The Teaching and Learning of Discourse Analysis

Assignment 3 : Mini Research Proposal on CALL

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELECTRONIC DICTIONARY IN ENHANCING ENGLISH VOCABULARY OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

1.0  Introduction

With the advancement of science and technology, the internet and worldwide web are widely used by people across the globe. People are interconnected even though they are living far away from each other. They are interconnected through social media such as Facebook and Twitter as well as other means of communication, for instance Whatsapp, Instagram, Emails, Skype and Blogs. These website, social networking sites and applications are created with the advance of computers, tabs, smartphones which use the technology of internet. People are extremely benefited with this innovation of science and technology.

Besides of communication, there are other areas that people can gain benefits from this advance of technology, for instance in the area of teaching and learning languages. According to Mclyntre (2010) since the Samuel Johnson has created such the most impressive and authoritative dictionary produced in Early Modern period in 1755, dictionary was heavily produced, not only in English language, but also other language as well. Language learners always bring thick dictionary during language class in order to search for the meanings of the words.

As mentioned earlier, the creation of internet, computers, tabs and smart phones has made people in this world interconnected. People created applications such as Whatsapp, Wechat, Facebook, Twitter and many others to contact other person freely, only subscribing the internet services. In line with this, people also have created electronic dictionary which are available for free. There are also applications for electronic dictionary which can be downloaded into the smartphones. It includes the meaning of the words as well as the pronunciation according to American English and British English. Thus, people nowadays are become easier in language learning especially in enhancing vocabulary since they have other options in searching for the meaning of a word rather than carrying heavy dictionary.

Dictionary is the most important materials in language learning particularly in vocabulary enhancement. It tells users the meaning of words, pronunciations, grammar and the usage of the words. Without dictionary, learning language shall be very difficult and it shall be no standardization of a language. 

2.0 Statement of the Problem

In acquiring a language, knowing many words is important. Going through the traditional way of flipping through thick dictionaries in order to find meaning of words, as well as spending time to search for the words especially when reading a book or newspapers; it has made students loss the interest and lead them to simply guess the meanings. Unfortunately, they might guess the wrong meanings.

Thus, we are fortunate due to the development of science and technology which has brought to the invention of electronic dictionaries. However, electronic dictionary is still new and there are still some doubts of its effectiveness in enhancing English vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, not all students are aware of electronic dictionary especially for students with rural background.

3.0 Purpose/Objectives

This research was designed to study the effectiveness of electronic dictionaries in enhancing English vocabulary among university students. The objectives of this research are as followed:

1.      To examine the effectiveness of electronic dictionaries in enhancing English vocabulary knowledge.

2.      To study the perception of university students towards electronic dictionaries.

4.0 Research Questions

1.      What is the level of effectiveness of electronic dictionaries to enrich English vocabulary knowledge?

2.      What are the perceptions of university students toward electronic dictionaries?

5.0 Literature Review

            5.1 Literature Review 1

Title:  EFL teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the use of electronic dictionaries for learning English

Author: Reza Dashtestani

Journal: CALL-EJ, volume 14, number 2, p.51-65

URL:  callej.org/journal/14-2/Dashtestani_2013.pdf

Purpose of Study: To investigate the efficiency of using electronic dictionaries for learning English

Statement of Problem: There is very limited works on comparing teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the use of electronic dictionaries. 

Research Questions:

1. What are EFL teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the use of electronic dictionaries? Is there any significant difference between EFL teachers’ and students’ attitudes?

2. What are EFL teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the obstacles to the use of electronic dictionaries for learning EFL?

3. What is the current state of the use of electronic dictionaries for learning EFL?

Methodology:

1)      In this study, a mixed-method of research design was employed. Both questionnaires and interviews were used to gain the perceptions of both EFL teachers and students about the use of electronic dictionaries.

2)      The results of questionnaires were analysed using the mean and standard deviation and the differences between the attitudes of the two groups of participants were identified using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. The interviews responses were translated into English

Sampling/population/participants

A cluster sample was used to select the participants form 11 language teaching institutions and the participants were 126 EFL students and 73 EFL teachers.

