High-frequency Grammatical Lexis in Advanced-level English Learners' Dictionaries

From Language Description to Pedagogical Usefulness

Bibliographic Data

ID12204292
AuthorsStephen James Coffey (0000-0001-8997-6672, University of Pisa, corresponding author), Stephen Coffey (Dipartimento di Anglistica, Università di Pisa)
Year2006
Volume19
Issue2
Pages157-173
Publication date2006-03-28
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Lexicography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0950-3846 • E-ISSN: 1477-4577
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ijl/eck007
OpenAlexW2152188090
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited16

In this article it is argued that many grammatical items recorded as lexical entries in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) dictionaries should be dealt with in radically different fashion from that which is current practice. Examination of the entries for more than 40 high-frequency closed-class items in the 5 major EFL dictionaries reveals that too much emphasis is placed on detailed linguistic description and too little on didactic usefulness. Two important findings were that (i) polysemic analysis is very thorough but probably counterproductive to the needs of the average dictionary user, and (ii) many entries could be usefully shortened by omitting data already known to the learner. Given the intended ‘readership’ of the dictionaries, a more pedagogically motivated approach is suggested, and one whereby learners would be encouraged to investigate entries which may otherwise be ignored because of the perceived ‘banality’ of the word forms in question

English language · Lexicography · Lexis · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Computer Science · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Lexicography and Language Studies · linguistics and terminology studies · Artificial Intelligence · Philosophy

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