Students’ Independent Use of Bilingual Dictionaries at Primary School Level of Learning English

Students’ Independent Use of Bilingual Dictionaries at Primary School Level of Learning English

Lakic, Daliborka

In practice, often there is no systematic way of dictionary use which would enable learners to become independent users and help them lay foundations for lifelong learning. Some of the reasons are that linguists do not agree on the role of dictionaries, teachers themselves are not trained to teach dictionary use, and finally, the National Curriculum does not give any instructions on how and when to use dictionaries in the classroom. Having that in mind, the author set out to get an insight into the way primary school children use bilingual dictionaries independently. The research was conducted on the sample of 322 children, from the sixth to the ninth grade in a primary school in Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina. While the first part of the paper presents the theoretical basis of vocabulary learning, the second part presents the results of the research and offers the discussion of research questions. Considering the age and the language level of the learners, building dictionary use strategies is not an issue that should be left aside. The discussion of research questions can serve as a reminder for teachers on their way of helping students become skilled learners.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2012-05

813