Electronic dictionaries differ from conventional word books

Computational lexicography deals
with the design, compilation, use and evaluation of electronic
(electronically readable/machine readable) dictionaries. Electronic
dictionaries fundamentally differ in
form, content, and function from conventional word-books. Among the
most significant differences are: 1) the use of multimedia means; 2)
the navigable help indices in windows oriented software; 3) the use
of sound, animation, audio and visual (pictures, videos) elements as
well as interactive exercises and games; 4) the varied possibilities
of search and access methods that allow the user to specify the
output in a number of ways; 5) the access to and retrieval of
information are no longer determined by the internal, traditionally
alphabetical, organization of the dictionary, but a non-linear
structure of the text; 6) the use of hyperlinks which allow easily
and quickly to cross-refer to words within an entry or to other words
connected with this entry.

In case of electronic dictionaries the demands on
the user become greater as the emphasis is less on following a
predetermined path through the dictionary structure and more on
navigating relationships across and within entries via a choice of
links. So before using an electronic dictionary it is necessary to
acquire certain navigational and searching skills apart from the
‘conventional dictionary skills’. The difference between the
minimal skills acquired for the use of conventional and electronic
dictionaries is given in table.

Dictionaries in book form	Electronic dictionaries
1. Understanding the structure of paper-based dictionary	1. Understanding the presentation in windows on a computer screen
2. Knowing how to use the Guide to the book dictionary	2. Knowing how to use the Help facility
3. Understanding of typographical conventions and the use of symbols and punctuation	3. Knowing how to use hyperlinks (e.g. to display the full term shown in pop-up windows)
4. Deciding what to look up	4. Deciding on the type of search: headword, filtered or full text search; and understanding how advanced searches work
5. Knowing how to interpret the international phonetic alphabet (IPA) and pronunciation of words	5. Knowing how to use the Audio facility
6. Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information	6. Knowing how to confine searches to the information required
7. Scanning dictionary entries	7. Restricting search to particular sections, e.g. to idioms and phrasal verbs
8. Knowing how to carry out cross-references	8. Knowing how to use hypertext links
9. Referring to additional information in front matter or appendices	9. Referring to additional information in various sections presented on the screen
10. Recording the dictionary information	10. Recording the dictionary information in electronic form using the link to Microsoft Word and the Copy-function

There are distinguished two main types of electronic dictionaries:
online dictionaries and CD-ROM dictionaries. To use on-line
dictionaries it is necessary to have access to the Internet. To
install CD-ROM dictionaries on a computer it is necessary to ensure
that a computer meets the minimum system requirements that are
usually enumerated in the User Guide.

Among the on-line
dictionaries there are the following:
the Oxford English Dictionary Online,
the Merriam-
Webster Online Dictionary, the
Cambridge Dictionaries Online (including
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary, Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, Cambridge
Dictionary of American English, etc.),
the American Heritage Dictionary of the
English language and many others. Each
dictionary has its own benefits and differs, sometimes greatly, in
the interface, material available, contents area, number of options,
organization of entries, search capabilities, etc. from other
dictionaries of such kind.

The Oxford English
Dictionary Online, for instance,
contains the material of the 20-volume Oxford
English Dictionary and 3-volume
Additions Series. Besides
more revised and new entries are added to the online dictionary every
quarter. The layout of a typical entry window is given below. The
Oxford English Dictionary Online is
characterized by the following main features: 1) the display of
entries according to a user’s needs, i.e. entries can be displayed
by turning pronunciations, etymologies, variant spellings, and
quotations on and off; 2) the search for pronunciations as well as
accented and other special characters; 3) the search for words which
have come into English via a particular language; 4) the search for
quotations from a specified year, or from a particular author and/or
work; 5) the search for a term when a user knows only meaning; 6) the
use of wildcards’ if a user is unsure of a spelling; 7) the
restrictions of a search to a previous results set; the search for
first cited date, authors, and works; 9) the case-sensitive searches;
and some others.

Among the CD-ROM
dictionaries there are the following:
the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English on CD-ROM, the Cambridge
International Dictionary of English on CD-ROM, the
Collins COBUILD on CD-ROM, the
Concise Oxford Dictionary on CD-ROM, and
many others.

In most cases CD-ROM dictionaries are electronic versions of the
printed reference books supplemented by more visual information,
pronunciation, interactive exercises and games and allowing the user
to carry out searches impossible with the book dictionaries.

The Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM, for
example, differs from the paper dictionary in the following way: 1)
every word is pronounced in British and American English. A user can
also record his/her own pronunciation and compare it with the
accepted form; 2) it gives 15,000 word origins or etymologies and
contains 7000 encyclopedic entries for people, places, and things,
taken from the Longman Dictionary of
English Language and Culture; 3) there
are 80,000 additional examples given in the Longman Examples Bank; 4)
over a million corpus sentences are included for very advanced
learners and teachers of English; 5) it contains 150,000 extra words
(collocates) that are used with the headword; 6) it has the Activator
section which is very helpful in choosing the right word in this or
that context and provides essay writing technique; 7) there are a lot
of interactive activities in grammar, vocabulary, culture, as well as
exam practice exercises.

The Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM has
its own distinctive features that make it prominent among the
dictionaries of this kind. There are three main functions in the
CD-ROM dictionary, each opening in the main window but with a
slightly different look. These three functions are the Dictionary,
Activator, and Exercises.
Users can choose the full sized
display, or «Pop-Up Mode». The dictionary interface
includes a search bar, an area for viewing entries, and windows for
the Phrase Bank, Examples Bank, and
the Activate Your Language tool.

In the entry display (left side of the screen),
the word is presented along with links to pronunciation, usage note,
word origin, verb form, and word set, but not all links are active
for all entries. The Phrase Bank
includes phrases that use the search
word, as well as words that are commonly used with the search word.
The Examples Bank presents
samples of the word’s usage from “Extra dictionary examples”
and “Sentences from books, newspapers, etc.” The Activate
Your Language section, which does not
have entries for all words, allows a user to continue the search in
the Activator.

In lexicography the developments in electronic instrumentation and
computer science have revolutionized the dictionary-making process,
shown new perspectives in this field, supported lexicographical
studies in different directions.

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An electronic dictionary is a portable electronic device that serves as
the digital form of any kind of dictionary. Available in a number of forms,
electronic dictionaries range in function from general single-language
dictionaries to very specific, terminology-based dictionaries for medical,
legal, and other professional languages. The size of most print dictionaries
can be cumbersome and costly, so putting this information into electronic form
reduces the unwieldiness of carrying them as well as reduces their cost, as
large quantities of paper are saved and the material is contained in computer
memory devices.

The topicality
of work is in the fact that e-dictionary is used in every area by different
kind of people, especially by young learners.

The aim of the research work is giving general
characteristics to e-dictionary and defining the main ways of its using in
developing four skills.

To achieve our aim we
have to solve the following objectives:

1.   
Define the functions of innovative technologies
in teaching foreign language;

2.     
Analyze a types of e-dictionaries;

The object of the work is e-dictionaries of
the English language.

The subject
is causes and tendencies of English language.

E-dictionaries are very wide theme to
investigate; it has many types and tendencies for today. At our term paper the scientific novelty of the investigation is the use of e-dictionaries through
teaching.

