A.
A definition.
The primary subject of this work is the dictionary
entitled, "Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,
Tenth Edition" hereafter referred to simply
as Merriam's. Further reference by way of a comparison,
which is essential to evaluate carefully the primary
work, will be made to the "Longman English-English-Korean
Dictionary," hereafter referred to as Longman's,
and the "Collin's Concise Dictionary,"
hereinafter referred to as Collin's.
What is a dictionary? Collin's defines dictionary
primarily as, "a book that consists of an
alphabetical list of words with their meaning,
parts of speech, pronunciations, etymologies,
etc," (Collins Concise Dictionary, 404).
Merriam's expands that definition by saying, "
a
reference book containing words alphabetically
arranged along with information about their forms,
pronunciations, functions, etymologies, meanings
and syntactical and idiomatic uses," (Merriam
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 322). Whilst
similarities appear in word order, Merriam's uses
the word 'reference' to precede the word 'book.'
This clearly defines the scope of the dictionary
and connects it to the requirement of 'search
for knowledge', as opposed to the meaning provided
by Collin's.
Yet in the introductory pages in Merriam's, strangely
residing under the heading of 'Grammar and Usage
in the Dictionary', we find further meaning as
to what a dictionary is; "
dictionaries
will continue to form, as the best dictionaries
have always done, a helpful bridge between what
we know about language and how we use it,"
(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 30a).
Collin's, in their introduction, shy away from
connecting what one knows about language and how
one can apply it, to the opposite side of the
coin of finding out what one doesn't know about,
"
those knotty points
" (Collins
Concise Dictionary, ix), and is merely "
a resource for those who love English," (ix).
Thus we are left with conflicting interpretations
of similar definitions.
A glance at the covers also is very telling about
the contents, as opposed to the definition, about
what the book publishers want the reader to believe.
Merriam's has the words "THE WORDS YOU NEED
TO KNOW TODAY" in bold on the front cover.
Collin's has the word "new" appearing
8 times on the back cover. Clearly both are trying
to persuade the viewer that his/her English language
is either out of date or her/his development of
her/his own language is somehow lacking. This
must be viewed from 2 perspectives, namely an
educated English speaker and the learner in an
L2 situation. Arguably the former could be insulted,
whilst the later would feel his knowledge is still
substantially lacking in his quest to speak his
English L2 proficiently. This point will be developed
within 'Inter-cultural Aspects of dictionary usage'
hereunder.
But if dictionaries contain words, then as Fromkin
and Rodman (1998:63) ask, "What is a
word?" Is it as defined by Merriam's (1998,
1363), 'something that is said' or as Collin's
(1740) expands, 'one of the units of speech or
writing that is the smallest isolable meaningful
element of the language,' or more widely as spoken
by Humpty to Alice, "When I say a word, it
means exactly what I want it to mean, nothing
more, nothing less," (Carrol, 1865)
Possibly, they could define 'word' to mean 'a
unit of speech that is described in various contexts
of usage in modern day English.' B.
Survey.
The question requires us to consider (a) the
teacher, and (b) the learner. Prior to an analysis
of what either category sees, reads or understands
by looking at the dictionary, it is submitted
that a prerequisite survey is essential to obtain
subjective insights into the users.
One inquiry was conducted directly by myself
on the two and only EFL booksellers in Pusan
(a port city of 4.5 million people) and a survey
in Elementary and Middle schools was carried
out. Though Bibel and Or (1996) have
evaluated and surveyed a list of dictionaries,
their research starts from the premise that
it is what is in the dictionary that is important.
It is submitted this is flawed, and puts the
cart before the horse.
i) Research considerations.
