Learner's Dictionary Research Articles

Evaluating the Typographical Features of "Word of the Day" in Online English Learner's Dictionaries Based on a Multimodal Communicative Approach

The emergence of online electronic dictionaries has brought convenience to English learners. The "Big Five" in English learning dictionaries have kept up with the pace of the times, and have established their own websites which are now working as online dictionaries, so that users can use any device which is connected to the Internet to access consultations for words. On the basis of previous studies, this paper aims to focus the research on "Word of the Day", a section unique to nowadays online dictionaries, and conducts an analysis of this section in the "Big Five" learner's dictionaries from the perspective of multimodality and typographical features.

Compilation and uses of the 'Yonsei Korean Synonyms Dictionary for Learners'

The purpose of this study is to introduce the compilation process and characteristics of the new Yonsei Korean Synonyms Dictionary (YKSD), and to suggest how the synonym dictionary could be used in teaching language. Despite the importance of synonym distinction for language learners and teachers, thus far, synonym dictionaries have generally presented lists of synonyms, in a manner similar to a thesaurus. We would like to introduce the YKSD as a new model for a Korean thesaurus, and discuss what information is presented and how the information is illustrated. We provide the lexical information and description of synonyms based on an analysis of corpus rather than the intuition of dictionary compilers. The macrostructure and microstructure of the YKSD are specially designed to assist in distinguishing synonyms. The contents of this dictionary can be used in various ways in the course of developing teaching materials for language learners. In this study, we will look at the uses of this dictionary.

On the Inclusion of Neologisms in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (10th edition)

Adding neologisms to a dictionary in its revision helps keep it abreast of time, which applies to a learner's one like Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (10th edition) (henceforth OALD 10), its latest edition. English Learner's dictionaries like OALD 10 get revised regularly. In this arti­cle, the neologisms included in OALD 10 have been approached from different perspectives. In terms of the part of speech, 71.1% of the neologisms are nouns, which could speak for the nouny nature of English. Content words like nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs make up almost 96% of the neolo­gisms. Judging by the word-formation, the top three ways to form the neologisms are compound­ing, derivation and blending in decreasing order. According to the form the com­pounds take, which are mostly nouns, the open, hyphenated and tight ones come in decreasing order. 623 com­pounds make up more than half of the neologisms, which provides strong evidence for com­pounding to be the most frequently used way of creating neologisms. For neologisms formed by derivation, most of them are also nouns. However, 170 out of 300 neologisms formed by derivation have already appeared as derivatives of headwords in OALD 9. For 34 blends, 75% of them are partial in nature, which means at least one word in making a blend is in its full form. When it comes to the new words with regional labels, nearly 80% are labeled as belonging to British and North American usages, a sign of the hidden Anglo-centrism. The status of some words counted as neologisms is questionable, as they have been in use for a very long time. The impact of science and technology on the inclusion of neologisms in OALD 10 is quite visible. There are still many opportunities for further exploration concerning OALD 10. Keywords: neologism, OALD 10, part-of-speech, word-formation, regional label, Anglo-centrism, dictionary revision, sci-tech influence

Encoding Near-Synonym Relations in Monolingual English Learner's Dictionaries: The Case of Germanic and Latinate "Equivalents"

ABSTRACT: This article examines the semantic relations between pairs of Germanic and Latinate near-synonyms in contemporary English, such as hug/embrace, isle/island , and brave/courageous , which dictionaries traditionally treat as equivalent in meaning, regardless of context-independent differences between them. These word pairs are challenging for learners of English as a Foreign Language, especially when their L1 is a Romance language. Monolingual English learner's dictionaries (MELDs) do not, in general, clearly or systematically disambiguate near-synonyms of different origin. An improvement in dictionary treatment of near-synonyms is thus called for. After outlining the main types and subtypes of meaning relations identified through the analysis of a sample of Germanic and Latinate word pairs, synonymy in the "Big Five" MELDs is examined. Proposals are then made to better encode synonym similarities and differences with cross-reference information in the form of tags, labels, and usage notes.

