Introduction
The use of dictionaries is a basic requirement in learning a foreign language. Different dictionaries are helpful in solving such problems as finding the meaning of words, correcting grammatical mistakes, finding synonyms for words and finding the meaning of idioms. If students want to professionally acquire and maintain a language, they have to get in touch with these types of books. In this paper I will present the results of a survey on the use of dictionaries in the English Department of JPU.
Method
To get information about the dictionary use of students I compiled a one-page-long questionnaire which I gave to fourteen students on 4th May 1998. These students were all English majors at JPU and attended Horváth József’s “Writing and Research Skills” course. I asked them to fill out my questionnaire because I would have liked to know how other people of my age used their dictionaries in their studies. The questionnaire contained ten simple questions, of which the fourth and the tenth were multiple choice questions. Each of the other eight could be answered in a sentence.
The questions were:
1. Have you ever used a dictionary?
2. Which is your favourite dictionary? Why?
3. Do you use a monolingual or a bilingual dictionary?
4. What do you usually do when you find a word or expression that
you have never seen before?
a. I go and look its meaning up in a dictionary.
b. I try to guess what can it mean by using the context.
c. I just don’t care about its meaning. It’s enough if I
understand the other parts of the text.
d. I ask someone to tell me its meaning.
5. Do you think dictionaries help a lot in learning a foreign
language?
6. If you read a book in a foreign language do you look up all the
unknown words in a dictionary?
7. Would you like to use a dictionary software instead of a real one?
8. Do you think it would be easier to use such a software? Why?
9. Would you consult a dictionary if you did not know the correct
spelling of a word?
10. When did you use dictionaries the most frequently?
a. When I began to learn English.
b. When I was at intermediate level.
c. When I was at advanced level.
The answers given to these questions clearly reflect why, how, when and what types of dictionaries English majors usually use. (I enclosed the fourteen questionnaires to give the reader the chance to have a look at the answers.)
Results and Discussion
I compiled the questionnaire in a way that the answers would provide me with a complex picture of dictionary use at JPU. What I expected from the results of the analysis was to find relatively similar methods in dictionary use.
After having analysed the answers I realised that no huge differences occurred in them. Every student stated that a dictionary was an indispensable tool in learning and maintaining English language.
All the students answered yes to the first question, which means that they have already used dictionaries.
There were some differences in the answers to the second question. As the results show, the most popular dictionary among students was the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Five students preferred this because they said it was up-to-date, easy to use and detailed. There were four students who preferred Országh because they used it in their earlier studies. They thought it was much comprehensible to know the Hungarian meaning of a word than to read an explanation of its meaning in English. The remaining five students’ favourite dictionaries were either Webster’s or Collins-Cobuild. They said these were the most detailed and useful ones.
The answers show that the majority of students use both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. The reason lies in the fact that when using a monolingual dictionary one runs into difficulties in interpreting a word the bilingual one helps to surmount the problems. Two people used only a bilingual and one used only a monolingual dictionary.
I was surprised looking at the answers to the fourth question. The number of students who would have looked the meaning of a new word up in a dictionary was almost equal to those who would have tried to guess for its meaning by using the context. I thought the
majority would look a new word’s meaning up in a dictionary, though I also would try to guess what can it mean by using the context. Only one person said he or she would ask someone else about the meaning of it.
All the students reported that dictionaries help a lot in learning a foreign language. They are essential if someone wants to be a competent user of that language.
The same answer was given to the sixth question by everyone. They said they would not look up all the unknown words in a dictionary while reading a book in a foreign language. They would look for the meaning of the relevant words.
Three people said they would not even try to use dictionary software, either because they thought it would be more complicated or they would simply not be able to get used to a computerised dictionary. Those who answered yes thought it would be much quicker to look up the meaning of a word using such software. In fact it would really be faster than thumbing through a thousand-page-long dictionary mumbling the alphabet in your head all the time.
The answers given to the ninth question prove that students used their dictionaries for writing purposes as well. Thirteen of them consulted a dictionary when they did not know the exact spelling of a word. There was only one person who gave a negative answer.
The analysis of the answers to the last question shows us a clear picture of the frequency of the use of dictionaries among these fourteen students. The more competent speakers people become the less frequently they use dictionaries. The main reason for this is that as people get to a higher level in the acquisition of a foreign language their vocabulary widens. They also become more capable of guessing the meaning of words by using the context.
Conclusion
I have analysed and presented the results of a questionnaire which can be useful for students and teachers as well. Teachers can get information about the way their students use dictionaries in their studies. Students can apply the experiences of others in dictionary use. As the answers show, English majors at Janus Pannonius
University use dictionaries for several reasons. They use them to find the meaning of words they do not know, to find out the correct spelling of words, and to solve all problems which can come up while writing or reading in English.