  The theoretical
significance of the work is the
usage of e-dictionaries in English language reveals its causes and tendencies.

The e-dictionaries is very useful in the
society. We face to them on the mass media and of course at everyday
communication.

The practical
significance of the investigation is
in the fact that this material can be recommended for widening vocabulary and
development of speech and knowledge of English language.

The research work consists of introduction,
theoretical and practical parts, conclusion, list of used literature.

1.               
Innovative
technologies in teaching Foreign Language

1.1 The concept of e-dictionary

An electronic dictionary is a portable electronic device that serves as
the digital form of any kind of dictionary. Available in a number of forms,
electronic dictionaries range in function from general single-language
dictionaries to very specific, terminology-based dictionaries for medical,
legal, and other professional languages. The size of most print dictionaries
can be cumbersome and costly, so putting this information into electronic form
reduces the unwieldiness of carrying them as well as reduces their cost, as
large quantities of paper are saved and the material is contained in computer
memory devices.

As technology has advanced, the number of features that are available in
electronic dictionaries has also increased. Many models are equipped with
text-to-speech and speech-to-text capabilities, interactive vocabulary games,
calculators, and data transport. Most recently, electronic dictionaries have
become available on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers,
although the features on these devices are not as varied or as complex as the
features that are found on conventional handheld dictionaries and current software
offerings [1, 39].

Until fairly recently, there were two kinds of
electronic dictionary: small handheld devices with one or more dictionaries
loaded on them, and optical disks (CD-ROMs and latterly DVD-ROMs) sold
alongside the big (paper) learner’s dictionaries like the Oxford Advanced
Learner’s and the Macmillan English Dictionary (MED). Handheld dictionaries —
small devices about the size of a BlackBerry — have been around for many years:
the Speak & Spell machine that ET cannibalized in order to phone home was
an early and primitive example. This is the format of choice in Japan, and
current models may include up to a hundred different dictionaries —
monolingual, bilingual, general, specialized, you name it. Almost three million
of these are sold annually in Japan alone, so it’s a huge market. All the
well-known learner’s dictionaries appear on one or other of these devices, but
the publishers make very little money from this kind of licensing — a fraction
of what they would earn from selling a physical book. One can’t help feeling
this is a transitional technology (albeit one that has shown remarkable staying
power): it’s very hard to use these dictionaries effectively because their
contents are so diverse, and minimally integrated. In any case, this
‘pile-it-high’ model isn’t well-adapted to the needs of language learners: a
dictionary with two million terms on it may sound impressive, but who really
needs it?

Longman’s Interactive English Dictionary was the first
learner’s dictionary to appear in CD-ROM form, back in 1993 [8, 86]. Early
versions of CD-ROM dictionaries were partly a sales gimmick and partly a
genuine effort to engage with the new technology and see how it could improve
access to the information in the dictionary. The new medium provided far more
powerful search functions than the basic alphabetical order that conventional
dictionaries rely on. Throw in audio pronunciations, and a few games and
exercises, and that was the basic package for several years. Looking back, what
is striking about those early electronic dictionaries is that the print medium
was assumed to be the ‘primary’ one, with the electronic a sort of
afterthought: the layout of the CD-ROM screens more or less replicated what you
would find on the pages of the printed book, and publishers were slow to grasp
the implications of the new medium. For example, dictionaries have
traditionally handled idioms by explaining them at one entry, and using
cross-references to redirect the user from other possible locations: thus, kick
the bucket might be defined at the headword kick, and if you looked it up at
bucket you would be referred to the ‘right’ entry. This was, simply, a
space-saving strategy: paper dictionaries have to pack a lot of information
into a limited space, so you can’t afford to have two (or more) entries for the
same idiom. There is no need to do this is an electronic dictionary, of course
— but old habits die hard [1, 87].

Gradually, these products improved as they began to
exploit the opportunities of the medium more intelligently. The CD-ROM for the
Macmillan English Dictionary, for example, includes an ‘advanced search’
function that allows you to perform complex searches with minimum difficulty,
by combining any number of features like register, frequency, and grammatical behavior,
in a Boolean search [9, 213]. So if you want a list of all the high-frequency
transitive verbs which are never — or almost always — used in the passive, this
is easily done. Or you might be interested in all the words and phrases marked
both ‘British’ and ‘humorous’. Or a list of every entry that has the
subject-label Cinema. These and other features — notably a thesaurus which
provides near-synonyms for every word, phrase, and meaning in the dictionary —
mean that the CD-ROM is not just an easily-searchable version of its paper
counterpart, but a store of ‘new’ information which simply wouldn’t fit in a
printed dictionary.

1.2 Classification
and types of e-dictionaries

TYPES OF ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES

  Dictionary of simple
words
 
Phonological
dictionaries
 
Dictionary of
compound terms
 
Meaning
 
Semantic markers

The first step is the level of graphically
simple words, namely words as they appear as entries of commercial
dictionaries. In order to match a dictionary of canonical entries with words as
they are found in texts, entries must be inflected. The general inflection
scheme consists in appending inflection codes to canonical entries in order to
generate all inflected forms. This approach seems straightforward, and even well-prepared
by existing material such as conjugation dictionaries built for pedagogical
purposes [2, 96]. However, few such dictionaries exist to-day, either in
academic or industrial environments. There are indeed various questions to be
solved both at the practical and at the theoretical level, in order to reach an
operational stage of coverage for a dictionary. The members of the RELEX group
have all built such a dictionary (DELA) for their language. These dictionaries
are to be completed by many derivatives and technical words [12, 36].

• derivational morphology is not accounted for in
  common dictionaries: because simple words such as:

unreusability,
coprocessible

are easy to coin and to understand, they are not
entered into commercial dictionaries, the reason is that morphological studies
have shown that they are extremely numerous. The size of current dictionaries
is about 100 000 canonical entries (to the extent that derived words can be
listed), derived words increase the size of the lexicon by a factor one hundred
at least;

• when a dictionary is applied to a text, many
  graphic words (i.e. sequences of ASCII characters bounded by consecutive
  separators) are not recognized. Proper names and numbers for example are not
  entries of current dictionaries.

At this point, a
first definition of full scale dictionary can be given: A full coverage
dictionary is a dictionary which recognizes all the ASCII sequences of a
library of texts [4, 74].

 Phonological dictionaries

The morphological
dictionaries DELA under construction by each partner can be adjoined a
phonological component. In this domain it is not thinkable to use only a
universal alphabet like the International Phonetic Alphabet: too many
specialists disagree on the basic sounds. But national alphabets can be easily
designed according to foreseen applications: phonetization of written texts,
use in spelling correction, etc. Constructing a phonetic system is a two
component task:

— First, all the entries of the component of
simple words must be encoded. Then phonogical rules of inflection must be
devised;

— second, a phonetization of corpora using the
phonetic dictionary as well as general rules must be constructed;

— other components will be necessary, for
example in French rules of ‘liaison’ and elision are necessary to generate the
phonetic forms of compounds starting from simple words [5, 122].

The various teams
have already acquired some experience in this area, in particular French and
Italian have been partly described.

