EFL DICTIONARIES, THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENT

Page No.: 
36
Writer(s): 
Gabriele Stein

In this paper, I argue that foreign language teaching has to include the use
of both bilingual dictionaries and those monolingual dictionaries specially
written for learners. Bilingual dictionaries are an essential aid for
providing ready translation equivalents for common words, and exact
translation equivalents for technical terms; but they foster the belief that
the foreign language has the same meaning discriminations as the mother
tongue. Monolingual learner dictionaries provide access to the world of
meaning discriminations made by the target language; and provide
definitions which distinguish subtle differences in meaning. Dictionaryusing
skills must be taught, and these have to include paraphrasing skills.

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