My main finding was the advantages of using both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries.
Looking at the results of the research we can draw the conclusion that there will always be a need for dictionaries among university students, no matter how proficient speakers students will be.
Showing posts with label dictionary use. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dictionary use. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
W 099 F
Introduction
Bilingual university students need dictionaries, but many of them have problems with using them. I understand them very well as I am an English major, too. In the first year I had to confront applying dictionaries because there were a lot of texts to interpret and several essays to write. After I read ten of my groupmates' writings I noticed that most of them did not pay enough attention to accuracy. They aimed at trying to find the easiest way to get over with their work quickly and apply words that come to their minds at once. They told me that using dictionaries was a waste of time. They did not even know any techniques to improve their writings. I would like to give some help to them by presenting what kind of dictionaries an English major uses and how she applies them for essay writing.
Method
I interviewed one of my classmates who also attended a writing course this year. I chose Zita (the name has been changed to avoid recognition) because as she was one of my best friends, I assumed that she would not reject to answer my questions. I recorded the talk on tape to be able to listen to it as many times as I wanted, and this way I could quote some of her views as well. I made the interview in a room in the dormitory one day before I wrote this research paper. I did not really need to ask her a lot of questions because when she heard the first question ”How do you use dictionaries for essay writing?” she told me everything in detail. Zita works for the U.S. Army, so she has a special wordpower, full of American slang. That is why I was interested if she needed any dictionaries at all. I wondered if she was afraid of using words that may have seemed awkward for those readers who did not speak American English. I asked her what kind of dictionaries she preferred for writing and what her opinion was about them.
Results and discussion
Zita said that she, as a first-year student, also had troubles in writing mainly at the beginning of the semester. She had had to write some essays before but those could be called short stories. Her English teacher did not consider the essay writing serious, and although she had a dictionary did not need to open it at all. She built the words and expressions, which she picked up from the American soldiers, into the texts. Her classmates thought that as she could speak English almost fluently her essays must have been the same good. As she said she did not know what to do with the topic she got for the first time. She suspected that she must grasp it in an other way than before. Strictly speaking, she was scared a bit that the non-formal words she used would not fit in the context.
While she was writing her essay she looked the formal adequates of the words in the Synonym Finder to take her work more variable. According to her, that dictionary is useful but difficult to choose the right expression from the long list. "You cannot know which word has a meaning in the context unless you have read a lot in English before", said Zita. For these reasons "Synonym Finder must be used with caution. Even though two words may be quite similar in meaning, the substitution of one for the other may not always be appropriate, and the writer’s intent may be ill served." Zita also told me that the book also helped her when the proper word did not occur to her at a particular moment, though it was on the tip of her tongue.
Zita realised, after she had written her first essay at the university, that she had to be more careful with her spelling. Several American words are spelled another way, and teachers told her not to mix the British and American spelling. Since then she has been taking care of looking up the words that existed in British English.
If she does not recognise the meaning of the term she looks for the information in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary because it includes the most current English. Besides the authors of it took care of every single detail and the definitions are clear and easy to follow. She often uses the wordbook for solving grammar problems because it has study pages that give answer even the basic linguistic questions. "Oxford Learner's Dictionary provides me the biggest help while writing an essay", said Zita. It is not just a list of words and their meanings. It contains much more information that can help to write good, natural English. For writing something she considers how to link one word to the other in a sentence important. The dictionary gives her instructions about the grammar of a word and about the structures that often follow it. It also tells whether the word is formal or informal, helping her to select what is appropriate for a particular context.
On one occassion she looked up the equivalent of the word 'writer' in the Synonym Finder because the expression appeared in her essay a lot of times. She chose the term 'scribe', but since she doubted the meaning she checked it in the Oxford Dictionary. She found the following definition under the headword: "a person who made copies of writings before printing was invented". After reading it she realized that she had to look for another, more adequate word.
Zita also has a bilingual dictionary by Országh László, but she applies it for essay writing only on few occasions. It contains much more expressions, idioms, and prepositions than the earlier editions, but its word content still makes up of some old and old-fashioned words. That is why Zita do not find it suitable for writing. She uses it only that time when she has the idea of a word only in Hungarian. Then she can do nothing but look it up in that dictionary.
