim of the bachelor thesis is to explain the importance of monolingual dictionaries in English Language Teaching. The theoretical part of the study deals with the information provided by monolingual dictionaries and shows the role of a teacher in choosing the right dictionary for a particular class. The practical part analyses a set of activities based on dictionary work performed with a class of lower secondary school students. The focus was laid on activities which can be easily integrated in lessons at lower secondary schools.

Keywords bilingual dictionary, collocation, defining vocabulary, dictionary entry, ELT, idiom, lexicographical function, monolingual dictionary

i Declaration

Declaration

I proclaim that I have written this bachelor thesis by myself and I used only the materials that are stated in the literature sources.

I agree with the placing of this thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education and with the access for study purposes.

In Brno, 4th April 2011 ...... Matej Lukáč

ii Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my thanks to Mgr. Renata Jančaříková, Ph.D. for the supervision of my work and the headteacher of ZŠ v Trstenom pri Hornáde for the opportunity to try out the activities presented in this bachelor thesis.

iii Contents

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...... 3

I THEORETICAL PART ...... 4 1. Linguistic Dictionaries ...... 4 1.1 Lexicographical function ...... 4 1.1.1 Satisfaction ...... 5 1.1.2 Lexicographically relevant need ...... 5 1.1.3 Extra-lexicographical situation ...... 5 1.1.4 Potential user ...... 5 1.2 Bilingual Dictionary ...... 6 1.3 Monolingual Dictionary ...... 7 1.3.1 Learner‟s Monolingual Dictionary ...... 7 2. How to Choose the Right Dictionary? ...... 8 3. How to Use a Monolingual Dictionary? ...... 10 3.1.1 A Dictionary Entry ...... 10 3.1.2 Collocations in Dictionaries ...... 11 3.1.3 Idioms in Dictionaries ...... 12 3.1.4 How to Find a Word in a Dictionary? ...... 12

II PRACTICAL PART ...... 13 4. Specification of the Classes ...... 13 4.1 Dictionaries ...... 13 4.2 Group A ...... 14 4.3 Group B ...... 15 5. Activities ...... 15 5.1 Activity 1 – Translation Game ...... 16 5.2 Activity 2 – What‟s What in the Dictionary ...... 18 5.3 Activity 3 – Snake ...... 21 5.4 Activity 4 – Place, Animal, Food and Thing ...... 23 5.5 Activity 5 – Guess the word ...... 26 5.6 Activity 6 – Create a Definition of Your Classmate ...... 28

1 Contents

5.7 Activity 7 – Collocations (Holidays) ...... 30 5.8 Activity 8 – Pronunciation ...... 32 5.9 Activity 9 – Derivation ...... 34 5.10 My Personal Dictionary ...... 36

CONCLUSION ...... 38

REFERENCES ...... 40

APPENDICES ...... 43

2 Introduction

INTRODUCTION

A monolingual dictionary is a necessary tool for all advanced learners of English language. Teachers at language institutes, universities or lectors in courses for advanced students of English language recommend monolingual dictionaries as a source of important information concerning grammar information, collocations, spelling, pronunciation, context and etymology of words. There are a large number of materials which help students and teachers to work with dictionaries. However, not all of these materials can be used at lower secondary schools, because the situation at many primary and secondary schools is different. Although teachers see the advantages and positive effects of monolingual dictionaries, they often encounter various difficulties in presenting them to students. The lack of financial resources at schools often prevents teachers from updating the edition of dictionaries or they prefer bilingual dictionaries to monolingual ones. Teachers also cannot afford to teach dictionary strategies at the expense of other skills students have to master at the end of the school year. Teachers also face the problem of choosing the right dictionary for their classes. The aim of the present study is to help teachers to deal with these problems by providing necessary information for teachers to lead a lesson or an activity based on dictionary work, i.e. advantages and disadvantages of a particular kind of dictionaries, information provided by dictionaries, tips for choosing the right dictionary for a class and examples of activities which can be easily integrated in an ordinary lesson plan at lower secondary schools. The study is divided into two chapters: theoretical and practical part. The first section of the theoretical part deals with linguistic dictionaries. It explains their lexicographical function and divides them into categories according to the number of languages used in the dictionaries. The second and the third sections are focused on monolingual dictionaries and answer the questions how to choose a dictionary for a class and how to use the dictionary. The first section of the practical part contains the classification of the classes in which the activities were performed and explains their structure. Besides the descriptions of the activities the results of the activities and problems which emerged during the lessons are also stated in the practical part.

3 Linguistic Dictionaries

I THEORETICAL PART

“Books like friends should be few and well-chosen.” Samuel Johnson

The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on dictionaries and divides them into several categories considering different aspects of language. It defines their lexicographical function and demonstrates the possible usage of dictionaries. Two main types of linguistic dictionaries are described in detail stressing the advantages and disadvantages of each type. The importance of the teacher in the process of choosing a dictionary in the class is highlighted and explained, together with the necessity to teach students how to work with dictionaries correctly.

1. Linguistic Dictionaries

The aim of the first section is to categorise dictionaries and provide a short description of the main types. The dictionaries chosen are classified on the basis of the number of languages involved in a dictionary and the structure of information provided by a dictionary. The emphasis is placed on monolingual learner’s dictionaries which are different from dictionaries for native speakers. They do not contain such a wide selection of words and they focus on the function and general usage of lexical units. This section also deals with the lexicographical function of dictionaries in order to clearly define who is a user of a dictionary and user‟s requirements.

1.1 Lexicographical function

“A lexicographical function is the satisfaction of the specific types of lexicographically relevant need that may arise in a specific type of potential user in a specific type of extra-lexicographical situation” (Tarp Lexicography 81). Tarp lists and explains the elements mentioned in the definition above in Specialised Dictionaries for Learners (“Functions” 42). Referring to this work, the following subsections describe these elements, provide examples and show the connection of the elements to the present study.

4 Linguistic Dictionaries

1.1.1 Satisfaction Laufer and Hadar (189) consider a dictionary a product which should determine and satisfy the needs of its consumers. The consumers in need in this bachelor thesis are English language learners (detailed specification of the learners can be found in Section 4 of the practical part). The element of satisfaction refers to the assistance provided to the users, which means a convenient and quick access to the dictionary data. Young learners are easily confused by big dictionaries because of redundant information and complicated codes and symbols. On the other hand pocket dictionaries are usually insufficient for learners on higher levels because they do not provide enough information.

1.1.2 Lexicographically relevant need A dictionary should fulfil the satisfaction condition; still it must cover as much language information as possible. Each entry should provide the phonetic information, semantic explanation and grammar, but many users also need collocations, idiomatic expressions, homonyms or antonyms. Learner„s dictionaries for intermediate students are suitable for the activities from the practical part of this thesis, i.e. each entry should provide pronunciation in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) form, the part of speech of the word, irregular plural or verb forms, definition of the word and usage examples.