Dictionary
of compound terms

The next step in
complexity is the construction of dictionaries of compound terms. The
participants of the project have adopted the classification of parts of speech
used for simple terms:

• compound verbs: to look upon down, to feel free
  to, to take into account, etc.
• compound adjectives: free of charge, well done,
  well-to-do, tax-free, etc.
• compound adverb: from time to time, time and
  again, in fact, in order to, etc;
• compound nouns: sulfuric acid, border town, deed
  of gift, etc.
• other varied compounds, such as determiners (as
  many as, a handful of), conjunctions, (as soon as, to the extent that), etc.

Within each of these
major categories, subclasses are defined in terms of the categories that make
the compounds. From the point of view of the recognition of complex utterances
in a text one will have to distinguish at least two main types of entries
depending of the variability of the terms :

• totally frozen compounds, such as many adverbs,
  for example as a matter of fact, or for instance, where the nouns cannot be put
  in plural, nor modified by adjectives. The complex preposition in order to is
  not in this category because modifying insertions are possible as in in order
  presumably to (satisfy her). There are also many compound adjectives such as
  stiff necked.
• variable compounds: they range from nouns with a
  plural form, which are the simplest changing shapes, to discontinuous verbs,
  such as to take X into account where to take [7, 189].

Meaning

The DELA system
common to 6 languages is the most elementary form of dictionary: a list of
words, and attached to each word, the grammatical information needed to inflect
it or to keep it invariable. For European languages, this information is
limited to gender, number, case, tense, mood and person. There is no limit to
the amount of information that one may want to attach to words: syntactic,
semantic, phonetic, stylistic, historical, encyclopedic data can be introduced,
depending on applications. Already, the minimal information previously required
allows for some syntactic computations: rules that establish elementary
agreement between the inflected words of a text, can be defined and used in a
parser. Also this elementary information is used to represent certain
ambiguities (i.e. called homographs at this level of description). [14, 47] For
example, the French word voile can be:

• a masculine noun (veil),
• a feminine noun (sail),
• a verb (to veil) in the present tense of the
  indicative mood, 1st and 3rd person singular. It can also be a form in the
  subjunctive (1st and 3rd person singular) and in the imperative (2nd person
  singular).

Thus, at the
descriptive level of the parts of speech, we have 3 homographs: 2 nouns, 1
verb. At the more precise level of inflected forms, we have 5 verbal forms,
hence 7 homographic forms.

This level of description does not provide for
semantic ambiguities. For example,

— the masculine noun voile can also mean
«soft palate» (le voile du palais), a fabric (Swiss voile),
difficulty in seeing (un voile devant les yeux), etc. — the verb can mean to
veil a statue, but also to buckle a wheel, etc.

At this point, the
list of words which must be built does not require any evaluation of the use of
words, ancient or modern, hypercorrect or slang, etc. Hence, one does not have
to sort out more or less obsolete words, as for example many found among the
entries of a dictionary such as the Oxford English Dictionary.

With respect to these
minimal demands, a superficial examination of the best available dictionaries
shows that they are incomplete in many respects, and thus unfit as a basis for
automatic analysis [13, 176].

Forms of Electronic Dictionaries

There are five main types of available electronic dictionaries. First,
the most common form of an electronic dictionary is a standalone, handheld
electronic device. CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs are also an available form of
electronic dictionaries, and these are often included with the purchase of a
conventional, printed dictionary. These programs can then be loaded onto
personal computers. There are also some free or pay-for-use online
dictionaries. Many of the more recent forms of technology, such as eReaders, tablet
computers, and smartphones, now have electronic dictionary capabilities. The
features sought by consumers may vary slightly depending on which type of
electronic dictionary is chosen, but for the most part, they remain similar.

Important Features of an
Electronic Dictionary

There are a number of features that are available on an electronic
dictionary, and this guide will discuss the 10 features that buyers should look
for in an electronic dictionary. However, in addition to these features, some
other considerations when choosing an electronic dictionary should include the
size of the device, whether it is a separate handheld dictionary, its required
power source, the cost of the electronic dictionary, as well as its
compatibility with any of the user’s other devices such as PCs or mobile
devices. Buyers should take these details into consideration, along with the
following top 10 features to look for in an electronic dictionary [10, 269].

1.
Type/Number of Dictionaries

There are a number of popular English dictionaries, such as the Oxford
English Dictionary and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Some
electronic dictionaries will come with only one dictionary pre-loaded within
its software, while others can offer several different dictionaries. The
variety of dictionaries that is offered and the quality of the default
dictionary can mean the difference between a casual user’s ability to benefit
from the dictionary versus the dictionary being able to be utilized for more
rigorous academic use.

2.
Translation Capability

Many electronic dictionary users are in the process of learning English
as a second language. Having their native language available for translation is
of great use to users in this situation. Additionally, travelers can greatly benefit
from translator programs on electronic dictionaries. These compact devices (or
programs for mobile devices) are beneficial when a user is in a foreign country
and does not know the native language. For professional translators, some
electronic dictionaries may also have storable vocabulary banks for quick
reference. Depending on the level of their translation needs, purchasers should
research the complexity of a specific electronic dictionary’s translating
capabilities.

3.
Thesaurus

A thesaurus allows users to input a word and be given a list of possible
alternatives to that word. Thesauruses are especially popular with students who
need to elevate their vocabulary within assignments. This feature is available
on many electronic dictionaries and is a beneficial one for many.

4.
Pronunciation

For those users who would like to hear the correct pronunciation of
vocabulary words, whether in English or in other languages, some electronic
dictionaries come with speakers and with the ability to sound out the word for
the user so that the proper pronunciation is conveyed. This can save the
speaker any embarrassment that may result from mispronunciation.

5.
Stylus

Some electronic dictionaries allow the user to write on a screen with a
stylus implement and then have the dictionary find and define the word or
symbol. These are especially useful in languages that utilize other symbols
that may be unfamiliar to the user, such as Kanji (Japanese) or Hebrew letters.

6.
Data Transport

Electronic dictionaries can come with USB storage capabilities that can
be loaded onto other devices. The dictionary serves as a memory card of sorts,
and this can be used to share specific vocabulary or translation lists with
other devices.

7.
Learning Programs

Another great feature of electronic dictionaries for students is the
learning programs that are included on some models. These programs can include
mini-lessons along with self-testing options to help the user improve their
vocabulary knowledge. These programs are of great use for those who are
preparing for standardized tests such as the SATs and ACTs.

8.
Encyclopedia

Some electronic dictionaries come with encyclopedia information, which
provides overviews of a variety of topics. While it may not be an entirely
necessary function for some users, encyclopedias can also round out the context
of dictionary definitions.

9.
Built-in Camera

As one of the more unique features of an electronic dictionary, a
built-in camera can be used to take a photograph of an unfamiliar word in a
text, on a sign, or in any other print form, in order to search for and define
the word. This definition can be in English or in another language, provided
that the electronic dictionary also has that language available.

10.
Added Features

Several extras that usually are available with electronic devices can
include calculators, currency converters, and alarm clocks. Those who are
looking to purchase an electronic dictionary should prioritize their own needs
and find a device that best meets these individual needs [19, 217].