Whilst not impinging upon the topic per se',
a few notes must be made to justify the research
for it is submitted any teaching involving a
dictionary or dictionaries as is required by
the question needs a sound methodological base
or the results/findings are without basis and
lay no foundation for subsequent inquiry. Various
user-type research has been carried out, (Cowie,
1999:177) yet it is submitted that a critical
component of user research in Korea, for example,
or in any non-English speaking country must
include preliminary research questions enunciated
by Saville-Troike (1989) or the research
may be seriously flawed. Swann (1994)
mentions the qualitative quantitative distinction
is not always clear cut in practice as applied
to education research; the distinction is more
on the continuum than the dichotomy, and it
is often useful to draw on a combination of
methods that may complement one another and
provide a more complete picture of language.
From the viewpoint of mixed methods, some studies
employ a quasi-experiment and observations as
a major source for data collection, along with
questionnaires as an auxiliary method for the
following reasons.
First, a quasi experiment, as McDonough,
J. and McDonough, S. (1997) explains, yields
valuable information and enables a teacher to
answer some specific questions arising from
his or her experience. Second, as Hopkins (1993
cited in McDonough, J. and McDonough, S. 1997)
describes, observation is a "pivotal activity
with a crucial role to play in classroom research,"
(p.101). It is interrelated to the "research
in the interests of increasing knowledge and
understanding a phenomenon" and "whether
that knowledge aspires to be idiographic and
particular, or transferable and general,"
(McDonough, J. and McDonough, S. 1997: 104).
This approach is considered the best to collect
the required information when the researcher
is more interested in the behavior than in the
perceptions of the individuals, (Kumar, 1996).
Third, the questionnaire is one of the most
commonly used descriptive methods in educational
research and its purpose is to obtain a snapshot
of conditions and attitudes. It can afford precision
and clarity because the knowledge needed is
controlled by the questions. In addition, questionnaires
can be used on a small scale and in the classroom
environment, (McDonough, J. and McDonough,
S. 1997: 171).
ii.
Survey one.
Question to the Owner of two books stores, (Young-Kwan
bookstore and Kyobo book store) October 2002.
a) How many dictionaries do you sell a week?
b) Do customers exhibit a preference for a particular
type of dictionary?
Insert
Table
Comment:
(a) Korea has an insatiable thirst for American
English. This is seen by direct observation
and as found in articles, (Dahlin, 1999)
et al. Despite the comments of learned authors
(Akmajian, 1993:36), that U.S. English
can be sub-divided into "standard"
and "nonstandard" forms, Ladefoged,
(1993) suggest, "
there is no
such thing as British English or General American
English. There are (only) numerous dialects
in both countries." In Korea there is still
a popular belief that American English is superior
to the British and that British English vowels
are beyond understanding. Thus the obvious success
of Merriam's sales above noted, despite the
cost.
Whilst dictionary purchasing appears to be substantial,
it will be suggested below that the reasons
for purchasing a dictionary have little to do
with grammar, pronunciation or the search for
meaning, but more so something that may termed
the 'Jones principle.' namely, my neighbor has
one so I must too!
(b) Shop owners indicate that customers frequently
buy 2 dictionaries together, namely a bilingual
and mono English American English dictionary.
This is worthy of research to confirm or refute
Cowie's (1997) research that noted a link between
learning and advancing in English and that certain
dictionaries are used at specific stages of
the learning curve.
iii. Survey two.
This survey was carried out in government schools.
Issues pertaining to confusion of translation
were substantially overcome so as not to be
an issue.
Location:
(a) government
elementary schools.
Students surveyed: total 95
Age range. 11-13
Sex. male and female
Years of English study: 1-4
(b) government
middle schools.
Students surveyed: total 125
Sex: male
Age range. 14-16
Years of English study: 5-7
total
students surveyed 220
1.
Do you have a dictionary?.........Yes
= 205....No = 10....Don't know
= 5
2.
Is it:-
a) English - English.......................0
b) Korean - English......................164
c) English - Korean.......................21
d) Don't know................................20
3.
How often do you use it?
a) once a week.............................5
b) once a month............................64
c) not often...................................134
d) don't know...............................2
4.
Why do you use a dictionary?
a) to check the spelling................8
b) to learn pronunciation..............1
c) find meaning in English from Korean..196
5.
