JoLIE 7/2014

Back to issue page

ENGLISH PEDAGOGIC LEXICOGRAPHY: A FEW MILESTONES

Anca Cehan

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iaşi, Romania

Abstract

The paper presents the development of the English pedagogic lexicography in the 20^th and 21^st centuries and focuses on the growth of the monolingual learner’s dictionaries. First it points out the impact of the Vocabulary Control Movement and Palmer’s, West’s and Hornby’s ideas about dictionary word entry selection based on frequency and defining vocabulary. Then it describes the recent changes that have taken place in the monolingual learner’s dictionaries’ macro- and micro-structures, and attributes them to the influence of corpus linguistics in general and to the work of John Sinclair in particular. The best-known monolingual learner’s dictionaries published by leading British publishers (Cambridge, Collins, Longman, Oxford, Macmillan) are then described and compared.

Key words: Pedagogic lexicography; Vocabulary Control Movement; Monolingual learner’s dictionaries; Corpus-based dictionaries.

References

Cowie, A.P. (1999). English dictionaries for foreign learners. A history. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Davies, A., & Elder, C. (2004). The Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Granger, S., Hung, J., & Petch-Tyson, S. (Eds.). (2002). Computer Learner Corpora, Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524773

Howatt, A.P.R. (1984). A history of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100007609

Kipfer, B.A. (1984). Workbook on lexicography. A course for dictionary users with a glossary of English lexicographical terms. Exeter: University of Exeter.

Kirkness, A. (2004). Lexicography. In Davies, A., & C. Elder (Eds.). The Handbook of Applied Linguistics, (pp. 54-81). Blackwell Publishing.

Landau, S.I. (2001). Dictionaries. The art and craft of lexicography (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leech, G. (1997). Teaching and language corpora: A convergence. In A. Wichmann, S. Fligelstone, T. McEnery, & G. Knowles G. (Eds.). Teaching and language corpora, (pp.1-23), London: Longman.

McArthur, T. (1986). Worlds of reference: lexicography, learning and language from the clay tablet to the computer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McCarthy, M. (2008). Accessing and interpreting corpus information in the teacher education context. Language Teaching, 41, 563-574.

Sinclair, J.M. (1991). Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

van Ek, J.A. (1975). The Threshold Level for Modern Languages Learning in Schools. Council of Europe. London: Longman.

Waring, R., & Nation, I.S. P. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. In N. Schmitt, & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy, (pp. 6 – 119). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wright, J. (1998). Dictionaries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dictionaries

Cowie, A. (Ed.). (1984). The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crowther, J. (Ed.). (1992). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crowther, J. (Ed.). (1993). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crowther, J. (ed.). 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (5^th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A. S., & A. Cowie, J. W. Lewis (Eds.). (1974). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A. S. (ed.). (1963). The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (2^nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A.S. (Ed.). (1948). A Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A.S. (Ed.). (1954). Oxford Progressive English for Adult Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A.S. (Ed.). (1952). The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press.

Hornby, A.S., & Crowther, J. (Eds.). (1995). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Johnson, K., & Johnson, H. (Eds). (1998). The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Procter, P. (Ed.). (1995). Cambridge International Dictionary of English (2^nd ed). Cambridge University Press.

Procter, P. (Ed.). (1978). Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Longman.

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt R. (Eds.). (2002). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (3^rd ed.). London: Longman.

Sinclair, J.M. (Ed.). (1995). Collins COBUILD English Dictionary (2^nd ed.). London: HarperCollins.

Sinclair, J.M. (Ed.). (1987). Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary. London: HarperCollins.

Summers, D. (Ed.). (1989). Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3^rd ed.). Longman.

Summers, D. (Ed.). (1993). Longman Language Activator. Longman.

Trappes-Lomax, H. (Ed.). (1997). Oxford Learner’s Wordfinder Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3^rd ed). (1995). Harlow: Longman.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (6^th ed). (2014). Harlow: Longman.

Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English. (1981). Harlow: Longman.

Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. (1992). Harlow: Longman.

Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. (2^nd ed). (1993, 2000). Harlow: Longman.

Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. (3^rd ed). (2001). Harlow: Longman, Addison Wesley Publishing Company.

How to cite this article: Cehan, A. (2014). English pedagogic lexicography: A few milestones. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 7, 69-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2014.7.5

For details on subscription, go to: http://jolie.uab.ro/index.php?pagina=-&id=19&l=en