Learners Dictionaries

This is the first history of dictionaries of English for foreign learners, from their beginnings in Japan and East Asia in the 1920s to the present day. Anthony Cowie describes the evolution of the major titles, and their fight for dominance of what soon became an enormous market. He shows how developments in lexical and grammatical theory crucially affected the content and structure of ELT dictionaries.

The eighth edition of the this dictionary offers up-to-date coverage of today's English in a clear, attractive format. The book is ideal for upper-intermediate and advanced learners of English. It covers all the words, phrases, and idioms that students need to master in order to speak and write effective English.

This book describes and evaluates the usefulness of a recently developed lexicographical hybrid: the encyclopedic learner's dictionary (ELD). It attemps to answer three key questions: i) What are ELDs?, ii) How useful are they?, and iii) How can they be designed to serve their users most effectively? The first chapter analyses the ELD from a typological perspective. First, the elements combined to create this new branch of lexicographical typology are examined. Next, two encyclopedic learners' dictionaries are dissected and compared: The "Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture" and the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary". Each ELD is compared with its non-encyclopedic parent dictionary, and a checklist of ELD-specific design features is drawn up. The second chapter focuses on the user perspective in lexicographical research. First, a critical survey of previous user-based studies is provided. Next, the questionnaire-based methodology used in the investigation is described. Fourty informants completed the questionnaire and an attempt is made to correlate user characteristics with dictionary use and with attitudes towards the inclusion of encyclopedic information in learners' dictionaries. In the third chapter each design feature found in the ELDs is described in depth and the informants' evaluations of its usefulness are supplied. In this manner, the typological focus of the first chapter and the user perspective of the second chapter are synthesized in a user-informed analysis and evaluation of ELD components. Finally, the implications of this research for the future production of ELDs are presented as a checklist of recommendations, and suggestions for future lexicographical research are made.

Lexicographica. Series Maior features monographs and edited volumes on the topics of lexicography and meta-lexicography. Works from the broader domain of lexicology are also included, provided they strengthen the theoretical, methodological and empirical basis of lexicography and meta-lexicography. The almost 150 books published in the series since its founding in 1984 clearly reflect the main themes and developments of the field. The publications focus on aspects of lexicography such as micro- and macrostructure, typology, history of the discipline, and application-oriented lexicographical documentation.

Lexicographica. Series Maior features monographs and edited volumes on the topics of lexicography and meta-lexicography. Works from the broader domain of lexicology are also included, provided they strengthen the theoretical, methodological and empirical basis of lexicography and meta-lexicography. The almost 150 books published in the series since its founding in 1984 clearly reflect the main themes and developments of the field. The publications focus on aspects of lexicography such as micro- and macrostructure, typology, history of the discipline, and application-oriented lexicographical documentation.

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary is the ideal dictionary for advanced EFL/ESL learners. Easy to use and with a great CD-ROM - the perfect learner's dictionary for exam success. First published as the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, this new edition has been completely updated and redesigned. - References to over 170,000 words, phrases and examples explained in clear and natural English - All the important new words that have come into the language (e.g. dirty bomb, lairy, 9/11, clickable) - Over 200 'Common Learner Error' notes, based on the Cambridge Learner Corpus from Cambridge ESOL exams Plus, on the CD-ROM: - SMART thesaurus - lets you find all the words with the same meaning - QUICKfind - automatically looks up words while you are working on-screen - SUPERwrite - tools for advanced writing, giving help with grammar and collocation - Hear and practise all the words.