Abstract
Although recent dictionaries for the ESL market have been praised for their innovative design features, the prime concern of users, lexicographers and metalexicographers is the functional quality of the dictionary products provided for the market. The functional quality of dictionaries and the scientific assessment thereof forms the topic of this paper. The functional quality of dictionaries is defined in section 2. In section 3 the current methodological approach to assessing the functional quality of texts in the fields of web design, instructional design and document design is discussed and its relevance for dictionary design is indicated. Section 4 explicates in more detail how this methodology can be used to design functional dictionaries and to assess the functional quality of the design features of existing dictionaries. Keywords: functional quality, dictionary design, web design, instructional design, document design, research methods, theoretically motivated empirical research
Highlights
IntroductionLexikos 11 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 11: 2001): 160-190 to assist in the use and acquisition of English as a second or a foreign language (ESL/FL)
The Problem of Dictionary QualityEnglish lexicographers have responded to the mounting international demand for English by providing the market with a wide range of lexicographic worksLexikos 11 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 11: 2001): 160-190 to assist in the use and acquisition of English as a second or a foreign language (ESL/FL)
An outline is given of the methodology used in the fields of web design, document design and instructional design to tackle the functional quality problem
Summary
Lexikos 11 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 11: 2001): 160-190 to assist in the use and acquisition of English as a second or a foreign language (ESL/FL) This makes the ESL/FL lexicographic market one of the most competitive dictionary markets in the world, and one in which, as Herbst (1999) notes, publishing houses are continually under pressure to come up with innovative products to keep an edge on their competitors and to protect their share of the lexicographic market. All four of them are intended as multifunctional lexicographic tools to assist as wide as possible a target group in whatever SL communicative and learning activities they engage They have been labelled the "big four", and praised by a number of reviewers as the pinnacle of monolingual learner lexicography, especially so, on grounds of their innovative (re)design features
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