Conclusion
On the basis of an English learner’s ideas I have presented how the different dictionaries gives help for writing. Zita told me everything in detail about the content of three types of wordbooks and about why each one has advantages for writers. They had to open them more seldom than the beginners if they have mastered the foreign language perfectly. But they may hesitate even then and look for a better word or expression in the Synonym Finder, the unknown terms in the Országh László Dictionary and the grammar in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
Bilingual university students need dictionaries, but many of them have problems with using them. I understand them very well as I am an English major, too. In the first year I had to confront applying dictionaries because there were a lot of texts to interpret and several essays to write. After I read ten of my groupmates' writings I noticed that most of them did not pay enough attention to accuracy. They aimed at trying to find the easiest way to get over with their work quickly and apply words that come to their minds at once. They told me that using dictionaries was a waste of time. They did not even know any techniques to improve their writings. I would like to give some help to them by presenting what kind of dictionaries an English major uses and how she applies them for essay writing.
Method
I interviewed one of my classmates who also attended a writing course this year. I chose Zita (the name has been changed to avoid recognition) because as she was one of my best friends, I assumed that she would not reject to answer my questions. I recorded the talk on tape to be able to listen to it as many times as I wanted, and this way I could quote some of her views as well. I made the interview in a room in the dormitory one day before I wrote this research paper. I did not really need to ask her a lot of questions because when she heard the first question ”How do you use dictionaries for essay writing?” she told me everything in detail. Zita works for the U.S. Army, so she has a special wordpower, full of American slang. That is why I was interested if she needed any dictionaries at all. I wondered if she was afraid of using words that may have seemed awkward for those readers who did not speak American English. I asked her what kind of dictionaries she preferred for writing and what her opinion was about them.
Results and discussion
Zita said that she, as a first-year student, also had troubles in writing mainly at the beginning of the semester. She had had to write some essays before but those could be called short stories. Her English teacher did not consider the essay writing serious, and although she had a dictionary did not need to open it at all. She built the words and expressions, which she picked up from the American soldiers, into the texts. Her classmates thought that as she could speak English almost fluently her essays must have been the same good. As she said she did not know what to do with the topic she got for the first time. She suspected that she must grasp it in an other way than before. Strictly speaking, she was scared a bit that the non-formal words she used would not fit in the context.
While she was writing her essay she looked the formal adequates of the words in the Synonym Finder to take her work more variable. According to her, that dictionary is useful but difficult to choose the right expression from the long list. "You cannot know which word has a meaning in the context unless you have read a lot in English before", said Zita. For these reasons "Synonym Finder must be used with caution. Even though two words may be quite similar in meaning, the substitution of one for the other may not always be appropriate, and the writer’s intent may be ill served." Zita also told me that the book also helped her when the proper word did not occur to her at a particular moment, though it was on the tip of her tongue.
Zita realised, after she had written her first essay at the university, that she had to be more careful with her spelling. Several American words are spelled another way, and teachers told her not to mix the British and American spelling. Since then she has been taking care of looking up the words that existed in British English.
If she does not recognise the meaning of the term she looks for the information in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary because it includes the most current English. Besides the authors of it took care of every single detail and the definitions are clear and easy to follow. She often uses the wordbook for solving grammar problems because it has study pages that give answer even the basic linguistic questions. "Oxford Learner's Dictionary provides me the biggest help while writing an essay", said Zita. It is not just a list of words and their meanings. It contains much more information that can help to write good, natural English. For writing something she considers how to link one word to the other in a sentence important. The dictionary gives her instructions about the grammar of a word and about the structures that often follow it. It also tells whether the word is formal or informal, helping her to select what is appropriate for a particular context.
On one occassion she looked up the equivalent of the word 'writer' in the Synonym Finder because the expression appeared in her essay a lot of times. She chose the term 'scribe', but since she doubted the meaning she checked it in the Oxford Dictionary. She found the following definition under the headword: "a person who made copies of writings before printing was invented". After reading it she realized that she had to look for another, more adequate word.
Zita also has a bilingual dictionary by Országh László, but she applies it for essay writing only on few occasions. It contains much more expressions, idioms, and prepositions than the earlier editions, but its word content still makes up of some old and old-fashioned words. That is why Zita do not find it suitable for writing. She uses it only that time when she has the idea of a word only in Hungarian. Then she can do nothing but look it up in that dictionary.
Conclusion
On the basis of an English learner’s ideas I have presented how the different dictionaries gives help for writing. Zita told me everything in detail about the content of three types of wordbooks and about why each one has advantages for writers. They had to open them more seldom than the beginners if they have mastered the foreign language perfectly. But they may hesitate even then and look for a better word or expression in the Synonym Finder, the unknown terms in the Országh László Dictionary and the grammar in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
W 081 F
Introduction
"...using a dictionary is one of the basic things for learning a language" (Renkó 2). This is a complex research paper in which I would like to prove this declaration and to share my results that I gained from my research. In my view, learning a language without a dictionary is more difficult and takes more time and effort than with using one. The more often a learner uses a dictionary -- no matter if it is a monolingual or a bilingual one, the more successful he or she will be in progressing his or her knowledge of a language. On the basis of these thoughts I have started my research and I hope I will arouse all the people's interest in the theme who reads this work.
