2021 Volume 15 Pages 45-55
The present study examines EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ word search behavior when using paper-based dictionaries (PD) and web-based smartphone dictionaries (WSD). The participants were Japanese university students of English, and the main objective was to ascertain how the type of dictionary used and the level of English proficiency affected word search behavior when seeking to understand an English sentence. An English word search task, in which the participants (PD and WSD groups) were asked to choose the appropriate meaning of target words in simple sentences, was developed. The results showed that, while high proficiency groups achieved higher scores than low proficiency groups, no difference was found in performance between PD and WSD. It was also found that the low proficiency group using WSD was inclined to make mistakes in part-of-speech selection rather than meaning selection. This tendency indicates that low proficiency learners tend to choose the first meaning listed in the dictionary. It is thus suggested that educators should instruct students not only to consider all the meanings provided in a dictionary but also bring their attention to the part-of-speech of a target word in a sentence.