"Young people are calling for more action on what they say is a climate emergency": English learner's dictionaries and the global environmental issue

"Young people are calling for more action on what they say is a climate emergency": English learner's dictionaries and the global environmental issue

A Comparative Study of Collins Learner Dictionary and Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary in the Range of EFL Teaching

A Comparative Study of Collins Learner Dictionary and Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary in the Range of EFL Teaching

Online English Monolingual Learner’s Dictionaries

Due to the development of technology, well-established publishers began to provide their English Monolingual Learner's Dictionaries (MLDs) online and free of charge. Dictionaries of this type have their own history, as well as common and distinctive features. The article presents a brief outline of the subsequent stages of the development of English Monolingual Dictionaries, with special reference to MLDs available online. Also, the article includes a synthetic description of the primary and secondary components of a dictionary entry and demonstrates if these components are present or absent in three online Monolingual Learner's Dictionaries: the Cambridge Dictionary, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, and the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary. The article aims to characterise, compare and contrast some of the features of a typical entry in online English MLDs. Consequently, the scientific approach adopted in the analysis is a mixture of the comparative and the empirical method. Unlike previous topic-related research, the present study shows both common and distinctive features of the mentioned dictionaries and hints at their practical advantages (from the point of view of the end user).

Cultural specificities of online dictionaries for English learners: Evidence from a user survey and a multimodal discourse analysis

Abstract This study examines three popular e-dictionary platforms using a quantitative user survey coupled with a qualitative multimodal discourse analysis (MDA): Chinese Youdao, Cambridge English-Mandarin Chinese Dictionary (Cambridge), and the Free Dictionary (FD). The survey (N = 478) revealed that, despite its language flaws, Youdao was preferred by most Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners mainly due to its search functionality and personalization. In contrast, English majors and postgraduates preferred Cambridge for its reliability and multimodal resources. FD ranked the lowest in popularity mainly for perceived inconvenience of searching and less accessibility of personalized functions. Multinomial logistic regressions and structural equation modelling showed that dictionary selection by users was contingent upon their perception of its features and their use strategies. Furthermore, MDA revealed how each dictionary contributed to the construction of a cultural identity. Youdao seemed to be a toolbox for personal use, with raw texts of varying quality, but with a clear and practical vision, in addition to customization options. Cambridge portrayed itself as a welcoming language community through appealing imagery, interactive options, and diverse navigational styles. FD was comparable to a dynamic and cluttered library, archiving large blocks of hyperlinked texts and word lists accompanied by musical animations. In brief, multimodal and cultural factors partially explained Chinese EFL learners’ preferences for a specific dictionary, highlighting the importance of adaptation to the linguistic and cultural background of the user, including customization. A general cultural and semiotic framework is proposed to examine the representation of cultural identity in e-dictionaries.

Profiling Word Frequency and Readability of Online Learner Dictionary Definitions

This study examined 283 online learner dictionary definitions in terms of scores based on word frequency level and readability. Results revealed three findings. First, in terms of word frequency levels, definitions from the Cambridge learner dictionary incorporated fewer non-high frequency words (mid and low frequency words) compared to Oxford, Dictionary. com and Collins COBUILD learner dictionaries. Second, in terms of readability, definitions from the Random House learner dictionary were written at a significantly higher grade level compared to the other six online learner dictionaries. Third, in terms of both level of frequency words incorporated into definitions and readability grade level definitions, the Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and Longman online learner dictionaries were easier to understand compared to online learner dictionaries from Dictionary.com, Collins COBUILD, Oxford and Random House. Overall, the findings suggest both word frequency level and readability might contribute to the difficulty of online learner dictionary definitions.

Brain Drain, A Modern Issue for the EU

The brain-drain phenomenon refers to the global moving of skilled alumni in order to ensure better work opportunities and higher salaries (Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, 2023). Its main effect is the loss of human capital in the mother countries, in which gaps in the workforce are being created, leaving the spots for people with lower qualifications. The lost income will cause a tax increase leading to the payment inability and to an overall worsening of the economy. The last result is what makes the phenomenon so important. The economy and the education are the foundations of a country and with the worsening of the first in the fields of home industries, the public services are facing a failure, the state providing less to its people (Young, 2021).

