The Perceived Impacts of a Bilingual Learner's Dictionary

Abstract

This paper reports on research into teachers' perceptions of the impact of using a bilingual learner's dictionary. The research, a perceptions of impact study conducted in South Africa from March 2016 to February 2019, investigates the perceptions of teachers on the impact of the dictionary on themselves as teachers, and their perceptions of the dictionary's impact on their pupils. The findings show that teachers perceived dictionary use to have positive impacts on both the language production and language reception skills of pupils in their L2, in line with other studies. However, they also show unexpected teacher perceptions of impacts on content subjects, L1, teaching itself, and attitudes and behaviours (here called the socio-emotional), especially with regard to learning or teaching. The paper situates this research in the literature on dictionary use for production and reception in language learning, and of impact evaluation, as well as highlighting relevant aspects of the South African education system, particularly the use of English as a language of learning and teaching from an early stage. The dictionary in this study was the Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: isiXhosa and English (De Schryver and Reynolds 2014).