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Addressing Learner Needs through Dictionaries

Addressing Learner Needs through Dictionaries. Bernadette Longley Macmillan Education. What does it mean to ‘know’ a word?. spelling part of speech pronunciation frequency context it is used in other words frequently used with it regional differences meaning. From:.

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Addressing Learner Needs through Dictionaries

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  1. Addressing Learner Needs through Dictionaries Bernadette Longley Macmillan Education

  2. What does it mean to ‘know’ a word? • spelling • part of speech • pronunciation • frequency • context it is used in • other words frequently used with it • regional differences • meaning

  3. From: novels and other creative writing newspapers and magazines academic writing radio and TV broadcasts recorded conversations websites, blogs, email and chat-rooms, etc. Where do dictionaries come from? (语料库) a collection of written and spoken texts stored on computer and used for language research Corpus

  4. 100 000 000 000 1 000 000 000 1 000 000 Corpora size (in words) 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Corpora size and growth

  5. How do corpora influence dictionaries? • selecting headwords- which words to include? • selecting meanings and their order shown • identifying and selecting idioms, phrasal verbs, etc • establishing a ‘defining vocabulary’(释义词汇) • describing syntax(句法) and collocation(搭配) • describing style, register(语域) & ‘labels’ (e.g. medical) • providing example sentences that illustrate usage

  6. Word Frequency: a quick quiz Q1. How many words make up the English language? a. over 1 000 000 b. around 500 000 c. around 200 000 Q2. How many words make up 90% of the English language? a. 15 500 words b. 7500 words c. 100 000 words Q3. How many words make up 80% of the English language? • 2500 words b. 5500 words c. 4000 words

  7. Productivevocabulary Receptive vocabulary Word frequency and productive/receptive vocabulary 1 000 000 words (remainder) 7500words (90%) 2500 words (80%)

  8. 2. red words are subdivided into three bands: = most frequent 2500 words: (have, go, easy) = most frequent 2501-5000 words: (behave, risk) = most frequent 5001-7500 words: (boil, credible) How are productive/receptive vocabulary treated (in MED)? 1. the 7500 most frequent words are shown in red.

  9. 1 take someone somewhere 2 spread disease 3 always have a feeling 4 publish/broadcast something 5 have a guarantee 6 do someone else's work 7 lead to punishment 8 have message/warning 9 vote for and accept 10 support weight 11 involve risk/danger 12 make an aim possible 13 encourage support 14 accept responsibility 15 have goods for sale 16 of smells/sounds 17 develop to certain level 18 in adding numbers 19 be pregnant 20 win election 1 infectious illness 2 computer/program fault 3 sudden enthusiasm 4 for secret listening 5 insect carry bug Dealing with complex dictionary entries How many different meanings for:- bug?- carry?

  10. Complex entries: ‘carry’ Which meaning? a. His voice doesn’t carry very well. b. All newspapers carried the story. c. Dell computers carry a 3-year guarantee. d. The driver must carry the blame for the injury. e. Cigarette packets must carry a health warning.

  11. Learning through collocation Collocation (搭配)is the way in which two or more words occur together far more often than they would do by chance ‘You shall know a word by the company it keeps’ (J.R.Firth)

  12. Learning through collocation Which of these adverbs are often used with ‘love’? Which words are often used with ‘contact’? passionately effectively strongly dearly greatly truly highly

  13. Identifying frequent collocations of ‘challenge’ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

  14. Collocation Boxes: ‘challenge’ (in MED)

  15. Metaphor in everyday language Metaphor (隐喻 , 比喻) Using a meaning that has developed from a literal meaning to describe something with similar features Metaphor is usually associated with poetry/literature, but in fact is present in all types of text 1. The beautiful bird flew in the sky. (literal) 2. She flew past me on her bicycle. (metaphorical)

  16. Metaphorexamples • They didn’t get a fair slice of the cake. This ate into our savings. The fees have swallowed up my grant. B. She is one of the brightest people I know. He outshines everyone else. He didn’t say much and seemed a bit dim. c. Don’t beat yourself up over this. They tore my work to pieces. Don’t jump down my throat!

  17. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. anger nd sallow skin, now flushed with , and finally at the intelligent, anger s the door. Then he looked back, and fear and loathing rising in hi anger We're ready," Yanto growled, his beginning to rise again. She grinn anger cheeks hot with embarrassment and . "He has been a perfect gentleman anger Manville fought against a rising . Hayman was right, despite the a anger d at Mr Evans, his eyes hot with . He said, &bquo And Carrie has s anger ? &equo He suddenly exploded into , jaw thrust out pugnaciously, da anger his novel. I lay still, hot with . Richard had never done anything How is ‘anger’ used metaphorically?