1.1.3 Extra-lexicographical situation This element determines the situation when a dictionary can be used. At first sight it seems that dictionaries should be used when some of the lexicographical needs emerge. This assumption proves to be incorrect in speaking activities or in situations where a dictionary is unavailable. Besides activities during which using a dictionary is inevitable, the practical part also presents activities where using a dictionary is just a part of the preparation for an activity.

1.1.4 Potential user Users can be divided into groups according to the type of the lexicographical need. Nevertheless, there are other criteria to be taken into consideration when users choose their dictionary. Age group of the users, which is closely related to the native language competence, determines the structure, number of words and the complexity of definitions. Very young learners, who cannot read, profit from picture dictionaries. At the age of six, children have a vocabulary of 6,000 word families (Thornbury 20) and they prefer

5 Linguistic Dictionaries speaking in shorter sentences. This is reflected in dictionaries with the limited number and simple definitions of words. Foreign language competence, i.e. the level of the students, influences the range of information the dictionary should contain. Users might focus on a particular language skill, e.g. speaking, and consequently they will prefer dictionaries with extra information about phonetics and phonology. Users with different occupations can reach for various specialised dictionaries with vocabulary oriented on business, science, slang, etc.

1.2 Bilingual Dictionary

The dictionary of lexicography defines a bilingual dictionary as “a type of dictionary which relates the vocabularies of two languages together by means of translation equivalents” (Hartmann 14). This approach is described as great advantage and disadvantage. It is not always possible to find an equivalent of a word in other languages with different cultures. This fact is supported by other lexicographers and linguists. Piotrowski claims that “a bilingual dictionary can never be adequate in description of meaning-entities, because the entities are language specific and the second language equivalents will be related to different entities than the first language items” (74). Hunt states that a bilingual dictionary is “a necessary but limited tool” (15) and many learners make mistakes because they are not aware of information about context or culture missing in bilingual dictionaries. Bilingual dictionaries cannot provide sufficient English context, they reinforce a naive view of language and they might mislead learners to use them as a tool for word-for-word translation (Laufer and Hadar 189). Hunt in his conceptual article strongly recommends the use of monolingual dictionaries (for more information, see subsection 1.3 below). Baxter offers another argument in support of using a monolingual dictionary, “whereas a bilingual dictionary tends to encourage the employment of a single lexical item, the monolingual dictionary demonstrates that definition is an alternative” (325). On the other hand all the authors cited above see the importance of bilingual dictionaries especially for beginners. Hayati and Piotrowski (73) also stress the advantage of bilingual dictionaries in reading as they offer quick translation which does not distract readers. A learner can benefit from critical use of bilingual dictionaries or combined usage of a monolingual and bilingual dictionary. Teachers should encourage their students to use primarily monolingual dictionaries and to check the meaning of words which students found in bilingual dictionaries.

6 Linguistic Dictionaries

1.3 Monolingual Dictionary

A monolingual dictionary is “a type of reference work in which the words of a language are explained by means of the same language” (Hartmann 95). The main advantage of the current monolingual dictionaries is that they are based on large corpora. The corpora consist of huge collections of written and spoken English which are analyzed and the information from this analysis can be used for creating tables of words frequency, collocations and idiomatic expressions. More effort which is required from the students using a monolingual dictionary can be helpful since the demanding process of remembering a word may improve retention (Hunt 20).

1.3.1 Learner’s Monolingual Dictionary A learner‟s monolingual dictionary is a sub-type of monolingual dictionary intended for language learners. According to Tickoo (189), the fundamental differences between monolingual dictionaries for native speakers and monolingual dictionaries for language learners consist in the definitions of new vocabulary and the number of illustrative examples. Learner‟s dictionaries define new vocabulary using a small explicitly listed defining vocabulary, which consists of high frequency words, or using a system which allows defining a word only in words which are more frequent than the defined word. “A passive knowledge of 2,000 most frequent words in English would provide a reader with familiarity with nearly nine out of every ten words in most written texts” (Thornbury 21). Tickoo (187-188) provides definitions of the word cat from three different monolingual dictionaries (MD):

MD for native speakers – “small domesticated carnivorous quadruped” MD with ‘simple’ English definitions – “small, domestic fur-covered animal often kept as a pet” MD with defining vocabulary – “a small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp claws, often kept as a pet or for catching mice and rats”

More than half of students, i.e foreign learners who participated in the research described by Tickoo (188) on how to make definitions more acceptable to users, preferred definitions formulated in defining vocabulary.

7 Linguistic Dictionaries

Learner‟s monolingual dictionaries also “make abundant use of illustrative examples” (Tickoo 189) which provide minimum language context for learners to fully understand the meaning.

2. How to Choose the Right Dictionary?

Since English is a world language with many speakers and its importance is growing a large number of dictionaries are available to teachers to choose from. This subsection presents several factors which should be considered when choosing the right dictionary for a particular class. A teacher‟s decision can have significant consequences for the students and it always is rather subjective. Therefore I attempt to answer the question „How to choose the right dictionary?‟ by means of listing advantages and disadvantages of each choice. Tickoo (185) mentions two basic criteria which can help a teacher to make his decision – range of inclusiveness and price. Even if the price is not directly related to learning English it is still very important together with quality of paper, printing and binding. Some schools have an access to computer laboratories; hence the teachers are not limited only to paper dictionaries. They have the possibility to use electronic and online dictionaries, instead.

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic dictionaries can be described as follows: they are cheaper they are quick and easy to use (search function) they contain updated information they provide more information (they are not limited by space) they provide pronunciation examples, pictures students cannot forget the dictionary at home the information the entry provides can be adjusted to the level of the students students can record their pronunciation and compare it with the dictionary records - students need special equipment and computer skills to use them - when using electronic dictionaries, students may be distracted by other programs

8 How to Choose the Right Dictionary

Advantages and disadvantages of paper dictionaries can be described as follows: students do not need any electronic device to use them; portability the effort made to look up a word may influence the retention - they are easily torn or damaged - the content of a dictionary depends on its size; the size and weight of a dictionary

Almost all monolingual dictionaries present their phonological information using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). IPA is a set of phonetic symbols as representation of the sounds of spoken language and it is advisable for teachers to train their students in using it. However, some bilingual dictionaries for young learners and beginners (e.g. ) may describe the sound using the alphabet of the first language (e.g. people /pípl/, fashion /fešn/). Since English pronunciation cannot be always derived by rule from its written form and English has its special sounds this alphabet is not able to show the difference between some words, e.g. “bad” and “bed”.

Advantages and disadvantages of IPA can be described as follows: it contains symbols for all the sounds a human speaking a particular language can produce it provides precise pronunciation it is used in many dictionaries and textbooks - students have to learn another „alphabet‟

Section 1 above divides dictionaries according to the number of languages used in a dictionary, but teachers should also focus on the structure of these dictionaries. The word list in dictionaries can be systematized by the form of the words (alphabetical order, pronunciation) or the meaning of the words (words are grouped according to their similarities in meaning).

