YABANCI DİL ÖĞRENİM SÖZLÜKLERİ VE GEREKLİLİĞİ

This study investigates how and where the foreign language learner's dictionaries came out first and examines their properties. It also gives information about current situation of the learner's dictionaries in Japan. Then, by giving some examples of them, it tries to figure out what kinds of information are useful and needed in such dictionaries. Afterwards, these dictionaries, considered as one of the indispensable tools of foreign language education, are evaluated in terms of the requirements of the users, and finally the need for this kind of dictionaries are expressed for Turkish, which is becoming a world language. 1. Introduction When learning a foreign language, along with grammar rules and patterns, learning new vocabulary, is perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by individuals who learned that language. In fact, in some cases, language transfer used by the learners, from first language to the second language increase the errors/misuses even more. This arises from the differences of the cultures and how these differences affect the languages. As the culture differs it reflects on conceptualization and formation of the language. For example, it is known that in Eskimo, the language of the people living in the North Pole and the land of continuous snow and ice, there are more than 10 concepts for the word "snow" which is translated as "kar" into Turkish. Another striking example is Japanese word "Sumo". As there is no exact conceptualization of this word in Turkish, it is used the same as "sumo" or as "sumo güreşi ". Also, words like "tsunami" or "samurai" can be examples for this. Concepts and correspondingly their symbols - i.e. words are specific phenomena/facts that develop just in the languages they are born and raised into and it is natural that in other languages there are no exact equivalents for them. In this case it is more suitable to use a monolingual dictionary where those concepts are explained within the subjective nature of that language. But usually the use of monolingual dictionaries prepared for the use of native speakers by the second language learners is, unfortunately, not possible unless they reach a higher level. Thanks to the studies in the beginning of the XX. centuries of the linguists such as Harold E. Palmer, A.S. Hornby and Micheal West, who were aware of this fact. According to their studies, monolingual "Learner's Dictionaries”, that are still in use, came out. Named in English as "Learner's Dictionary" and in Japanese "Gakushu Jisho (学習辞書)" or "Gakushu Jiten (学習辞典)" and also sometimes found in some other languages, "Foreign Language Learning Dictionaries" are the most important tools of foreign language education. No matter how they are called, the most important common feature of them is that they really have a special design for people who are learning a foreign language. After a very long process of data collecting and various of studies, they can be well prepared only as a result of using this data for the proper needs of the learners in dictionaries. At this point, it’s thought that it is possible to separate Learner’s Dictionaries into two groups, as “Monolingual” and “Bilingual” Learner’s Dictionaries. 2. Purpose of this study The purpose of this study is to inquire and understand the features of “Learner’s Dictionaries” so that we can be well prepared for such kinds of dictionaries. Recently, Turkish Language has become very popular in Asia, especially among other Turkic Republics, so it is thought that the need of a Learner’s Dictionary written in Turkish has become a real necessity. Thus in this paper, by inquiring the techniques and the methods used in the “Learner’s Dictionaries” we can understand how to develop a Learner’s Dictionary for Turkish. 3. Method This study is constructed on the previous researches and the studies about learner’s dictionaries. However, the method used the most is analyzing technique. After analyzing the both monolingual and bilingual learner’s dictionaries, the techniques, methods and the information used in such kinds of dictionaries have been gathered together and put in order.4. Discussion Learner’s Dictionaries, which are considered as one of the indispensable tools of foreign language education, are capable to answer the needs of their users, only if they are designed by taking those needs into consideration. This is why Learner’s Dictionaries should aim to become “user-friendly” or “user-oriented”. The fist written statement considering the users, is seen quite a long ago. In “The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language”, Samuel Johnson says: “The value of a work must be estimated by its use: It is not enough that a dictionary delights the critic, unless at the same time it instructs the learner … (Johnson, 1747: 5)”. But on the other hand, although it had been pointed out at the first half of the 18th century, the needs of dictionary users were not taken into account so easily. So while mentioning Learner’s Dictionaries, it can be said that the attitude of these dictionaries they show to their users is the most considerable identity of them. 5. Results In this study by inquiring and analyzing Learner’s Dictionaries, we revealed the techniques, methods and the information used in such kinds of dictionaries. A dictionary should be established on the basis of concrete and scientific data. This will increase the reliability and also enhance the benefits that it will bring to its users. As a result of this study, we can group the work that should be followed in two, when we will make a Learner’s Dictionary. A. Data Creation and Preparation Procedure: 1) Creation of corpus database. 2) Determination and selection of headwords and high frequency words, according to the corpus database. (Especially, if a monolingual learner’s dictionary is planned to create, defining words, i.e. “defining vocabulary list” should be established at this stage.) 3) Detecting high-frequently used collocations from the corpus database according to the selected headwords and then listing them up. 4) Detecting and collecting example sentences from the corpus database for both the collocations and headwords. B. Data Processing and Writing Procedure: 5) Writing definitions of the headwords selected in “Data Creation and Preparation”. (If the aim of the work is to create a monolingual learner’s dictionary, the definitions are expressed only with the words that were selected for defining vocabulary, by using a very basic and simple grammar. However, if the aim of the work is a bilingual learner’s dictionary, the definitions and the equivalents of the headwords should be given by considering the user's understanding and comprehension skills. While writing the definitions of the headwords, “single word equivalent method”, i.e. ‘word to word’ explanation, should be avoided as far as possible. The information about the classification of the words and the other grammatical features about the headwords should be prepared at this stage. As well as giving the grammatical information and the correct usage of the headwords, using also the cultural elements related to that headword in the examples additionally would be a plus for the user.) 6) Adding the collocations to the headwords defined in the 5th step, and making reconsideration. 7) Adding the example sentences selected from the data base previously, and checking the definitions of the headwords again, after adding these examples. 8) After all the processes are completed, ‘i.e. after the completion of “Data Creation and Preparation Procedure” and “Data Processing and Writing Procedure”, final checks should be made by the ones who have never involved or taken in part of any of these procedures above mentioned. Additionally, after the all the procedures of dictionary making and publishing are completed, getting feedback from the users and preparing revisions and new strategies for the next editions are also important to improve the quality of the dictionary. Turkish Language is making great strides in recent years to be able to become a world language. For this reason, we can certainly say that the need for a Turkish Learner’s Dictionary has become a real necessity at present, not only among the Turkic Republics in Asia, but also for the learner’s of Turkish Language all over the world. This study and the outcomes of it are supposed and hoped to be a guiding light for making a Turkish Learner’s Dictionary.