Does using a dictionary help you learn
English?
a) very much.................................0
b) some.........................................23
c) not sure....................................182
C.
i. Pronunciation.
In the Explanatory notes (Merriam's, 12a) appears
a small paragraph entitled 'Pronunciation.'
This preliminary introduction indicates that
'symbols' can be located in both front and back
covers, and that pronunciation is identified
as being between a pair of virgules immediately
following the head word. This small heading
refers the reader of to a further explanation
of the 'symbols' in another section oddly not
indicated by page number.
Upon reading the introduction in the Guide to
Pronunciation, (Merriam's, p 31a-35) the reader
is immediately assailed by two recurring themes.
Firstly that this dictionary, and by implication,
all dictionaries, are not particular involved
with such an issue, "Pronunciation is not
an intrinsic component of the dictionary,"
(31a). Secondly, that the reader encounters
here, as well as consistently throughout the
introductory pages, the pronunciation used herein
is that attributed to '
educated speakers
of the English language,' (31a).
Finally, as if the these two negative weren't
enough, a student who has or may have studied
the IPA symbols discovers that Merriam's uses
another set of symbols combined with some IPA
symbols. Conversely, the less commonly used
(according to this research survey) Collin's
employs the IPA list of symbols with multiple
examples attached to each character. Longman
employs the IPA characters with a single word
example for each character.
Like Merriam's dictionary that appears prima
facie to suggest only 'educated people' should
be using this dictionary, Collins also notes
abruptly that certain pronunciations use different
sounds, and "Such variations are acceptable
and are to be assumed by the reader," leaving
the reader to guess what that could possibly
mean, (Collins, xxi). Longman's has no introductory
commentary at all for the student.
It is submitted that none of three dictionaries
under scrutiny, and in particular the primary
source, see pronunciation as something they
should be giving overt guidance on, but merely
to point the reader in other directions of study
towards more specifically oriented books.
Nevertheless, the question at the outset asks
how helpful students find the dictionary in
pronouncing new words, etc. It is submitted
this also includes such inquiry into how helpful
the students find the dictionary in the pronunciation
of known areas of concern. In that respect we
must consider what concerns a Korean school
student has, namely pronunciation of T and D,
(th and th in Merriam's) and pronunciation of
the sounds l and r. Adults often comment that
they have concerns with z, ? and ? sounds. (Z,
j, zh, in Merriam's).
Also Korean's, like Italians, frequently add
a vowel to the end of a word. Koreans frequently
"
explode," (Ladefoged, 1997:53)
("
slight glottal or unreleased stop
"
(Chang, 1987,225) their final stop consonants;
"it's a big supermarket." ~ "it's
a bigga supermarket." [ its ? 'big?]. The
remedy(ies) may not be found by reference to
Merriam's, and needs reference to a specific
book, e.g. Ladefoged (1993) or by way
of viewing on the multimedia system. This excellent
multimedia is available to all government school
teachers with such software programs as Accent
Coach 1, which allows the student to hear examples,
see the external labial view and inside mouth
view, followed by the opportunity to repeat
into the microphone and observe the computer
graphics of her sound pattern matched against
the computer sound pattern. Reference to a dictionary,
providing the class has an understanding of
IPA symbols (which it does not unless briefly
taught by the adventurous teacher) can show
the difference between correct forms and incorrect
forms, followed by a class exercise. Students
often noted that they self teach themselves
IPA symbol meanings and pronunciation by transferring
their knowledge from a word they know to other
words containing the same symbol.
ii. D and T
The two sounds seem to provide difficulty to
adult Koreans, but not to juveniles. This may
relate more to the fact that adults never had
any oral practice at school, as this element
has only been introduced since the beginning
of the 7th government school curriculum in 2000.
This goes further to issues of the critical
age hypotheses debate started by Lennenberg
(1967) and still consumes academic debate, but
beyond the scope of this question. The two sounds
are usually replaced by /t/-T, /d/ D.