1.3 Teaching Young learners

Young children
tend to change their mood every other minute, and they find it extremely
difficult to sit still. On the other hand, they show a greater motivation than
adults to do things that appeal to them. Since it is almost impossible to cater
to the interests of about 25 young individuals, the teacher has to be inventive
in selecting interesting activities, and must provide a great variety of them.
My teaching approach is neither purely communicative nor audio-lingual (AL); it
also involves features of total physical response (TPR), which is particularly
appropriate for young children. I do not consider any of the abovementioned
approaches sufficient of itself to bring about a high degree of language
proficiency in the learner. The goal is to achieve communicative competence,
but the manner of teaching includes audio-lingual features, such as
choral/single drills, and activities deriving from TPR [21, 16].

The lesson I
will describe is designed for eight- to ten-year-olds at the beginning level.
The topic of the unit is Everyday Life. The learners must describe their day
and what is going on at home at certain times. The grammatical focus is on the
present tenses (simple and continuous). As the present continuous does not
exist as a tense form in the students’ native language (German), the teacher
must make the time reference very clear to them. The present continuous has
several functions, but, since the new form is challenging enough, we will stick
to the present time reference and will focus only on action in process. The
structural pattern of the verb is also new. In order to automatize it several
drills are necessary. Having set up the lesson plan as shown on the next page,
we can now discuss it step by step. The discussion follows the order of the lesson
plan [18, 49].

Warm-up

This step is
essential in preparing the learners for the lesson. Imagine that their previous
lesson was mathematics or history, and how far away their thoughts may be from
English. My experience shows that children respond enthusiastically to songs
and welcome them as a warm-up activity. Using songs in the classroom has a
whole range of advantages. Some of them are listed by Garcia-Saez , e.g.,
creating a positive feeling for language learning, awakening interest during
the lesson, stimulating students to greater oral participation, and breaking
the monotony of the day. The song chosen for this lesson («Are you sleeping,
are you sleeping…») has an additional function: when singing the song, the
learners are using the new tense form subconsciously; thus, it breaks the ice
in introducing difficult and strange grammar [15, 176].

Introduction

The purpose of
the next step is to familiarize the students with the topic. Although to the
learners switching to the picture (we chose one with a boy reading a book and
dreaming of being the leading character) seems to be coincidental and only
topic-related, the teacher has two other purposes: to introduce the idea of
describing a picture, and to have the learners continue using the new grammatical
form subconsciously. This step consists of informal teacher-learner talk and
leads directly to the following stage. Goal Setting «There is an old rule in
theatre that, when the house lights go down, the audience is never to be left
in the dark for more than a brief moment. A ray of light is shown on the
curtain even before it opens.» These metaphoric words are used by Meyer and
Sugg to explain the need of clear goal setting in a lesson. Students should
always, at all stages, know what they are doing and why they are doing it. This
is necessary not only so they will feel a certain satisfaction about their
achievement at the end of the lesson, but also for good motivation throughout
the lesson. Research has also shown that students are more attentive to their
work if the teacher explains the goals of the lesson. The goal for this lesson
is skill oriented, whereas the new grammar feature serves only as a means to
achieve this goal. This communicative goal setting derived from my personal
experience, as will be seen in the following stage [6, 247].

Presentation of the New
Grammatical Item in Context

I still remember
vividly my English teacher in high school destroying any motivation and
enthusiasm I had by opening the lesson with the unforgettable phrase «Today we
are dealing with grammar.» The same unpleasant feeling came over me years
later, when, as a young, inexperienced teacher, I was approached by one of my
pupils, who shyly asked me «Machen wir heute etwa Grammatik?» («Are we dealing
with grammar today?»). It took a while to get rid of that feeling-not by making
students get used to such phrases but by showing them a different, more
integrated and communicative approach to grammar. I try to make the learner
conscious of what s/he is already able to use sub/unconsciously. That means
that the grammatical structures have already been used by the students
(sometimes only in repeating the teacher’s words) before they are explained. In
the lesson I am describing, the learners had used the pres ent continuous in
the song and in the t-l talk about the picture. For elicitation the teacher
could use either his/her questions to the students (e.g., What is he reading?)
or the students’ (correct) answers. Of course, the teacher should always
provide more than one or two examples.

Explanation

In the
explanation phase students are forced to think about the elicited sentences and
analyses them for themselves. The teacher’s questions serve as hints or clues
to point the learner in the right direction. I always prefer a cognitive,
inductive approach, which involves the learners in analysing and explaining the
use and form of a structure, because this supports their understanding of it.
In this lesson, at this early stage of language learning, the teacher might be
justified in switching to the mother tongue both to save time and to keep
things from getting too complicated. The Natural Approach to language learning
holds that only acquired (in contrast to learned) knowledge is effective in
use, while knowledge of rules applies only to monitoring the language output; nevertheless,
it is thought that familiarity with language rules and their automatisation
will facilitate the language-learning process. In my experience, students do
not hesitate to make use of structures they have learned once and automatised
to such a degree that they are able to use them subconsciously. In learning the
present continuous, German students are faced with an item that does not exist
in their mother tongue. Contrastive Analysis would predict difficulty in
acquiring and using this structure. In fact, I have never had problems in
introducing the students to this tense form; it causes only minor difficulty as
compared to other structures. Moreover, they tend to overuse it. We will now
switch to the practice stage of the lesson. The view of practice I prefer can
be adapted from the traditional one:

PRESENT ⇒
CONTROLLED PRACTICE ⇒ FREE PRACTICE into: SUBCONSCIOUS USE ⇒
ELICITATION ⇒ CONTROLLED PRACTICE ⇒
FREE PRACTICE

Littlewood
divides activities into pre-communicative and communicative activities. Using
his terminology we will start with purely pre-communicative activities.

Formal Drill

The
controlled-practice phase of the lesson starts with a simple repetition of the
new language feature in different variations. In order to distract the young
learners from the «grammar» point, a jazz-chant variation is used as a first
drill:

I’m saying: Hsh, Hsh. Tom 1 is
sleeping. What are you saying? I’m saying: Hsh, hsh. Tom is sleeping. Who is
sleeping? Tom is sleeping, he is sleeping. Is he sleeping? Yes, he is.
Aaaaa…not any more.

Based on the
work of Graham , this short jazz chant reinforces the present-continuous
structure. As Graham points out, jazz chants are highly motivating because of
their rhythms and humor. In addition, the young learners need not patiently
remain in their seats. They can move, clap their hands, snap their fingers, or
tap their feet; they are involved both mentally and physically. Songs, poems,
chants, and similar activities reduce anxiety and increase the personal
involvement of second-language learners. This kind of practice is certainly not
a «formal drill» of the traditional stimulus-response kind.

Pair Work

So far, the
learners have, for the most part, only had to respond to the teacher’s stimuli.
Now the mode is changing from teacher-centered to learner-centered. The
learners depend more on each other and engage in interactive tasks. Certainly,
the pair-work activity at this stage belongs to the pre-communicative
activities in Littlewood’s taxonomy. But even this kind of mini-dialogue can
support the learners’ speaking proficiency. The pattern that the teacher may
introduce as a model to guide the students can, for example, have the following
structure using appropriate flash cards:

What’s going on
here? They are speaking. What is she doing? She is singing. or by adding
adverbs (if they are already known): How is he singing? He is singing loudly.
or using yes/no questions: Is the sun shining? Yes, it’s shining. / No it’s
raining.

