PE 24

The impact of dictionary use on EFL learnersʹ vocabulary learninig strategies

كارشناسي ارشد

آموزش زبان انگليسي

92/04/23

عبدالرضا تحريري

فريدون وحداني

Dictionary use , Vocabulary learning strategies , EFL

تحريري،عبدالرضا , وحداني،فريدون

This study investigated the effect of dictionary use on the vocabulary learning strategies used by elementary EFL learners to understand new vocabulary items in a reading text. Seventy-five female learners were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (25 members each): the monolingual dictionary (using an English-only dictionary), the bilingual dictionary (using an English-Persian dictionary), and the bilingualized dictionary group (using both an English-only and an English-Persian dictionary). A text appropriate for the studentsʹ language level was selected based on readability formula and served as the reading passage. Studentsʹ responses on the vocabulary learning strategies were collected through a questionnaire, which was concerned with the vocabulary learning strategies the participants used to understand each target item underlined in the passage.In order to investigate the possible difference among the three groups in terms of vocabulary learning strategies, Chi-square was run to analyze the findings of the questionnaire for the three groups. Results indicated that regarding the use of the dictionaries, the participants in the bilingual group consulted their dictionaries more frequently to solve their lexical problems than those in the monolingual and the bilingualized dictionary groups. It is suggested that L2 learners prefer bilingual dictionaries because they provide fast, comprehensible L1 translation. Bilingualized group reported the least use of other strategies (e.g., analyzing morphemes and using cognates), while guessing was rarely reported by the bilingualized dictionary group.The result indicated that the participants in the bilingualized and the bilingual dictionary groups indeed were more eager to consult their dictionaries to solve their vocabulary problems when reading the text while the monolingual dictionary group was not so. In fact, guessing the meaning from the context as well as using other strategies was more common for monolingual dictionary group.

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