MOST Hong Kong students have problems using an English dictionary, be it finding the definition of a new or difficult word or understanding the definition itself.
Clare Whitmell, an English language teaching consultant with Longman Asia Ltd, said students rarely take the time to learn to use a dictionary properly.
'When teachers tell students to look up a word, they read the first definition and stop there. Take the word 'blessing', for example, which has six meanings. They could be looking for definition three or four, but check only definition one,' Ms Whitmell said.
A dictionary should be as clear and accessible as possible for the user, and a student should have no difficulty handling a student dictionary.
'The other common problem among students is understanding a definition that's too complicated.' 'An involved definition can be very frustrating for a student,' Ms Whitmell said. 'Sometimes a definition is so complicated they have to look up further words, words used to explain the original word! All this takes time, and students just don't have the time to keep looking up word after word.
'So, it's important for the student to be able to first find the meaning quickly, and second, understand the definition without difficulty.' While most students see the dictionary as merely a tool for 'looking up meanings', a dictionary, if it is used properly, can help the user to improve his language standard.
