Word Formation in Electronic Dictionaries

This research examined the L2 learners’ use of electronic dictionaries compared to printed dictionaries. Nowadays, with the advancement and growth of technology, there has been a shift of trend from traditional paper dictionaries to online and electronic dictionaries. In this study the learners’ questionnaire, a reading textbook, a paper dictionary, an electronic dictionary, a reading comprehension test, and the semi-structured interviews were employed as instruments. At first, two questionnaires and the semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the attitudes and beliefs of EFL learners in relation to the effectiveness of paper and electronic dictionaries on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension. TOEFL Reading Flash: The Quick Way to Build Reading Power by Milada Broukal (1997) was used as the reading textbook. The Seventh edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary authored by Hornby (2005) was chosen as the paper dictionary. The other dictionary used in this study was an equivalent electronic version of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary on a CD-ROM as the electronic dictionary. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, 20) was used in order to analyze required statistics. A series of paired-sample t tests were run to examine the learners' reading comprehension scores. In addition, a series of chi-square tests were run to analyze the questionnaires. As results showed, electronic dictionary use has positive effect on learners’ reading comprehension skills and also electronic dictionaries help learners’ vocabulary learning. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.

Modern dictionaries contain detailed information and are easily accessed and comprehended more than before. Electronic dictionaries (EDs) grow more and more important and attractive, satisfactory and well-liked for English teachers and learners at all levels. The use of electronic dictionaries in teaching English as a foreign language and in English classes has grown to be a substitute to a lot of students and teachers. For teachers, helping students to effectively use electronic dictionaries is regarded as one of the best means towards making them independent learners of lifelong language. This study investigates the effects of using electronic English dictionaries strategies to improve English learning especially vocabulary learning, 50 students of the third stage of EFL students in Geography department which is (unspecialized in English) at Tikrit university were chosen, to be divided in to two groups, control and experimental one. And the researcher allowed students in the experimental group to use electronic dictionary, while the students in control group received the traditional instruction.Post-test applied to obtain the results, and to release to what extent electronic dictionary strategies help students in vocabularies learning, a questionnaire was designed and administrated also to forty-five students to measure to what extent such strategy would help students vocabularies' learning. Results showed a significant difference between the two groups. Dictionaries using effectively contribute to improve learners' learning vocabulary. That the functions of electronic dictionaries strategy are affected experimental students' performance in achievement test. This study also provides pedagogical implications for utilizing EDs as an effective learning tool.

The aim of this study is to review general findings about the changing use of electronic dictionaries (EDs) by Japanese college students of English as a foreign language. Subjective survey feedback from students using such computerized dictionaries is reviewed, and records of their objective performance on various vocabulary lookup and learning tasks are compared. This study presents a descriptive survey of Japanese freshmen students’ use of various electronic dictionaries, a brief survey of graduate students’ use of online dictionary, reading and vocabulary sites, and a comparison with other research studies investigating learners’ degree of use of EDs. Many overall trends are clearly discernable by comparing these findings that can help us improve language learning by means of more precise and effective guidance and recommendations concerning the use of EDs. Based on these findings, practical recommendations for improving both vocabulary learning and systematic strategy training in the effective use of electronic dictionaries are given. Finally, suggestions for further research are provided to help raise learners’ awareness of various useful functions within their EDs. In this paper, research done over the years on EDs relative to their impact on second language vocabulary acquisition will be discussed first. Next, a two-part study of graduate versus undergraduate Japanese college students’ use of EDs will be discussed, together with outcome and implications. Finally, suggestions for further research will be offered.

It is true that dictionaries have played an indispensable role in the process of language acquisition, and in the case of EFL learning, this is not an exception. However, in Vietnam, there have not been many studies, research, and materials exploring the use of electronic dictionaries (EDs) as well as instructing EFL learners to employ them effectively. Hence, the aim of this paper is to investigate EFL learners’ use of electronic dictionary (ED) strategies at an English center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The study involved 98 EFL learners who were asked to complete the given questionnaire. The quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS to extract their mean, standard deviation, and frequency. The results indicated that the EFL participants only made use of an average number of ED strategies. It is hoped that these introductory findings can be beneficial for other researchers in their studies related to dictionary use as well as providing potential ideas for EFL teachers who want to implement dictionary training into their lessons.

