Homogeneous or Heterogeneous? Insights into Signposts in Learners' Dictionaries. (13th May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dziemianko, Anna
• Is Part Of: International journal of lexicography. Volume 32:Number 4(2019)
• Page Start: 432
• Page End: 457
• Publication Date: 2019-05-13
• Subjects: signposts -- learners' -- dictionaries -- sense identification -- reception -- production -- retention -- access -- entry navigation -- dictionary use -- user study; Lexicography -- Periodicals; 413.028
• DOI: 10.1093/ijl/ecz011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-3846

Abstract

Abstract: The current study tests empirically whether linguistically homogeneous or heterogeneous signposts better serve dictionary users. It aims to determine which signposts, homogeneous or heterogeneous, are more beneficial to sense identification, language reception, and production as well as immediate and delayed retention of meaning. The paper also investigates whether the usefulness of the type of signposting is dependent on the grammatical category of headwords. The results indicate that entries with heterogeneous signposts are significantly more useful for sense identification and reception. In production, the results obtained after reference to entries with homogeneous and heterogeneous signposts were comparable. Immediate and delayed retention was significantly better when the subjects had consulted entries with homogeneous signposts. The influence of signpost type on the scores for any task was not dependent on the part of speech.