         Some
of the phrases have already been practiced in the jazz chant and the previous
exercise. The illustrations on the flash cards serve two purposes. First of
all, they «can be quite helpful in creating the motivating, game-like
atmosphere so conducive to learning»), and secondly, they provide visual
support for the speaking activity. Learners are expected to create a certain
level of awareness when they perform, i.e., they have to consciously make use
of the new structure, but they also have to focus on meaning and probably shift
from «focus on form» to «focus on meaning» during the practice period. In
exchanging the flash cards and performing dialogues with more than one exchange
learners also get involved with such features of conversation as turn-taking.
Because pair work is learner centered, the teacher’s role is less dominant. The
teacher must monitor the learners’ performance in order to provide feedback and
help where necessary. S/he can also take part in the conversation as a
participant.

Group Work

The next stage
of the lesson switches from oral activities to writing. For developing writing
skills we use the process approach. This group activity presents the learners
with a task that becomes gradually less difficult, preparing them for the more
challenging goal at the end of the lesson. A cooperative (in contrast to
competitive and individualistic) goal structure helps students achieve greater
success in group-work activities , as well as educating children to be more
cooperative. In our lesson the group must first discuss the appropriate time
for each action and then write up the activities. Each group is given a
different set of pictures and times, so that the ultimate success of the story
depends on the participation of each group. As an outcome of the group work
they write their sentences on an OHP foil, which makes the evaluation phase far
easier and visible to the whole class. Following the sub processes of writing,
this stage belongs to the prewriting phase. Several structural drills are
demanded as a prewriting activity. The actual writing task at the lesson end is
subdivided, too, as we will see.

 Writing

The first step
is to re-introduce the picture. This re-introduction should achieve familiarity
with the subject, i.e., the description of the picture. (We chose a picture
showing a typical German family at the Sunday morning breakfast table.) The
teacher should not use a formal expression like «Let’s describe the picture
now,» but should use words that call attention to the content more than the
form, e.g., «Look, what is going on one Sunday morning in this family? What can
you see? First, let’s find some names for the people….» Thus, the learners will
focus more on the content of the picture. They may use words that don’t go in
the direction the teacher wants to lead them, but a friendly teacher-learner /
learner-teacher talk can inspire motivation and the enthusiasm to communicate.
For the prewriting phase many activities, such as exchange of experiences,
thinking, remembering, talking, reading, or noting, are required. The students
will not stick to using only the present continuous, but remember, it is only
one means to achieve the goal.

The next step in
this process could be the description of just one person, e.g., the boy. The
learners have to do this in writing. One pupil could, for instance, write on
the blackboard as an example for discussion afterwards. The teacher could then
change the mode again and ask the students to describe orally either one more
person or the whole picture, using their written notes as a beginning. Another
possibility is to start with the beginning sentences from the blackboard and
carry on, involving different students in a sequence. The teacher can collect
catchwords from the students and note  continue
this activity, depending on classroom circumstances and the particular
learners. In any case it might be supportive for the learners to find some
words or phrases to help them write it up. As we cannot expect, in a 45-50
minute lesson, to finish this work, the teacher should have the students complete
it as homework. It might be a good start for the next lesson to compare the
different stories that the pupils come up with. She can then go ahead with more
authentic situations for using the present continuous, either in the form of
dialogues or simply in describing different actions, e.g., «Look out of the
window and tell me what’s going on in the street.»

Conclusion to the 1st
chapter. In the 1st
chapter we defined the term of e-dictionary, its types and history. We found
scholars from different countries and studied their articles, books.

2. 
ACTIVITIES USING E-DICTIONARIES

2.1 
E-dictionaries for developing listening and speaking

With the purpose of exploring the effectiveness
of the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias there the experimental teaching
in 10th grades of the Karaganda high school was conducted. The number of
participants was 40 where the 10 «a» class was an experimental group and the 10
«b» class — control group. The main criteria of selection of participants of
the experiment were level of English Proficiency, level of computer literacy
and age. So, to identify the level of English there has been presented the
pretest that consists of three stages: grammar-vocabulary test, listening
comprehension tasks and speaking on the curriculum topics. The age of the
participants was 16 years old. It was agreed to use computer dictionaries for
in-class activities and computer encyclopedias for out-of-class work in ESL
teaching in a short-term view. In the frame of the main objective of the
research the main tasks of experimental teaching were the following:

—        
to teach school students to work with electronic
dictionaries and translation systems;

—        
to teach school students to study English with the
help of computer dictionaries;

—        
to lead the comparative analysis of work with traditional
and computer dictionaries;

—        
to conclude the result and offer the recommendations.

The criteria of the estimation of the
experimental teaching have been allocated the time, during which students would
be making the tasks; the speed, with which work would have been done and the correctness
of results of the done assignments. The teaching and learning process has been
researched in two high school classes, in which in one class there was teaching
with the use of traditional dictionaries and in another one — the use of computer
dictionaries. The experiment lasted a half of one school term (one month).

The task that was given to the students was to practice
the new lexical units on the module: «What do you like?», «What’s best in your
country?»; to listen and to comprehend the content of the texts translating
with use of the dictionary «Lingo» and speak on the topic using the studied
words and word expressions. At the lessons there has been used the multimedia
base of the interactive whiteboard (IWB), which is known as a touch-sensitive projection
screen that allows the teacher to control a computer directly by touching the
screen. The IWB is a convenient modern tool for effective academic purposes,
business presentations, and seminars. It not only combines advantages of the
big screen and marker boards, but also allows to keep all marks and the changes
made during discussion and even to operate computer applications, not
interrupting performance and providing access to resources of the Internet.

The results of the experimental teaching are
reflected in Tables 1, 2 and show that the quality of learning with the use of
computer dictionary «Lingo» is much high than the quality of learning with the
use of traditional dictionaries, that is presented in the
Diagram B.

Table1: Indexes of the quality of the learning
progress of the 10 «A» class

Week number (lessons a week)	Respondents number	Respondents number who got excellent and good marks	% of the quality of students’ progress
1	20	7	35%
2	20	9	45%
3	20	11	55%
4	20	9	45%
Total			45%

Table 2: Indexes of the quality of the learning
progress of the 10 «B» class

Week number (lessons a week)	Respondents number	Respondents number who got excellent and good marks	% of the quality of students’ progress
1	20	11	55%
2	20	15	75%
3	20	14	80%
4	20	17	85&
Total			71%

Diagram B. Comparative analysis of the quality of
learning in the group 10 «B» and group 10 «A»

The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the
experimental teaching with the use of computer dictionaries suggests that the
time spent by the students of the experimental group on doing tasks is less
than that of the control one. The speed of learning materials is higher in
experimental group than in the control one, and the correctness of answers more
often corresponds to the sample. The criteria of assessment allow judging a
degree and quality of developed skills of the students. The use of the computer
dictionary in educational process allows expanding the borders of the
traditional lesson where the students are in direct contact with the teacher
and get necessary support only from him, but also promotes to increase of the
students’ interest to independent work with the language material. It is
necessary to note the shortening of time in doing tasks, and also in deleting a
gap between, so-called, «strong» and «weak» students. It was observed that
there was a great interest of the weak students thanks to study with the use of
computer dictionaries. It was found out that it reduced probability of
duplication of students’ answers while translating and develops a language
guess in selection of a suitable word equivalent. Thus, using of computer
dictionaries at the foreign language lessons is one of the relatively new means
of raising pupils’ motivation to foreign languages learning, developing of
self-directed work of pupils and multilingual perception of language units.

