This book describes and evaluates the usefulness of a recently developed lexicographical hybrid: the encyclopedic learner's dictionary (ELD). It attemps to answer three key questions: i) What are ELDs?, ii) How useful are they?, and iii) How can they be designed to serve their users most effectively? The first chapter analyses the ELD from a typological perspective. First, the elements combined to create this new branch of lexicographical typology are examined. Next, two encyclopedic learners' dictionaries are dissected and compared: The "Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture" and the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary". Each ELD is compared with its non-encyclopedic parent dictionary, and a checklist of ELD-specific design features is drawn up. The second chapter focuses on the user perspective in lexicographical research. First, a critical survey of previous user-based studies is provided. Next, the questionnaire-based methodology used in the investigation is described. Fourty informants completed the questionnaire and an attempt is made to correlate user characteristics with dictionary use and with attitudes towards the inclusion of encyclopedic information in learners' dictionaries. In the third chapter each design feature found in the ELDs is described in depth and the informants' evaluations of its usefulness are supplied. In this manner, the typological focus of the first chapter and the user perspective of the second chapter are synthesized in a user-informed analysis and evaluation of ELD components. Finally, the implications of this research for the future production of ELDs are presented as a checklist of recommendations, and suggestions for future lexicographical research are made.

The basis for this additional volume are the three volumes of the handbooks Dictionaries. An International Encyclopedia of Lexicography (HSK 5.1–5.3), published between 1989 and 1991. An updating has been perceived as an important desideratum for a considerable time. In the present Supplementary Volume the premises and subjects of HSK 5.1–5.3 are complemented by new articles that take account of the practice-internal and theoretical developments of the last 15 years. Special attention has been given to the following topics: the status and function of lexicographic reference works, the history of lexicography, the theory of lexicography, lexicographic processes, lexicographic training and lexicographic institutions, new metalexicographic methods, electronic and, especially, computer-assisted lexicography.

This volume undertakes a detailed analysis of the latest generation of learners' dictionaries of English. It assembles the papers delivered at the eponymous symposium held at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in April 1997. There are a number of reasons why these dictionaries are of special lexicographic interest: 1. the type of learners' dictionary associated notably with the name of Hornby can look back on a long tradition in British lexicography; 2. competition between various publishers since the late 70s has given crucial impetus to the development of these dictionaries; 3. these new dictionaries are decisively marked by the evaluation of large-scale computer corpora. Central to the volume is the in-depth comparison of four dictionaries published in 1995: OALD5, LDOCE3, COBUILD2, CIDE. The aim is to exemplify specific differences of approach in the four dictionaries from a wide range of viewpoints (definitions, information on valency and collocations, policy on usage examples, political correctness, etc.). A number of articles also enlarge on the history of learners' dictionaries of English, the significance of corpus linguistics for lexicography, and perspectives for the future, notably in connection with the electronic media.

The aim of this monograph, which has rich and evaluative annotations, is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the issues in a major developing area of pedagogical lexicography. With this monograph researchers and students can have access to a set of 521 articles from a diverse array of publications, many in hard-to-find sources, that will prove valuable in reviewing the literature of the area. Because articles on language users and dictionary users are published in journals devoted to reading research, language acquisition, second language teaching, linguistics, and lexicography, most of the past research in the area has not shown critical awareness of this diffuse collection of research. The annotated bibliography found in this monograph supplies scholars in all the different fields of enquiry a critical guide to past and current work in pedagogical lexicography. Because this subfield of lexicography has developed in a variety of disciplines, it is difficult for researchers in any single discipline or sub-discipline to find relevant and important articles; this annotated bibliography not only provides a highly defined topical index based on a key-word analysis of the literature, but also annotations and commentary that provide the reader with a critical understanding of the important issues and debates in the development of the study of learners' dictionaries and dictionary users. The authors of this monograph have written the critical annotations in a manner that foregrounds the points of debate within the area which helps to define the concerns of the area.

Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics formalizes, organizes and analyzes the relation of knowledge about language to decision-making in practice. It synthesizes research in psycholinguistics, educational linguistics and sociolinguistics, freely crossing subject fields to establish innovative and expert responses to some of the key debates in the field. Authored and compiled by leaders in their various specialties and collated and extensively re-edited from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Second Edition, this collection will be an ideal one-stop desk reference solution for any linguistics professional and researcher interested in how language operates at the leading edge. - Authoritative review of this dynamic field placed in an interdisciplinary context - Over 100 articles by leaders in the field - Compact and affordable single-volume format

The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language is an invaluable resource for language learners and linguists of Chinese worldwide, those interested readers of Chinese literature and cultures, and scholars in Chinese studies. Featuring the research on the changing landscape of the Chinese language by a number of eminent academics in the field, this volume will meet the academic, linguistic and pedagogical needs of anyone interested in the Chinese language: from Sinologists to Chinese linguists, as well as teachers and learners of Chinese as a second language. The encyclopedia explores a range of topics: from research on oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, to Chinese language acquisition, to the language of the mass media. This reference offers a guide to shifts over time in thinking about the Chinese language as well as providing an overview of contemporary themes, debates and research interests. The editors and contributors are assisted by an editorial board comprised of the best and most experienced sinologists world-wide. The reference includes an introduction, written by the editor, which places the assembled texts in their historical and intellectual context. The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital research resource.

This handbook deals with all aspects of contemporary language teaching and its history. Produced for language teaching professionals, it is also useful as a reference work for academic studies at postgraduate level.

This book examines two questions: firstly, which dictionary type, bilingual or monolingual, is most effective for intermediate learners of German, and secondly, which features make monolingual dictionary definitions more effective. Using Chinese students from Hong Kong and Shanghai as the subjects of research, the effectiveness of the different dictionary types for reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning was measured experimentally and by the think-aloud method. The only monolingual learner dictionary for German available at that time proved linguistically too difficult for the intermediate proficiency level. Therefore, new definitions were developed based on findings from the think-aloud study and on principles promoted as user-friendly in lexicographic literature. Comparison of the two definition types revealed several features that determine their effectiveness for intermediate learners. Findings have theoretical and pedagogical implications. In the theoretical field, some lexicographic principles were recommended that are, unlike previous principles, based on empirical insights into user needs. In the pedagogical field, the findings provide an empirical basis for the evaluation and recommendation of suitable dictionaries for intermediate learners.