-          All the students took part in the study voluntarily

-          The EFL teachers were BA/BS holders and MA/MS holders

Finding & Discussion

1)      The results of questionnaires

-          EFL students had positive perception toward electronic dictionary due to its easiness to use and access, portability, audio-visual features and online access to electronic dictionaries.

-          The EFL teachers also had positive attitudes toward the benefits of electronic dictionaries such as its portability, provision of sufficient input for students and enhancement of students’ autonomy

2)      The results of interviews

-          From the interviews, the students seem eager to use electronic dictionaries while, on other hand, the teachers showed hesitation to use online dictionaries.

-          The students said possibility of conducting the searches easily, easy portability, and time efficiency were among of the benefits of using electronic dictionary.

-          However, despite the easiness of using electronic dictionaries, the students also mentioned some limitations of using electronic dictionaries which were incomplete definitions, low quality of the audio properties and students’ unfamiliarity with different types of electronic dictionaries.

-          Most of EFL teachers said unsuitable versions of electronic dictionaries were used by the EFL students and they also raised the issue of lack of facilities to use electronic dictionaries in classrooms and they also said need training on how to use and select suitable versions or types of electronic dictionaries.

3)      Both groups of respondents had positive attitude toward the use of electronic dictionaries for EFL.

4)      The teachers were aware of the challenges and barriers to the usage of electronic dictionaries and they should strive to improve their knowledge on the usage of electronic dictionaries in order to help their students use electronic dictionaries efficiently.

5.2 Literature Review 2

Title: Evaluating L2 readers’ vocabulary strategies and dictionary use

Author: Caleb Prichard

Journal: Reading in a Foreign Language, Vol. 20, No. 2, October 2008, pp. 216–231

URL: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ815122.pdf

Purpose of study: The purpose of this study is to examine the dictionary use of Japanese university students to determine just how selective they are when reading nonfiction English texts for general comprehension.

Statement of problem:

Some questions arise when second language instructors have different assumptions on the effectiveness on using dictionaries while reading. Some of the instructors were too dependent on the usage of dictionaries while some of them discouraged the usage of it. .

Research Questions:

1)      Did the participants look up enough words to enable comprehension but use other vocabulary strategies when possible?

2)      Did the participants tend to look up useful, high-frequency words rather than infrequent, technical words?

3)       Did the participants tend to look up words that are relevant to the main points of the passages, rather than the supporting details?

4)      Did the participants more often look up words that are either useful words or words relevant to the main points of the passages rather than uncommon words in the supporting details of the passages?

Methodology:

The methods used in the study were pretest and reading task. Three authentic reading passages which are short new item, a section from a book, and longer feature news story were given to the participants.

Sampling/population/participants

The participants of this research were 34 females’ university students in Japan who were in the highest level of the university’s intensive English program. 17 of them were the first-year students while the other 17 were the second-year students.

Finding & Discussion

1)      The Numbers of Words Looked Up

-          It is shown that most of the participants used the dictionary links enough times to comprehend the texts, however they also used other strategies such as ignoring unknown words or inferring their meaning, at other times.

2)      The Frequency and Usefulness of the Words

-          It was revealed that the participant more likely to look up words that either useful or high frequency words.

3)      Word Frequency and Context

-          It showed that 75% of the words looked up in the online dictionary were related and fit to the main point of the passage given.

4)      It was suggested that the participants should be aware of the words that have to be looked up.

5)      The participant who depended on the dictionary could have finished the task earlier and efficiently compared to other strategies such as guessing vocabulary from context or ignoring technical words not essential to the main points of the passages.

5.3 Literature Review 3

Title: What Lexical Information Do L2 Learners Select in a CALL Dictionary and How Does it Affect Word Retention?

Author: Batia Laufer and Monica Hill

Journal: Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 3, No. 2, January 2000, pp. 58-76

URL: http://www.llt.msu.edu/vol3num2/laufer-hill/

Purpose of study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between what is looked up about new words when different kinds of information are available and how well these words are remembered.