Systematization by the form offers these advantages and disadvantages it facilitates the search for words it groups words according to their prefixes (suffixes, first syllables) it enables quick checking of spelling, pronunciation of words or meaning - dictionaries show limited semantic relation between words

9 How to Choose the Right Dictionary

Systematization by the meaning offers these advantages and disadvantages good at enhancing students‟ vocabulary additional information provided together with information about the searched word - a search for a word may be interminable for students

When focusing on the content, teachers should consider the number of words included in a dictionary, the structure of an entry and additional information as charts, pictures and appendices. Section 3 below lists items which might appear in an entry of a monolingual dictionary. To decide which of these items are important for a particular group of students, teachers can use learner‟s portfolios with competences of a learner at different levels of English or Rámcový vzdelávací program (RVP) at schools.

3. How to Use a Monolingual Dictionary?

When using a dictionary, the most important thing is to be aware of the information it contains. Teachers should point out and explain to students how to work with a dictionary to use its potential. In order to be able to use a dictionary students must understand its organisation. Lehmann describes the macrostructure and microstructure of dictionaries, in other words the system of the order of words and the structure of the entries. He offers two concepts of arranging a word list, by properties of significans (orthographic, phonological, structural properties) and significatum (semantic order). The use of the alphabetical order, which is based on orthographic property, is frequent in monolingual dictionaries. When working with these dictionaries the implied requirement is the familiarity of the students with English alphabet. Each dictionary also provides “guide pages to the dictionary” which help a user to familiarize with the symbols and microstructure of the dictionary.

3.1.1 A Dictionary Entry Lehmann and Soekemi (204-209) provide a detailed description of a dictionary entry, listing its parts and pieces of information it may contain. Each entry is identified by a lemma, which is equivalent to keyword, homonym number and sense number. The purpose of the lemma is to enable searching the dictionary. It also can indicate additional information such as stress or syllables of the word. While the homonym number separates keywords with identical spelling but different meanings, i.e. homonyms, the sense number

10 How to Use a monolingual Dictionary separates different (but semantically very similar) meanings occurring in polysemous words. The lemma is usually accompanied with a phonological representation which is often in IPA form (see Section 2 above). If a word can be pronounced or spelled in different ways, the dictionary entry can offer its phonological and orthographic variants. Some of the dictionaries use the variants to distinguish between British and American English. Lehmann introduces the term range set which is a predefined set of terms users could find while using a dictionary. The range set of the style information of a word can include “formal, informal, slang, vulgar, etc.” To set forth a structure of a word satisfactorily, entries in a dictionary should contain information stated in this paragraph. Part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) is important for students to be able to use the word in a sentence. Derivatives and word formation help students to enhance their vocabulary. The word formation is often interlocked with the etymology of a word. Dictionary entries are also the best source of irregular inflections of words and information about the countability. To fully understand the meaning and usage of a word, dictionaries provide definitions, examples in the form of sentences, common collocations or pictures. Electronic dictionaries may provide also audio-information. Semantic classes (a dog is an animal, an apple is fruit) and semantic relations (homonymy, antonymy, synonymy) help to categorize words. Especially in electronic dictionaries, this information allows students to see the semantic connection between words as they can use search function. Finally, entries may contain methodology information by means of stating or correcting common learner‟s errors.

3.1.2 Collocations in Dictionaries Collocation is a relationship between words; it defines a sequence of words which usually stands together. The electronic version of Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and many other dictionaries divide words which collocate with a keyword (the word “safety” is chosen as an example) into categories: verbs – assure/improve/run for safety, nouns – safety belt/ helmet/reasons, adjectives – comparative/relative safety, types – air/rail/road safety,

11 How to Use a monolingual Dictionary prepositions – in/for/to safety, phrases - there's safety in numbers. This categorisation assists students in building or developing their sentences. Having decided the topic and having looked up the keywords, they can learn a range of suitable expressions for their sentence.

3.1.3 Idioms in Dictionaries An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning usually cannot be derived from the meaning of its constituents. Monolingual dictionaries offer a solution to this problem covering the most common idioms and providing their explanations and situations in which they can be used. As an idiom is not a single word, problems in finding idioms in a dictionary can emerge. Students should know that dictionaries, generally, “list idioms under the first lexical word, not prepositions, articles, or verbs like have and be” (Wright 120). The exception might be electronic dictionaries which work with a database with search function which enables them to find all idioms containing searched lexical words.

3.1.4 How to Find a Word in a Dictionary? The answer to this question might seem trivial. Words in dictionaries are arranged in alphabetical order and therefore a student with knowledge of English alphabet should succeed. What must be taken into consideration is the time spent on looking up a word. To minimize this time teachers should introduce to students basic dictionary strategies. Students should learn how to estimate the position of letters in dictionary. Students will find the word faster if they follow running heads, i.e. the first or last word on the page. Younger learners might need a card of English alphabet to check the position of the letters.

Summary

The theoretical part of the thesis deals with linguistic dictionaries, the main focus is laid on learner‟s monolingual dictionaries and the information they contain and their structure. The chapter covers the lexicographical function of dictionaries and helps to answer very important questions about choosing a suitable dictionary for a class and working with this dictionary.

12 Specification of the Classes

II PRACTICAL PART

The practical part of the present study is a collection of activities based on dictionary work. The activities were performed at a lower secondary school in two mixed-ability classes. The specification of these classes is also included in this chapter. Each activity deals with a particular skill which students have to develop in order to use the full potential of a monolingual dictionary. The common aim of the activities is to present an interesting way how to introduce a monolingual dictionary to a lower secondary school class without interfering in Školský vzdelávací program (ŠVP). Additional aims are stated in the description of a particular activity.

4. Specification of the Classes

This section provides the description of two classes in which the activities presented in the practical part were performed. The description is necessary for better understanding of the requirements of the students and it indirectly explains the choice of some activities. Some activities were performed in both classes which helped me to improve them since I was able to avoid the problems which emerged in one of the groups. I used the activities in mixed-ability classes at a lower secondary school. The level of English of the students was pre-intermediate and intermediate, not all the students in the classes reached the level and they might be considered elementary or pre-intermediate. Involving these students in the activities and learning proved to be challenging and required modifications of the activities. The school was equipped with a special classroom for teaching English with a blackboard, whiteboard, data projector, computer and the possibility to move desks. A computer laboratory was also needed for activities which involved using an electronic dictionary.

4.1 Dictionaries

During the activities each of the students was given a copy of Oxford Basic English Dictionary (OBED) or used the electronic version of Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (CALD). OBED is a dictionary which can help students to learn the most important words of English language and their usage. The words and phrases are explained in simple English,

13 Specification of the Classes the entries contain pronunciation in IPA. The dictionary provides examples, basics of word formation, collocations and idioms. The school had 25 copies of this dictionary available and although it does not contain sufficient amount of vocabulary for intermediate students I found it suitable for the classes. Since students did not work with the dictionary on a regular basis before, the simplified dictionary was a comfortable start for them. On the other hand, CALD is a dictionary for advanced learners and the paper version of this dictionary would be too demanding for intermediate students. However, the electronic version of this dictionary allows the user to adjust the entries and students are not distracted by the information they do not need.

