Learners frequently encounter challenges in accurately utilizing near-synonyms in the English language. This investigation explored the similarities and differences among four near-synonymous verbs: "attempt, endeavor, strive," and "try." The analysis encompassed their prevalence across diverse genres, formality levels,…

Corpora are well-known for the affordance to make linguistic regularities salient. Since the coinage of the term 'data-driven learning' (DDL) in the 1990s, much has been done to investigate the effects of DDL on learning vocabulary, most notably lexico-grammatical patterns. However, less researched is how learners construct vocabulary knowledge…

This article offers a critical examination of the current practices and beliefs about vocabulary teaching and learning in typical communicative-approach German classrooms. While research on vocabulary acquisition is scarce, frequency dictionaries reveal that current practice is based heavily on the use of concrete, referential lexemes that may be…

It is proposed that etymological information, usually provided in native speaker's dictionaries but eliminated from learners' references, can serve several important functions such as disambiguate, relate words that are alphabetically far apart, illuminate by providing an image or reference, and motivate with interesting information. (Author/MSE)

Proposes a new type of English-as-a-Second-Language dictionary--in electronic form--that presents typical phraseology rather than words in isolation. Online, without the constraints of space and linear organization, the dictionary can treat the multiword lexical units and common collocational patterns that cohere around a node word and illustrate…

Proposes a system of classifying and forming words in French based on several major word "families" grouped according to their grammatical bases and the types of derivations emerging from them as an effective approach to vocabulary development. (MSE)

A discussion of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching focuses on the relationship of lexical items to the syntactic situations in which they may occur, and the importance of teaching this relationship to language learners. First, common errors made by ESL students that are attributable to lack of syntactic context knowledge are identified.…

Most teaching and reference materials on English idioms are primarily intuition based. As such, they often include seldom-used idioms and incorrect descriptions of the meaning and use of some idioms, hence limiting their usefulness to ESOL students. This article demonstrates how this problem can be addressed through a corpus-based study of the…

A collection of articles on dictionaries for advanced second language learners includes essays on the past, present, and future of learners' dictionaries; alternative dictionaries; dictionary construction; and dictionaries and their users. Titles include: "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; or Vaticinations on the Learners' Dictionary"…

Could corpus analysis be used to solve some of the problems surrounding non-native speakers' understanding of seemingly synonymous words? This research is needed because there is no single universal unified lexical theory that can be applied to the study of semantics or of language as a whole. Instead, there are a variety of views than can be…

Essays on the teaching of translation and on specialized translation, all in French, include: "Perspectives d'optimisation de la formation du traducteur: quelques reflexions" ("Perspectives on Optimization of Training of Translation Teachers: Some Reflections") (Egan Valentine); "L'enseignement de la revision…