Statement of problem: Incidental vocabulary is learnt unintentionally through other activities such as reading and communication. Some questions arise when people doubt about whether word which are not noticed in the input can be learned or not. They were also questioned whether noticing alone can resulted in language acquisition.

Research Questions:

1)      What percentages of words are remembered after being looked up in an electronic dictionary during a reading task?

2)      Are different lookup preferences associated with different levels of retention?

3)      Is there a relationship between the number of lookups and retention?

Methodology:

The methods used for this study consisted of three stages which were pre-test, tutorial and vocabulary retention test. The pre-test was aimed to find out whether or not some of the 12 words that were highlighted before (target words) were familiar. After the stage of pre-test, the participants gone through a tutorial session in which they were instructed to read the text with consisted of the target words. After they have completed the reading task, they were given a retention test.

Sampling/population/participants

There are 97 subject participated in the study however only 72 of them were left for data analysis. 32 EFL students from the University of Haifa, Israel were non-English majors taking a course in English for Academic Purposes. They had eight years of English education in high school prior to their university studies. Another 40 participants were the first year ESL students from the University of Hong Kong. They were students of Social Sciences and Arts while two students were English majors however their level of English were the same as the others.

Finding & Discussion

1)      Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and CALL Dictionary Information

-          It was proven that the use of online dictionaries have a positive effect on incidental vocabulary learning. The Israeli group remembered 33.3% of the words while Hong Kong group remembered 62% of it.

2)      Variability in Dictionary Lookup Patterns

-          6% of the Israeli subjects and 32.5% Hong Kong subjects depended on the English meaning of the target items and chose to look up for the additional information. It clearly revealed that different people have different lookup patterns based on the country in which they came from.

3)      Lookup Patterns and Incidental Vocabulary Learning

-          There was disuniform relationship between lookup patterns and retention of looked up words. Since different groups of learners from different countries have different ways of using dictionary, the lookup strategies which learners feel most comfortable affected the good retention.

6.0 Research Design

6.1 Methodology

This study focuses on electronic dictionaries usage for vocabulary enrichment among students of eleven departments in Kuliyyah Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, IIUM, which includes the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Department of Communication, Department of English Language and Literature, Department of Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh, Department of General Studies, Department of History and Civilization, Department of Political Science, Department of Psychology, Department of Qur’an and Sunnah, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion. The method used in this study is quantitative research method, in which pre-test and post-test on vocabulary and questionnares for the respondents’ perceptions upon the usage of electronic dictionaries.

6.2 Sampling

A total number of 220 students of Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) are involved, where twenty students will be selected from each eleven departments of KIRKHS to take part in this research. Respondents will be chosen based on random sampling method, where the researchers will inquire for students’ name list from each of the departments’ offices mentioned and researchers will take up any twenty names of students as the targeted respondents. The respondents of this research are all undergraduate students, enrolling in Level 4 (final year) of their studies. While the study is based on random sampling method, hence the primary goal of this research is not to measure or determine whether undergraduate students are competent in their vocabulary knowledge, meanwhile it is expected that the level of English proficiency and acquisition of the respondents, vary.

6.3 Framework

The framework of this study is the level of vocabulary acquired by undergraduate university students with the usage of electronic dictionaries.

6.4 Duration of Research

The research will take place in six months which is equivalent to one semester.

6.5 Procedure

As the research questions suggests, this study  focuses on two procedures whereby the first procedure is by using a vocabulary test which involves the pre-test and post-test method while the second procedure is by distributing a set of questionnares to be answered by the same respondents who sat for the vocabulary test. The vocabulary test is a test taken from Foreign Language Vocabulary Quizzes, The Internet TESL Journal, which originally consist of 418 set of vocabulary words, but for the purpose of this research, only 30 vocabulary set of words were taken. The test questions are the vocabulary sets of words, that comes along with four selection of answers where the correct answer need to be chosed by the respondents. Both the pre-test and post-test set of questions (the vocabulary set of words) are the same ones. However, after the pre-test, the respondents will be given a reading text that consist few of the words (vocabulary sets) that were asked in the pre-test. The reading text given is for the purpose of  familiarize the respondents with the peculiar words they might encounter and encourage them to use electronic dictionaries to search for meanings of words. Then, the same vocabulary test will be given to the respondents to be answered (the post-test method) by them. This is for the purpose of seeing the progress of vocabulary knowledge enrichment of the respondents after  reading the text given, aided by electronic dictionaries. With that, comparison can be made based on the pre-test and post-test results, of their level of improvement in terms of knowledge in vocabulary, in a way it it believed that this method could enrich the vocabulary knowledge, provided with the aid and help of electronic dictionaries.

