The aim of this presentation is to provide practical suggestions to help colleagues use online dictionaries effectively. We begin by exploring the ways in which dictionaries on the Internet have overcome the constraints of traditional dictionaries. We evaluate the advantages that online dictionaries offer, while also considering some potential disadvantages. The first major advantage is that we have access to wide variety of dictionaries, and nearly all of them are free. Another major benefit is the way information is accessed and displayed; online dictionaries are easy to search, and make use of multimedia capabilities to include sound, pictures and even video. The presentation distinguishes four different ways of accessing and using these resources. The first of these concerns dictionaries accessed through a dedicated website. These have the advantage of reliability, but some of them are subscription services. The second category is dictionaries integrated into other websites – usually bilingual dictionaries to help speakers of other languages to understand the predominantly English content of the Internet. Then, we look at an example of how a dictionary can be integrated into your web browser, so that it is available to use with every site you visit. Finally, there is the dictionary that you can integrate into your word processor, invaluable for writing and vocabulary activities. We examine various learner’s dictionaries, assessing what is available and emphasising the importance of choosing an appropriate dictionary according to the level and the needs of the learners. We also look at the additional facilities that learner’s dictionary sites offer for language development. Finally, we consider ways to train learners to use dictionaries more effectively. In particular, we emphasize the importance of training learner’s to select the correct meaning of a word according to the context, and we look at ways in which the dictionaries can guide learners in this process.

1. Online Dictionaries
…and the attitude of the bus

2. Benefits of online dictionaries

3. Easy to Search
• Don’t depend on alphabetical
organisation
• Can perform complex searches
• Provide hyperlinked cross-references
• Definitions may be accessed from
thematically organised list of headwords

4. spoken headwords
• students can hear the pronunciation

5. Pictures & Video
• Unlimited number of pictures to illustrate
artefacts and distinguish features
• Scripted video clips to illustrate actions
and concepts

6. Unlimited Size
No limit to:
• number of headwords
• length of each definition
• number of examples

7. More information
• increasing amount of grammatical
information
• information about word behaviour in
context
• usage notes, comments on pragmatic
function, warnings of register
restrictions, and examples taken from
corpora of authentic texts

8. Understandable
• Clicking on any word in a definition
produces a definition for that word

9. Integration
An online reference can combine:
• Monolingual dictionary
• Bilingual dictionary
• Thesaurus
• Encyclopaedia
• Subject dictionaries
• Other reference works

10. Customisation
• All these works can be accessed
through a single query, with the output
tailored according to user options.
• Dictionaries can be continuously edited
and updated.

11. Availability
You have access to an enormous variety
of different kinds of dictionaries…
…and they’re nearly all free.

12. “There are 6800 known languages
spoken in the 191 countries of the
world. Fewer than 1,000 have writing
systems (the others are only
spoken) and currently over 260 are
represented by on-line dictionaries.”
www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html

13. Access
•Dedicated web site
•On any website
•Integrated in web browser
•Integrated in word processor

14. Dedicated Dictionary site
A special site where the dictionary is
accessed

15. www.xrefer.com
“xreferplus takes its content from some of the world's
best and most respected reference publishers so that
you know that you can trust what you read.”

17. Dictionary.oed.com
“The Oxford English Dictionary Online is a subscription
service. Access to the Dictionary is only available to
users with valid licences.”

20. On any web site
There is increasing demand for online bilingual
dictionaries integrated into various sites
– e.g. www.in.gr
It’s there when you need it …but there’s no
guarantee that the translations or definitions
are accurate.

22. Integrated in web browser
Choose a dictionary to integrate into your
web browser – you can use it on any
web site you visit
• www.lookwayup.com
• www.wordsmyth.net

23. Lookwayup
“…is also a browser add-on that combines
dictionary, thesaurus, translation, and
advanced search tool. With a double-click you
can look-up the meaning of a word, or a
phrase, search it on the page or the whole
Web using your favorite search engine, check
whether books have been written on the
subject, and more! All that without leaving the
Web page.”

