ABSTRACT
My aim in this article is to show that dictionary use is a valid activity for foreign learners of English, both as an aid to comprehension and production. I do not claim that the dictionary is the only, best, or easiest source of the linguistic knowledge needed to understand and write or speak English accurately, but simply that in addition to other learning strategies, such as making guesses about new words encountered in reading texts, asking the teacher for explanations, or asking help from their classmates, students can and should be encouraged to avail themselves of the substantial information contained in their dictionaries. This does not necessarily happen, however. Until very recently vocabulary learning has not received the primacy in EFL teaching methodology or in published coursebooks that might be expected. There have been changing trends – from grammar-translation to direct method to the communicative approach – but none of these has emphasized the importance of the learner’s lexical competence over structural/grammatical competence.