The research on the determination of the role of
Wikipedia has been realized with the same tenth grade students. The task given
to the students, which was out of class activity, was to expanding the
students’ knowledge in the frame of cultural aspect of foreign language
learning. The lesson was organized in the form of the game and devoted to a
theme «The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland». The analysis
of work with Wikipedia in out-of-class activity allows defining the great role
of Wikipedia materials, which are authentic, and that is highly important for
language learning. During the activity there were being involved four language
skills: listening and reading comprehension skills, speaking and writing skills
as well. There were the following tasks with texts taken from the computer
encyclopedia: finding the main idea, analysis, annotation, synthesis and
compression of the information, development of grammatical terminology,
translation of texts from English to Russian.

2.2 Activities using
e-dictionary

This activities great
for looking up words and you will use them to teach dictionary
skills, but there are also other great things you can do
with these rather large volumes of words. Here are just a few ideas.

	Activities	Explanation
1	Play Speed Word Search.	Give each student or pair of students a dictionary. When you call out a word, student must find the word as quickly as possible. The first person to call out the correct page number wins the round. This would be a good one to do in teams -everyone has his or her own dictionary, but the winner wins a point for the whole team rather than individually.
2	Play Mystery Word	1.     To play this game, give a series of clues. As students hear the clues, they look for the word in the dictionary until they have narrowed it down to just one. For Example: I begin with the fourth letter of the alphabet. My second letter is an «o.» I am 3 syllables long. I come before «dog» in the dictionary. My last letter is «t.»
3	Play Dictionary Dig	2.     This game is similar to Mystery Word in that you give clues and the students look for a word. The difference is that the clues are broader and many words could be a correct answer. This one is fun because students enjoy finding more than one word to fit the clues and sharing their words with each other. Example: Find a word that begins with «s,» is two syllables long, has double letters, and is an adjective. You can get a set of 30 Dictionary Dig Task Cards here.
4	Collect New Words	Have each student keep a notebook of new words. This is a nice activity to do daily or a few times a week. It is also good for handwriting practice. Each day, each student finds a word in the dictionary that he does not know. She then writes the word, definition, and an original sentence using the word in her notebook. An illustration would also make a nice addition. Have students share their words with at least one other person.
5	Make up New Words	Ask each student make up a new word and definition. Have each student write his or her word and definition on a post it and put the post it in the appropriate place in the dictionary. Make a class list of the new words and their definitions. Challenge the class to use the words in everyday conversation.
6	Estimate and Measure	Have the students stack all of the dictionaries into  one tall tower. Invite each student to estimate how tall the tower is. Record guesses on the board. Measure the tower and see whose answer was the closest. You could also do a similar activity by lining them up end to end across the classroom.
7	Line Them Up Like Dominoes	3.     Probably not the best use for your classroom dictionaries…but it would be fun! There is probably some clever way to make it into a physics lesson.

2.3 An Experiment Using
Electronic Dictionaries with EFL Students

The two outstanding differences
between electronic dictionaries (EDs) and paper dictionaries (PDs) are size,
weight and cost. For example, the Seiko TR-7700 ED contains the contents of the
Kenkyusha New College English to Japanese and Japanese to English paper
dictionaries. It weighs less than one eighth of its paper counterpart, and
costs over 5 times as much. Do EDs have any other advantages that justify the
extra cost? Should we recommend to students that they buy one?

An
important factor for most learners is whether the dictionary is quick and easy
to use. We set up a simple classroom experiment to compare the look-up speed of
paper and electronic dictionaries.

Objective

The objective of the experiment was
purely look-up speed; i.e. how quickly students could find the definition(s) of
an unknown word. We took no account of the quality or number of definitions,
nor even students’ ability to read and comprehend them.

Method

We divided a first year English
conversation class into two groups. We gave a paper bilingual dictionary to
each student in the PD group and an electronic dictionary to each student in
the ED group.

Three
lists of ten words were prepared with each list containing words with the same
initial letters and the same number of letters per word.

Table 1: The word lists.

List A	List B	List C
Cool	Cost	Chop
Fame	Feel	Fish
Peel	Pair	Page
Search	School	Screen
Coffee	Cookie	Copper
Ladder	Leader	Letter
Attitude	Argument	Approval
Ignorant	Illusion	Immature
Parallel	Paranoid	Parasite

         We
gave students as much time as they needed to look up the words on List A. In
practice, this was about ten minutes. This was to let students get used to the
particular PD or ED they would use in the test. The actual test didn’t begin
until all students felt comfortable with their dictionary.

Then,
we gave the PD students copies of List B and the ED students copies of List C,
face down. At the start command, they turned over their papers and looked up
each word in order. They were told not to take time to read any definitions. As
each student finished the list, she raised her hand, and we recorded the time
taken.

Finally,
when all the students had finished, they changed places with a student in the
other group, leaving the dictionaries and the word lists, face down, on their
desks. They then looked up the ten words on the other list with the other type
of dictionary.

The
experiment was repeated with several first year English conversation classes.

Results

The average look-up time for ten
words using a PD was 168 seconds (about 17 seconds per word); using an ED, 130
seconds (about 13 seconds per word) . In short, our students could look up
words about 23% faster with an ED.

Objective and Method

Our show-of-hands survey of 781
students at Kyoritsu Women’s University and College found that 88 (about 11%)
owned an ED. We asked those students to complete a questionnaire (Appendix 1)
there and then, in class.

The
questionnaire asked students how often, where, and when they use their EDs, and
whether for English to Japanese translation or vice versa. It also asked
students for their attitude to their ED’s features, specifically the
pronunciation feature, if present. The answers to these questions were
impressionistic; we did not ask respondents to observe their dictionary use
quantitatively before completing the questionnaire.

When
we designed the questionnaire we were not investigating a particular
hypothesis; what follows emerged clearly from the data gathered.

Result and discussion

Six returns were invalid for various
reasons; the results are based on the remaining 82 usable questionnaires.

Where?

Given that they are much smaller and
lighter than content equivalent paper dictionaries (PDs), we were surprised to
find that students rarely use their EDs on the move. Most students use them
both at home and in the classroom, roughly 50% in each place. The heaviest
users claim to use them slightly more at home. Over half of respondents claimed
never to use their ED’s while traveling. Well over half couldn’t think of any
other places they used them, with the most common exception (only 11 out of 82)
being the library. Given the relatively high cost of EDs, it would be cheaper
for most of our respondents to buy two PDs, and keep one at home and one in a
locker at school. In hindsight, it would have been useful to know why these
students own an ED — did they buy it themselves (why?) or was it an unsolicited
gift?

When?