25. • How does it work?
• On a page where it is activated, double-click on any
word
• Alternatively, if it is installed on your browser (10
seconds), then press the LookWAYup button
• Information box pops up right on the page – no need
to go to a search engine or any other page
• Information box contains
• Definitions
• Synonyms and related terms
• Contextual queries to search engines
• Related information
• Extended search tools

26. www.wordsmyth.net
“Wordsmyth is an innovative and evolving language reference
source that meshes the functions of a dictionary and a thesaurus
with powerful and flexible search capabilities. Both the
Wordsmyth Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus and the
Wordsmyth web site reflect the philosophy that word meanings
are not simply equations that one can get right or get wrong, but
rather grow out of and depend on specific uses and contexts.”

27. Integrated in word processor
Choose a dictionary to integrate into your
word processor – as simple to use as
the Word spell-check
www.wordweb.co.uk
“…excellent for writing and vocabulary activities, and
pair work on dictionary skills activities. Future
dictionaries will produce a context-sensitive definition
or translation, tailored to the domain of the text."

29. Bilingual and subject dictionaries

36. Learner’s Dictionaries –
games and activities

48. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
“News Reader features
articles on people and
events that have recently
been in the news.
Using the OALD, you can
look up unfamiliar words as
you read.”
But the actual dictionary
isn’t online.

50. www.x-word.com
“Create fun vocabulary puzzles automatically from a list
of words. Many theme lists are supplied, or make your
own. Write some clues, print out (or put on the web!)
and you have the perfect teaching aid.”

51. “Here at the Foundry, you have access to a variety of tools for
working and shaping the linguistic resources of Wordsmyth into a
variety of uses.
Use the Crossword Puzzle Helper to inspire you in the most
difficult of riddles.
Word jumbles, or anagrams, are quickly solved and defined with
our simple Anagram Solver.
Teachers will save time with the Vocabulary Quiz Builder, which
helps you generate customized, publishable vocabulary quizzes.
Create your own mini-dictionary with the Glossary Maker, a handy
way to make handouts.”
www.wordsmyth.net/foundry.html

53. Learner Training

56. Choice of dictionary
Choose the most appropriate type of
dictionary depending on the level and
needs of the learner.

58. Choice of Cambridge
Dictionaries
Cambridge International Dictionary of English
Cambridge Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Dictionary of American English
Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms

59. The Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary has very short, simple definitions:
attitude noun [C], [U]
how you think or feel about something and how this makes you behave
a positive attitude
He has a very bad attitude to/towards work.

60. Other dictionaries in the family provide
different styles of definition.

61. The Cambridge International Dictionary
first gives us a choice of basic meanings to
guide us to the right definition to suit the
context:
attitude (OPINION)
attitude (POSITION)
This overcomes one of the most common
sources of learner error.

62. attitude (OPINION)
noun
(a) feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that follows
from this
It's often very difficult to change people's attitudes. [C]
She takes the attitude that children should be allowed to learn at their own pace. [U +
that clause]
The government's attitude to(wards) the refugees is not sympathetic. [U]
He seems to have undergone a change in/of attitude recently, and has become much
more co-operative. [U]
I don't like your attitude (=the way you are behaving). [U]
That boy has a real attitude problem (=behaves in a way that makes it difficult for othe
people to have a relationship with him or work with him).
If you say that someone has attitude, you mean that they are confident and
independent, sometimes in a rude or unpleasant way.

63. attitude (POSITION)
noun [C]
a position of the body; posture
She lay sprawled across the sofa, in an attitude of complete abandon.
If you strike an attitude, you hold your body in a way which suggests a particular
quality or feeling.
He struck an attitude of offended dignity and marched out of the room.

65. Learner training is necessary to overcome
the tendency to select the wrong
translation when several senses of a
polysemous word are translated in one
entry.

66. The attitude of the bus
Η στάση του λεωφορείου