The Construction of a Large-Scale Hong Kong Chinese Lexicon with Multilingual Translations for Chinese-as-an-Additional-Language (CAL) Students

This paper describes the structure and compilation process of a Hong Kong Chinese Lexicon being developed for a forthcoming Cantonese keyboard. The lexicon contains more than 120,000 headwords, including common words and high-frequency named entities, and incorporates information such as Jyutping romanization, indicative word frequency, simple translations in five languages (English, Hindi, Indonesian, Nepali, Urdu), disambiguation, POS information, speech register and cross-register synonyms. The lexicon improves the Chinese learning experience of CAL students in two ways: (a) introducing and promoting the effective usage of input methods and dictionaries for learners that facilitate them to locate the correct choice of word or phrase within a particular context, and (b) providing additional register-specific data that enable advanced learners to further expand their vocabulary. This lexicon can be used in conjunction with WordNet or LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) for a range of natural language processing tasks.

A.K. Ramanujan: A Poet of Different Cultures and Languages

The paper explores the impact of different cultures and languages in the poetic writings of A. K. Ramanujan. He has a full command over Indian culture, scriptures and rituals. Tamil, Kannad, Sanskrit and English languages are well known to him. Language is a very important tool in the formulation of a culture and its aesthetics, as it is a medium of expression. Without language no human culture can be imagined. Culture is a manifestation of the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular group of human society. It is a code of conduct which guides and control a certain human society. Ramanujan was deeply rooted in Indian culture and tradition, which is evident in his work. However, his exposure to Western education, particularly his studies in the United States, also influenced his literary style and themes. As a result, Ramanujan's work reflects a unique blend of different cultures and languages, and he is known for bridging the gap between Indian and Western literary traditions. Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary defines culture as “the customs and beliefs; ways of life and social organization of a particular country or group” (373). The cultural and linguistic influences are evident in the literature of any nation, therefore, it always becomes a perfect source of information. Literature of any nation keeps the record of its history, geography, culture and tradition. For instance, we have to study Leo Tolstoy to know the history and geography of nineteenth century Russian literature; similarly, if we want to know something about the English culture, we have to study English literature as literature is a part of culture. In the same way, there are several languages and cultures that are observed in India and each of them are closely connected with the theme of Indianness and this is how it paves the way of unity in diversity.

Стереотипное представление о неконфликтном человеке в русской деловой коммуникации

Adjectives that characterize personality traits form an important part of the world picture of the national language. The purpose of this study is to identify the stereotypical representation behind the adjective non-conflict in Russian business communication, and more broadly - in different types of discourse. The analysis uses a cognitive-discursive approach to the language based on the texts of resumes, character references, job advertisements, lexicographic sources, the National Corpus of the Russian Language, reflexive statements of Internet users and the results of a survey of native speakers. The study concludes that non-conflict is more viewed as a business quality of a person, and it refers to working in a team. This personality trait in most cases is used in relation to men. When it comes to women, then combinations with nouns denoting the social status of a woman are often used, making the use of an adjective in the masculine form possible. The results obtained can be used to present the adjective non-conflict to the foreign audience, compile a learner's dictionary of personality traits, contribute to more successful intercultural and business communication.