4.2 Group A

Class 7th grade at lower secondary school Age 12-13 Number of students 16 Boys/Girls 11/5 Coursebook Project 3 Level of the class pre-intermediate Level of the students Most of the students are at pre-intermediate level. They understand simple English, can follow teacher‟s instructions, ask questions about topics and answer the questions of the teacher. There are students who are behind the class but the difference is not as evident as in group B. Students with special needs A student with special needs was present in this group. He suffers from a mental block which prevents him from communicating with people. It does not affect his IQ, however, he refuses to talk to teachers and classmates. He can only be examined in written form. He pays attention in the lesson and follows the instructions of the teacher if the target of the instructions is the whole class. Relationship between students The condition of the handicapped student does not negatively influence relationships in the class. Students can explain his problem if there is a new person in the class. They usually divide themselves into two groups: boys and girls. I did not notice any conflicts between students.

14 Specification of the Classes

4.3 Group B

Class 9th grade at lower secondary school Age 14-15 Number of students 20 Boys/Girls 9/11 Coursebook Project 4 Level of the class intermediate Level of the students Most of the students are at intermediate level. They understand simple English, can follow teacher‟s instructions, ask questions about topics and answer the questions of the teacher. Two of the students have not reached this level yet. They do not understand some questions or instructions and ask the teacher for translations. Students with special needs No students with special needs are present in the class. Relationship between students I did not notice any conflicts between students. They usually divide themselves into two groups: boys and girls.

5. Activities

This section presents activities based on dictionary work. The descriptions of all the activities have the same structure. In Introduction I explain why I decided to include the activity in my work and state the source of the activity. The Level specifies the minimum level of English for students to be able to participate in the activity. Time shows approximate time needed for the performance of the activity and includes information about the time needed to prepare the activity. Aims and objectives of the activity are stated in the Aims part. The Materials part draws attention to the materials and aids needed for the activity. The Instructions part contains single steps describing the preparation, presentation and performance of the activity. The result of the activity is showed in the Example part. Notes contain advantages and disadvantages of the activity, possible changes which make the activity suitable for classes with different needs and suggestions how to adjust the activity to suit students at other levels. Reflection is the final part in which I offer my teaching experience and analyse the results.

15 Activities

5.1 Activity 1 – Translation Game

INTRODUCTION I decided to include this activity despite the fact that students use a bilingual dictionary instead of a monolingual dictionary during the activity. As explained in Subsection 1.2, students sometimes do not realize that two expressions (headword and its translation) found in a bilingual dictionary are usually not exact equivalents, i.e. they differ in denotative meaning. For example, the English expression “clock” stands for a device for measuring and showing time while Slovak expression “hodiny” may be explained as hours, a clock or lessons (Vögel 77). The activity is based on a game by Hedge (132).

LEVEL Elementary – Advanced

TIME The activity takes 6-10 minutes. The preparation takes less than 5 minutes.

AIMS - students will practise using a bilingual dictionary - students will indirectly learn about synonymy and polysemy

MATERIALS - a bilingual dictionary - a piece of paper which can be folded and a pen

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students are introduced to a bilingual dictionary. The teacher shows the students how to look up a word in a dictionary (for more information, see the Reflection part). 2. The teacher gives a student the dictionary and a piece of paper with a word written on it. The student finds the word in the dictionary and puts down the translation of

16 Activities

this word. He then folds the paper so that the next student could see only the last written word. 3. Students continue in this way and when the chain of words is finished the teacher or a student reads the first and the last word (written in the same language). 4. Students and the teacher discuss the reasons why the meaning of the words differs. 5. If these two words have the same or similar meanings, all the words on the paper should be read.

EXAMPLE nosiť → wear → oblečenie → dress → šaty → ... → šaty nosiť → carry → nosiť →bear → medveď → ... → medveď

NOTES Since only one of the students can work with the dictionary at the time the teacher should give the other students an additional task. An interesting suggestion for teachers of advanced students might be a reversed strategy of the game. The teacher will give the students two words (“nosiť,” “šaty”) and the students have to find a chain which connects these words.

REFLECTION This activity is not very demanding, I found the instructions clear and students did not seem confused. I helped the first two students with the task, showed them how to fold the paper and asked them to help the others if needed. The rest of the class was practising vocabulary from the previous lesson. During the activity I chose random students to learn how much time a student needs to look up a word in the dictionary. The results were quite unsatisfactory, because some of the students needed almost a minute to finish the task, working with the dictionary for 45 seconds. It did not interfere with the lesson, but I realized that if an activity involved looking up 20 words, 15 minutes of a lesson would be spent unproductively. This calculation applied to weaker students; the average searching time was about 20 seconds.

After Activity 1 I asked students to find three words in the monolingual dictionary (“apple”, “house”, “street”). I was observing students and also measured time until each of the students found the word. The students were not aware of me watching their searching

17 Activities strategies. Some of them were moving their lips while spelling the alphabet to determine the position of the searched word in the dictionary, some chose the way to browse the dictionary from the beginning to the end until they found the word. I noticed a modest improvement when I gave the students English alphabet printed on bookmarks and introduced running heads in Activity 2.

I chose the words “dress” and “bear” from the paper and discussed the possible meanings of these words with students. Students learned different parts of speech and how to recognize the meaning of a word in a sentence. I prepared a chain of words similar to those in the Example part in case students do not create suitable chains. Students liked the activity; some of them presented their own chains the next lesson, although it was not their homework. Students learned that a word can have several meanings and that the word and its translation are not necessarily equivalent in all the meanings. Students also improved their searching strategies. Although they were all familiar with English alphabet, they needed some practice to be able to immediately determine the place of a letter in the alphabet. I found this activity a good start for introducing a monolingual dictionary. It can be easily integrated with a regular lesson at secondary school and does not take much preparation time. Its variations can be used for all levels of English students.

5.2 Activity 2 – What’s What in the Dictionary

INTRODUCTION The activity is related to the issues mentioned in Subsection 3.1.1. It practises the information I found important for students to learn. It also contains hints for looking up a word in a dictionary. Wright (15) introduces a similar activity. I decided to modify the original handout of the activity by scanning a page from the dictionary I used in the class and skipping or adding some terminology.

LEVEL Intermediate

18 Activities

TIME The activity takes 15-20 minutes. The preparation of the activity is time consuming (1 hour), but required only before the first lesson with a new dictionary.

AIMS - students will be familiar with the terminology in a dictionary (headword, entry, pronunciation, synonym, definition, etc.) - students will improve strategies for looking up a word in a dictionary - students will learn how to work with a dictionary

MATERIALS - a monolingual dictionary for each of the students - the handout for each of the students (see Appendix 1)

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students are given a monolingual dictionary and the handout. 2. They are asked to name the marked parts from the handout. If they struggle, they can use the box with the terminology from the handout. 3. Teacher then discusses possible functions of the parts with the students. They again can use the box with the functions from the handout. 4. Exercise 3 is an exercise which can test the students‟ comprehension. Teacher can use it in the class or as homework.