            Other than that, relying on the second procedure of this research, the respondents will also be asked about their perceptions upon the usage of electronic dictionaries after the pre-test and post-test. A set of questionnare will be given to each respondents, whereby the questionnaire contains ten questions which were developed in order to view students’ perceptions on how electronic dictionaries could enrich their vocabulary knowledge.  The questions are accompanied with range of answer choices which needed them to determine their level of agreement or disagreement, for instance, the respondents need to choose the range of numbers provided; 1 for strongly agree, 2 for agree, 3 for disagree and 4 for strongly disagree.

6.6 Matrix Table

RESEARCH QUESTION(S)	METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION	METHOD FOR DATA ANALYSIS
1. What is the level of effectiveness of electronic dictionaries in enriching English vocabulary knowledge?	Pre-test and Post-test	Google Docs
2. What are the perceptions of university students towards electronic dictionaries?	Questionnaire	Google Docs

7.0 Expected Findings

The use of a dictionary has been shown to have a positive effect  on incidental vocabulary learning. Yet some studies show that second language readers often decide not ot use the dictionary when meeting unfamiliar words in a text (Bogaards, 1998; Hulstijn 1993). One of the reasons often reported by students is the time involved in flicking through the dicionary pages and the subsequent disruption of the flow of reading. An eletronic dictionary may provide a good solution to this problem. The ease and speed of using may encourage the learner to look up unfamiliar words. This in turn, will not only contribute to more fluent reading, but will also increase the chance of acquiring the looked up words. With this researchm it is expected that undergraduate unversity students are aided by electronic dictionaries in order to help in English language proficiency, especially in their vocabulary enrichment and it is to be proven that electronic dictionaries appear as mechanisms that are beneficial towards undergraduate university students and also as useful tools to inculcate language learning.

Meanwhile, for the questionnares on the perception of students upon the usage of electronic dictionaries in language learning, it is expected that the respondents to come out with positive perceptions. Students are expected to have the awareness on the usage of electronic dictionaries and have personally use and familiarize themselves with the applications. All in all, this research is expected to answer all the research questions posted and will receive positive feedbacks from the respondents.

8.0 Appendices

8.1 Vocabulary Test Sample

College Board Vocabulary Test

The data for this quiz is from John H. Bickford, Jr.

This quiz is part of Foreign Language Vocabulary Quizzes.

by The Internet TESL Journal

1) Grievous

(a)causing grief or pain; serious, dire, grave
(b)illogical, of questionable truth or merit
(c)not easily discouraged or subdued
(d)humorous, funny, jocular

2) Quixotic

(a)extravagantly chivalrous, romantically idealistic, impractical
(b)mournful, excessively sad
(c)diligent, hard-working, sedulous.
(d)unwillingness to compromise, stubbornness

3) Adamant

(a)hard and inflexible; unyielding
(b)causing tears, tearful
(c)to chastise, correct by punishing
(d)not easily exhaustible; tirelessness

4) Irresolute

(a)unresolved, indecisive
(b)obscene
(c)assistance, relief in time of distress
(d)propriety, properness

5) Facetious

(a)humorous, funny, jocular
(b)a supporting bar
(c)protest against, express disapproval of
(d)to gather and save; to store up

6) Implacable

(a)incapable of being placated, unpleasable
(b)to soothe
(c)steep, difficult ascent; laborious
(d)rules establishing standards of conduct

7) Impassive

(a)without feeling, not affected by pain
(b)drink large quantities
(c)impulsive, forceful, with energy
(d)shameful, expressing disgrace

