Ans: Importance of Dictionary:Dictionary is one of the basic tool and necessities of a student regardless s/he is a student of secondary level or the masters level. The dictionary is a basic requirement of a student. The usage of dictionary is necessary at the initial stage of academics, but as the education level is upgraded, the dictionary use becomes minimal. Although dictionary is both essential as well as helpful at the initial stage of academics, its overwrought usage causes harms. The too much use of dictionary develops dependence in students and they become so much used to it that the power of connotation and meaning prediction is extensively suffered. The too much dependence upon dictionary is proved a hindrance in learning process.
Irrespective of the dependence upon dictionary, however, the importance of dictionary cannot be minimized. The dictionary plays a vital role in memorizing words and their meanings, building vocabulary, memorizing word structures and their patterns, and a multiple other ways. Dictionary is storehouse of knowledge that has a vast range of know-how.
Experts believe that most English-speaking adults use between 25,000 and 50,000 words. That seems like a large number, yet the English language has over a million words. Effective readers use a dictionary to understand new or difficult words. All dictionaries have guide words at the top of each page. However, dictionaries differ from each other in the way they give other information about words. Some dictionaries give more information about the origin of the word; other dictionaries give long lists of synonyms. Each dictionary will explain how to use its resources in the first few pages.
Although much has been said about the importance of training users how to use dictionaries to learn and to find out what their needs are, research in this area has not featured prominently as an academic or educational focus in Asia. In Europe, several large-scale projects which aim at determining students' habits in dictionary use are underway. However, the focuses of most of the research are on using bilingual or bilingualised dictionaries to complete a task on translation, for example the EURAJJEX/AJLA research project into dictionary use. The main objective of the project are on dictionary users' look-up processes and on bilingual dictionaries.
A salient component relevant in dictionary-using skills in this age is the movement away from the word-based model implied by print lexicography, and a greater focus on multi-word units and larger text chunks. An important concern is finding an appropriate context for teaching e-dictionary skills. An online platform for courses integrating dictionary skills and language awareness, preferably embedded in the curriculum, appears promising.
ENTRIES OF A DICTIONARY:
A standard dictionary does have the following entries:
1. Guide Words
2. Spelling and Syllables of Words
3.Definition/Meaning of Words
4. Pronounce Words
5. Inflected Form of Words
6. Etymology
7. Word Division
8. Contextual Usage
9. Origin of Words
10. Synonyms of Words
A dictionary enables a student to develop some of the following skills:
Interpreting etymological information Skill
➢ Interpreting morphological and syntactic information Skill
➢ Interpreting the definition or translation Skill
➢ Interpreting information about collocations Skill
➢ Interpreting information about idiomatic and figurative use Skill
Search Techniques for Dictionary Entries
Here are enlisted the following search methods in order to look up a dictionary entry:
1. Incremental Search
2. Wildcard Search
3. Boolean Search
4. Filtered Search
5. Sound Search
6. Fuzzy-Spelling Search
7. Inflected Form Search
8. Index-Based Search
9. External-Text-Based Search
10. Picture-Based Search
11. Scanner-Based Search
Kinds of Dictionaries
1. Visual Dictionaries
2. Translation Dictionaries
3. Unusual-Words Dictionaries
4. Beginners’/Learners’ Dictionaries .
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