As our experiment demonstrated, EDs
can be somewhat faster, but this small speed difference is probably not enough
to justify their extra cost when looking up the words needed to understand an
L2 reading passage or write a report in L2 for homework. However, it is for precisely
these activities that most of our respondents use their EDs the most.

On
the other hand, the 23% speed difference could be a decisive factor when trying
to follow the content of a conversation, lecture or TV program. However, the
questionnaire showed that almost none of our respondents takes advantage of her
ED’s superior look-up speed when speaking in or listening to the L2.

It
is interesting to compare the rank order of students’ ED usage, as revealed by
the questionnaire, to what is generally considered to be the natural order of
language acquisition, at least in children learning their L1. They are opposite
(see Table 2).

Table 2: Natural Order of Acquisition vs. Student
Usage of EDs

Rank Order	Natural Order of Acquisition	Student Usage of EDs
1	Listening	Reading
2	Speaking	Writing
3	Reading	Speaking
4	Writing	Listening

If
learners are trying to master English for communicative purposes, as many claim
to be, then using their ED’s counter to the natural order of acquisition is
like swimming upstream.

Why Do Our Students Make so Little
Use of EDs When Listening?

The most obvious explanation is that
they do very little listening anyhow. Although this is impossible to verify
from our questionnaire results, we know that most of the respondents are
literature or international studies majors, not conversation school students.
Consequently, they are following curricula which require much more reading and
writing than listening or speaking. Habits acquired in school would also tend
to bias students towards a preference for reading and writing. Further,
practical considerations (e.g., living in an L1 environment) minimize the need
to deal with aural input.

A
second explanation is that students do not trust their ability to catch
correctly the words that they do hear; perhaps rightly so. For example:

• I
  say, «I feel empathy. «
• She
  hears, «I feel empty. «
• I offer, «Ice cream ? «
• She wonders, «I scream ? «

What Good Does It Do to Look Up an Unknown Word if the
Word Itself is Misunderstood?

A third explanation involves the
irrational English spelling system. Even if the listener hears the unknown word
correctly, she cannot necessarily spell it correctly. This is less of an
obstacle these days thanks to the error tolerant and similar input functions of
modern EDs. These features allow the user to input her best guess as to a
word’s spelling, then choose the target word from a list of likely candidates
displayed on the screen.

Pronunciation Function

Respondents’ enthusiasm for hearing
their ED pronounce words was not high. While a few felt this function was
«very important», the vast majority felt it was only «somewhat
important» or «not important», suggesting that few students have
any intention of actually trying to say their newly acquired words.

Conclusion to the 1st
chapter.

 A new technology tends to be used in the same
way as the traditional technology it supersedes. For many years during the
twenties and thirties, movies were vaudeville and stage shows on a big screen.
The earliest computer assisted language learning packages were little more than
textbooks on a small screen.

At
present, electronic dictionaries are still fundamentally paper dictionaries on
a microchip. They have certain unique functions, such as error tolerant input,
cross-referencing (e.g. synonyms and antonyms), and word and spelling games,
and they are probably faster to use. On the other hand, some people simply
prefer the feel and legibility of paper. LCD can be hard to read in some
lighting conditions, and it takes time to learn to use the functions of an ED.

CONCLUSION

In the research the learning value of the
electronic dictionaries and encyclopedias in ESL learning has been proved
during experimental teaching and many advantages of ESL teaching with their use
have become obvious. The use of the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias not
only diversifies the educational process, it also opens great opportunities for
expansion educational frames, bears significant -motivational potential, and
promotes realization of individual teaching principles. It allows increasing of
the amount of self-directed learning and individual correction in processes of
skills formation that subsequently improves the quality of foreign language
learning as a whole. Working with computer dictionaries school students -have
an opportunity to

—        
increase a speed of unfamiliar word searching;

—        
search word-combinations, words with incorrect
spelling;

—        
use the means of multimedia for vocabulary learning;

—        
use hyperlinks; track the actions.

Resources of the computer encyclopedias in
teaching and learning process are considered to be useful topic-based language
materials that are easy to include in out-of-class ESL activities. The results
of our research demonstrated the fact that students have successfully developed
the reading comprehension and writing skills as they have had access to
up-to-dated and fresh topic-based materials for reading activities and
producing a variety of written works. The doubtless advantage of information
resources of electronic dictionaries and encyclopedias is the big emotional
impact on students of high school. Now with the full confidence it is necessary
to say that this kind of computer technologies influences strongly on the whole
educational process. As a result of the research aimed at determination of the
role of computer dictionaries and encyclopedias, we offer following
recommendations for the organization of in-class and out-of-class teaching and
learning with the use of the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias: In order
to bring the use of the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias to the level of
free manipulation firstly teacher should give introduction course to students;
In order to cover all vocabulary and save the time for searching the suitable equivalent
teacher needs to create his own dictionary that includes the lexical units of
the lesson; For the development of students’ English learning autonomy based on
the use of the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias teacher needs to present
the language materials by using multimedia technologies in order to cover
students’ personal characteristics.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5.               
Lew, Robert.
‘Online Dictionaries of English’ in Fuertes-Olivera, Pedro A. and Henning
Bergenholtz (eds.), E-Lexicography: The Internet, Digital Initiatives
and Lexicography. London/New York: Continuum, 2011.
 

21.          
Pulverness,
A. (2007). The Ghost at the Banquet. English Teaching
Professional, May 2007.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media.^[1] Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including software installed on tablet or desktop computers, mobile apps, web applications, and as a built-in function of E-readers. They may be free or require payment.

Information[edit]

Most of the early electronic dictionaries were, in effect, print dictionaries made available in digital form: the content was identical, but the electronic editions provided users with more powerful search functions. But soon the opportunities offered by digital media began to be exploited. Two obvious advantages are that limitations of space (and the need to optimize its use) become less pressing, so additional content can be provided; and the possibility arises of including multimedia content, such as audio pronunciations and video clips.^[2][3]

Electronic dictionary databases, especially those included with software dictionaries are often extensive and can contain up to 500,000 headwords and definitions, verb conjugation tables, and a grammar reference section. Bilingual electronic dictionaries and monolingual dictionaries of inflected languages often include an interactive verb conjugator, and are capable of word stemming and lemmatization.

Publishers and developers of electronic dictionaries may offer native content from their own lexicographers, licensed data from print publications, or both, as in the case of Babylon offering premium content from Merriam Webster, and Ultralingua offering additional premium content from Collins, Masson, and Simon & Schuster, and Paragon Software offering original content from Duden, Britannica, Harrap, Merriam-Webster and Oxford.

Writing systems[edit]

As well as Latin script, electronic dictionaries are also available in logographic and right-to-left scripts, including Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Devanagari, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, and Thai.