8) Felicitous

(a)apt; suitably expressed, well chosen, apropos
(b)wasteful, prodigal, licentious, extravagant
(c)a quack remedy, an untested cure
(d)an analysis, examination, test

9) Daunt

(a)intimidate, make fearful
(b)thrust out, push forth
(c)to roam, wander freely
(d)reconciling, soothing, comforting, mollifying

10) Epitome

(a)brief summary or abstract; representative example; a typical model
(b)asking humbly, beseeching
(c)to darken, make obscure, muddle
(d)lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery

11) Arrant

(a)in every way, being completely such
(b)deceptive; an illusion
(c)skeptical, unwilling to believe
(d)causing harm or ruin, pernicious, destructive

12) Auspicious

(a)favorable, successful, prosperous
(b)lofty, noble
(c)coming into existence, emerging
(d)auspicious, presenting favorable circumstances

13) Provident

(a)frugal; looking to the future
(b)intimidate, make fearful
(c)affirm, assert, prove, justify
(d)controversial, argued

14) Sophistry

(a)fallacious reasoning, faulty logic
(b)worsen, diminish in value
(c)ruddiness; heavily decorated; ornateness
(d)practicing self-denial, austere, stark

15) Conjoin

(a)to join together
(b)to move in wavelike fashion, fluctuate
(c)to polish, rub to a shine
(d)to stir up, arouse, incite

16) Exculpate

(a)to clear from a charge of guilt
(b)pleasing in appearance, attractive
(c)causing tears, tearful
(d)contentious, quarrelsome, contumacious, given to fighting

17) Ardor

(a)warm interest, passion, enthusiasm, zeal
(b)to fake illness or injury, in order to shirk a duty
(c)commonplace, trite, unremarkable
(d)reject, mock, to go against

18) Sanguine

(a)cheerful, confident, optimistic
(b)boldness, brashness, intrepidness
(c)to join together
(d)assistance, relief in time of distress

19) Baneful

(a)causing harm or ruin, pernicious, destructive
(b)intense, zealous
(c)grow forth, send out buds
(d)projecting, prominent, undesirably noticeable

20) Mundane

(a)worldly as opposed to spiritual; commonplace, everyday
(b)pleasing in appearance, attractive
(c)grow forth, send out buds
(d)uncertain, risky, dangerous

21) Tawdry

(a)cheap, gaudy, showy, tacky
(b)worsen, diminish in value
(c)like a rock, hard, stony
(d)practical, favoring utility

22) Partisan

(a)one-sided, committed to a party, biased or prejudiced
(b)to destroy, exterminate, cut out, exscind
(c)a song of praise or triumph
(d)learned, scholarly

23) Chauvinist

(a)a blindly devoted patriot
(b)a repetition, a redundancy
(c)to limit
(d)unwholesomely bad-smelling, putrid

24) Ramify

(a)to be divided or subdivided; to branch out
(b)asking humbly, beseeching
(c)shyness
(d)a model, example, or pattern

25) Pundit

(a)a learned scholar, an authority on a subject
(b)to hinder, obstruct, or block
(c)extreme poverty
(d)worsen, diminish in value

26) Taciturn

(a)untalkative, silent
(b)courageous, high-spirited
(c)immoral person
(d)a raid, a sudden attack

27) Hallow

(a)to make holy; consecrate
(b)to be thrifty, to set limits
(c)enlightening
(d)seeming, appearing as such, professed

28) Paradigm

(a)a model, example, or pattern
(b)grow forth, send out buds
(c)transparent, gauzy
(d)a connection, tie, or link

29) Epitome

(a)representative, a summary or abstract, a typical example
(b)cheerful, casual, carefree
(c)unquestionably, certainly
(d)flattery, enticement

30) Zenith

(a)top, the highest point
(b)healthful
(c)agreeably pungent, stimulating
(d)gloomy, dark, sullen, morose

8.2 Reading Materials Samples

1)      Word : Auspicious

Link: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1120192/couples-across-china-flock-marry-auspicious-day-lifelong-love

Title : Couples across China flock to marry on auspicious day for lifelong love

Tens of thousands of couples flocked to marriage registries across the mainland and in Hong Kong yesterday to marry on what was seen as an auspicious day, offering blessings for lifelong love.

