ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES: AN EASY WAY TO LEARN ENGLISH

ABSTRACT

Dictionaries play an important role in learning foreign languages, helping to improve speech, expand vocabulary and express thoughts more accurately. Electronic dictionaries make this process even easier: they allow you to quickly find words, save your favorite terms, easily switch between languages and are always at hand. This is an indispensable tool for those who strive for constant development and deep understanding of the English language.

Keywords: electronic dictionaries, learning English, practice of new words, effective learning methods, language resources.

Language creates our reality. The more words we know, and the better we know how to express ourselves, the better we will understand the world. Being able to choose between a dozen terms to describe a given fact or object, enriches our way of perceiving it, and also that of the people around us. Ready to discover a new way of seeing things?

Dictionaries have always been a basic element of reference when studying a foreign language such as English. They solve doubts, improve our conversation and writing, perfect the way we pronounce the words... In fact, it is a mistake to think that these books should only be used in school, and that as we grow up we can abandon them in an old corner of the shelf. These works allow us to continue increasing our vocabulary throughout our lives, and it is never too late to learn new words and improve your English.

A large vocabulary helps develop other language skills

When you have a wider vocabulary in your target language it also helps support all four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. As Paul Nation (2015) noted in his paper on vocabulary learning: “Vocabulary is not an end in itself. A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform.”

Reading

Vocabulary knowledge is perhaps the most important factor when it comes to reading comprehension, both for native and non-native speakers. For example, if you sit down to read a book and you don’t know the vocabulary used, you’ll struggle to understand the meaning of the text.

You might end up looking up the words in a dictionary, guessing the meaning of the words from their context, or you might simply give up and find something else to read.

This can be disappointing, disheartening and also shatter your confidence.

This connection between vocabulary size and second language attainment has been widely researched over the years.

One of the most interesting of these was a 2010 study that discovered that a surprising 64% of variance in the reading score was due to vocabulary size.

Listening

We see similar evidence when it comes to listening skills for the language student, for obvious reasons.

Clearly, if you have never seen or heard a particular piece of vocabulary in a second language, it will be much harder to recognise and decode the sounds and therefore extract the meaning.

If you’re an advanced language learner, you may be able to make sense of the word through context or by relating it to other words in the same word family, but this can be difficult.

As Hilde van Zeeland points out in her 2012 paper, Lexical Coverage in L1 and L2 Listening Comprehension: The Same or Different from Reading Comprehension?’, a student’s vocabulary knowledge isn’t the only factor when it comes to listening skills but it certainly plays an important role.

Speaking

If you’re a native speaker, you’ve probably experienced a time when a particular word is ‘on the tip of your tongue’ but you’re unable to remember it. It can be frustrating and often cut the conversation short.

It works in a similar way for a second language learner who hasn’t learned that particular vocabulary word in the first place. If they don’t know (or can’t remember) that piece of vocabulary, they will be unable to completely express their message.

For this reason, knowledge of vocabulary is widely considered to be perhaps the most crucial element when it comes to person’s ability to speak a foreign language.

For example, in the 2013 paper, “Vocabulary Knowledge and Speaking Proficiency among Second Language Learners from Novice to Intermediate Levels”, Rie Koizumi asserted “…out of five factors (i.e., accent, comprehension, fluency, grammar, and vocabulary), vocabulary was the only one that affected level differences between learners at novice and intermediate levels. For learners at intermediate levels and above, all the five factors affected level differences, but vocabulary frequently appeared as the discriminatory factor.”

Writing

You’ll also find it much easier to express yourself in writing if you have a larger vocabulary. You’ll have a larger selection of words to choose from and you’ll be able to be more precise when you’re expressing a thought, feeling, event or idea.

Again, there’s significant linguistic research to support this idea. For example, in the 2008 study, ‘Vocabulary Size and the Skills of Listening, Reading and Writing. Language Learning Journal’, Lars Stenius Stæhr stated “Learners’ receptive vocabulary size was found to be strongly associated with their reading and writing abilities…”

The more words you know in any language, the better you can express yourself. [1]

How can you expand your vocabulary?

The process of learning new words is slow, and may not have short-term results. However, if you really believe that it will allow you to continue growing intellectually and train your intelligence (we do!), you will do it almost without realizing it. Maybe until you adopt certain habits, you should put a little more effort into it, but you will see how in a short time you discover that the effort has been worth it. In case you know where to start, we give you some tips that will be very useful to you. Take note!

Read everything you have at your fingertips: newspapers, magazines, essays, blogs, novels ... varying the genres and the technical level of your readings will allow you to distinguish different tones and forms of expression. In addition to learning new words, you will also stay informed and increase your general knowledge, what more can you ask for?

Become a 'new word hunter': You can take a small notebook with you and quickly write down the words you find and that you don't know, to look for them later. Generally, when we come across an unknown word, we tend to ignore it and intuit its meaning by the context, losing the opportunity to investigate it. Don't miss those opportunities!

Every day, open your dictionary on a random page, and take a look at it. Propose to search for 10 words daily, a number that can increase as it becomes simpler and simpler. You will discover new terms, and even novel meanings in words you thought you knew. A whole adventure!

Make crosswords and other word games: Alone or against another player, the options you have today are many: Scrabble, Crosswords, Word Searches ... endless resources, both on the web and off it, that will help you in your fun task.

Use the new words you learn in your conversations. In this way, you will incorporate them into your way of speaking, and you will find them a practical utility and applied to reality, beyond what you read in the books.

Using dictionaries in language teaching

We’re all familiar with using a dictionary to look up the meaning of words that we don’t know or understand. But there are other useful ways in which students can use dictionaries when learning new languages.

This includes checking the right form of a word; finding out how to use a word in a sentence; exploring when it’s appropriate to use a particular word or not; and to check if other words might be better used instead. Dictionaries also play a role in enhancing learners’ spelling and pronunciation skills. The inclusion of phonetic transcriptions, audio pronunciations, and syllable breakdowns aids learners in accurately reproducing words. By consulting dictionaries, learners can ensure the correctness of their pronunciation, fostering effective communication in both spoken and written contexts.[2]

The advantages of electronic dictionaries

If you have already become hooked on the adventure of learning new words, surely these devices will seem essential to you. Electronic dictionaries are a tool widely used in countries such as Japan or Germany, but unknown in others. Do you want to know more about them? Below, we describe some of its characteristics.

The most striking advantage is the speed of access to the answers: with a few clicks, you will quickly find the solution to the question you had. Another of its most prominent positive points is that a dictionary for each language is over. These dictionaries allow you to save different languages, and be able to jump from one to another with ease. In addition, by taking up very little space, you can take a large amount of information everywhere. This is a great advantage for the little ones, who can avoid carrying a few books in their backpack when they go to class.

One of the most notable differences with traditional dictionaries is that they allow you to save your favorite words, to have a list of those terms that, for some reason, have caught your attention. They also generally include additional content and fact sheets on thematic areas or terms, making the experience more enjoyable. Learning new vocabulary is more fun than ever!

And you? Do you know any techniques or tools to facilitate language study?

References:

1. Why Is Vocabulary Important In Language Learning? (2022) https://textinspector.com/vocabulary-in-language-learning/
2. Are dictionaries still useful in language teaching today? (2024). https://sanako.com/are-dictionaries-still-useful-in-language-teaching-today