Example~ this is a book - dis is book. (note
no article)
Turning to guidance from Merriam's, we find
that T is transcribed as /th/ and receives little
guidance apart from examples, thin and ether.
The explanation goes on to confuse the reader,
namely that it is a single sound, not two, but
when they appear in sequence, as in knighthood,
this dictionary will place a hyphen between
the /t/ and /h/. Looking for guidance from the
book for D is also vague, with a similar description
of two examples and that it is a single sound.
Collins provides no advice but many more examples,
and Longman provides one example for each class.
Merriam's gives guidance when one turns to the
entry for 'the' (Merriam's, 1221) to read which
sound, th or th to use, (though the print is
so minuscule one need a magnifying glass to
see what it says.)
Again recourse is best had in the classroom
to the Accent Coach program, which clearly demonstrates
the two differences with practice examples.
The tongue position is clearly shown between
the lips in Accent Coach, yet Ladefoged (1997)
suggests this is more a difference between AmE
and BrE. The important fact is the sound and
its understandability.
iii. l and r.
These sounds do not occur in Korean. There is
no similar sound position. Like the southern
Chinese, (Chang, 1987:225) Koreans adults
sometimes have difficulty distinguishing/l/
and /r/. Like the Chinese, /l/ in final position
may be dropped, or replaced with /Ä./ This
does not cause great misunderstandings, however,
r, following a plosive bilabial results in the
/r/ becoming /l./ This leads to confusion and
misunderstanding, e.g. 'I played in the tempe,'
should have meant, 'I prayed in the temple.'
Two sounds in this sentence thus causing speaker
difficulty, namely beginning /r/, final /l/.
Collateral issues relating to Intercultural
communication arise, which requires skilled
listeners who fit the criteria of Saville Troike
(1989) to handle so as to avoid the Korean speaker
losing face.
iv. ?/?/z/
Adult students frequently show a desire to practice
these sounds. In speech they do not perceptibly
appear to have problems, yet it is common to
hear a request for practice. Turning to Merriam's
there is, in this situation, words one can use
to practice, though one must be aware that IPA
? is Merriam's /j./ IPA z and Merriam's are
equivalent but IPA /?/ is Merriam's /zh./ It
can be argued that when a student merely wants
practice, as opposed to guidance, then the dictionary
is a useful resource as in this case.
v. Consonant clusters.
Unlike the Chinese, initial consonant clusters
do not seem a problem, however, it is clear
that final consonant clusters can cause difficulty.
There are close similarities between Chinese
and Korean learners of English in trying to
simplify the final cluster, usually by adding
a /?z/ sound. None of the dictionaries makes
any reference to this and no guidance can be
gleaned by student or teacher. Accent Coach
is again the remedy.
vi. /ch/ /tS/
Initial sounds cause no problem and have a proximity
to a Korea sound, yet final sound is alien to
the Korean language. Thus it is common to hear
the closest sound in Korean being applied by
adding a long vowel /iù/ sound after
the final cluster. No overt guidance in found
in the bilingual dictionary.
vi. Electronic Dictionaries.
During the course of this work a collateral
fact became apparent. Many students possess
expensive electronic dictionaries (pocket size)
which contain the spoken word. Students thus
use this to hear the correct pronunciation of
a word. IPA symbols do not appear in some models,
and do in others. Cost ranges from Aud $50.00
to Aud $300.00.
D.
i. Grammar.
What use does a dictionary play for L2 learners
when it comes to grammar? Cowie (1997, 178)
suggests that research shows students use this
function the least. There is evidence to suggest
that students use a dictionary most often to
look up verbs, nouns, and adjectives, with least
attention paid to repositions, conjunctions
and articles, (Cowie, 1997:181). It is
submitted that the latter items may well in
fact to be shown in Korean centered research
to be at the top of the order because articles
are not part of the Korean grammar, and prepositions
cause much confusion.