A numerical form of yesterday's date - 2013/1/4 - roughly sounds like "I love you for my whole life" in Putonghua.

Liu Dongmei, a 25-year-old office worker who registered her marriage at the Chaoyang district marriage registry in Beijing, said that when she and her fiancé first went to the office to get acquainted with its location at lunchtime on Thursday, there were already more than 200 couples queuing outside.

They returned there with a friend and took turns to queue from around 10pm on Thursday. The registry opened at midnight and they were issued with their marriage certificates just before 1am.

"It was very cold but it was worth all the effort because we could get married on such an auspicious day," Liu said. They plan to hold their wedding banquet early next year.

The official marriage registration statistics will take days to emerge, but the Beijing Morning Post, citing the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, which administers marriage registries in the capital, reported on Thursday that the bureau had received 7,000 online reservations. It had estimated that at least 10,000 couples would get married yesterday.

That would fall short of the Beijing record of 19,000 registrations on September 9, 2009 - a day "for long-lasting love" - and the 15,000 on August 8, 2008, which had three auspicious number eights for prosperity.

Similar rushes were seen across the mainland yesterday. Qiao Xuefeng , a 25-year-old who works for a state-owned enterprise in the Liaoning city of Lingyuan , said that by the time he and his fiancée arrived at the marriage registry at 8am yesterday, there was already a long queue.

"We know it takes more than an auspicious day to have a long-lasting relationship," Qiao said. "But I can't see any downside to having it registered on such an auspicious day."

In Hong Kong, the registrar of marriages said there had been 558 applications for marriages to be registered yesterday but the actual number of registrations could be smaller.

2)      Word : Epitome

Link : http://www.economist.com/node/13059765

Title : Japan's electronics giants Unplugged

TO SEE the problems facing Japan's electronics companies, pop into one of the huge gadget shops in Tokyo's Akihabara district (pictured above), the consumer-electronics capital of the world. Nine domestic firms make mobile phones. Then head over to the appliances section: five of the same firms offer everything from vacuum cleaners to rice cookers. Three of them make the escalators that carry you through the shop. In short, the industry has too many companies selling too broad a range of products that overlap with one another.

This “supermarket” strategy, in which each company has a hand in every area, worked well during Japan's incredible economic boom between 1960 and 1990. “Made in Japan” gadgets, once cheap and flaky, ended up as world leaders in quality, humiliating America's electronics industry along the way. Consumers at home and abroad snapped them up, generating vast trade surpluses and bitter trade tensions.

But the companies got bigger and bigger, priding themselves on their girth rather than their profits. Many now have over 500 affiliates, from travel agencies to restaurants. Old practices linger. It is not uncommon for employees to recite the corporate mission in the morning, or stop work in the afternoon as the company song reverberates across the cubicles. LaserDisc players never really caught on after being introduced in 1980, but Pioneer stopped shipping them only last month.

All this could go on for as long as firms accepted low returns on equity. But the global recession is exposing their deep-seated problems with astonishing speed and severity. Demand for consumer electronics has collapsed. The strong yen is crippling exports: the currency has gained 67% against sterling in the past year, and almost 75% against the South Korean won. So Japanese exports—which account for more than half of some firms' sales—cost more to foreign buyers. Meanwhile, component prices are plunging, overcapacity is rife and margins are meagre. Apple's iPhone is stuffed with Japanese parts, but most earn their makers a return of less than 5%.

Having predicted full-year profits only three months ago, the giants are now forecasting massive losses. Sony expects an operating loss of ¥260 billion ($2.6 billion). Its Welsh boss, Sir Howard Stringer, is fighting to overcome internal resistance as he tries to restructure the firm. He wants to close factories and cut over 16,000 jobs including, controversially, some staff who expected lifetime employment. He has been trying to push through many of these changes since his appointment in 2005. But only now can he get his way. At a news conference on January 29th Sir Howard said Sony had been “putting off unpleasant decisions” and now had to “move in a hurry”. The same is true of Sony's rivals.

