英语专业毕业论文英语学习中词典使用的策略和技能正文.docx

英语专业毕业论文英语学习中词典使用的策略和技能正文.docx

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英语专业毕业论文英语学习中词典使用的策略和技能正文

1.Introduction

AnEnglishdictionary,asatoolorareferenceintheEnglishlearning,helpstofacilitatethelanguagelearningprocessandenablesthelearnerstodeveloptheirlanguageskillseffectively.Theeffectiveandefficientuseofadictionaryisoneofthemainfactorstoaffectthesecond-languageacquisition.Inthelearningprocess,besidesourteachers,whatwemostconsultisanEnglishdictionary.ItprovidesEnglishlearnersalltypesofinformation:

spelling,syllables,weakandstrongforms,syntacticstructures,wordorigins,meaning,wordcollocation,formalandinformalusages,slangsandidioms,etc.Therefore,itsimportanceisself-evident.

However,ifyouuseitinaninappropriateway,thesecondbestteachersnotonlycouldnothelpyou,butalsomightevenbringalotofnegativeeffectstoyou.Forexample,somelearnersjustreadthefirstseveralChinesemeaningsandusagesoftheword,whichwouldnegativelyexpandornarrowtheirunderstandingoforiginalmeanings;somelearnersdependtoomuchontheirdictionaries.Oncetheyfailtoknowthemeaningsofthenewwords,theyalwayslookthemupratherthanguessthemout.Suchlowskillsandstrategiesdonotbringanyconveniencebutwastethemmuchtimeonlookingupthedictionaries.Thoughtheselearnershaveoneortwopaper-baseddictionariesatleast,theyareforcedtobuyelectronicdictionariesinaddition,becausetheyclaimelectronicdictionariesprovidewordmeaningquicker.

Dictionariesareamongthemostreadilyavailable,widelyused,andcheapestlearningresources,buttheyarealsoamongthemostdifficulttouse.[1]Theresearchofdictionaryuse,asabranchoflexicography,isconcernedwithmoreandmorelanguageexperts.Agreatnumberofcategoriesofspecificareaswithinthisbranchhavebeenstudied.ThestudyofdictionaryuseinEFL（Englishasaforeignlanguage）learningisoneoftheimportantareasoftheresearch.[2]

Thereareseveralproblemsweneedtosolve:

●Whatstrategiesandskillstheyappliedtohandlethenewwordsandusagesinreadingandlistening?

●Howdothelearnerssucceedinchoosingtheirsuitabledictionariesinaccordancewiththeirownlevelsandneeds?

●Howoftentheyusethedictionary?

●DothelanguageteachersgivethestudentsenoughinformationandguidanceintheselectionanduseofEnglishdictionary?

●ArethecurrentEnglishmajorsclearaboutthethreedifferentEnglishdictionariesfunctions？

Inlightofthesequestions,wemakearesearch ontwoEnglishmajors’classesinHuizhouUniversity.

2.LiteratureReview 

InthecombinationofquestionnaireandinterviewsoffourNormalEnglishclasses,405students,intheForeignLanguagesdepartmentofPutianCollege,ChenYuzhenfindsthattheusingfrequencyofelectronicdictionaryismuchhigherthanthatofpaper-baseddictionary,andjuniorstudents’usingtimesaremorethanseniorstudents’.So,sheprovesthatjuniorstudents’look-upstrategiesaremorematurethanseniorstudents’,andconcludethatstudent’strategiesandskillswillnotincreasewiththesecondlanguagelearningtime.Also,sheproposesthattheteachersshouldhavethesensetotraintheirstudentstheawarenessofusingdictionaries,andtoprovidenecessaryguidanceandenoughtraining.Theyshouldencouragestudentsstudymoreindependently,andboosttheirindependentproblem-solvingabilities.[3]

Withthequestionnaireoftwonon-Englishmajors’classes,90students,intheChemicalTechnologydepartmentofSouthwesternUniversity,FengLinlingfindsoutelectronicdictionaryhasalreadybecomemanynon-Englishmajorsmostextensivetoolinlanguagelearning,becauseitisveryefficienttofindoutthemeaningsofthenewwords.Butwhentomentionelectronicdictionary’spronunciationfunction,onlyahandfulofpeoplebelievethatitisveryhelpful,andtheoverwhelmingmajorityofpeoplebelievethatthefunctionsaresomewhatimportantorunimportant.Bycomparison,traditionalpaper-baseddictionaryisnotonlymoreconducivetolearning,butalsoeasiertomasterEnglishusages.FengLinlingwarnsthatifstudentsaretooreliantonelectronicdictionary,theywouldhavegreatdifficultyinadvancetheguessingabilityofthenewwords.[4]

WiththeinvestigationanalysisandstrategiesontheuseofEnglishdictionariesbynon-Englishmajors,YuanShuoadvisesschoolsandteacherstoincreasestudents’usingtimesofthepaper-baseddictionariesusingtimes,andconsiderotherreferencebooksasthepartofstudents’self-learningability.AlsotheteachersshouldattachgreatattentiontoStudent’spurchaseanduseofthedictionaries.[5]