Merriam's provides a lengthy introduction into
'Grammar and Usage in the Dictionary' (30a),
yet at the outset they seem to dissuade users
from using the dictionary as a comprehensive
or authoritative source in this field, "
we
may see, at least briefly and occasionally,
in the dictionary is the grammatical system,"
(Merriam's, 30a). However, unlike Collin's or
Longman's, Merriam's provides a very comprehensive
section on punctuation and capitalization. The
coma is used indiscriminately by Korean students
with absolutely no regard for correct usage,
but more so for appearance. (Plug in, the tape
recorder, Yujin.) ((example from student's training
manual on correct classroom English)).
ii. Prepositions.
Students of English as an L2 in Korea find difficulty
in applying the correct preposition. That a
preposition is needed is not the problem, but
using the correct one confuses them. Reference
to Merriam's does not assist the student, for
should they turn to the word 'preposition' they
merely get a definition (Merriam's, 920). Collin's
provides the student with useful information
(in a Usage Note box,) in that it notes that
whilst it was once formerly impermissible to
end a phrase with a preposition, now it is acceptable
form of English grammar. However, here is where
the bi-lingual excels in its function for the
L2 student, and clearly raises the issue again
(as noted in Cowie, 1997) that bi-lingual
dictionaries may have their purpose if used
at the appropriate stage of L2 acquisition.
Apart from the basic definition as seen in the
other two dictionaries, Longman's provides two
illustrated pages (under the title of 'study
notes') that demonstrate clearly for the student
various prepositions and their usage. The student
can refer to the word definition and then see
it illustrated in a picture in the study notes.
The student both sees the demonstration, then
is asked to fill in the correct preposition
in the examples provided.
In this regard, the dictionary proves to be
a valuable aid to the L2 teacher. Further, the
'study notes' are monolingual. Whilst Tomaszczyk
(cited in Cowie, 1997:179) suggests research
results that show users prefer monolingual dictionaries,
Koreans appear to have an advantage using bilingual
dictionaries.
iii.
Articles.
Koreans
do not use articles. Like the Chinese, students
find them very difficult to master. Common phrases
are; 'Did you see doctor?', 'My father is businessman,'
and 'I have apple and the carrot.' It appears
that on the whole articles are almost without
exception omitted by students in both written
and oral production, and inserted randomly (as
the last example) in the hope of getting it
right. Teaching articles in itself seems to
be widely understood at the classroom level
yet in practice they disappear from use. It
is submitted that no dictionary will be of benefit,
apart from supplying a definition. Even the
Longman bilingual dictionary provides no guidance
or usage notes for student reference or practice.
E.
Inter cultural language teaching issue:
Any
cross-cultural communication with a Korean has
a potential to lead to the 'loss of face' syndrome,
(Kramsch, 2001). A non-Korean will fail
to read the Korean body language, unless, as
noted by Saville Troike, (1989:110) "...extensive
background study of the community
"
has first been carried out. In my case this
decree arguably can be substituted for along
term residency in the host country.
It became quite clear by a combination of chance
and awareness of Korean body language that there
was another issue at play not related to any
of the above discussion. It was described to
me by the Director of the Department of Eye
Surgery, of the Bong Memorial Hospital recently
while sitting with him and assisting him in
the writing of an English presentation he was
to give.
A situation arose where we needed to refer to
a bilingual dictionary. One was available which
I handed to Dr. Kim. It immediately became apparent
from his negative body language that something
was wrong and he did not wish to look inside
it. Under friendly interrogation he admitted
that most Koreans had very bad eyesight, even
those with glasses had difficulty at times.
He indicated the size of the print in the dictionary
and said in low voice that Koreans were afraid
to open a book that they knew contained small
print, for it may lead to a loss of face as
viewed by their peers if they could not read
the print, (which though attributable to small
print and bad eyes,) may be seen as an under
educated issue. Education is the corner stone
of Confucionist tradition.
The Korean term (chaemyoun) has far greater
meaning than the western words and meaning,
and includes a sensitivity to the other view.
"Chaemyoun and honor are more important
than life and death," (Yang, S. 2002).
