Media-Related Or Generic-Related Features In Electronic Dictionaries:Learners’ Perception And Preferences

A corollary of the electronic era in the area of electronic lexicography is the developmentand use of electronic dictionaries in language learning. This paper is concerned with theidentification and examination of dictionary features perceived as helpful by ESL learnersin assisting them in a sense differentiation task. Anecdotal data were analysed through aprocess of data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification (Miles Huberman, 1994). Qualitative coding categorization was adopted to classify andcategorize media-related and generic-related dictionary features at three levels;macrostructural level, microstructural level, and interstructural level. Results generallyindicated that preferred dictionary features mostly occurred at the microstructural leveland that generic-related features were a priority as compared to media-specific features.