Ibérica (Oct 2005)
The pedagogical dimension of the well-conceived specialised dictionary
Abstract
In the course of the past 30 years it has been acknowledged that research on pedagogical lexicography has to address three main issues: (i) development of new formats to cover both communicative and non-communicative situations; (ii) the layout of the information on the dictionary page, to facilitate the handling of information; (iii) what information is necessary for each type of learner at specific levels of proficiency. Although a big amount of specialised dictionaries have been produced during the last three decades, only some of them show the pedagogical value or dimension of general dictionaries. To overcome this gap the theory of lexicographic functions indicates a way forward to the design and production of the lexicographic quality products that the modern globalized world requires. This article illustrates some of the workings of this functional theory by commenting on some of the pedagogical value of EDGT, a two-way, bidirectional and multifunctional dictionary.
