dictionaries in language learning - Userpage - Freie Universität Berlin

Thematic Network Project
in the area of Languages





Sub-project 9:
Dictionaries



[pic]



DICTIONARIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING


RECOMMENDATIONS, NATIONAL REPORTS AND THEMATIC REPORTS FROM THE TNP SUB-
PROJECT 9: DICTIONARIES

















SUB-PROJECT 9: DICTIONARIES

DICTIONARIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

APPENDIX TO THE FINAL REPORT FOR YEAR THREE







DICTIONARIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING


RECOMMENDATIONS, NATIONAL REPORTS AND THEMATIC REPORTS
FROM THE TNP SUB-PROJECT 9: DICTIONARIES





edited by R.R.K. Hartmann





















Thematic Network Project in the Area of Languages
Freie Universität Berlin


© 1999


PREFACE


In formulating its original Policy Paper in 1996, the Sub-Project 9
(Dictionaries) of the Thematic Network Project in the Area of Languages had
found that there is still no dependable documentation on lexicographic
training and research into dictionary-making and dictionary use; we
therefore decided very early on to embark on a series of country-by-country
surveys of the dictionary scene in Europe, with the aim of filling some of
these gaps in our knowledge. To give the reader an impression of their
contents, we present here the synthesis versions of these 13 National
Reports, in alphabetical order of country abbreviations from Belgium to
Sweden, using an agreed uniform template. No reports are available for
Austria, Iceland, Switzerland and the Irish Republic. In each case, the
authorship - sometimes multiple - is attributed; any references to the
literature (including relevant dictionaries and other reference works as
well as websites of interest) are specified in the Bibliography & Resource
List at the end of the volume.

But even before the end of the first year, the Scientific Committee of the
TNP Sub-Project 9 realized that such national reports were not enough, and
began to commission a series of detailed enquiries into specific issues. In
Year 2 we concentrated on the kinds of dictionaries language learners need
and publishers offer, and in Year 3 we focused on the conditions of
dictionary use in higher education. The first five of these Thematic
Reports reproduced here relate to the identification of dictionary
reference skills and their teaching to university language students: TR1
provides a brief overview of relevant research, TR2 presents a detailed
case study of the dictionary situation in one particular university (in
Southwest England), TR3 specifies the sorts of skills required by language
learners, TR4 exemplifies the way some of these are taught in another
university (in Northeast Spain), TR5 considers the implications of
dictionary work for teacher training. The next two reports, TR6 and TR7,
illustrate some new design features of monolingual and bilingual learners'
dictionaries, and the last, TR8, is devoted to the teaching of the
terminology of languages for special purposes.

By far the single most important component of this publication is the set
of Recommendations of the Sub-Project on how to increase dictionary
awareness and improve instruction in the required dictionary reference
skills in higher education curricula for language learning in Europe. These
appear at the beginning of the volume; they constitute the essence of our
joint thinking in the course of the last three years. Towards the end of
the volume, we list some ways in which they might be disseminated and
implemented and suggest a possible follow-up to the work of our Scientific
Committee.

Many people have contributed to this 'dossier'. The authors of the
individual National Reports and Thematic Reports (who acknowledge their
indebtedness to others separately), the members of the Scientific
Committee, notably Jacques van Keymeulen, my Deputy, and Krista Varantola,
who both helped with the editorial completion, and the Corresponding
Members of our group (see Appendix). I would also like to record here my
gratitude to colleagues and students at Exeter, particularly those who
helped with the university-wide research project into dictionary use which
furnished important new evidence on a neglected aspect of academic life.

