To Define And Inform: An Analysis Of Information Provided In Dictionaries Used By Learners Of English In China And Denmark

Saihong Li

ISBN 10: 1443822337 / ISBN 13: 9781443822336

Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: To Define And Inform: An Analysis Of Information Provided In Dictionaries Used By Learners Of English In China And Denmark
• Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1443822337
• ISBN 13: 9781443822336
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New

About this title

Synopsis

"To Inform and Define: An Analysis of Information Provided in Dictionaries Used by Learners of English in China and Denmark" presents a masterly synthesis of lexicographical theory in relation to bilingual and learner's dictionaries and advances a radical argument about how such dictionaries are used and how they should be improved for the convenience of students. By tracing the history of the terms 'semantic' and 'pragmatic' in linguistics and philosophy, Saihong Li shows the weakness of any conceptual distinction between them. She goes on to demonstrate how inappropriate these terms are for thinking about the ways in which words are defined and explained in dictionaries. The theoretical argument is supported by detailed and comparative empirical research: learners of English as a second language in both China and Denmark were interviewed about their experiences as users of standard learner's dictionaries. The results are presented in tabular form and their interpretation is statistically informed. This is a path-breaking study. Saihong Li makes an important contribution to lexicographical theory, and advances a sophisticated methodology for the comparative study of English-language leaning on an international scale and in the global marketplace of learner's dictionaries. Her work will be of great value for language teachers, lexicographers, and students of interpretation, translation and language pedagogies. "To Inform and Define" should also attract serious attention from editors and publishers of learner's dictionaries.

About the Author

Saihong Li was born in 1972, in Tieling, north-eastern China. She studied English for the BA at Liaoning Normal University; her MA in Applied Linguistics is from Dalian Maritime University. She was a lecturer at both of these universities, in English and Linguistics, and in 2001 was a visiting researcher at Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 2002 Saihong was awarded a scholarship to pursue further research in translation studies, lexicography and language pedagogies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Since then she has been a teacher of Chinese and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark and the Copenhagen Business School. In 2006 she was awarded a stipend for doctoral research and in 2009 was awarded the PhD by the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Her dissertation on lexicography and language learning forms the substance of the present publication. In 2010 Saihong moved to the UK to take up a position as Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and Chinese at the University of Salford. Her experiences have straddled diverse cultures, languages and disciplines; her theoretical reflections are informed by many perspectives, all of which contribute to her practice as a teacher.