مثل علم اللسانيات الحاسوبية Computational Linguistics عامة، والمعجمية الحاسوبية خاصة ، بين علوم اللسانيات التطبيقية أهمية کبيرة وطفرة علمية لسانية بالغة الأهمية في العصر الحديث؛ وذلک لما يشهده العصر الحديث من التقدم السريع في کافة مجالات الحياة ، مما کان له الأثر البالغ في محاولة الالتحاق بذلک الرکب السريع ؛ فنشأت الحاجة إلى اللسانيات الحاسوبية بکافة أنواعها کما سيأتي وسيحاول هذا البحث الوقوف على دراسة أحد أهم هذه الأنواع وهو: المعجم الإلکتروني؛ لنتناول خاصية من أهم خصائصه وهي : أنظمة الربط في المعاجم الإلکترونية. مطبقة ذلک على أحد أشهر المعاجم الإلکترونية الرقمية وهو معجم المعاني . ومن ثم جاءت هذه الدراسة بعنوان: ( أنظمة الربط في المعاجم الإلکترونية خصائصها ووظائفها ،معجم المعاني الإلکتروني نموذجا). وقد جاء البحث في مقدمة وأربعة مباحث وخاتمة : المبحث الأول : نحو تحديد مصطلحات الدراسة المبحث الثاني بعنوان : تطبيقات الربط في المعاجم الإلکترونية والمبحث الثالث بعنوان : خصائص أنظمة الربط واستثمار بحوث الدماغ الحاسوبية البحث الرابع بعنوان : وظائف أنظمة الربط من منظور المستعمل ثم جاءت الخاتمة مشتملة على أهم النتائج والتوصيات Computational Linguistics in general, and computational linguistics in particular, represented a great importance among the sciences of applied linguistics and a very important scientific linguistic boom in the modern era. This is due to the rapid progress witnessed in the modern era in all areas of life, which had a great impact in the attempt to join that fast pace; The need for computational linguistics of all kinds arose, as will be mentioned below This research will try to study one of the most important of these types, which is: the electronic dictionary; Let us consider one of its most important characteristics: Linking systems in electronic dictionaries. It applies to one of the most famous electronic digital dictionaries, which is the dictionary of meanings. Then this study came under the title: (Linking systems in electronic dictionaries, their characteristics and functions, the electronic dictionary of meanings as a model The research came in an introduction, four sections and a conclusion: The first topic: Towards defining the terms of the study The second topic entitled: Linkage applications in electronic dictionaries The third topic is entitled: The properties of connectivity systems and the investment of computer brain research The fourth research entitled: Functions of connectivity systems from the user's perspective Then came the conclusion containing the most important findings and recommendations

Electronic dictionaries are important tools for enhancing vocabulary among foreign language learners. This research investigates Turkish EFL preparatory students' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of using electronic dictionaries (EDs) in English preparatory classes. Adopting a case study, the study involved 30 students aged 18 to 24 enrolled in an English preparatory program. Data were gathered through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Participant observations were carried out over a two-month period using an observation form to systematically record students’ electronic dictionary use during classroom activities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the data collection period to gain in-depth insights into participants’ experiences and perceptions of electronic dictionary use. Thematic analysis revealed that 90% of the students preferred electronic dictionaries for vocabulary development. Also, students highlighted four primary advantages of EDs: time efficiency (38.10%), voiced pronunciation (30.95%), comprehensiveness (23.81%), and easy accessibility (7.14%). However, they also identified several disadvantages, including distraction (58.62%), lower retention of learned vocabulary (27.59%), and dependency on internet access (13.79%). Based on the widespread preference for electronic dictionaries, the study suggests that teachers can allow the usage of electronic dictionaries inside the EFL classrooms on condition of closely monitoring to prevent distractions.