Panasonic is expected to post a net loss of ¥380 billion loss for 2008. Hitachi and Toshiba, which make everything from nuclear reactors to the toasters they power, have been hit by the collapse in sales of microchips. Hitachi's loss is expected to be ¥700 billion, and Toshiba's ¥280 billion. Sharp, NEC and Fujitsu are also expected to lose money. In a damning sign of the times, Fujitsu's bosses recently called upon the firm's 100,000 employees in Japan to buy its goods. This week shares in Hitachi and NEC fell to their lowest levels for three decades. All this seems to have prodded the giants into action: all have announced job cuts and factory closures of extraordinary brutality by Japanese standards.

Better late than never

Privately, senior executives have long known that their companies were in crisis. But like Sir Howard, they faced strong internal resistance to change. Bosses were reluctant to cut projects initiated by their predecessors to whom they owed their jobs, to axe superfluous divisions, or to abandon cosy relationships with trusted suppliers. With docile domestic investors and a network of friendly cross-shareholdings, there was little outside pressure to restructure. Besides, samurai believe it is better to fight to a tragic and noble end than to surrender (which, in the corporate world, is equated with being acquired).

There were signs of change in December when Panasonic agreed to buy a majority stake in Sanyo Electric for around $9 billion. Struggling Sanyo had been whittled down by three banks that had bailed it out three years earlier (including a foreign one, Goldman Sachs). Panasonic gets Sanyo's respected battery and solar technology, but must still “throw out the sinking trash,” in the words of one banker. The pity is that no one expects the deal to signal further consolidation. Panasonic (called Matsushita until it adopted its best-known brand as its corporate name last year) had great difficulty combining two of its divisions in 2004. Bringing Sanyo into the fold will be even harder.

Instead of consolidation, companies have been pursuing a strategy of “internal M&A”, in which business units are shut down or sold to other firms, so that each company ends up more focused. Fujitsu, for example, hopes to unload its loss-making hard-disk business, but it recently took full control of a joint-venture to sell computers as part of a push into computer-related services. Sony, which is concentrating on media technology, sold its “Cell” chip unit to Toshiba, which is specialising in semiconductors. Sharp and Pioneer have formed an alliance to unite their LCD and audio technologies.

This process will intensify as companies make deeper cuts. But will it be enough, given that domestic demand for electronics is shrinking fast and foreign rivals are taking market share elsewhere? South Korea's Samsung and LG in televisions, and China's Haier in home appliances, threaten to do to Japan what Japan did to America, by producing high-quality products at low prices.

The long-term answer, Japanese bosses believe, is to move into clean technologies such as solar panels and electric-car batteries—new areas where Japanese firms are already strong. The government's new stimulus package reintroduces a subsidy for green technologies to encourage such a shift. With the exception of the South Korean conglomerates, few other firms have the research-and-development resources to compete in these areas. But the Japanese companies' size is also a disadvantage. Investors who want to bet on solar power or electric cars do not want to be saddled with rice cookers or restaurants. At last, it seems, the giants have realised this.

3)      Word : Adamant

Link :  http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/05/china_and_tibet

Title : No way, Sangay

AS CHINA gears up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its annexation of Tibet, it has issued a stinging rebuff to the newly elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay. The winner of an election among Tibetans outside China, Mr Sangay will have a higher profile than his predecessors. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, has said he will withdraw from his political role, giving the elected leader greater prominence and responsibility.

So Mr Sangay, a 43-year-old fellow at Harvard Law School, has been visiting his electorate, most of whom are in India, and discussing his plans. He offered to negotiate with China “any time, anywhere”. China's response came in the form of an interview in the official magazine “China's Tibet” with Zhu Weiqun, a senior official in the Communist Party's “United Front” department, and a frequent spokesman on Tibet. 

Mr Zhu's contempt almost splutters off the page, as he rants about “that government-in-exile of his”:  “it's all just a separatist political clique that betrays the motherland, with no legitimacy at all and absolutely no status to engage in dialogue with the representatives of the central government.”

