College Students’ Perceptions and Habits of Dictionary Use in Vocabulary Learning

• Main Authors: Lee, Ya-Ling, 李亞陵
• Other Authors: Chao, Yu-Chuan
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35655244509655357136

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系 === 103 === This study investigated Taiwanese college students’ perceptions and habits of using 2 language types of dictionaries (English–English and English–Chinese) and 4 types of dictionary tools (paper, electronic, online, and mobile-app) for vocabulary learning. A total of 76 English-major college students, 43 freshmen and 33 seniors, were recruited from a university in Central Taiwan. The questionnaire survey was modified from Hartmann (1999) and composed of a 5-point Likert scale rating, yes–no questions, and researcher-designed open-ended questions. The questionnaire survey of the present study was administered in English and interviews were in Mandarin Chinese. Interviews were conducted after the questionnaire survey. The English–Chinese online dictionary was used most frequently between freshmen and seniors because they were accustomed to having a computer with Internet access at their desks during English learning. In contrast to their most frequent use of the English–Chinese online dictionary, numerous students perceived that the English–English dictionary is more helpful than the English–Chinese dictionary in enhancing vocabulary proficiency. Some of the students acknowledged having been influenced by their teachers who encouraged them to use the English–English dictionary during language learning. The English–Chinese dictionary could help the students understand the meaning of the word without difficulty, but its definition was sometimes not suitable for the context of reading. The findings show that the freshmen were willing to spend more time on dictionary consultation than the seniors did. The seniors were more apt to guess word meanings according to the context or from prefixes and suffixes of the words instead of dictionary use. This study concludes that the choice of dictionary type is influenced and determined by its accessibility and sufficient contents of the dictionary involved. From the perspective of dictionaries as tools, a mobile-app dictionary creates ubiquitous opportunities for extensive vocabulary learning. Because finding the meaning of unknown words is the main purpose of dictionary use, intensive or extensive learning with dictionary use is likely to remain challenging.