Teaching Dictionary — Using Strategies in Primary Educational System: An Empirical Research

Sofia K. Zerdeli

(Democritus University of Thrace, Greece)

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to present, at first, on a theoretical level, the main reasons, for which the pedagogical dictionary can be used as a vocabulary learning strategy by the students/learners of a language as a mother tongue or as a second/foreign language (L2/FL). Towards this direction, not only should the educational systems adopt methods and techniques for the cultivation of strategic uses of the dictionary, but also teachers have to educate students on how to use dictionaries in an effective way through activities and special exercises connected to their use. Secondly, on an empirical level, we detect the attitudes, the views and the behaviors of the students who attend primary schools throughout Greece and particularly in Thrace, as far as the use of dictionaries by them is concerned. Also, another goal is to examine the reasons for using a dictionary, the ways of teaching students how to use them, and finally the contribution of a dictionary to the vocabulary enrichment and cultivation of language expressions.

Key words: pedagogical dictionary, vocabulary learning strategies, dictionary use, empirical research