<p><em>Today’s dictionaries have more information and are easier to access and to understand than ever before. And, with the advent of electronic formats, space is no longer the problem it was. </em><em>Electronic dictionaries have become more and more attractive, accepted and popular to EFL learners at different levels, using electronic dictionaries in EFL classroom has gradually become an alternative to many. As for teachers, helping students tap into electronic dictionaries effectively is one of the best ways to help them become independent, lifelong language learners. In this essay, the functionality of electronic dictionaries and reasons why they are popular in EFL class will be introduced. Also, some of the current issues related to the integration of electronic dictionaries into EFL instruction and learning will be identified and discussed. The author’s views towards this topic will be presented as well, based on the observation and reflection of using electronic dictionaries in EFL classes at a Chinese university.</em></p>

Based on needs analysis, this paper studies the needs of Business English (BE) learners on acquiring business terms. An online questionnaire was conducted on full-time undergraduate business English majors and international business majors in the School of International Business English at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and 254 valid questionnaires were collected. The finding shows that a customized specialized C-E/E-C electronic dictionary is in great need during the 4-year-learning process of BE learners, while disadvantages of existing C-E/E-C electronic dictionaries are spotted. According to the data collected from the survey, author discuss the disadvantages of existing Chinese-English/English-Chinese (C-E/E-C) electronic dictionaries and tries to put forward improvement suggestions on building a specialized C-E/E-C electronic dictionary from the perspective of BE learners. This research will help business-English- term teaching and specialized C-E/E-C electronic dictionary compiling.

This paper describes the different types of electronic billingual dictionaries currently available in Japan. It draws attention to their relative merits and demerits as a general introduction to a more detailed consideration of changes that would need to be made to a portable IC (Integrated Circuit)-card type of electronic bilingual dictionary in order that English-speaking learners of Japanese could use them more effectively. First, general changes to the design of the three dictionaries of an electronic billingual dictionary for this language pair are considered – the kanji-English-English-Japanese, and Japanese-English dictionaries. Then, specific changes to the kanji-English dictionary are considered. In particular (i) the look-up methods of existing portable electronic dictionaries, (ii) whether or not learners of a beginner to intermediate level of proficiency could use these look-up methods effectively, (iii) whether there are any other look-up methods more suited to the needs of this type of learner, and (iv) whether problems of look-up methods could be solved by different input methods. Search routines and database entries are illustrated.

Word Formation Latin (WFL; Litta et alii, 2016) is a linguistic resource providing explicitly recorded word formation relations between items in the Latin lexicon. The lexical basis of WFL comprises around 43,000 lemmas resulting from the collation of three Latin dictionaries, namely the Oxford Latin Dictionary (Glare, 1984), Georges &amp; Georges (1913-1918) and Gradenwitz (1904). The WFL data are stored in a MySQL database, where input and output lexical items are connected via Word Formation Rules (WFRs). Each WFR provides information about (a) its input and output items, (b) their Part of Speech, (c) the rule type (derivation, compounding) and (c) the affix at work when predication or suffixation processes are concerned. WFL data were included into the database of the Latin morphological analyser Lemlat (Passarotti et alii, 2017), thus enhancing its inflectional morphological analysis (lemmatisation and morphological features) with information about word formation. WFL is freely available as part of the Lemlat database (https://github.com/CIRCSE/LEMLAT3) and accessible through a graphical web application (http://wfl.marginalia.it). Such application enables users to query WFL via WFR, affix, input/output PoS and lemma. While querying a specific lemma, users are provided with its full word formation cluster, i.e. a tree graph showing the full derivation of the lemma in question, consisting of its ancestor(s) as well as its descendant(s). In case the lemma is not morphologically derived, it is considered to be the ancestor of a "morphological family", i.e. the set of lemmas morphologically derived from a common ancestor. In the tree graphs of the WFL web application, nodes are lexical items and edges are WFRs. Beside this tree-like representation of word formation based lexical relations, we are experimenting also with a kind of visualisation where those lexical items that belong to the same morphological family are cells of a word formation paradigm instead of nodes of a derivation tree. The paradigm of a specific family is then connected with those of the other families in WFL and can be compared with these in terms of shared (and not shared) cells. Such an alternative view on WFL data follows the more recent approaches to derivational morphology based on Word &amp; Paradigm models (Štekauer, 2014). We believe that a linguistic resource aiming to support studies in derivational morphology must provide access to data from both perspectives, thus enabling users to exploit the empirical lexical evidence made available in the resource either by following one single approach or by joining (and possibly comparing) the node-based and the paradigm-based one. Our contribution wants (1) to introduce WFL, by detailing both the theoretical and the practical aspects behind its building and (2) to raise a discussion with the workshop attendees about the two approaches to word formation, by showing examples of running queries on WFL in both kinds of visualisations available in the web application. Not only will this help us to refine the WFL application by understanding the needs coming from the community of the users, but it will provide the workshop attendees with enough expertise to use WFL in their research work about Latin derivational morphology. References Georges Karl E. and Georges Heinrich. 1913-1918. Ausfuhrliches Lateinisch-Deutsches Handwôrterbuch. Hahn, Hannover.<br> Glare, Peter G.W. 1982. Oxford Latin Dictionary. At the Clarendon Press, Oxford.<br> Gradenwitz, Otto. 1904. Laterculi vocum latinarum. Hirzel, Leipzig.<br> Litta, Eleonora, Marco Passarotti and Chris Culy. 2016. Formatio formosa est. Building a Word Formation Lexicon for Latin. In Proceedings of the Third Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC–it 2016), aAccademia University Press.<br> Passarotti, Marco, Marco Budassi, Eleonora Litta, and Paolo Ruffolo. 2017. “The Lemlat 3.0 Package for Morphological Analysis of Latin.” In Proceedings of the NoDaLiDa 2017 Workshop on Processing Historical Language, 24–31. Linköping University Electronic Press. <br> Štekauer, Pavol. 2014. Derivational Paradigms, in The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology, Lieber, Rochelle and Štekauer, Pavol (eds.). Oxford University Press.

