The Effect of Using Different Types of Dictionaries on Active Recall and Active Recognition of Words: a Case of Iranian EFL Learners

Due to recent developments in technology, the kinds of dictionaries have been diversified in the last decades. Although many researchers have investigated the use of printed dictionaries, the electronic form of dictionaries needs to be investigated in more contexts. Thus, the present study aimed at analysing different types of dictionaries to see their effects on learners‟ degree of success in terms of both active recall and active recognition of words. In this regard, 62 intermediate learners (in terms of vocabulary knowledge), homogenized by Nation‟s Word Levels Test (1990), were divided into six groups: printed bilingual group (PBG), electronic bilingual group (EBG), printed monolingual group (PMG), electronic monolingual group (EMG), blended group of printed monolingual and printed bilingual (bPG), blended group of electronic monolingual and electronic bilingual (bEG). Having taken the pre-test, the participants studied a list of words using the specified type of dictionary. And after one week, they were given the post-test. Using SPSS, MANOVA was run to compare the results obtained by each group. Results showed that the slight difference between the six groups in terms of active recall, active recognition, and total gain was not statistically significant

کلیدواژه ها:

printed dictionaries ، electronic dictionaries ، monolingual dictionaries ، bilingual dictionaries ، active recall ، active recognition