Reinhard Hartmann
September 1999



TABLE OF CONTENTS


Preface 1

Recommendations 3

National Reports:
NR1 (BE) The Dictionary Scene in Belgium (Jacques van Keymeulen et al.) 9
NR2 (DE) The Dictionary Scene in Germany (Gabriele Stein) 11
NR3 (DK) The Dictionary Scene in Denmark (Henning Bergenholtz) 13
NR4 (ES) The Dictionary Scene in Spain (José Becerra Hiraldo &
Francisco Marcos-Marín) 14
NR5 (FI) The Dictionary Scene in Finland (Krista Varantola) 16
NR6 (FR) The Dictionary Scene in France (Daniel Gouadec et al.) 18
NR7 (GB) The Dictionary Scene in the United Kingdom (Reinhard Hartmann)
20
NR8 (GR) The Dictionary Scene in Greece (Anna Anastassiadis-Symeonidis)
22
NR9 (IT) The Dictionary Scene in Italy (Stefania Nuccorini & Patrizia
Cordin) 24
NR10 (NL) The Dictionary Scene in the Netherlands
(Willy Martin & Jeannette Ploeger) 26
NR11 (NO) The Dictionary Scene in Norway (Lars Vikør) 28
NR12 (PT) The Dictionary Scene in Portugal (Maria Teresa Rijo da Fonseca
Lino) 30
NR13 (SE) The Dictionary Scene in Sweden (Lars Vikør) 31

Thematic Reports:
TR1 Research on Dictionary Use: An Overview (Paul Bogaards) 32
TR2 Case Study: The Exeter University Survey of Dictionary Use
(Reinhard Hartmann) 36
TR3 The Specification of Dictionary Reference Skills in Higher Education
(Hilary Nesi) 53
TR4 Teaching Dictionary Use to University Students of
Language Mediation in Catalonia (Cristina Gelpí) 68
TR5 Instruction in Dictionary Use and Foreign Language Teacher Training:
The English Scene (Gérard Poulet) 78
TR6 Recent Trends in Publishing Monolingual Learners' Dictionaries
(Michael Rundell) 83
TR7 Recent Trends in Publishing Bilingual Learners' Dictionaries
(Wolfgang Worsch) 99
TR8 Principles of Terminodidactics (Rute Costa) 108

Implementation 111

Bibliography & Resource List:
B1 Reference works cited/consulted 113
B2 Other references 117
B3 Journals 126
B4 Websites, mailing lists and email addresses 127

Appendix: Membership and meetings 128



RECOMMENDATIONS OF TNP SUB-PROJECT 9: DICTIONARIES



1. Introduction

One of the aims of the TNP Sub-Project Nr. 9 on Dictionaries is to
formulate recommendations with regard to the reference needs and reference
skills of university students of foreign languages and the availability of
dictionaries and other kinds of reference works, particularly for the
European languages. The lexicographic situation in Europe is highly
complicated and differs from country to country - the National Reports
reproduced below bear witness to that fact - but the common observation is
that 'dictionary awareness' is generally rather (too) low, and that
explicit attention to the teaching of reference skills is needed in the
curricula for foreign language learning (FLL) all over Europe.

The situation with regard to the responsibility of various authorities
(national and European, universities and research councils, examination
boards, publishing houses etc.) for university curricula and dictionary
production also differs considerably, hence it is difficult to identify
specific target groups for particular recommendations.

In the list below, recommendations of a more general nature are grouped
under two headings, (a) Recommendations on raising dictionary awareness,
and (b) Recommendations on better dictionary provision. For each
recommendation, at least one target group and some 'good practice' are
identified. Additional country- or language-specific recommendations are
listed in the synthesis reports on the dictionary scene in the various
European countries [reproduced in their summary versions as NR1 to NR13
below].

2. Recommendations on raising 'dictionary awareness'

The recommendations listed here focus on the raising of dictionary
awareness at university level. It must be stressed, however, that the
mastery of reference skills should build on dictionary knowledge acquired
previously at primary and secondary school level, based on the linguistic
foundations of mother-tongue acquisition. There should be a smooth transfer
from monolingual dictionary skills to those required for FLL, supported by
research on dictionary use, and such dictionary reference skills should be
taught to students in language departments as well as in non-language
departments.

2.1 Research into dictionary use should provide the framework for all
lexicographic production, and more such research will be needed if the
level of dictionary awareness is to be raised and the teaching of reference
skills is to be improved.

(Target groups:
Research councils, Universities)

(Examples of good practice:
Presentation by Paul Bogaards [Leiden] on the 'user perspective', at the
Lille ELC/TNP Evaluation Conference 1997 [revised version reproduced as TR1
below];
Presentation by Reinhard Hartmann and Lan Li [Exeter] on a large-scale
university-wide pilot project 'surveying dictionary use' among students, at
the Exeter Workshop in January 1999 [reproduced as TR2];
Report by Hilary Nesi [Warwick] on 'specifying learners' reference skills',