Word formation is one of the most productive and creative areas of the German language. As a central level between vocabulary and grammar, it plays an essential role in the acquisition of German as a foreign language, as it enables learners to gain insight into the structure and meaning of words. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the principles of word formation can be taught in university-level DaF (German as a Foreign Language) lessons, so that they are accessible, memorable, and useful in the language learning process. The focus is particularly on compounds and derivatives. As knowledge of word formation is crucial for the comprehension of unfamiliar vocabulary, it can play an important role in the process of text reception. In this context, students should be taught how to identify compounds and determine their Immediate Constituents (ICs). An analysis based on ICs most clearly reveals the structural, semantic, and functional features of compounds. Various morphological structures are identified, such as ICs being simple forms or suffix-/prefix-derived forms. From a semantic perspective, compounds can display a wide range of word formation meanings, including local, temporal, causal, final, and other meanings. For derivatives, we rely on the content-based word formation theory of Weisgerber, who posits that derivational morphemes assume specific functions, connect with the content of the base word, and modify it in a particular way. The same affix can thus convey multiple meanings. To enable students to apply their knowledge of word formation in text reception, it should be reinforced through targeted word formation exercises. Possible exercise types include forming compounds, identifying ICs, analyzing the relationships between them, explaining complex word meanings through paraphrasing, deriving words through suffixes or prefixes, and examining the functions of affixes. However, in many German (DaF) textbooks, word formation is not sufficiently addressed, making the proposed approach potentially innovative. Additionally, dictionaries often lack comprehensive information on word formation, as not all lexical units are included. Therefore, it is crucial for students to possess fundamental knowledge of word formation in order to deduce the meaning of words. However, in electronic dictionaries, word formation is presented in greater detail. Our approach also takes into account wordplay from various text types. Such wordplay can not only help students understand new word formation products but also stimulate creative word production, thereby fostering their linguistic creativity.