  18. Anger: Metaphor Box in MED

  19. Academic Writing What areas of academic writing do students have trouble with? Identifying and interpreting topic key words Identifying and evaluating available resources Avoiding plagiarism Structuring essays Writing coherently and cohesively Knowing & using general academic vocabulary Revising, editing and proofreading work How does the MED help? 1. Helpful Academic Writing boxes 2. In-depth 5-page essay with examples, exercises & references

  20. Words you can use instead of ‘beautiful’ Beautiful is a very general word. Here are some words with more specific meanings that sound more natural and appropriate in particular situations. Specific meanings of similar words Pink Box: beautifuladjective

  21. Specific meaning: ‘beautiful’

  22. What dictionary skills do your learners need to develop? Finding words quickly Choosing the right meaning Other ??? Understanding abbreviations, IPA, stress symbols, etc Finding out what words go together / collocations Knowing how important the word is Using it as a resource for academic writing

  23. Activity 1: ‘Opening up’ • Fun activity to train students to find words faster • Trains students to open the dictionary up near the word they are looking for Which word is the dictionary open to? a. memory solution fragrance negotiate b. saddle tangible resistance offense c. effort locomotive coastline fizzy

  24. Activity 2: Menu guessing game • Helps students understand the multiple meanings of words • Encourages students to find the definition that fits the particular context they need a small piece of paper a slight mistake to slide/fall a piece of clothing to govern a country to make a decision to influence thought to draw a line slip rule

  25. Activity 3: Listing collocates Helps students identify words which frequently occur together. List three words that you think typically occur with these words. Then check your dictionary. 1. (nouns) general _____________________ 2. (adverbs) wait_____________________ 3 (adjectives) _____________________kiss 4 (verbs) _____________________leg

  26. Activity 4: Brainstorming substitutions • Activating students’ usage of more descriptive language. a Write down all the words you can think of that mean bad. b Complete these sentences with a word meaning bad. Check your dictionary. 1. Her uncle is a rather _______man. 2. He is a _______guitarist. 3. Smoking is ________ for you. 4. That film we saw last night was pretty _______. 5. I’ve got a _______headache.

  27. Activity 5. Understanding metaphor • Exposes students to the metaphorical meanings/patterns of everyday words and phrases Which feeling does each sentence refer to? 1. Being angry is like being…. 2. Being happy is like being…. 3. Being sad is like being…. 4. Being confused is like being… • They’re having a blazing row • I don’t know if I’m coming or going. • She was in the depths of despair. • I was over the moon that day. • We had a heated discussion. • My heart sank when I saw him. • I feel like a fish out of water. • She’s on top of the world.

  28. Activity 6: Academic writing • Sensitises students to the different categories of vocabulary 1. Group these words according to whether they are general, general academic, or subject-specific vocabulary. Use your dictionary for help. manager, current cost accounting, need, analyse, method, product life cycle, theory, achieve, microorganisms, fundamental, clever, university, corresponding, nucleic acids, alternatively

  29. Activity 7: Knowing word frequency • Helps sensitize students to the importance of frequency • This activity can be used with any reading passage Which words are not red words? America’s fast food industry was founded by entrepreneurs willing to defy conventional opinion. They worked hard, took risks, and followed their own paths. In many respects, the industry embodies the best and worst of American capitalism– its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gap between rich and poor.

  30. Activity 7: Knowing word frequency 51 words, of which 50 are red words in MED America’s fast food industry was founded by entrepreneurs willing to defy conventional opinion. They worked hard, took risks, and followed their own paths. In many respects, the industry embodies the best and worst of American capitalism– its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gap between rich and poor.

  31. A little about the Bilingual MED Award-winning dictionary • 2002 Duke of Edinburgh ESU English Language Book Award • 2004 British Council Innovation Award for English Language Teaching Next generation of learner’s dictionaries • Developed by two of renowned lexicographers in dictionary publishing- Michael Rundell & Gwyneth Fox Over 100,000 English / Chinese references & 80 000 example sentences Packed with outstanding features for language learners • unique red words-7500 most common words • original ranking system to show word importance at a glance • Over 800 innovativeMenu Boxes to aid navigation • Over 450 helpfulCollocation Boxes • Over 45 unique Metaphor Boxes • Academic writing support with Academic Writing Boxes and 5-page essay • Other Usage Boxes:specific meaning, US/UK differences, grammar points, common mistakes and more.

  32. What are the MED awards? 2002 Duke of Edinburgh ESU English Language Book Award • Presented by the Duke of Edinburgh, president of the English-Speaking Union • Winning book is selected based on originality, innovation and substanceby panel of widely respected judges in the English Language field 2004 British Council Innovation Award for English Language Teaching • The highest award in the English Language Teaching profession worldwide • Award is offered to outstanding, innovative language learning resources

  33. Thank you for listening Please visit www.macmillandictionary.com for dictionary tips, lessons, reviews, e-magazines and more

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