A couple of years ago, in my grade 7 core French class we did a project on an app. Students were supposed to choose something they liked or were passionate about (a noun); find three descriptive adjectives; add verb or two; and along with several colourful pictures and their voice recording they arranged the parts into a 10-20 second video that would show the audience the "essence" of that chosen item. There were successful projects on mountain bike, lollipop, Labrador retriever, hockey, and so on.
One student proudly showed me her work that she had been working on for a full hour. I was very surprised to see the title of the project: Mon Chéri. According to the student, Mon Chéri was sweet, delicious, appetizing - and dripping! It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the project was about "honey"! I asked the student how she had come up with the word, and she attentively and politely explained that she really likes honey, she eats honey every day, and she typed it into the browser and according to Google Translate, honey is Mon Chéri... (then she saw my face, probably noticed how I tried to hold back my laughter)...isn't it?
That was the point when I realized that these days most students don't have the simplest skills of how to use a dictionary. They are used to instant answers ("Hey Siri!"), type, or dictate to a device and the answer pops up. They are often not equipped to critically analyze the answer, or to synthesize the information: they take it as it is. In primary classes we do spend a whole unit on map skills - even if we know that a lot of our students will never see a physical map, only listen to the voice of a GPS - , but we miss to teach them how to use a dictionary.
This is the entry they would see in a paper dictionary:
and this is what comes up on Google translate:
Learning from that experience, these days I spend at least one hour with my French class to interpret and understand the simplest symbols and abbreviations in a dictionary. Based on entries like the one above, we would talk about alphabetical order, parts of speech, gender, homophones and homonyms, and the importance of spelling. I have an activity for them that requires the use of a paper dictionary, and this is when I realize how many don't understand how words are arranged in order or how to read in columns!
I truly believe that higher academic learning is very difficult without these skills, even when it just means the visual ability to skim a text, synthesize the meaning or select the useful piece of information.
An article in The Week listed several advantages of using a paper dictionary versus an online one: exercising the brain, improving spelling, discovering random new words while reviewing older ones, not getting distracted by ads and side bars... Using an online dictionary is definitely faster, and it probably contains visuals with interactive features: search functions, graphics, links and general "maneuverability" - but it's better for students if the organization of an entry mimics a classic dictionary format and allows them to participate in the thinking process.
References:
Riedling, A. Reference Skills for the School Librarian. 2019. Chapter 6. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Kipfer, B.A. 9 reasons why print dictionaries are better than online dictionaries. 2015. The Week https://theweek.com/articles/462575/9-reasons-why-print-dictionaries-are-better-than-online-dictionaries
Maslawati, M. Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Dictionaries to Enhance Vocabulary
Learning of ESL Learners. 2017 http://papers.iafor.org/wp content/uploads/papers/aceid2017/ACEID2017_34731.pdf
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