Abstract
Dictionaries and online tools are regarded as important tools for finding out the meanings of unknown words or checking the usage of interesting words. This study investigated students' use of dictionaries and online tools in a natural setting by identifying the type of words they look up in their dictionaries and the types of dictionaries they use for the look-up. Fourteen learners from a Thai public university participated as the subjects by filling in a task record form which included the names of the dictionaries they were using, look-up words, meanings selected for the words, and their parts of speech. The look-up words were analyzed to find out the frequencies of words, parts of speech, and meanings by checking with an advanced learner dictionary. The findings show that the subjects mainly selected words that were nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They tended to choose "high frequency" for the lookups. For their convenience, subjects used either an online translation tool, 'Google Translate', or bilingual dictionaries through mobile devices. The results may help us understand EFL dictionary users' behaviors in using dictionaries and provide interesting implications for language teachers.
Highlights
A dictionary is an essential tool when learning a foreign language
This study reveals insights into how the students selected a news article of their own choice to read at their own time, the type of words they looked up from their dictionaries and online tools as well as their choice of those tools used to complete the summary task in a naturalistic setting
The findings of this study showed that when choice and adequate time were given, students chose to read the news articles based on their familiarity or the background knowledge they had on the topic, their interests, and the perceived difficulty of the text
Summary
A dictionary is an essential tool when learning a foreign language Learners consult their dictionaries for many purposes for different tasks. Learners are likely to consult their dictionaries to find out the meaning of unknown or unfamiliar words. The widespread use of mobile devices, especially computers and smartphones, significantly changes the ways of learning in many contexts, including language learning (Kukulska-Hulme 2009). This changes the ways students consult their dictionaries, and internet or online dictionaries have gained popularity among EFL students (Dashtestani 2015). A number of studies (e.g., Fallianda 2020, Alhatmi 2019, Metruk 2017, Aslan 2016, Anongchanya and Boonmoh 2015, Ding 2015) have shown a growing number of online dictionary users in many countries around the world
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