DICTIONARY USE AS A WAY OF LEARNING VOCABULARY IN SLA: A PRELIMINARY STUDY Three Chinese Learners of English as a Second Language at the University of the South Pacific

Vocabulary learning is important for L2 learners. There are different types of vocabulary and different ways of acquiring them. When learners are left to study vocabulary on their own, two common ways are available to them: to use the dictionary and to guess. Both researchers and teachers tend to encourage the guessing strategy and discourage the use of the dictionary. Yet little is known about what learners actually do when they turn to a dictionary. The hypothesis of the study is that learners have different reasons for using the dictionary. Three Chinese learners of English at the University of the South Pacific were asked to read a passage and to write down the words they looked up in the dictionary and their reasons for looking them up. Follow-up interviews were also conducted. The data also includes my own diary. Results show that learners may use the dictionary to learn a whole new word, or to deal with an old word. They may use the dictionary to clarify their confusion, or to confirm their guess. The use of the dictionary and the guessing strategy do not seem incompatible. The study suggests that some aspects of dictionary use are positive