EXAMPLE Appendix 1

NOTES The first pages of dictionaries usually contain a key to dictionary entries. Some information the key provides might be abundant for students and thus it is not enough to introduce a new dictionary by browsing the key with students.

19 Activities

This activity is focused on a paper dictionary. The situation with some electronic dictionaries is simpler, because they allow teachers to adjust their entries appearance so that it corresponds to the level of the students. This was one of the reasons why I chose to use Cambridge Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary with my classes. The difference between the simple and advanced version can be seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

Figure 1. Advanced version of an entry in a dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP, 2008.

Figure 2. Simple version of an entry in a dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 3rd ed. Cambridge UP, 2008.

REFLECTION Students in group A were able to identify and explain the function of the page number, picture and pronunciation. Students in B were able to identify and explain the function of the page number, picture, pronunciation, headword and example. Using the help from the handout both groups succeeded in completing exercises 1 and 2.

During the lesson I noticed that some students did not pay attention or copied the answers of their neighbours. These were the students who were active in previous lessons and did not like sedentary activities. I asked these students to take some paper and put down one piece of the terminology from the help box. They then took a position in the classroom (which stood for a page) according to the word written on their paper. The other

20 Activities students were allowed to help them using the handout or the dictionary. I did not focus on the exact position of the students I rather asked them about the function of the word or when we can use this information of an entry. I noticed a positive change in behaviour of kinaesthetic learners.

I did not manage to include exercise 3 in the lesson, therefore I assigned this as homework. I pointed out tasks b) and e). I stressed that I am interested in pronunciation in task b) and that students should explore the dictionary on their own and find the meaning of symbol . The homework was checked the next lesson and I did not find any particular problem.

Students learned about the information provided by monolingual dictionaries and familiarized themselves with the terminology connected with a dictionary. Despite my effort they did not follow running heads when searching a word in the dictionary. This changed later when I introduced games and they were motivated to look up a word as quickly as possible.

5.3 Activity 3 – Snake

INTRODUCTION This activity offers a way how to present new vocabulary in the class and use a dictionary during the activity. The activity is based on Wright‟s (29) Endless Words.

LEVEL Intermediate

TIME The activity takes less than 10 minutes (if the length of the snake is less than 10 words). The preparation of the activity takes approximately 6 minutes.

AIMS - students will practise work with a dictionary - students will learn new vocabulary (its spelling, meaning and parts of speech)

21 Activities

MATERIALS - a monolingual dictionary for each of the students - a word-snake for each of the students or groups

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students are given a dictionary and a word-snake (printed on paper or written on a board). 2. Students have to isolate words hidden in the snake. They are expected to find the parts of speech, pronunciation and the definition of the words in the dictionary. The students should not be familiar with these words, the teacher has to use new vocabulary, e.g. from the coursebook. 3. Students practise this vocabulary in other activities.

EXAMPLE easy word-snake BETWEEN.ROAD.CROSSROADS.OPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.TRAFFICLIGHTS.WAY. medium word-snake (there is a redundant letter in the snake) BETHWEEN.ROAD.CROSSROADS.OPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.TRAFFICLIGHTS.WAY. hard word-snake (with many redundant letters) GABETWEEN.HORROAD.ACROSSROADS.DOPPOSITE.STRAIGHT.HOUSWAY.

NOTES The Example part shows how this activity can be modified to suit students at all levels. The teacher does not need much time for preparation. The snake can be written on the board and the teacher does not need to copy handouts.

REFLECTION At first I wanted the students to bring scissors with them so that they could cut the snake printed on paper. After the analysis of the activity I saw that this would not help the aim of the activity and new problems could appear if students made a mistake and cut the snake at a wrong letter. They would not be able to correct their decisions.

22 Activities

Students were divided into pairs and each pair was given a word-snake on a piece of paper. I hoped that when divided into groups students would cooperate and find the words faster. Some students in the pairs worked as individuals. I did not want to interfere in as some students might be learners with intrapersonal intelligence and therefore I just advised them to share their words so that they did not have to look up a word which had already been found by the neighbour. When students asked me why I included the word “road” two times I stressed that there are only 8 words and 7 terms in the snake and they should look into the dictionary and join some words together if possible. Pairs that finished before the end of the activity were asked to create their own snakes using nouns from their course books and exchange the snakes in pairs. My intention was to keep them working while the others finish the activity.

Students successfully identified all the words in the word-snake, were able to determine their parts of speech and learn their definitions. They also focused on the spelling of new words. The only complication during the activity emerged when they divided one term into two words (crossroad – cross and road; traffic lights – traffic and lights). I expected this problem and solved it by inserting word “road” into the snake and stating the exact number of words and terms in the snake.

5.4 Activity 4 – Place, Animal, Food and Thing

INTRODUCTION This activity offers a way how to practise vocabulary in a class using a dictionary. The activity is based on a well-known game Name-Place-Animal-Thing1.

LEVEL Elementary – Advanced

TIME The activity takes approximately 5 minutes for a letter. No special preparation for the activity is needed.

1 Meno-mesto-zviera-vec

23 Activities

AIMS - students will practise work with a dictionary - students will practise scanning and skimming - students will revise old vocabulary or learn new vocabulary

MATERIALS - a monolingual dictionary for each of the students

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students are given dictionaries. Each of the students divides a piece of paper into 4 columns. 2. When the activity begins the teacher chooses a letter from English alphabet and students have to write a thing, kind of food, an animal and a place which begin with the chosen letter. The teacher can divide the students into groups and these may compete. The winner is the group with the highest number of unique entries, i.e. words beginning on the chosen letters which were not found by other groups. 3. There is a time limit in which they have to complete the task. 4. The teacher then checks the answers and corrects mistakes or discusses the vocabulary with the class.

NOTES The teacher can use different variations of this game for advanced students, e.g. Noun-Adjective-Verb-Adverb.

REFLECTION This activity was the most favourite among the students. As a teacher I find it a nice starter of a lesson. Although students produce only single words, they develop their memory and work with English vocabulary without translating from Slovak to English. Students were focused on the game and even the most problematic students paid attention. When I first tried this game in the class I noticed that only few students from group B used dictionaries. Some boys from the class did not use the dictionary because they already wrote several words in each column and they were not motivated to continue searching. Other students did not want to waste their time working with a dictionary and rather relied

24 Activities on themselves. Some tried to work with a dictionary but they found it too demanding to read every word on the page and they gave up. I showed students how the dictionary can help and that they do not have to read whole entries. Instead, they just have to read first two or three words until they have a slight idea what the word means. We went through several examples concerning animals. I asked students which words can occur in the definition of an animal (mammal, fish, bird, animal, insect, spider, snake, etc.) and showed them these examples: sheep a farm animal with thick wool, that eats grass and is kept for... cow a large female farm animal kept to produce meat and milk... falcon a bird with pointed wings and a long tail which can be trained to... elephant a very large grey mammal which has a trunk with which it...

