ELECTRONIC MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARIES AS LANGUAGE-LEARNING AIDS - A CASE-STUDY

The Robert Electronique Project set out on a small-scale to assess and exploit the potential of electronic monolingual dictionaries as language-learning aids as a case study. The project entailed devising a booklet of access procedures and developing a set of suitable applications, limited at this stage to two units of a section devoted to the processing of definitions and supporting information. Both were designed to encourage a process-oriented approach to dictionary-based work and to promote the development of learning strategies and transferable skills. The booklet and units were put into use by a small number of first-year university students. Data on their response was collected from diaries, questionnaires, recorded observation of paired work on the second unit-the most fruitful source of information-and an end-of-project session gathering students with and without experience of the Robert Electronique. The Robert Electronique did have shortcomings, but due to both its information processing facilities and its diverse modes of presentation of the data, it is likely to prove a valuable resource for self- and teacher-directed work, not just as a support tool for other activities, but as a learning aid in its own right.