Method
I made interviews with students and a translator about how they use their dictionaries. I could not have completed this work without the patient collaboration of Haas Klára -- an English major and Italian minor at JPU, Czajlik Katalin -- an English major at ELU, Barkaszi Orsolya -- an English major at JPU, Szûcs Péter -- a Serbian major at ELU, Borsos Edina -- a German major at JPU, Bátki Andrea -- a French major at the university in Újvidek and Pisarov Ljubisa a Croatian-Hungarian translator. These people were my interviwees.
I chose the interviews instead of the questionaries because I thought asking my friends about how they use their dictionaries may lead to more relevant information than giving them questionaries. I think I was right because they give me personal and remarkable answers to my questions which I would not gained from the questionaries. This technology needs more time but is worth the effort.
Two of the interviews I made in April but the others I made in the first week of May 1998. When I started the interviews, I had some general questions in my mind. These were the questions:
1. What kind of dictionary do you use the most frequently? (monolingual, bilingual)
2. How frequently do you use it?
3. Do you like your dictionary? (If yes, why? If no, why?)
4. Do you bring your dictionary with yourself?
5. What other dictionaries do you use?
Between and after these questions my friends with whom I made the interviews told me more details about using their dictionaries.
The respondents of my interviews were not only students who study English. There were students who study Italian, Serb, German, French, English and a Croatian-Hungarian translator. I chose them because I was greatly intrigued by the similarities and differences about how they use their dictionaries. I thought consulting their dictionaries undergo a change together with the language they speak.
The translator is my boyfriend. He is one of those persons who are trilingual. I was interested in how frequently, why and when he uses a dictionary.
My respondents and I spoke Hungarian because it is our mother tongue and this was the language on which we could speak distinctly and continuously. I thought the interviews would not be successful if we spoke in English because some of my patients could be embarrassed; and of course in the case of Szûcs Péter and Bátki Andrea speaking English would be unaccomplishable because they do not speak English. In three cases we could speak in Serb or Croation but because of the reasons I wrote in the last two sentences, we omitted this possibility.
Results and Discussion
What was common in all of my interviews is the astonishment that showed all of my friends after I told them the topic. The conversation started a little bit clumsily. Some of them thought that I was not serious. After a while they eased off and answered my questions. It turned out that out of the seven persons five use both bilingual and monolingual but two of them only bilingual dictionaries. These dictionaries are the Herczeg Gyula (Italian), Zingarelli (Italian) -- in every year there is a new edition of it, Halász Elõd (German), Országh Laszló (English), Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (English), Longman Dictionary (English), Eckhardt Sándor (French), Hadrovics-Nyomárkay (Croation and Serb) types. Most of my interviewees don't have monolingual dictionaries at home so they use these types in the libraries. There are two reasons for why they don't have it at home: two of them don't need it, the others don't have the money for it.
To my question "How frequently do you use your dictionary?" the answers were different. Borsos Edina who is a German major consults her dictionary every day; Szûcs Péter -- a Serbian major looks up words in his dictionary once or twice in every two weeks. In my research these are the two extremities. I computed on the basis of my friends answers that on the average this seven people consult their dictionaries 6,28 times in two weeks. Szûcs Péter uses his dictionary rearly because he speaks Serb on a high level and usually he understands everything. He and Pisarov Ljubisa has to look up words in their dictionaries only if they want to translate a technical text expertly.
To my question "Do you like your dictionary?" most of them answered that they had never thought about this question. Finally they said that neither they like it nor they dislike it. Only Czajlik Katalin answered positively to this question. Her favourite dictionary is the Longman type, monolingual dictionary which she likes since it is modern, more understandable because of the examples and there are pictures in it. According to her the more you use it the more your knowledge will improve.
Out of my seven interviewees Haas Klára is the only person who carries her Herczeg Gyula type dictionary with herself. She told me that if there is an unknown word for her, she likes to know the exact meaning of the word. The others said that they don't carry their dictionaries with themselves because it wouldn't be comfortable.
I also asked the question "What other dictionary do you use?". Their replies were not so different. Most of them use thesauruses and a few of them: Barkaszi Orsolya, Bátki Andrea and Pisarov Ljubisa; use a dictionary which is on CD - ROM.