Students saw that they only have to read the underlined words to determine whether the words stand for animals. I set the time limit at 2 minutes. It was long enough for weak students to find at least one word in each of the columns and it was not too long for impatient students to get bored.

Teachers should be very careful when choosing a letter for the activity. There are words which can confuse students because of their spelling or pronunciation, e.g. the letter K and words “corn” and “know”. On the other hand, when in doubt, the students are motivated to use dictionaries. I always checked the words students had written. Some students often copied headwords without remembering their meanings.

The result of the activity was very encouraging. I chose letter “b” 3 times in a week and then compared the number of words students found during the activity. The number from the third attempt was almost twice as big as that from the first one. Students used the dictionary and learned many words with the initial letter “b”. Some of the students learned how to process the definitions very quickly and were able to scan pages effectively and found words they had not known before, the others scanned pages for words they had already been familiar with.

25 Activities

5.5 Activity 5 – Guess the word

INTRODUCTION I included this activity to focus the students‟ attention on defining vocabulary in monolingual dictionaries. It helps the students to process the definition of a word which may be a problem for inexperienced learners.

LEVEL Intermediate

TIME The activity takes 15-20 minutes. The preparation takes 15 minutes.

AIMS - students will practise work with a dictionary - students will revise vocabulary - students will be more flexible in understanding a definition in a dictionary - students will familiarize with defining vocabulary

MATERIALS - a monolingual dictionary for each of the students - a list of words

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students are given dictionaries and a list of words which will be practised. 2. One of the students or the teacher chooses a word from the list, looks up the word in the dictionary and reads the definition of the word aloud. The other students have to find the chosen word from the list. 3. The definition can be read more than once if students do not understand it.

26 Activities

EXAMPLE A sample of a vocabulary list (giving directions): Long Theatre Building Bus stop Far Cinema Park Between School Crossroad Travel Drive

NOTES To make the activity more difficult, the teacher can leave the list of words out or increase the number of words on the list. The great advantage of this activity is that students do not need to be under the constant supervision of the teacher. The teacher‟s primary role is to be a facilitator.

REFLECTION Students were divided into 3 groups. I assigned 3 leaders of the groups who were given the lists of words and whose duty was to choose the student with the right to read the definition of a word. I changed the leaders during the activity several times for various reasons. I wanted everybody to feel the responsibility for the group. I noticed that some students were showing obvious interpersonal intelligence and I wanted them to use their abilities. The mistakes of the students were usually caused by inability to determine the word class of a word. If a definition started with a verb (as in the definition of the word clever below) they were automatically looking for a verb. I asked the students what kinds of definitions they found in dictionaries and I divided the definitions into these categories to help the students to see the different possibilities how to express the meaning of a word:

- the definition uses synonyms (or semantically similar words) of the headword house = a building which people, usually one family, live in - the definition describes the headword without using if, it is, when, etc. clever = having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly - the definition describes the headword using if, it is, when, etc. + the headword between = If something is between two amounts, it is greater than the first amount but smaller than the second. - the definition states the function of the headword by = used to show the person or thing that does something

27 Activities

I expected some of the students to have problems with pronunciation, I told them to ask me for help if they experienced any difficulties. I also emphasized important words from the definitions which I thought students did not know. Reading the definitions, students revised and learned the defining vocabulary of the dictionary. Sometimes I was the person who chose a word and read its definition. The students usually guessed the word immediately. It was most likely caused by the stress I put on the most important words in the definition (house = a building which people, usually one family, live in) which helped the students to focus on the significant words.

5.6 Activity 6 – Create a Definition of Your Classmate

INTRODUCTION Learners at lower levels of English do not possess enough vocabulary to express their exact opinions and feelings. They often switch to their native tongues if they do not know or forget a word. This situation can be avoided if the students realize that instead of searching for the right word they can describe it. Even a clumsy definition of a word is better than an unfinished sentence or silence during a speaking activity.

LEVEL Intermediate

TIME The activity takes more than 20 minutes and therefore the activity can be divided into three parts. The introductory part and the final part (1., 3.) are meant to be done in the class the second part may serve as homework.

AIMS - students will practise working with a dictionary and writing skills - students will learn how to act in situations when they are missing vocabulary which they need to express their ideas

MATERIALS - monolingual dictionaries for students

28 Activities

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Students write a description of their neighbours (pets, parents, movies, etc.). They can use very simple sentences. The teacher then collects the descriptions and underlines about 6 words on each paper. 2. Students then have to replace the words with the adjusted definitions from the dictionary. 3. Each student reads his/her description and the others try to say the same using as few words as possible.

EXAMPLE Student‟s sentences (with marked words which will be replaced by a definition): Marek is my classmate. He likes football. He is very clever...

Marek is (a person who is) in the same class as me at school. He likes a game played between two teams of eleven people, where each team tries to win by kicking a ball into the other team's goal. He has the ability to learn and understand things quickly and easily.

NOTES This activity combines writing, work with a monolingual dictionary and prepares the students for speaking activities. When underlining words I tried to select nouns or words which can be described without difficulties.

REFLECTION Students do not like writing; they are probably afraid of making mistakes or are dismayed by not being able to express their thoughts. I warned students to be extra careful when inserting the definition into their sentences. I stressed that they have to follow the grammar and adjust the person, time or change some words in the definition or their sentences. Students understood the task and were encouraged when they saw how a short simple sentence can be modified into a complex one.

Before the next lesson I examined the final writings, corrected serious mistakes or underlined those which students could correct by themselves. The final part of the activity

29 Activities was interesting for the students and also for me, because in some cases even I was not sure what the original sentences looked like.

In my opinion, the activity was successful. The evidence may be the fact that students started to use some definitions even outside the class as a joke, which was not my primary intention, although I expected the students to find swear words in the dictionary. Since they used only mild ones I did not intervene. (e.g. You are stupid. = You are showing poor judgment. You are fat. = You are having a lot of flesh on the body.) Students learned to make their writings look interesting using a dictionary, they practised defining vocabulary and they learned that in some situations it is possible to describe the meaning if they do not remember a word.

5.7 Activity 7 – Collocations (Holidays)

INTRODUCTION This activity helps students to speak (or write) in a class. The dictionary here can serve as a tool for preparation for the class.

LEVEL Intermediate

TIME The activity takes 15-20 minutes + 15 minutes as homework. The preparation of the activity takes about 10 minutes.

AIMS - students will practise working with a dictionary - students will learn how to use collocations from a dictionary - students will practise Simple Past Tense

MATERIALS - students need a monolingual dictionary

30 Activities

INSTRUCTIONS 1. The teacher chooses a topic for students (holidays). He/she then specifies what students should speak about in detail (trip, animal, game, food). 2. The teacher explains the students how to find the collocations of a word. 3. Students find and learn several collocations for each word. (This can be done as homework for the next lesson.) 4. They have to tell the others about their experience from the imaginary holidays.

EXAMPLE Student A: I took a weekend trip abroad. I saw a wild animal. I won a computer game and ate fresh vegetarian food. Students: Where did you travel? What kind of animal did you see? What does it look like?