According to Kramsch (2001:46), communication,
whether cross cultural or otherwise, has, as
it's ultimate aim, the need to "
protect
one's own and other participant's face at all
times".
Clearly at play here were two issues as seen
by the Korean doctor, namely he was embarrassed
to open a dictionary whose print would force
him to squint etc, just to read, and possibly
the issue that he did not know what word it
was he was searching for in English. This further
translates to the student learner situation,
where it is known and obvious that bad eyesight
predominates many students who frequently hold
books centimeters from their eyes to read. This
issue may in fact be so significant as to be
a leading factor in the reluctance to use a
dictionary. Thus the issues of 'chaemyoun' (teacher)
and bad eyes (students) combine to silently
defeat a dictionaries use. However, with this
fact at the forefront, and considering inter
cultural language teaching issues, any dictionary
exercise (in Korea) must be planned such that
either pages are photocopies at an enlarged
size, or by choosing (entry/ies) that cause
as little discomfort as possible.
F.
Conclusion:
The question at the outset asks for comment
on the suitability of this dictionary for an
actual or hypothetical class. A simple summary
would say that whilst a dictionary (Merriam's)
provides little or no guidance in addressing
pronunciation problems, it does provide basic
help in simple practice. This is self-admitted
in Merriam's introduction. Grammar issues are
more thoroughly dealt with, but again are a
guide, not a primary resource for learning.
The specific question is now addressed in two
parts. First is a summary of usage as seen academically.
Secondly, specifics of actual classroom usage
are listed.
(a) The use of dictionaries as a tool for L2
learning and teaching in this country is arguably
underutilized. Clearly an educator's duty is
to search out that dictionary which is suited
for her purposes or those of the curriculum
and cultural restraints, and use it as an active
and effective tool; as Seal (1991) says
"
not only do teachers need to have
their students learn how to use the dictionary,
but teachers should keep an eye open for ways
of integrating the dictionary with class work."
The gulf that exists, however, between what
dictionary publishers believe their dictionary
is for (Merriam's, p1, above) and what educators
believe dictionaries do, namely "
that their intention is to tell people what
to do rather than describe what actually occurs,"
(Romaine, 2000:91) suggests the rift
is quite large between the two extremes. Indeed,
if dictionaries are assumed to have a useful
purpose, then one may ask why, inter alia, Methodology
in TESOL, (Long and Richards, 1987) makes
no reference at all to dictionary usage as a
tool in TESOL?
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives
the appearance of fulfilling the ideal of linking
language to usage; however, it is the negative
conscious or subconscious perceptions of teachers
and students that a dictionary may serve little
value that prevents such a dictionary as examined
herein from finding its way into active L2 usage.
Until these perceptions are addressed as a serious
academic area of research with appropriate research
methods, then dictionaries, no matter how good
they are, will sit on shelves on view as opposed
to being essential classroom tools for the learning
and teaching of English L2 grammar and pronunciation.
The paradox of dictionaries noted by Cowie
(1997:182) clearly still exists, though
not necessarily for the reasons noted by that
author.
In the vast cross section of class teaching
I have encountered in Korea, I have yet to see
a government school, university or college actively
use these in the classroom L2 learning context.
Statistically we know that a large percentage
of the students have them, and similarly we
know that statistically a large percentage of
them use them infrequently and only partially
make use of the resources contained therein.
Similarly we know that a large percentage of
the educators have them but see them as a personal
resource to solve an individual question. Somehow
the educators have to address and rectify the
situation that dictionaries are seen as a status
of learning (an L2) without being used to fulfill
that status.
(b) Classroom usage. This conclusion is presented
in tabular form. It was the result of a controlled
demonstration class that ran from 09.00 a.m.
to 1.00 p.m. during normal school hours. The
subjects were Korean Middle school students
(boys 14 years old) in their 5th year of English
L2 instruction. Following a demonstration class
co-taught by a Korean teacher, students were
given instruction in the use of two of the three
dictionaries, Merriam's, and Longman's, to find
certain information, (no instruction was mentioned
about the Collin's dictionary). Ten dictionaries
of each were under the teacher's control and
usage in and out was monitored, (dictionaries
were borrowed and returned by students (group
work). The activity involved finding correct
spelling, AmE or BrE, writing word meanings,
speaking and transcribing two words into IPA.