All of my friends who participated in this research, would like to have a computer and a dictionary program to be able to finish looking up words quickly. Those who have this dictionary program on CD - ROM said that using these programs is more comfortable and more quicker than the use of a traditional one.
Non of my interviewees consults a dictionary for idioms. They don't need it.
"... a big vocabulary automatically means a better argument or suggests a smarter writer." (Hubbard 140). I agree with Francis A. Hubbard and in writings using a dictionary will improve the style and the voice of the paragraph and the whole composition. Fortunately, there are various kinds of dictionaries at our disposal, so we can choose the one which we can use the most efficiently. "For many people, a technical vocabulary represents extreme precision in such fields as medicine, law, accounting, and various forms of engineering." (Hubbard 144). More information is available in the book from which I have taken this quotation.
Conclusion
The respondents have their own favourite dictionaries. The frequency of consulting it is different, but they realized the importance of using a dictionary to learn a language properly. During my research I found out that a dictionary is something personal, but people don't know it. People just buy them and they don't think about the fact that they chose the one which fits the best their needs and personalities.
"...using a dictionary is one of the basic things for learning a language" (Renkó 2). This is a complex research paper in which I would like to prove this declaration and to share my results that I gained from my research. In my view, learning a language without a dictionary is more difficult and takes more time and effort than with using one. The more often a learner uses a dictionary -- no matter if it is a monolingual or a bilingual one, the more successful he or she will be in progressing his or her knowledge of a language. On the basis of these thoughts I have started my research and I hope I will arouse all the people's interest in the theme who reads this work.
Method
I made interviews with students and a translator about how they use their dictionaries. I could not have completed this work without the patient collaboration of Haas Klára -- an English major and Italian minor at JPU, Czajlik Katalin -- an English major at ELU, Barkaszi Orsolya -- an English major at JPU, Szûcs Péter -- a Serbian major at ELU, Borsos Edina -- a German major at JPU, Bátki Andrea -- a French major at the university in Újvidek and Pisarov Ljubisa a Croatian-Hungarian translator. These people were my interviwees.
I chose the interviews instead of the questionaries because I thought asking my friends about how they use their dictionaries may lead to more relevant information than giving them questionaries. I think I was right because they give me personal and remarkable answers to my questions which I would not gained from the questionaries. This technology needs more time but is worth the effort.
Two of the interviews I made in April but the others I made in the first week of May 1998. When I started the interviews, I had some general questions in my mind. These were the questions:
1. What kind of dictionary do you use the most frequently? (monolingual, bilingual)
2. How frequently do you use it?
3. Do you like your dictionary? (If yes, why? If no, why?)
4. Do you bring your dictionary with yourself?
5. What other dictionaries do you use?
Between and after these questions my friends with whom I made the interviews told me more details about using their dictionaries.
The respondents of my interviews were not only students who study English. There were students who study Italian, Serb, German, French, English and a Croatian-Hungarian translator. I chose them because I was greatly intrigued by the similarities and differences about how they use their dictionaries. I thought consulting their dictionaries undergo a change together with the language they speak.
The translator is my boyfriend. He is one of those persons who are trilingual. I was interested in how frequently, why and when he uses a dictionary.
My respondents and I spoke Hungarian because it is our mother tongue and this was the language on which we could speak distinctly and continuously. I thought the interviews would not be successful if we spoke in English because some of my patients could be embarrassed; and of course in the case of Szûcs Péter and Bátki Andrea speaking English would be unaccomplishable because they do not speak English. In three cases we could speak in Serb or Croation but because of the reasons I wrote in the last two sentences, we omitted this possibility.
Results and Discussion
What was common in all of my interviews is the astonishment that showed all of my friends after I told them the topic. The conversation started a little bit clumsily. Some of them thought that I was not serious. After a while they eased off and answered my questions. It turned out that out of the seven persons five use both bilingual and monolingual but two of them only bilingual dictionaries. These dictionaries are the Herczeg Gyula (Italian), Zingarelli (Italian) -- in every year there is a new edition of it, Halász Elõd (German), Országh Laszló (English), Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (English), Longman Dictionary (English), Eckhardt Sándor (French), Hadrovics-Nyomárkay (Croation and Serb) types. Most of my interviewees don't have monolingual dictionaries at home so they use these types in the libraries. There are two reasons for why they don't have it at home: two of them don't need it, the others don't have the money for it.