КОНЦЕПТ DEMOCRACY У ПРОМОВАХ СВІТОВИХ ЛІДЕРІВ У КОНТЕКСТІ РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ

The article reflects the results of the reconstruction of the concept DEMOCRACY in lexicographic sources and analysis of its actualization in the speeches of Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Ursula von der Leyen, and Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 from the perspective of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Based on the component-semantic analysis of the definitions of the lexeme democracy in eight English-language explanatory dictionaries (Cambridge Dictionary, Oxford Learner's Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Macmillan Dictionary, Collins Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus, The Chambers Dictionary, Etymology Online Dictionary) was modeled, which includes core fields (people’s government та system of government), near (country, equality, right to vote) and far (freedom) periphery fields. The study of twelve selected speeches (67 pages of printed text) also made it possible to single out one more field of the far periphery – fight, which is actualized as a result of the objectification of such features of the concept as democracy under threat, union, protect/defend democracy, protect/defend freedom as a result of rethinking the concept of DEMOCRACY in the context of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. It was determined that in the speeches of world leaders in 2022, the concept of DEMOCRACY is verbalized with the help of tokens democracy, people, vote, elect, free, freedom, country, etc. The analysis of the features and frequency of their use indicate that the lexeme democracy in relation to other verbalizers prevails in the speeches of the American president, as evidenced by the number of the word usage – 111 times and Ursula von der Leyen's – 27 times; lexemes people (65 word usages) and country (64 word usages) dominate the speeches of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss; in the speech of Volodymyr Zelensky, free, freedom and people are the predominant verbalizers, which indicates the current priorities in the concept components for representatives of different nations. Contrasting the concepts of DEMOCRACY and AUTOCRACY to characterize Ukraine and its people and the aggressor country and its leader, respectively, reflect changes in the perception of Ukraine and Ukrainians on the world stage.

Mit Wortschatz und lexikografischen Ressourcen handeln: kritische Überlegungen zur Anwendung lexikalischer, lexikografischer und digitaler Kompetenzen im virtuellen Raum beim akademischen Schreiben im DaF-Bereich

Acting with Lexicon and Lexicographical Resources: Critical Reflec­tions on the Use of Lexical, Lexicographic and Digital Literacy in Vir­tual Environments in Academic Writing in GfL. The paper deals with vocabulary acquisi­tion in the academic writing process in advanced GfL in interaction with the development of appropriate language awareness and wide-ranging up-to-date digital literacy. The starting point is the observation that in the academic L2 writing process the extensive information potential of mono­lingual, bilingual and multilingual lexicographic and lexico-grammatical online resources as well as other language technology tools is not adequately known. Accordingly, the many digital language resources are not optimally used for methods of teaching vocabulary and acting with it, e.g. in academic writing. On the other hand, digital media occupy more and more space in our everyday life and also provide highly developed tools based on linguistic technology for various L2 competence areas, such as translation. The aim of this paper is therefore both to show ways of making sensible use of existing internet resources and to outline entirely new ways based on artifi­cial intelligence. Selected resources will be used as examples to demonstrate the extensive infor­ma­tion potential and to discuss possibilities for use in academic writing. An outlook points to the necessity of adapting to revolutionary technological changes in the field of foreign language didac­tics. Keywords: learner's dictionaries, vocabulary acquisition, academic writing, multiliteracies, online-lexicography, language technologies, german as foreign language, corpuslinguistics, writing assistant, artifi­cial intelligence

Evaluating the Usefulness of the Learning Tools in Monolingual Online Dictionaries for Learners of English: Gauging the Preferences of Polish Students of English

The aim of the report is twofold. First, the learning tools available in monolingual online dictionaries for learners of English are described. Second, an evaluation of the usefulness of the learning tools in online dictionaries is provided. To meet the aims of the present contribution, a survey was administered on 318 Polish students of English. The respondents, who participated in a lecture devoted to the topic of learning tools in online dictionaries, were instructed to complete a questionnaire. A mixed-question format was adopted. In the first part of the questionnaire, the participants had to rate the usefulness of the features of the Macmillan Dictionary on a semantic differential scale of 1–7. In the second part, there were two open-ended questions. The students were asked to name the most and least useful learning tools of the Macmillan Dictionary and explain their choices. The results suggest that English majors studying at a Polish university accord high priority to consulting online learning tools which give them valuable information on collocations, synonyms and semantically related words. Keywords: lexicography, dictionary use, online dictionary, mono­lingual learners' dictionary, online learning tools, survey