Dictionary software[edit]

Dictionary software generally far exceeds the scope of the hand held dictionaries. Many publishers of traditional printed dictionaries such as Langenscheidt, Collins-Reverso, Oxford University Press, Duden, American Heritage, and Hachette, offer their resources for use on desktop and laptop computers. These programs can either be downloaded or purchased on CD-ROM and installed. Other dictionary software is available from specialised electronic dictionary publishers such as iFinger, ABBYY Lingvo, Collins-Ultralingua, Mobile Systems and Paragon Software. Some electronic dictionaries provide an online discussion forum moderated by the software developers and lexicographers^[4]

In East Asia[edit]

The well-known brands, such as Instant-Dict (快譯通), Besta (無敵), and Golden Global View (文曲星), includes basic functions like dictionaries, TTS, calculator, calendar etc. They also have functions other than just dictionary, for example, MP3 player, Video player, web browser (WiFi), and simple games. Some also support Adobe Flash (SWF files). Most of them usually will have a touch screen, Qwerty keyboard, a speaker, SD card slot, and sometimes microphone and camera also, for example, MD8500 from Instant-Dict. Their functions can even be comparable to smartphones, with the exception of phone capabilities since they do not have radios to make or receive phone calls.

Main functions[edit]

• Dictionaries: This is one of the most basic function, mostly using Oxford and Longman dictionaries
• TTS: Includes Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text
• Data transport: Uses RS-232 in the earlier ones; Mini USB in recent ones
• Learning: Programs that can help you study for vocabularies
• Note: Notepads, phone books, calendars, world clock, etc.
• Calculators: simple calculators, scientific calculators, unit converters
• Games: Play Flash games

Handheld dictionaries or PEDs[edit]

Handheld electronic dictionaries, also known as «pocket electronic dictionaries» or PEDs, resemble miniature clamshell laptop computers, complete with full keyboards and LCD screens. Because they are intended to be fully portable, the dictionaries are battery-powered and made with durable casing material. Although produced all over the world, handheld dictionaries are especially popular in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and neighbouring countries, where they are the dictionary of choice for many users learning English as a second language.^[5] Some features of handheld dictionaries include stroke order animations, voice output, handwriting recognition, language-learning programs, a calculator, PDA-like organizer functions, time zone and currency converters, and crossword puzzle solvers. Dictionaries that contain data for several languages may have a «jump» or «skip-search» feature that allows users to move between the dictionaries when looking up words, and a reverse translation action that allows further look-ups of words displayed in the results. Many manufacturers produce handheld dictionaries that use licensed dictionary content^[6] that use a database such as the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus while others may use a proprietary database from their own lexicographers.^[7] Users can also add content to their handheld dictionaries with memory cards (both expandable and dedicated), CD-ROM data, and Internet downloads. Manufacturers include AlfaLink, Atree, Besta, Casio, Canon, Instant Dict, Ectaco, Franklin, Iriver, Lingo, Maliang Cyber Technology, Compagnia Lingua Ltd., Nurian, Seiko, and Sharp.

In Japan[edit]

The market size as of 2014 was about 24.2 billion yen ($227.1 in May 2016 USD), although the market has been shrinking gradually from 2007^[8] because of smartphones and tablet computers. The targeted customer base has been being shifted from business users to students.^[9][10] Student models of Japanese handheld dictionaries also include digital versions of textbooks and other study materials. Sony and Seiko have withdrawn from the market.^[11][12] As of 2016, Casio had 59.3% of the market share, followed by Sharp with 21.5% and Canon with 19.2%.^[13]

In 2016, Seiko announced that their mobile device apps on iPad iOS has been launched.^[14]

Dictionaries on mobile devices[edit]

Dictionaries of all types are available as apps for smartphones and for tablet computers such as Apple’s iPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Motorola Xoom. The needs of translators and language learners are especially well catered for, with apps for bilingual dictionaries for numerous language pairs, and for most of the well-known monolingual learner’s dictionaries such as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the Macmillan English Dictionary.

Online dictionaries[edit]

There are several types of online dictionary,^[15] including:

• Aggregator sites, which give access to data licensed from various reference publishers. They typically offer monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, one or more thesauruses, and technical or specialized dictionaries. (e.g. TheFreeDictionary.com, Dictionary.com, Kotobank, and Goo Dictionary)
• ‘Premium’ dictionaries available on subscription (e.g. Oxford English Dictionary, van Dale, and Kenkyusha Online Dictionary)
• Dictionaries from a single publisher, free to the user and supported by advertising (e.g. Collins Online Dictionary, Duden Online, Larousse bilingual dictionaries, the Macmillan English Dictionary, and the Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary)
• Dictionaries available free from non-commercial publishers (often institutions with government funding), such as the Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek [nl] (ANW), and Den Danske Ordbog [da].^[16][17]

Online dictionaries are regularly updated, keeping abreast of language change. Many have additional content, such as blogs and features on new words. Some are collaborative projects, most notably Wiktionary and the Collins Online Dictionary. And some, like the Urban Dictionary, consist of entries (sometimes self-contradictory) supplied by users.
Many dictionaries for special purposes, especially for professional and trade terminology, and regional dialects and language variations, are published on the websites of organizations and individual authors. Although they may often be presented in list form without a search function, because of the way in which the information is stored and transmitted, they are nevertheless electronic dictionaries.

Evaluation[edit]

There are differences in quality of hardware (hand held devices), software (presentation and performance), and dictionary content. Some hand helds are more robustly constructed than others, and the keyboards or touch screen input systems should be physically compared before purchase. The information on the GUI of computer based dictionary software ranges from complex and cluttered, to clear and easy-to-use with user definable preferences including font size and colour.

A major consideration is the quality of the lexical database. Dictionaries intended for collegiate and professional use generally include most or all of the lexical information to be expected in a quality printed dictionary. The content of electronic dictionaries developed in association with leading publishers of printed dictionaries is more reliable that those aimed at the traveler or casual user, while bilingual dictionaries that have not been authored by teams of native speaker lexicographers for each language, will not be suitable for academic work.
Some developers opt to have their products evaluated by an independent academic body such as the CALICO.

Another major consideration is that the devices themselves and the dictionaries in them are generally designed for a particular market. As an example, almost all handheld Japanese-English electronic dictionaries are designed for people with native fluency in Japanese who are learning and using English; thus, Japanese words do not generally include furigana pronunciation glosses, since it is assumed that the reader is literate in Japanese (headwords of entries do have pronunciation, however). Further, the primary manner to look up words is by pronunciation, which makes looking up a word with unknown pronunciation difficult (for example, one would need to know that 網羅 «comprehensive» is pronounced もうら, moura to look it up directly). However, Japanese electronic dictionaries (primarily on recent models) include character recognition, so users (native speakers of Japanese or not) can look up words by writing the kanji.

Similar limitations exist in most two or multi-language dictionaries and can be especially crippling when the languages are not written in the same script or alphabet; it’s important to find a dictionary optimized for the user’s native language.

Integrated technology[edit]

Several developers of the systems that drive electronic dictionary software offer API and SDK – Software Development Kit tools for adding various language-based (dictionary, translation, definitions, synonyms, and spell checking and grammar correction) functions to programs, and web services such as the AJAX API used by Google. These applications manipulate language in various ways, providing dictionary/translation features, and sophisticated solutions for semantic search. They are often available as a C++ API, an XML-RPC server, a .NET API, or as a Python API for many operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.) and development environments, and can also be used for indexing other kinds of data.^[18][19]

See also[edit]

• Sony Data Discman

Notes[edit]

Media related to Electronic dictionaries at Wikimedia Commons