To my question "How frequently do you use your dictionary?" the answers were different. Borsos Edina who is a German major consults her dictionary every day; Szûcs Péter -- a Serbian major looks up words in his dictionary once or twice in every two weeks. In my research these are the two extremities. I computed on the basis of my friends answers that on the average this seven people consult their dictionaries 6,28 times in two weeks. Szûcs Péter uses his dictionary rearly because he speaks Serb on a high level and usually he understands everything. He and Pisarov Ljubisa has to look up words in their dictionaries only if they want to translate a technical text expertly.
To my question "Do you like your dictionary?" most of them answered that they had never thought about this question. Finally they said that neither they like it nor they dislike it. Only Czajlik Katalin answered positively to this question. Her favourite dictionary is the Longman type, monolingual dictionary which she likes since it is modern, more understandable because of the examples and there are pictures in it. According to her the more you use it the more your knowledge will improve.
Out of my seven interviewees Haas Klára is the only person who carries her Herczeg Gyula type dictionary with herself. She told me that if there is an unknown word for her, she likes to know the exact meaning of the word. The others said that they don't carry their dictionaries with themselves because it wouldn't be comfortable.
I also asked the question "What other dictionary do you use?". Their replies were not so different. Most of them use thesauruses and a few of them: Barkaszi Orsolya, Bátki Andrea and Pisarov Ljubisa; use a dictionary which is on CD - ROM.
All of my friends who participated in this research, would like to have a computer and a dictionary program to be able to finish looking up words quickly. Those who have this dictionary program on CD - ROM said that using these programs is more comfortable and more quicker than the use of a traditional one.
Non of my interviewees consults a dictionary for idioms. They don't need it.
"... a big vocabulary automatically means a better argument or suggests a smarter writer." (Hubbard 140). I agree with Francis A. Hubbard and in writings using a dictionary will improve the style and the voice of the paragraph and the whole composition. Fortunately, there are various kinds of dictionaries at our disposal, so we can choose the one which we can use the most efficiently. "For many people, a technical vocabulary represents extreme precision in such fields as medicine, law, accounting, and various forms of engineering." (Hubbard 144). More information is available in the book from which I have taken this quotation.
Conclusion
The respondents have their own favourite dictionaries. The frequency of consulting it is different, but they realized the importance of using a dictionary to learn a language properly. During my research I found out that a dictionary is something personal, but people don't know it. People just buy them and they don't think about the fact that they chose the one which fits the best their needs and personalities.
W 019 F
Introduction
In this research my aim is to get a picture on what do students use more often, dictionaries (D) or thesauruses (Th), for essay writing at the English Department of Janus Pannonius University (JPU). The idea came from an essay I needed to write about my dictionary. In it I needed to explain what type of dictionary do I have and how do I use it. Thinking about these question I found it worth making a research about how my peers apply their dictionaries and in addition their thesauruses. First I wanted to find out whether they use both (B) or just either of them; if either: which one do they prefer. Another aim was to get information on how and for what grammatical problems do they use dictionaries and thesauruses.
Method
I put a questionnaire together, containing eight questions (see Appendix A), based on a material I got at first semester’s language practice course and asked ten girls and ten boys to fill it in. I did not select the students; I chose them randomly from my course and lecture mates. I analysed the boys’ and girls’ answers separatly, then I compared their replies. I expected that they would differ greatly, but apart from some questions the answers showed that their habit of using dictionaries and thesauruses are similar.
Results and Discussion
Age, semester
BOYS GIRLS
Age : numb./ yrs 1/18; 2/19; 4/20;
1/21; 1/22; 1/25; 2/19; 3/20; 2/21;
1/22; 2/24;
Semester: numb./sem. 6/2; 3 /4; 1/6 9/2; 1/6
The differences in the semester numbers are due to the credit system at JPU. With the credit system the majority of the courses and lectures are not semester bound. This is why I could be at the same course with sixth – semester students, yet the majority were in the second semester.
First question
Which one do you have? Dictionary /Thesaurus /Both
BOYS GIRLS
Only dictionary 4 5
Only thesaurus 0 0
Both of them 6 5
From the chart we can see that none of the students had only a thesaurus, and half of them had both. They probably only had them but didn’t really used them which appears in the answers of the next question.
Second question
Do you know what Thesaurus means? Explain:
This question was simply on general knowledge. I have heard that people tend to think that ’’thesaurus’’ is a kind of saurus. So I asked my peers whether they knew the meaning of it or not.
The precise answer [kincstár (treasury)] came only from one person, from a girl. The other answers showed that most of the students – 3 boys and 6 girls – thought that thesauruses contained synonyms and antonyms; 1 boy and 2 girls thought that thesauruses are special dictionaries with explanations and synonyms of words; 4 boys and 1 girl answered that thesauruses are monolingual dictionaries with synonyms, and 2 boys wrote that thesauruses explained meanings of words.
