Construction Of User-friendly Environment In Handheld Electronic Learners’ Dictionaries

The Handheld Electronic Learner’s Dictionary (HELD) has been experiencing a rapid development in recent years with the flourish of the foreign language learning, and the development of dictionary using research as well as the application of information technologies. However, there are problems in the way of its further development. If those problems are not solved, it is hard to make breakthroughs in qualities and the markets of HELDs. After doing a brief retrospect to the history of HELDs and the theory of user-friendliness, this thesis analyzes the merits and deficiencies of present HELDs and tries to put forward effective solutions to the problems of HELDs. Although HELDs in the market have many merits like portability, with a large vocabulary, synchronous pronunciation output and multifunction, much work still need to be done on their qualities of accessibility, reliability, interaction and cost-effectiveness. How to construct a user-friendly environment in HELDs becomes an important and urgent issue for HELDs’ further development.After referring to researches of dictionary users, the present thesis concludes their expectations for HELDs as easy accessibility, reliability, customized interaction, learning assistant, multifunction and cost-effectiveness. Accordingly, by dividing the environment of the HELD into consulting, exercising and supplemental categories, the thesis proposed suggestions for constructing a practical user-friendly environment which may help HELDs meet the users’needs better. The construction of consulting environment emphasizes the building of information system and gives suggestions on dictionary list, entry information, fuzzy enquiry, activator, the user’s dictionary and cross-reference system separately which may help to meet users’needs for accessibility, reliability and customized interaction. The exercising environment is discussed from four perspectives:listening, speaking, reading and writing, by means of which the author have tried her best to make HELDs employable learning assistants. As to the supplemental knowledge environment which is always considered as the carrier of multifunction and price, the author have mainly talked about the construction of outside matter, individual information and additional functions from the user’s perspective.The development of dictionary using research makes it clear that the satisfaction of users’needs is of great importance to determine the value of a dictionary. Although the principle of user-friendliness has had significant influence on the making of paper-and-ink learners’ dictionaries, its application upon HELDs is just underway. By giving suggestions on the construction of user-friendly environment in HELDs, the author hopes to offer help for the future compilation and making of HELDs.