Dictionaries (was Re: ADS visibility)

[Bethany K. Dumas]

On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, Lynne Murphy wrote:

>and the classroom that went no where.  So...what are we doing about the
>state of dictionary (and language and dialect) teaching in the grade school
>(or even high school) classroom?

I cannot answer that question, but I can tell you what I do about it at
u. level. For many, many years, I have routinely included a unit on
dictionaries in every upper-level lx course I teach. My usual tack is to
ask a humanities ref librarian ( who is familiar with social science
databases, etc.) to do a hands-on presentation in the library on
dictionaries, databases, and lx atlases. Then I either give a library
assignment that includes dictionary questions or include one question on
dictionaries on the take-home midterm exam.

Almost everything my students learn is news to them.

Bethany