A SURVEY OF DICTIONARY USE BY THAI UNIVERSITY STAFF AND STUDENTS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POCKET ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES

Abstract

This study aims at surveying both teachers’ and students’ general use of dictionaries, and knowledge of pocket electronic dictionaries (PEDs). It describes teachers’ and students’ use of types of dictionaries, dictionary ownership, preferences for dictionary use, and preferences for dictionary purchase. Participants in this study included 30 lecturers of English from the Department of Language at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) in Thailand and 1,211 first-year non-English major students who also studied at KMUTT. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. Findings of the study indicated that although the teachers preferred and encouraged their students to use monolingual learners’ English dictionaries, the students preferred to use pocket electronic dictionaries. The findings also suggested that teachers were under informed about the contents and capabilities of Thai PEDs.