Towards An Efficient Presentation Of Phrasal Verbs In ECLDs

Phrasal verbs (PHR Vs) are considered to be an important feature of English.But understanding and learning to use them are difficult for learners even foradvanced learners of English. As an indispensable helper in English learning andteaching, English learner's dictionaries (ELDs) should present PHR Vssufficiently and effectively. In view of the importance of PHR Vs andinadequacies of the treatment of PHR Vs in existing popular English-ChineseLearner's Dictionaries (ECLDs), the present study aims to establish systematicprinciples for the treatment of PHR Vs in ECLDs. The study will focus on:1) relevant studies of PHR Vs 2) examination and comparison of the presentation ofPHR Vs in existing popular EFL dictionaries. The present study mainly adopts amethodology of comparative study, which will be conducted between ELDs-BigFive and the newly-published ECLDs in terms of their treatments of PHR Vs. Theaim of this comparative study is to examine and discuss advantages anddisadvantages of their presentation of PHR Vs among these learner's dictionaries(LDs) so as to seek an optimized model of presentation of PHR Vs in ECLDs.In the light of the results of the comparative study and research findings inliterature, the thesis will, from dictionary structural perspective and user-friendlyperspective, propose the following principles for an efficient presentation of PHRVs in ECLDs: 1) Outside matter: Guide to finding PHR Vs in the front matter aswell as description of PHR Vs and particles in the middle matter in the form ofstudy pages should be made available. These efforts are made to ensure findabilityand acquisition of English PHR Vs. 2) At the macrostructural level, each PHR Vshould be given separate entry status under their main verb and then inalphabetical order of the particles. 3) Sufficient information on PHR Vs should beincorporated into the microstructure of an entry for PHR Vs in a self-evident and user-friendly style, e.g. stress marks for sound pronunciation, glosses to Chinesedefinitions, adequate examples, highlighted grammar patterns, indication ofcommon subjects and objects, usage notes, register and style, etc. Thearrangement of all these information categories should guarantee maximumcomprehensibility. findability and usability. 4) At the medio-structural level,cross-references system should be well established to refer user to synonyms,opposites, related nouns or adjectives derived from PHR Vs. etc. 5) User-friendlylexicographical symbols or codes representing all these categories of informationshould be employed to ensure explicitness and easy access. Following thesuggested principles, a tentative model with samples entries for PHR Vs will bepresented.