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN LEXICOGRAPHY: A Bibliography Barbara Ann Kipfer Ager, D.E. et al. Advances in Computer-Aided Literary and Linguistic Research. Birmingham, England: University of Aston P, 1979. AILA (Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée). Papers Presented at the AppliedLinguistics Congress, August 1981. Lunden, Sweden: AILA, 1981. [Contains Calzolari, Daventosde, Reichling, Schwendtke, Svantesson.] Aitken, A.J. "Historical Dictionaries and the Computer." In Wisbey (1971), 3-17. [Applauds computer ability to store large quantities of text and produce concordances in the form of dictionary slips and to sort output alphabetically. Discusses computer's only incapacity —to select (except randomly). Suggests use of computer and line-printer as "versatile multiple copying device." Discusses computer sorting: alphabetic, lemmatization, and separation of homographs; OCRs, and costs of computer use.] -----. "The Literary Uses of Computers." Times Literary Supplement. 21 April 1972, p. 456. -----, R.W. Bailey, and N. Hamilton-Smith, eds. Computers andLiterary Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973. [Twenty-seven articles, including three on applications to lexicography.] and Paul Bratley. "An Archive of Older Scottish Texts for Scanning by Computer." English Studies, 48 (1967), 61-62. [Small archive begun in 1964. Contains over one million words of text. How availability of concordances and word-lists substituted for particularly cumbersome tasks in preparing the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST).] Akhmanova, Olga S. Optimization ofNatural Communication Systems. The Hague: Mouton, 1977. Alford, M.H.T. "The Computer and Lexicography." Bulletin of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing, Vol. I, No. 3 (1973), 8-9. Alinei, Mario. "Lexical, Grammatical and Statistical Indexing of Italian Texts with the Help of Punched Card Machines at the University of Utrecht." Levende Talen (1963), 166-173. -----. "Lessicografia Italiana con PAusilio di Macchine a Schede Per202 Barbara Ann Kipfer203 forate alFUniversita di Utrecht. Prine Esperienze e Prospettive." In Mater and Stindlova (1968), 227-234. —. La Struttura del Lessico. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1974. Allen, J. "Synthesis of Speech from Unrestricted Text." Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. LXIV, No. 4 (1976), 433-442. Allen, Sture. "Vocabulary Data Processing." In The Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics, Ed. H. Benediktsson. Reykjavik: Visindafelag Islendinga, 1970. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. New College Edition. William Morris, ed. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1969. The American Heritage Dictionary ofthe English Language. Second College Edition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1982. Amos, A.C. "Dictionary ofOld English Needs for and Editing System." Mimeo (1978). [Description of needs of a computer editing system.] Amsler, Robert A. "The Structure of the Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary ." Diss. University of Texas 1980. (Also CS Technical Report TR- 164.) [Exploration and discussion of the structure of a machine-readable dictionary and the use of that information in computational linguistics, etc. Determined that useful semantic information could be derived from dictionary definitions and a complete taxonomy of the words was undertaken. Discussion of automating the analysis procedures for automatic parsing and disambiguation of dictionary entries.] -----. "A Taxonomy for English Nouns and Verbs." In Proceedings of the 19th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics. (1981), 133-138. [Analysis of definition texts of a machine-readable pocket dictionary to determine the disambiguated word sense. Studies reveal information about the nature of the dictionary's organization of the language, the concept of semantic primitives and other aspects of lexical semantics.] -----. "Computational Lexicology: a Research Program." AFIPS, Proceedings of the National Computer Conference, Vol. 51 (1982), 657-663. [Outlines some of the applications that a knowledge of computational lexicology will facilitate. Discussion of the analysis of dictionaries through computers to study their machine-readable text and study of the computational linguistic content and organization of lexicons for 204Computer Applications in Lexicography use by natural-language processing programs.] "Experimental Research on Knowledge Representations for Lexical Disambiguation of Full-Text Sources." NSFInformation Sciences, IST-82-08578 (1982). [Disambiguation procedures based on semantic models of the words that are derived from machine-readable databases, such as machinereadable dictionaries, and based on actual occurrences in sampled fulltext sources.] ----- and John S. White. "Development of a Computational Methodology for Deriving Natural Language Semantic Structures via Analysis of Machine-Readable Dictionaries." Final Report on NSF Project, MCS77-01315, 1979. [Development of a computational technique for extracting semantic information from a dictionary...

In Cross‐Language Information Retrieval (CLIR), queries in one language retrieve relevant documents in other languages. Machine‐Readable Dictionaries (MRD) and Machine Translation (MT) systems are important resources for query translation in CLIR. We investigate the use of MT systems and MRD to Arabic–English and English–Arabic CLIR. The translation ambiguity associated with these resources is the key problem. We present three methods of query translation using a bilingual dictionary for Arabic–English CLIR. First, we present the Every‐Match (EM) method. This method yields ambiguous translations because many extraneous terms are added to the original query. To disambiguate query translation, we present the First‐Match (FM) method that considers the first match in the dictionary as the candidate term. Finally, we present the Two‐Phase (TP) method. We show that good retrieval effectiveness can be achieved without complex resources using the Two‐Phase method for Arabic–English CLIR. We also empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the Arabic–English MT approach using short, medium, and long queries of TREC7 and TREC9 topics and collections. The effects of the query length to the quality of the MT‐based CLIR are investigated. English–Arabic CLIR is evaluated via MRD and English–Arabic MT. The query expansion via posttranslation approach is used to deemphasize the extraneous terms introduced by the MRD and MT for English–Arabic CLIR.