NOTES The teacher has to choose words which have collocations in the dictionary appropriate for the level of the students. Students have to find these collocations and they also have to prepare for the questions of their classmates. Student A said he saw a wild animal. He can decide which animal he likes and find the definition of this animal in the dictionary to be able to answer the questions in English.

REFLECTION I used the current topic from the syllabus of the class – Holidays. The words chosen for collocations were trip, animal, game, food. Students were asked to say some collocations connected with these words without using dictionaries. They were able to produce good food, win a game and a domestic animal.

This activity was performed together with activity 8 – Pronunciation. Students were studying the collocations and did not disturb the student whose voice was recorded and they were able to use the electronic dictionary which is more suitable for collocations and idioms because of the search function and better structure of the information. Students did not understand the meaning of some collocations (one-way trip, arcade game, etc.). I

31 Activities instructed the students to skip them and we together looked at these collocations at the end of the activity. Students found many collocations and they were able to use them in a sentence. They successfully managed to work with the electronic monolingual dictionary and they practised Simple past tense since they referred to holidays which happened in the past.

5.8 Activity 8 – Pronunciation

INTRODUCTION Students at lower secondary schools usually do not distinguish the difference in pronunciation between some vowels (“bed” and “bad”) or consonants (“that” and “debt”). One of the reasons may be the fact that they cannot objectively hear themselves while speaking. This activity allows them to compare their pronunciation with the pronunciation of native speakers.

LEVEL Beginner - Advanced

TIME The activity takes 15 minutes for 10 words. The preparation for the activity is dependant on the availability of a computer laboratory.

AIMS - students will hear and see the difference between words in pronunciation - students will practise pronunciation of chosen vowels and consonants

MATERIALS - computer equipment (PC, microphone, earphones) - an electronic dictionary with a function which allows to record voice - a list of words

32 Activities

INSTRUCTIONS 1. The teacher creates a list of words the pronunciation of which he wants students to learn. The teacher can focus on particular vowels or consonants. Each student will be given the list to be able to practise pronunciation of the words in advance (the list should contain pronunciation in IPA). 2. Each student then listens to the pronunciation of a word from the list and records his/her voice while pronouncing the word.

EXAMPLE A part from the list1: bad /bæd/ bed /bed/ bat /bæt/ bet /bet/ that /ðæt/ debt /det/ dad /dæd/ dead /ded/

NOTES If the microphones are able to reduce background noise, more students can record their voices simultaneously. The other students must keep quiet.

REFLECTION The students have never done this activity before and I think that it will be completely new for many teachers. My role was to tell students how vowel /æ/ is created. Students heard and saw the difference between their pronunciation and the pronunciation of a native speaker and they were not afraid to make for them unnatural sounds2. The reactions of the students were very positive and I noticed considerable improvement in pronunciation of vowels /æ/ and /e/. Students also learned how to work with an electronic dictionary and recording devices. The following pictures (Figure 3 and Figure 4 below) show the graphical representation of sound emitted during the pronunciation of words bad and bed by a native speaker recorded with WavePad Sound Editor.

1 To see all the characters from the list correctly in .doc format you need an IPA font installed in your OS. 2 Although Slovak language contains a letter ä (mäso, päta) whose pronunciation is similar to /æ/ it is often pronounced as a regular /e/.

33 Activities

Figure 3. Pronunciation of word “bad”.

Figure 4. Pronunciation of word “bed”.

Like in other speaking activities I was not able to involve the student from group A, who was not willing to speak during the lesson. He was assigned a special writing task.

5.9 Activity 9 – Derivation

INTRODUCTION This activity introduces the derivation, i.e. the process of word formation characterised by adding a prefix or suffix to another word.

LEVEL Intermediate

TIME The activity takes 10-15 minutes. The preparation for the activity takes 10-15 minutes.

AIMS - students will learn about derivation process in English language - students will learn the meaning of some suffixes and prefixes

34 Activities

MATERIALS - a set of cards with adjectives, verbs, suffixes and prefixes - a list of the nouns and adjectives - a monolingual dictionary for each of the students

INSTRUCTIONS 1. The teacher gives the list of nouns and adjectives to students. They have to find these words in the dictionary and decide which prefix or suffix (un-, in-, ir-, -less, -ful) can be added to these words. 2. The students then create a circle and each of the students is given a card. They have to find a match for their cards to create a meaningful word. 3. The teacher can set a time limit and divide students into groups. If a student has found a match for his/her card in the time limit, his/her group gains a point.

EXAMPLE un + easy ir + responsible help + less meaning + ful in + expensive in + complete un + employed ir + relevant

REFLECTION This activity drew students‟ attention to word formation. Electronic dictionaries offer a quick and convenient way how to find all the derivation of a word. I therefore wanted students to try the harder option which meant looking up the derivations in a paper dictionary. There were two possible ways for the students how to complete the task. They could guess the right affix, create a new word and then verify it in the dictionary or they could find the noun or adjective in the dictionary and then learn the derivations from the dictionary entry. Students had to try both the ways, because the dictionary entries did not contain word derivation for words help and meaning. Both the groups of students (A and B) were competitive and enjoyed game activities. Students learned how to work with a monolingual dictionary when focusing on word formation and they learned derived forms of basic adjectives and nouns. During the activity they deduced the meaning of the affixes mentioned in the activity (in-, ir-, un-, -ful, -less,).

35 Activities

5.10 My Personal Dictionary

INTRODUCTION This is a task for students to record new vocabulary in a monolingual way with important prepositions, collocations, examples and idioms rather than noting a word and its translation. It is a learning strategy which might be found interesting by many students and it is also a good aid for studying for an exam.

LEVEL Beginner – Advanced

TIME There are no time limits for the task since students should work on their dictionaries the whole year. The description of the activity may take 5-10 minutes. The preparation for the activity takes about 5 minutes, but the teacher should check the students‟ dictionaries on a regular basis.

AIMS - students will familiarize themselves with a new learning strategy - students will see how to use their dictionary skills in studying English

MATERIALS - a notebook for each of the students

INSTRUCTIONS 1. The teacher asks students to keep a personal dictionary where they record new vocabulary they learned in the class or at home. Personal dictionaries should contain at least the information about pronunciation and meaning of the words. The personal dictionary must be monolingual or bilingualised1. 2. During the lessons the teacher might draw attention to some words which should be included into students‟ dictionaries.

1 This term is used by Laufer and Hadar and stands for a dictionary which combines learner‟s monolingual dictionary with a translation of the entries (190).

36 Activities

NOTES Students with their teacher can create an online monolingual dictionary of the class which includes all the vocabulary students should know and all the exams or activities in the class could be based on this dictionary.

REFLECTION Objective evaluation of this activity cannot take place until all the students create and use their personal dictionaries in the class or studying for exams. The following lines are based on my observation in the class and first samples of the personal dictionaries.

