1997 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 107-117
Effectiveness of a CD-ROM based English dictionary was compared with conventional printed dictionary for learning a set of English words Learners were asked to learn each English word in two ways, by consulting either a CD-ROM based dictionary on a PC (case 1) or a printed dictionary (case 2). Two separate types of translation test〓 were conducted for the words learned, i. e., translation of English to Japanese and vice versa. Learning time and answering time were recorded and analyzed as well as test scores. In the results, the test scores of case 1 (using a CD-ROM based dictionary) were apparently higher than those of case 2 (learners using a printed dictionary), when they were allowed to freely search each word within the limited time period. However, when they were allowed to search each word only once, no significant difference was observed on the test scores between the two cases, while the time needed for memorizing the word in the case of using a CD-ROM based dictionary was longer than that of using a printed dictionary. Five factors were extracted by factor analysis from 40 items on a questionnaire, and were named, "memory", "ease of study", "operation", "continuance", and "visibility". A significant correlation between the factor score of "memory" and achievement score was found.
