User-Friendliness In Making Dictionaries With English As The Source Language

This dissertation defines '"user-friendliness" in making dictionaries with English as the source language as efforts at presenting intended dictionary users with information they need in the easiest way and in the most readable format.This dissertation focuses on dictionaries with English as the source language, or dictionaries whose entries are provided in English. In the Chinese context, they may be bilingual dictionaries.An accurate understanding of the information dimension of a dictionary is possible only when the reader dimension is adequately considered. The history of English dictionary' compiling has seen the swing of pendulum from users' perspective to editors perspective, then back to users' perspective, as demonstrated by a review of prefaces to English dictionaries.User-friendliness in making dictionaries with English as the source language started gaining momentum in the late 1970s thanks to research findings in reception theory. communication theory, second language acquisition, cognitive sciences, and marketing theories. But it has hitherto remained a field that is far from being fully-explored. This dissertation strives to arouse interest, discussion and further research into this aspect.Reception theory has made it clear that it is readers, not authors/editors, who make a text truly meaningful. According to the dictionary-as-communication model, there are three parties involved in dictionary communication: the dictionary maker, the dictionary text, and the dictionary user. Second language acquisition theories recommend the separation of dictionaries for L1 learners from those for L2 learners, dictionaries for comprehension from those for production. Besides, dictionaries must cater to learners" needs for grammar and word power as they proceed from the beginning level to a higher level. The Affective Filter hypothesis has it that dictionary makers should not artificially raise users' affective filter by continuously inflating the dictionary both in size and in price, by presenting information in a barely readableformat, or by forcing unsolicited information on readers. Learning style research points out the inadequacy of traditional paper-and-ink dictionaries in meeting the needs of either audio or kinetic learners. The constructivist school of cognitive psychology views dictionary consulting as a process in which the dictionary user actively seeks out information, connects the new piece with an already existing schema, and builds up his/her understanding of the language. As a result, it is unwise for dictionary makers to regard users as passive receptacles of whatever information is given; instead they should start from wrhat users already know and go on to provide what the}' want to know further. Cognitive linguistics helps us realize that an easier way for learners to master a language is to master language items in Gestalts. Therefore, user-friendly dictionaries would draw their attention to the relatedness among senses within a single entry as well as the differences between any pair of senses. From the standpoint of marketing, the only way for a dictionary to differentiate itself from others, and thereby to succeed in the competitive market, is to target at a selected user segment instead of the whole market, introducing dictionaries of unique product benefits that appeal to user needs.This dissertation then proceeds to summarize the current best practices in making user-friendly dictionaries with English as the source language. Such practices cover reader-oriented features in the outside matter (such as the preface, user guide, illustrations, and appendices), macrostructure (including selection of the word list based on frequency or on the theory of semantic fields, factors considered in inclusion of neologisms, and access structure), and microstructure (e.g., pronunciation, sense ordering, definition, illustrative examples, grammatical and pragmatic information). A short paragraph or two on best practices in each of the above aspect is to be found at the beginning of each subsecti...