There were 46 students in the class (average
size) divided into 12 teams. Groups often used
a second dictionary to confirm or check information
gained from the first. Usage for each question
was delineated into time slots, and the Korean
teacher randomly checked item usage.
insert
table
Comments.
An air of artificiality existed in this class,
as dictionaries were present, which is never
the norm.
The only information the students had about
Collin's was that it tended to show the British
spelling more often than Merriam's. This clearly
influenced its usage, that being the simplest
task of the four and confirming much hitherto
noted research that a dictionaries main function
is seen as a spelling aid. It was noted that
Longman's was used first in all cases of word
meaning, with secondary guidance from Merriam's.
This somewhat confirms the results noted in
Cowie, (1999:179) which noted a 95% primary
usage of a bilingual dictionary.
Students were shown one example of the possibility
of different IPA symbols without reference to
any dictionary, thus the double-checking for
the same words. Sounds known to be difficult
to Koreans were chosen. (l/ r/f/v/D/T/) viz;
'father prayed by the lake after viewing the
theater.' (= U.S. spelling) Although the 'pronunciation
lesson' was a mere 10 minutes in length, (co-taught)
the students seemed sufficiently aware of IPA
symbols to make reference to the dictionaries.
The exercise whilst primarily focusing on dictionary
usage/non usage also noted the sentence was
clearly spoken by a group captain chosen to
speak the phrase.
Negative observations.
Sadly, as is so common, dictionaries, which
are costly, came in for various abuses, and
this happened in a controlled situation. As
noted by the senior Korea staff member observing,
this factor alone ensures schools do not provide
dictionaries to students. (herein lies some
clues to publishers to prepare dictionaries
that are anti-paper-abuse) which may reverse
the negativity of supplying the books to students.
insert
table
Footnote:
Though
some classes of words do not change, prepositions,
conjunctions and determiners, the class that
does change (excluding nouns, adjectives and
adv/verbs) and does not find relief in any dictionary,
is termed Konglish. This acronym from 'Korean
English' is now believed to consist of 703 words
that are of Korean origin and are part of the
Korean English speak or use in every day Korean.
None of the dictionaries noted above (even Longman's
Korean English) includes this category of words.
Konglish can be words that are; (a) derivations
of basic English, e.g. air-con from air conditioner,
remote-con from remote control (b) incorrect
translations from Korean, e.g. consent is the
word Koreans use in Korean (loan word) to refer
to the electric plug and power point (the link
between dictionary meaning ad Korean application
becomes obvious,) handle, means 'steering wheel.'
Skinship, probably from /relationship/ and /touching
the skin/ is used daily by teachers and mothers
to represent any closeness, hugging or touching
situation. Where do students find this information?
Though part of every day language, both their
L1 and their L2, they are unrecorded as of yet,
apart from some Internet sites that dabble in
the meanings and probable origins. Many Konglish
words are compound nouns. Given that an elementary
student must know 800 English words, a middle
school student about 1,300 and high school about
2000, Konglish can play an important role in
their vocabulary, yet an as of yet unrecorded
function.
Footnotes.
1.
Accent Coach. English Pronunciation Trainer.
Syracuse Language. Language
Connect
Institute. http://www.languageconect.com
2.
Survey profile.
If we concede that 97% of students in the survey
own or have unfettered access to a dictionary,
but those who constitute 3b + 3c = 213, being
some 99% of all students, we may legitimately
ask why they have a dictionary at all, and go
so far to hypothesize that the 'domino theory'
which is so prevalent in Korean education may
be one leading answer, combined with gross ignorance
about the functions and uses a dictionary, bilingual
or mono-lingual can serve. This however is clearly
the work of well-framed field survey work
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