The result shows that students generally don’t know what do they use. From the replies of the third question we can find the answer why.
Third question
Which one do you use more often? Dictionary / Thesaurus
BOYS GIRLS
Dictionary 9 10
Thesaurus 1 0
We can understand why they did not know the answer to the second question from these data. These indicate a clear preference to dictionaries. Almost all of the students use dictionaries more often than thesauruses. Surprisingly to me the only thesaurus preference came from a second – semester boy. Before I checked the headding I thought that it came from the only sixth – semester boy but it did not.
Fourth question
How long have you been using your Thesaurus?
The answers here varied from 0 through four months to 5 years. Two Bs gave proximate dates: ’’since intermediate level’’, ’’since I’ve been using [W]ord for [W]indows’’.
YEARS BOYS GIRLS
(0: invalid answers)
We can acknowledge the common short time uses as the counterparts of the answers to the third question. Those who use thesauruses, use it since they are at the University. Sometimes I myself find the thesaurus more useful than the dictionary though there are grammatical problems that I can solve more easily with a dictionary. With the next question I intended to find out what did others use for solving their problems with grammar.
Fifth question
For the subquestions of the fifth question see Appendix A
BOYS GIRLS
(0: invalid answers)
As for the preferences for different problems the chart shows that the use of the thesaurus is rather specific among students. Almost all of them thought that the solutions for grammar problems came either from the dictionary or from the thesaurus. Among these tasks was looking up meanings. This I contributed to the results of the third question. Yet another thought – provoking finding was that only one girl thought that both sources can be used for looking up spelling. I myself think that both are equally good for this task and don’t understand why my peers do not.
Sixth question
How do you choose the right word? Explain:
Not everyone answered this question. Those who answered gave many different ones. Their point of view varied from the meaning to the sound and look alike. Some gave replies that did not answer the question. The general criterion was that the word needed to fit into the context. I have three favourite explanations that I think worth presenting: ’’ by guessing or which one I like more by the sound or look’’, ’’after the sound of it’’, ’’I look at the context [and] the word which fits in it is the winner’’
Seventh question
What sort of Dictionary do you prefer? Bilingual / Monolingual
BOYS GIRLS
Monolingual 5 5
Bilingual 5 5
As for the random selection of my peers we can acknowledge the 50% division as a general proportion among students.
Eighth question
Do you know who published and when your Dictionary/ Thesaurus?
This question is originally not mine. It came only as a piquancy but after realising that even I don’t know these details I grew curious whether the others knew.
BOYS GIRLS
Knew publisher of either 5 7
Knew publisher of both 4 1
Knew none 1 2
Among the names given were Országh, Oxford and Webster. One Cambridge and one Collins also appeared.
Conclusion
The findings show that thesauruses are rarely used by JPU students. Those who answered as they have and use thesaurus didn’t know what it means and what it contains. I didn’t ask about the students background but, I know that primary – and secondary – school teachers don’t offer thesaurus as alternative to dictionary. Though a thesaurus doesn’t offer just synonyms and antonyms, as many of the my peers answered, it is very handy for building vocabulary and for checking spelling and in some cases pronunciation too.
I consider the 50% preference for bilingual dictionaries to monolingual may characterize students’ vocabulary building habits at JPU. Personally I prefer monolingual dictionaries because they can urge students to use their brain more and harder.
I hope that my findings will motivate teachers to encourage students to use thesauruses more often.
In this research my aim is to get a picture on what do students use more often, dictionaries (D) or thesauruses (Th), for essay writing at the English Department of Janus Pannonius University (JPU). The idea came from an essay I needed to write about my dictionary. In it I needed to explain what type of dictionary do I have and how do I use it. Thinking about these question I found it worth making a research about how my peers apply their dictionaries and in addition their thesauruses. First I wanted to find out whether they use both (B) or just either of them; if either: which one do they prefer. Another aim was to get information on how and for what grammatical problems do they use dictionaries and thesauruses.
Method
I put a questionnaire together, containing eight questions (see Appendix A), based on a material I got at first semester’s language practice course and asked ten girls and ten boys to fill it in. I did not select the students; I chose them randomly from my course and lecture mates. I analysed the boys’ and girls’ answers separatly, then I compared their replies. I expected that they would differ greatly, but apart from some questions the answers showed that their habit of using dictionaries and thesauruses are similar.