LiangYulingandLiLeistatethatmoststudentsnotonlylackunderstandingtherelationbetweenEnglishlearningprocessanddictionaries,butalsofailtofullyunderstandthetypesandfunctionsofthedictionaries.Theirignoranceoftheseaspectsoftheknowledgeleadstomanyproblemswhentheyusethedictionary:

a.prefertosmalldictionaryortheelectronicone;b.focusononlyoneorafewsimplefrontInterpretationoftheEnglishwords;c.tooself-confidenttoolookupthedictionaries.Formtheabovereferencetostudents’errorsinusingstrategies;theybelievethatteacherscanguidethestudentsbelowthefollowingaspects:

a.makestudentsfullyunderstandthediversefunctionsofpocketdictionary,electronicdictionaryandpaper-baseddictionary;b.ReadallinformationofanEnglishwordsascompleteaspossible;c.flexibletotheuseanEnglishdictionarywiththecombinationofthecontext.[6]

WangYanhuadividesEnglishlearningintofourlevels:

a.beginning;b.intermediate;c.advanced;d.quasi-bilinguals.ShestatesthatEnglishteachershouldhelpthestudentstochooseanappropriatedictionaryatdifferentstudyinglevelsinaccordancewithstudents’learninglevelsandtheirpurposes.[7]

ZhaoLimingproposesthatmoreexamplesshouldbeprovidedtoguidethelearners.Letthelearnersguessandidentifythemeaningsofthenewwordsinthecontextsasmanyaspossible.Hedoesn’tagreethestudentstousethesefollowingstrategies:

a.lookupthedictionariesoncetheymeetthenewwords;b.avoidstudyingthehardpoints.Inreturn,heemphasizeshisownopinions:

a.theteachersshouldteachlearnerstrytoguessthemeaningsofthewords;b.makesurethelearnersunderstandthemeaningorimpliedinformationascompleteaspossible,andencourageEnglishlearnerstotrytogothroughthesubtledifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinese.HebelievesthesewayswillgreatlyenrichandpromotetheircomprehensionoftheEnglishlanguage.[8]

3.ResearchDesign

Bythecombinationofsomelanguageexperts’insights andmyownthoughts,wetrytomakeoutwhattypesofstrategiesandskillswillbemostefficientinthelearningprocess.Inordertofindoutthebestsolutions,aChinesequestionnairewillbeadoptedinthisinvestigate.

3.1ResearchParticipants

TheresearchparticipantsincludeHuizhouCollege’stwoEnglishclasses,85Englishmajors,asecond-yearclassandthefourth-yearclassseparately.Theselectedclasseshaverepresentativeintheschool.82questionnaireswerevalid,only3questionnaireswereinvalid.Forsomecertainquestionsareincomplete.ThisinvestigationbeganinthemiddleMarch,2008.

3.2InstrumentsandDateCollection

Thequestionnaireiscomposedoffourparts:

Thefirstpartistotrytofindoutstudents’generalknowledgeofthedictionaries.Thesecondpartistofindoutwhichkindofdictionarystudentswouldliketouse.Thethirdpartistogettoknowwhatthelearners’idealdictionariesare.Theforthpartisthatwhenstudentsencounterthenewwordsorexpressionsinreadingandlistening,whatstrategiesandskillswillapply.Thefifthpartishowtohandlethenewwordsinwordanalysis.

4.DataAnalysis

Resultsoftheresearcharediscussedinthispart.Thestrategiesandskillsanalysisaretheprimaryfocusofthispaper.

4.1GeneralKnowledgeaboutthePaper-basedDictionary

Table1whatdothreeitemsmean,Advancedlevel,IntermediatelevelandElementarylevelofEnglishdictionaries?

Table1

A

B

Strategiesandskills

Unknown

Know

Juniorstudents

39%

61%

Seniorstudents

33.3%

66.7%

Average

36%

64%

TheyaremanytypesofEnglishstudents’dictionaries,forexample,paper-baseddictionarieslikebilingualdictionarywithbothChineseandEnglishexplanations,English-Englishdictionary,electronicdictionariesandpcdictionary.

Whatdothreeitemsmean,Advancedlevel,IntermediatelevelandElementarylevelofEnglishdictionaries,mean?

Table1showsthat,over60%ofjuniorandseniorstudentshavealreadyknownthesethreeitems’meaning.Accordingtothevolumeoftheentriesinthedifferentlearningdictionaries,dictionariescanbedividedintothreecategories:

Advancedlevel,IntermediatelevelandElementarylevel.Generallyspeaking,theElementarylevelincludesbelow20,000words,Intermediatelevelrangingfrom20000to40000,andtheAdvancelevelfrom40,000to80,000.Wecannotjudgethequalityofadictionaryjustsimplybyitsnumberofitsentriesbutonitsutilizationandfunctions.Onthebasisoftheirownlevelandneeds,LearnerschooseanEnglishdictionary.

Table2whatarethefunctionsandthedifferencesamongbilingualdictionarywithbothChineseandEnglishexplanations,English-EnglishdictionaryandbilingualdictionarywithChineseexplanationsonly?

Table2

A

B

Strategiesandskills

Unclear

Clear

Juniorstudents

19%

81%

Seniorstudents

16.7%

83.3%

Average

18%

82%

WhatarethefunctionsandthedifferencesamongbilingualdictionarywithbothChineseandEnglishexplanations,English-Englishdictionaryandbilingualdictiona