Some of the students had already been writing their personal bilingual dictionaries before I suggested the monolingual ones. They would not have been willing to write two dictionaries simultaneously and they insisted on translations in their dictionaries because they found them very helpful for exams (they often sit an exam on vocabulary where they have to write the English equivalents of Slovak terms). I had to admit that a bilingual dictionary is more suitable for this kind of examination and therefore I decided to change the assignment. Students were allowed to note Slovak equivalents in their dictionaries and thus create bilingualised dictionaries since Laufer and Hadar‟s research on effectiveness of monolingual, bilingual and bilingualised dictionaries in the comprehension of new words also showed that both skilled and unskilled users benefit from a bilingualised dictionary more than from a monolingual one (193).

Writing their personal monolingual dictionaries students develop all the dictionary skills they were introduced to in previous activities and acquire the learning strategy which is required from students at advanced levels of English language.

37 Conclusion

CONCLUSION

The aim of the bachelor thesis was to demonstrate how dictionaries, mainly monolingual ones, can be used in a lower secondary school class and provide teachers with a set of activities that use the potential of dictionaries to the full. However, not only teachers can benefit from the present study. Learners of English language who do not have enough experience with a monolingual dictionary can find new information which could motivate them to start using a monolingual dictionary or help them to develop their dictionary skills.

The theoretical part explains the lexicographical function of dictionaries, introduces two most common linguistic dictionaries and compares them, listing advantages and disadvantages of each type. Bilingual dictionaries are recommended mainly for beginners, at other levels they are an important aid in producing the language, but learners can avoid many mistakes if they combine the use of a bilingual dictionary with a monolingual dictionary, a powerful tool for learners and teachers which provides a huge amount of easily accessible information. The rest of the chapter is focused on learner‟s monolingual dictionaries. Section 2 lists advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of monolingual dictionaries which can help a teacher in choosing the right dictionary for a class. Section 3 is devoted to a dictionary entry, its parts and pieces of information it contains. Special attention is paid to collocations and idioms since students at lower secondary schools are usually not familiar with them. A reader will learn how to find an idiom in a dictionary and see the categorization of collocations.

The practical part of the thesis offers a set of activities which develop skills needed for a learner to find and process the information from a monolingual dictionary. Having tried all the activities a learner will be able to benefit from the dictionary even without the supervision of a teacher. The activities deal with the motivation of students to work with monolingual dictionaries and the terminology which is related to monolingual dictionaries. Teachers will find several ways how to introduce new vocabulary, grammar or word formation in the lesson. Learners will see how to look up a word in a dictionary, what kind

38 Conclusion of information is contained in a dictionary entry, familiarize with idioms and collocations, practise defining vocabulary of a monolingual dictionary, improve their pronunciation, writing and speaking skills and learn how to effectively use a monolingual dictionary in producing the language.

Besides improving dictionary skills the aims of activities always contain teaching grammar or vocabulary, which allows the activities to be easily integrated in a lesson at lower secondary school. Based on my experience with the students I believe that using monolingual dictionaries at lower secondary schools significantly improves students‟ language and learning strategies. I learned that dictionaries do not necessarily have to be restricted to studying since teachers can use them as an aid for games. Working with Oxford Basic English Dictionary and Cambridge Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary I confirmed that intermediate students can benefit from using dictionaries for elementary or advanced students. However, if it is possible, teachers should choose dictionaries according to the advice stated in the theoretical part.

Finally, I hope that the bachelor thesis will be a source of inspiration for those teachers who will decide to use monolingual dictionaries in their lessons and that the notes will help them to adjust the activities for their classes. In the introduction of the theoretical part I quoted Samuel Johnson. Referring to this quotation I think that a monolingual dictionary definitely belongs to books which should be owned by every learner of English.

39 References

REFERENCES

Hartmann, R. R. K., and Gregory James. Dictionary of Lexicography. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: a Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999.

Hedge, Tricia. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

Hunt, Alan. "Evaluating Bilingual and Monolingual Dictionaries for L2 Learners." Kansai Gadai University Journal of Inquiry and Research (1996): 15-27.

Laufer, Batia and Linor Hadar. “Assesing the Efectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and „Bilingualised‟ Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words.” The Modern Language Journal, Volume 81, No. 2. 1997. pages 189-196.

Piotrowski, Tadeusz. "Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries: Fundamental Differences." Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan L. Tickoo. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1989. 72-83. Ser. 23.

Soekemi. "How to use a dictionary?" Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan L. Tickoo. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1989. 204-212. Ser. 23.

Tarp, Sven. "Functions of Specialised Learners‟ Dictionaries." Specialised Dictionaries for Learners. Ed. Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera. 2010. 39-52. Print.

Tarp, Sven. “Lexicography in the Borderland between Knowledge and Non-Knowledge. General Lexicographical Theory with Particular Focus on Learner‟s Lexicography.” Lexicographica. Series Maior, Volume 134. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008. 308 pages.

40 References

Thornbury, Scott. How to Teach Vocabulary. Harlow: Longman, 2009. Print.

Tickoo, Makhan. "Which Dictionary and Why? Exploring Some Options." Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Ed. Makhan Tickoo. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1989. 184-203. Ser. 23.

Vögel, Radek. Basics of Lexicology. Brno: Masarykova Univerzita, 2007. Print.

Willis, Dave. The Lexical Syllabus: a New Approach to Language Teaching. London: Collins ELT, 1990. Print.

Wright, Jon. Dictionaries. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

Online sources

Baxter, James. "The Dictionary and Vocabulary Behavior: A Single Word or a Handful?" TESOL Quarterly 14 (1980): 325-36. JSTOR. Web. 15 Jan. 2011.

Hayati, Majid. "The Effect of Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries on Vocabulary Recall and Retention of EFL Learners." The Reading Matrix 6 (2006). Web. 1 Mar. 2011. .

Lehmann, Christian. "Lexicography." Christian Lehmann - Lexicography. 18 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. .

41 References

Dictionaries

Amery, Heather, and Stephen Cartwright. . Praha: Svojtka &, 2008. Print.

Ashby, Michael, and Angela Crawley. Oxford Basic English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford Univ., 2004. Print.

Caforio, Aliberto. A Learner's Dictionary of English: Slovensko-anglický, Anglicko- slovenský Slovník. , 2002. Print.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Vers. 3. [Cambridge]: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Computer software.

42 Appendices

APPENDICES

Appendix 1

1. Fill in the boxes. (turn the paper if you need any help) 1

Appendices

Exercise 1 – Help Example Definition Pronunciation Running Head Part of Speech Homonym Number Pictures Headword Number of Meanings

2. Which number from exercise 1 tells you about (whether) a) the pronunciation of a word? b) the spelling of a word? c) the first word on a page? d) the word is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb? e) how we use the word in a sentence? f) the meaning of the word? g) the word has more than one meaning?

3. Open your dictionary on page 214 and answer these questions:

a) How many headwords do you count on the page? _____ b) How many of these headwords are pronounced with the sound /k/ on the beginning?_____ c) Which of the words can be used as nouns? ______d) How do examples differ from the definitions? ______

e) What can symbol mean?