OUP, a pioneer and trendsetter in the field of publishing world-class monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, brought together experts from the field to share insights on the use of dictionaries as an effective language learning tool through a suite of 3 webinars during the Dictionary Week, held between July 20-22,2022. The webinars, entitled Role of Monolingual Dictionaries in the Hybrid Setup, Using Dictionaries in the Middle and Secondary Classrooms and for Competitive Exams, and Bilingual Dictionaries and Alignment to NEP 2020, proved to be in complete sync with the impetus that has lately been injected into the academic eco-system by the new education policy.

The role of the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries has a proven track record as being an effective language learning tool, whether it is used as a self-access research and resource tool or as a scaffold for classroom teaching. The sessions explored some of the ways in which the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries can facilitate the processes above by aiding articulation and contextualization of words, conveying meaning, and building complex arguments.

Click on the links of the various sections below to watch the excerpts of the webinar by Dr Nilanjana Banerji.

Dr Nilanjana Banerji,
Senior Children’s Language
Data Specialist, Education
Division, OUP

Role of monolingual dictionaries in the hybrid setup, home-learning and school usage

About the Webinar

The role of the monolingual dictionary has evolved to embrace hybrid learning and continues to strengthen literacy, language learning and content learning. The session talks about learning to use English as global lingua franca. The Oxford Dictionaries curate information to create level appropriate dictionaries. The session discusses the progressive build of the dictionary over the levels by adding in meaning, information, inflexions, lending context to more metaphoric and idiomatic usage, more grammatical information and phrases, etymology, usage notes, and word history. Subject dictionaries come with curated information with content specific to the area of engagement. The session dwells on how these dictionaries are designed for easy access for learners with varied base learning, abilities, and interests. Some ways in which the dictionary may be used as tool in the classroom and at home are demonstrated.

Oxford monolingual English dictionary as a learning and reference tool in hybridized scenario

Progressive levels in primary through secondary dictionaries

Advantages and uses of subject dictionaries

Use of supplementary dictionary material in class

Using dictionaries as tools at home and in class