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Robert Lew, Martin East. Dictionary Use in Foreign Language Writing Exams: Impact and Implications., International Journal of Lexicography, Volume 22, Issue 3, September 2009, Pages 344–348, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijl/ecn047
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The overarching issue that Martin East tackles in his new book is whether dictionaries should be allowed in writing exams in the foreign language. The larger part of the book is taken up by a detailed analysis of the evidence from three studies of dictionary use in writing exams. The presentation and discussion of these studies is prefaced by a clear and highly readable account of the methodological issues involved (p. 38–41). East's subjects are intermediate and upper intermediate learners of German in New Zealand, with English as their mother tongue. In Studies 1 (n = 6) and 2 (n = 5), subjects were the researcher's own university-level students. The larger-scale Study 3 involved 47 high-school students, of which a large majority (39) were female. All participants were first given a placement test, after which they completed writing assignments under two conditions: first with, then without access to dictionaries (a repeated-measures design). Questionnaires were completed at each stage, and the small groups in Studies 1 and 2 were also interviewed. In addition, the two small groups were videotaped during the writing tasks, and the tapes were later examined to note the number and duration of lookups; these data were triangulated with records from observation sheets. Videotaping has been used very rarely in dictionary use studies so far, and the author deserves praise for taking on this methodological challenge.