English Dipthong Found in Song Titled Blue Jeans by Gangga Kusuma

Diphthongs study the sound of language from process to change. This research covers "Blue Jeans" by famous singer-songwriter Gangga Kusuma, who started her career in 2018 with an emphasis on diphthong formation. Researchers choose English diphthongs for this research because it is important to listen to find the correct pronunciation in the learning process. Researchers use Roach's theory to divide diphthongs into two types. First, replace middle diphthongs such as /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /әʊ/, /aʊ/ and second, /ɪə/, /eә/, /ʊә/. This study used a qualitative method and data were collected through a literature search. Analysis of the data revealed that Gangga Kusuma generated 26 examples of English diphthongs divided into 8 types. The diphthong /eɪ/ is used 9 times, the diphthong /aɪ/ is 8 times, the diphthong /ɔɪ/ is used only once, the diphthong /aʊ/ is used 2 times, and the diphthong /әʊ/ is used 5 times, diphthong ɪә/ is used only once, and some data samples are missing the diphthong /eә/ and /ʊә/. In other words, this study shows that Gangga Kusuma can make diphthong sounds that are consistent with those produced in normal diphthong production and the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Furthurmore, it excels at producing a variety of diphthong sounds.

Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

This study intended to explore the different types of phraseological units in IELTS academic writing task 2 and probe into the IELTS candidates’ perceptions of phraseological competence. To this end, a corpus entailing 100 essays (26,423 words) written for IELTS writing task 2 was scrutinized, through which phraseological units were extracted and their types were identified based on Moon’s (Phraseology: Theory, analysis, and application, 1998) typology. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine IELTS candidates. The results indicated that simple formulae were the most commonly used phraseological units in IELTS writing task 2. The interview data, using inductive thematic and summative content analyses, also demonstrated that IELTS candidates have had varying perceptions of phraseological competence, wherein higher band score candidates appeared to have a deeper and more accurate understanding of the concept. As for the candidates’ perceived phraseological competence, they were found to under- or overestimate their own competence at using phraseology. The findings of the study can be employed in making learner dictionaries based on the phraseologies used in IELTS.

PRONUNCIBOT: TELEGRAM PRONUNCIATION DICTIONARY FOR EFL LEARNERS

Learning English pronunciation is sometimes confusing because of its irregular forms. What we see in the written form is not the same as how it is pronounced. This study is aimed to develop the online pronunciation dictionary for EFL learners that can be accessed easily using Telegram feature named Telegram bot. The pronunciation dictionary developed here named Pronuncibot. It is a research and development (R&D) method with some custom procedure from Gall, Borg & Gall those are pre-research, research planning, media developing, expert validation, revising, try out, test and final design. The subject of the study was the English Education Study Program students. The results showed that in the process of the development of Pronuncibot, there were some revisions need to accomplish this bot, one of them was completing the two major accents. For the field testing, it was shown that there were some improvements from students’ pronunciation before and after using Pronuncibot. It can be shown in pronouncing some available words and menus like past verbs, animals and homophones. Furthermore, from questionnaire results, it was shown that students were agree that the use of Pronuncibot can assist their pronunciation practice. In conclusion, the development of this bot can provide students’ learning flexibility as the hope of digital learning goal

“A Whole New World… Wait, Is It a Whole, Entire, or Total World?”: The Extraction of Collocations for the Three English Synonym Discrimination

This study investigated three synonymous adjectives, ‘whole’, ‘entire’, and ‘total’, in terms of their collocations and strict sense of meaning. Data were drawn from three English dictionaries: 1) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (online version), 2) Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary (online version), and 3) Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2014), and from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The findings from this investigation revealed that the three adjectives share some common meanings, and they can thus be considered near synonyms. They may also be somehow interchangeable with each other in certain contexts, however, in terms of formality, the word ‘total’ is likely to be used the most in formal contexts. Concerning their common collocations, ‘whole’ and ‘entire’ share some noun collocates, some of which are associated with geographic vocabulary; namely America, Europe, and California. However, ‘entire’ and ‘total’ share only one strong noun collocate, which is population, while ‘whole’ and ‘total’ do not share any typical noun collocates. Significantly, corpus data can provide additional data which does not exist in dictionaries. The findings of this study may serve as supplementary materials for English language teachers to enhance students’ English vocabulary learning, especially when it comes to academic writing. Keywords: synonym; corpus-based study; COCA; collocation; noun collocates