So that's clear then. It would appear that the Dalai Lama's decision to democratise his government-in-exile has made reconciliation with China even less likely. At least, under the previous dispensation, a series of fruitless talks between China and Tibetan exiles has lurched ahead every few months since 2002, usually breaking down in acrimony. Even that now seems too much to hope for.

But Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University in New York, points out that there is nothing new in China's rejection of Mr Sangay's overture. It has never had any truck whatsoever with the government-in-exile. The Tibetan side in the talks has always been filled by the Dalai Lama's representatives. There is no reason that should not continue. Indeed, the Tibetan exile parliament, discussing a new constitution, last month approved a draft which asks the Dalai Lama and his successors, despite his retirement, to “speak on behalf of the Tibetan people, to explain and discuss their concerns and needs as well as to appoint representatives and envoys to serve the interests of the Tibetan people in any part of the world.”

By distancing himself from the exile government, the Dalai Lama has in effect met a Chinese demand. China could, if it chose, regard it as a concession. It could also look that way on the Dalai Lama's resignation statement in March, in which he said that two pro-independence “political promulgations” he had made in the past would become “ineffective”. The Dalai Lama has long given up the demand for independence in favour of enhanced autonomy under Chinese sovereignty. China has always presented this as a tactical ruse.

China seems to hope that with the passing of this Dalai Lama, Tibetans, deprived of an internationally revered figurehead, will give up the struggle. So it may have been alarmed by the Dalai Lama's remark at a press conference in New Jersey, America, this month, that Tibetans are close to “finalising” the process for finding his successor—his reincarnation as the 15th Dalai Lama. He said that all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism are involved in this. He seems in good health, but is now 75.

This unity among the various schools would be unprecedented—and  important, since it seems quite likely that the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama will be contested, with one candidate backed by China and one, probably in exile, revered by most Tibetans. 

The Dalai Lama appears to retain the loyalty of most Tibetans inside China, too. The focus of Tibetan resistance since March has been around the Kirti monastery in an area of Sichuan province that Tibetans regard as Amdo, part of historic Tibet. Protests that started with the self-immolation of a young monk have seen hundreds of monks detained, two elderly laypeople trying to protect them killed, a continuing heavy security presence in the area, and the burning of books not approved by the authorities.

So, as it celebrates, on May 23rd, the 60th anniversary of the “17-point agreement” in which a young Dalai Lama agreed to accept Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, China can be confident that there is no immediate threat to its rule. But it knows that many Tibetans still resent its rule. 

It is, for China, in some ways a peculiar document to commemorate. In it, China promised not to alter “the existing political system in Tibet”, a promise swept aside in 1959 as China crushed a Tibetan rebellion and the Dalai Lama and 80,000 followers fled into exile. In 1951, the political system was a feudal theocracy. Now that exiles enjoy the forms of parliamentary democracy, they find China no more trustworthy. China's leaders, for their part, find their political system no more appealing.

8.3 Questionnaire Sample

	Strongly Agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
I always use electronic dictionary to comprehend the meaning of unfamiliar English words.
The usage of electronic dictionary makes the completion of the task efficiently and easily.
I think electronic dictionary is beneficial in enhancing English vocabulary
Electronic dictionaries have a positive effect on incidental vocabulary learning.
The advantages of electronic dictionary are portable, easy access and audio visual feature

9.0 References

Batia Laufer & Monica Hill. (2000). What Lexical Information do L2 Learners Select in a CALL Dictionary and How Does it Affect Word Retention? Language Learning & Technology , 58-76.

Bogaards, P. (1998). Which words are looked up by foreign language learners? In B.T.S. Atkins & K. Varantola (Eds.), Studies of dictionary use by language learners and translators (pp. 151-157). Tubingen: Niemeyer

Dashtestani, R. (n.d.). EFL Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives on The Use of Electronic
Dictionaries for Learning English. CALL-EJ, 51-65.

Kelly, Charles. (2000). College Board Vocabulary. Retreieved from http://iteslj.org/v/e/jb-college.html

Mclntyre, D. (2010). History of English. Routledge, London

Prichard, C. (2008). Evaluating L2 readers’ vocabulary strategies and dictionary use . Reading
in a Foreign Language, 216-231.