One finding of user studies is that information on meaning tends to be what dictionary users want most from their dictionaries. This is consistent with the traditional image of the dictionary as a repository of meanings of words, and this is also borne out in definitions of the item DICTIONARY itself as given in dictionaries. While this popular view has not changed much, the growing role of electronic dictionaries can change the lexicographers' approach to meaning representation. Traditionally, paper dictionaries have explained words with words, using either a definition or an equivalent, and occasionally a line-drawn picture. However, a prominent feature of the electronic medium is its multimodality, and this offers potential for the description of meaning. While it is much easier to include pictorial content, electronic dictionaries can also hold media objects which paper cannot carry, such as audio, animation or video. Publishers are drawn by the attraction of these new options, but are they always functionally useful for the dictionary users? In this article, the existing evidence is examined, and informed guesses are offered where evidence is not yet available. Keywords: Electronic Dictionary, Meaning, Illustration, Animation, Audio, Sound Effects, Video, Multimodality, Specialized Lexicography, Learner's Dictionary

The value of dictionary use with regard to vocabulary learning is the subject of some controversy in the English as a foreign language (EFL) literature. In recent years, along with the rise of electronic dictionaries, this issue has gained more attention. While both printed dictionaries and electronic ones have their supporters, electronic dictionaries are becoming more popular in practice. Many studies have investigated dictionary use, but most of them have been conducted in a higher educational context, and thus are not necessarily applicable to a secondary educational one. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain empirical evidence about effects of using printed, pocket electronic and online type-in dictionaries (PD, PED, and OTID) on vocabulary recognition and retention in a local junior high school. A mixed quantitative and qualitative research methodology was adopted in this work. Thirty-three seventh graders from a junior high school in Kaohsiung City participated in the study. They were asked to use all three types of dictionaries to finish reading tasks, and then were tested not only on their vocabulary recognition immediately after the reading tasks, but also on their word retention two and four weeks later. Questionnaires and interviews were used to examine the participants’ attitudes and reflections after using the three types of dictionaries. The data obtained from the study were then analyzed from two perspectives. First, the quantitative data, the scores of the follow-up, delayed vocabulary tests 1 and 2 were collected. The SPSS 17.0 system was applied to investigate differences among the effects of using the three types of dictionaries on vocabulary recognition and retention. Second, the qualitative data, the responses and opinions of all the participants to the questionnaire and interviews with ten selected participants were classified and described by the researcher to further understand their attitudes and reflections after using the three types of dictionaries. The main findings are summarized as follows: 1. The use of all three types of dictionaries could enhance EFL junior high school students’ vocabulary recognition, while the use of printed dictionaries could better enhance their word retention. Spending more time consulting a printed dictionary helped the participants to retain the words better. In contrast, the fast retrieval speed of an electronic dictionary (OTID or PED) may not impress junior high school students with the word forms and meanings to such a significant degree. The temporary positive effect of using electronic dictionaries (OTID and PED) on EFL junior high school students’ vocabulary recognition might be due to the novelty of such devices. However, there was little positive influence on the students’ word retention. Furthermore, the participants’ attention towards the electronic dictionaries was sometimes distracted by information or functions unrelated to looking up words. 2. Whether the display used with the OTID can enhance EFL junior high school students’ vocabulary recognition and retention remains an open question, because the participants might not pay full attention when using the OTID. Therefore, the effects of the display used with the OTID might be overwhelmed by other factors. In sum, the results indicated that electronic dictionaries could temporarily attract junior high school students’ attention, while printed dictionaries could help them to retain the target words more effectively. It is anticipated that the results of this work can provide English teachers in junior high schools with useful ideas when they are integrating dictionary use into the classroom. However, less experienced junior high school students may not be able to fully utilize the advantages of electronic dictionaries, and the various functions that that they have might be distractions to them. Electronic dictionaries could thus be used as a gateway to arouse students’ interest to use dictionaries, while printed dictionaries could be used to help students to retain the word forms and meanings.