Results and Discussion
Age, semester
BOYS GIRLS
Age : numb./ yrs 1/18; 2/19; 4/20;
1/21; 1/22; 1/25; 2/19; 3/20; 2/21;
1/22; 2/24;
Semester: numb./sem. 6/2; 3 /4; 1/6 9/2; 1/6
The differences in the semester numbers are due to the credit system at JPU. With the credit system the majority of the courses and lectures are not semester bound. This is why I could be at the same course with sixth – semester students, yet the majority were in the second semester.
First question
Which one do you have? Dictionary /Thesaurus /Both
BOYS GIRLS
Only dictionary 4 5
Only thesaurus 0 0
Both of them 6 5
From the chart we can see that none of the students had only a thesaurus, and half of them had both. They probably only had them but didn’t really used them which appears in the answers of the next question.
Second question
Do you know what Thesaurus means? Explain:
This question was simply on general knowledge. I have heard that people tend to think that ’’thesaurus’’ is a kind of saurus. So I asked my peers whether they knew the meaning of it or not.
The precise answer [kincstár (treasury)] came only from one person, from a girl. The other answers showed that most of the students – 3 boys and 6 girls – thought that thesauruses contained synonyms and antonyms; 1 boy and 2 girls thought that thesauruses are special dictionaries with explanations and synonyms of words; 4 boys and 1 girl answered that thesauruses are monolingual dictionaries with synonyms, and 2 boys wrote that thesauruses explained meanings of words.
The result shows that students generally don’t know what do they use. From the replies of the third question we can find the answer why.
Third question
Which one do you use more often? Dictionary / Thesaurus
BOYS GIRLS
Dictionary 9 10
Thesaurus 1 0
We can understand why they did not know the answer to the second question from these data. These indicate a clear preference to dictionaries. Almost all of the students use dictionaries more often than thesauruses. Surprisingly to me the only thesaurus preference came from a second – semester boy. Before I checked the headding I thought that it came from the only sixth – semester boy but it did not.
Fourth question
How long have you been using your Thesaurus?
The answers here varied from 0 through four months to 5 years. Two Bs gave proximate dates: ’’since intermediate level’’, ’’since I’ve been using [W]ord for [W]indows’’.
YEARS BOYS GIRLS
(0: invalid answers)
We can acknowledge the common short time uses as the counterparts of the answers to the third question. Those who use thesauruses, use it since they are at the University. Sometimes I myself find the thesaurus more useful than the dictionary though there are grammatical problems that I can solve more easily with a dictionary. With the next question I intended to find out what did others use for solving their problems with grammar.
Fifth question
For the subquestions of the fifth question see Appendix A
BOYS GIRLS
(0: invalid answers)
As for the preferences for different problems the chart shows that the use of the thesaurus is rather specific among students. Almost all of them thought that the solutions for grammar problems came either from the dictionary or from the thesaurus. Among these tasks was looking up meanings. This I contributed to the results of the third question. Yet another thought – provoking finding was that only one girl thought that both sources can be used for looking up spelling. I myself think that both are equally good for this task and don’t understand why my peers do not.
Sixth question
How do you choose the right word? Explain:
Not everyone answered this question. Those who answered gave many different ones. Their point of view varied from the meaning to the sound and look alike. Some gave replies that did not answer the question. The general criterion was that the word needed to fit into the context. I have three favourite explanations that I think worth presenting: ’’ by guessing or which one I like more by the sound or look’’, ’’after the sound of it’’, ’’I look at the context [and] the word which fits in it is the winner’’
Seventh question
What sort of Dictionary do you prefer? Bilingual / Monolingual
BOYS GIRLS
Monolingual 5 5
Bilingual 5 5
As for the random selection of my peers we can acknowledge the 50% division as a general proportion among students.
Eighth question
Do you know who published and when your Dictionary/ Thesaurus?
This question is originally not mine. It came only as a piquancy but after realising that even I don’t know these details I grew curious whether the others knew.
BOYS GIRLS
Knew publisher of either 5 7
Knew publisher of both 4 1
Knew none 1 2
Among the names given were Országh, Oxford and Webster. One Cambridge and one Collins also appeared.
Conclusion
The findings show that thesauruses are rarely used by JPU students. Those who answered as they have and use thesaurus didn’t know what it means and what it contains. I didn’t ask about the students background but, I know that primary – and secondary – school teachers don’t offer thesaurus as alternative to dictionary. Though a thesaurus doesn’t offer just synonyms and antonyms, as many of the my peers answered, it is very handy for building vocabulary and for checking spelling and in some cases pronunciation too.
I consider the 50% preference for bilingual dictionaries to monolingual may characterize students’ vocabulary building habits at JPU. Personally I prefer monolingual dictionaries because they can urge students to use their brain more and harder.
I hope that my findings will motivate teachers to encourage students to use thesauruses more often.
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