Who is sharpest at looking up sharp? : comparing two parallel groups of dictionary users

Vrbinc, Marjeta (author), Farina, Donna M. T. Cr. (author), Vrbinc, Alenka (author)

This article is a comparison of two previous research studies (Farina et al. 2019; Vrbinc et al. in press), both of which examined the dictionary look-up behaviors of two very different cohorts of undergraduate students from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. At the time the two original and parallel look-up studies were carried out, one cohort was majoring in business and economics in the School of Economics and Business and the other was majoring in English in the Faculty of Arts. The previously published work reports on how, in both groups, participants were given nine contexts containing a clearly marked common English word used in an infrequent and often unknown sense; they had to locate the relevant sense related to a given context in an unknown-to-them learner's dictionary, The Britannica Dictionary. The participants were asked to think aloud as they looked up words; the researchers observed and recorded their approaches and problems. Prior to, during, and after the look-up process, the members of these two cohorts responded to fourteen questions about their habits of dictionary use and their perceptions of the utility and quality of definitions and illustrative examples that they encountered. This article contrasting the two studies indicates that the look-up proficiency of the two groups differed significantly.

• Language: English
• Keywords: bilingual dictionary, context, cotext, descriptions of functions, examples of use, grammatical differences, lexical differences, lexico-grammatical differences, pragmatic senses, zero equivalence, dictionary user, advanced english learner, learner's dictionary, dictionary awareness, look-up behavior, quality of definition, quality of examples
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts; EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 368-391
• Numbering: Vol. 32
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-144748
• UDC: 811.111'374.8
• ISSN on article: 2224-0039
• DOI: 10.5788/32-1-1750
• COBISS.SI-ID: 131228163
• Publication date in RUL: 10.03.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Lexikos
• Shortened title: Lexikos
• Publisher: Buro van die WAT
• ISSN: 2224-0039
• COBISS.SI-ID: 54915170

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: dvojezični slovarji, sobesedilo, kotekst, opisi funkcij, primeri rabe, slovnične razlike, leksikalne razlike, leksikogramatične razlike, pragmatični pomeni, ničta ustreznost

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: BI-US/17-18-033