On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, Al Cone wrote:
> Michael,
>
> Had that happen a few years ago when we experienced an influx of Japanese
> students who didn't have enough English to hack it here. Discovered that
> they were depending on the very detailed dictionary definitions of terms.
> Got a local person whose wife was Japanese to examine the dictionary in
> question. It was concluded that using that dictionary was equivalent to
> letting English speaking students take an open book test.
>
Interesting point, but worth disputing. It can be misleading to use a
dictionary when there are multiple entries for an item, which is
common. One of my favourite studies is reported by Miller and Gildea
(1987). They gave fifth and sixth-grade children a list of unfamiliar
words and a dictionary, and asked them to make up sentences using the
words.
They produced sentences like these (guess how):
"Me and my parents correlate, because without then I wouldn't be here"
"I was meticulous about falling off the cliff"
"The redress for getting well when you're sick is to stay in bed"
"That news is very tenet"
and my top choice:
"Mrs. Morrow stimulated the soup".
So a dictionary can harm as much as it can help, not to mention the
time taken to use it. Since I've been forced by administrative
cutbacks to invigilate my own exams, I tell students they can use a
translation dictionary, but it's faster just to ask me. If I see
someone pawing through one, I ask them what word they need help on. I
specifically exclude "technical terms" required for the course.
-Stephen
Miller, G., & Gidlea, P. (1987). How children learn words. Scientific
American, 257 , no. 3, p. 94--
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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