The contribution of electronic and paper dictionaries to Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary learning

The purpose of the present paper was to investigate the contribution of paper dictionaries and electronic dictionaries to EFL learners' vocabulary learning. To do so, four groups of male and female EFL learners were selected. The experimental groups (one male, one female) used only electronic dictionaries while the two control groups (male and female) used only paper dictionaries. The scores of all four groups on a vocabulary test were compared using a two-way ANOVA procedure. Results indicated that although the gender of the participants did not meaningfully influence their vocabulary learning and did not interact with the kind of dictionary the learners used, the contribution of electronic dictionary to vocabulary learning was significantly greater than that of the paper dictionary. The findings of this study can be helpful for instructors, textbook writers, syllabus designers and language learners.

electronic dictionaries, paper dictionaries, vocabulary learning