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An African User-Perspective on English Children’s and School Dictionaries

Article  in  International Journal of Lexicography · March 2016

DOI: 10.1093/ijl/ecv025

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 International Journal of Lexicography Advance Access published August 28, 2015

International Journal of Lexicography

doi:10.1093/ijl/ecv025 1

AN AFRICAN USER-PERSPECTIVE ON
ENGLISH CHILDREN’S AND SCHOOL
DICTIONARIES

Dion Nkomo: School of Languages and Literatures: African Languages. Rhodes University.
Grahamstown (d.nkomo@ru.ac.za)

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Abstract

Many children’s and school dictionaries with English as a treated language have limited
user-friendliness in African communities due to the fact that they were produced for
mother-tongue speakers of English. An analysis of a selection of dictionaries within this
category indicates a need to go beyond the application of principles that generally
distinguish children’s and school dictionaries from adult dictionaries in order to cater
for additional language learners of English who also learn the language in a totally
different context from that of mother-tongue speakers. Recent and current develop-
ments in South African lexicography point to an increase in the production of English
dictionaries for the South African market and other African countries. These diction-
aries display localised lemma selection and illustrative examples, in addition to their
bilingual dimension, thereby making them sensitive to the linguistic, cultural and
educational realities of English learning and use in African countries. Such aspects
are identified as the core of an African user-perspective which may improve the user-
friendliness of English dictionaries for African children and schools while also providing
tools that may be used to establish a more solid dictionary culture in African
communities.

1. Introduction

The provision of support for early childhood educational activities and the
establishment of a sustainable foundation for a dictionary culture, which will
remain valuable in the future professional lives of children, may be acknowl-
edged as the main long-term benefits of introducing children to dictionaries at
an early age (Tarp 2012: 95). Dictionary culture is generally patchy in many
African societies, but improving it would be difficult without user-friendly
dictionaries that can win both the minds and hearts of the target users.
Preaching the lexicographic gospel of dictionary use to young users needs to

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2 of 24 Dion Nkomo

be anchored on the availability of dictionaries that can address the needs of the
users in an appealing and satisfactory way.
This article argues for an African user-perspective in the compilation of
English that can effectively be integrated in the education systems of African
countries for the use of schoolchildren. Such a perspective, it is argued, should
be sensitive to the linguistic and socio-linguistic realities that characterise the
learning and use of English in the respective communities. While most chil-
dren’s and school dictionaries of English available in African countries may
have been designed according to principles that recognise the uniqueness of the
needs of children in a general way, they unfortunately remain alien and less
user-friendly to learners of English as an additional language. They impart the

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knowledge about the language without the socio-cultural aspects that the lan-
guage developed across space and time in the process of becoming an impor-
tant language in the lives of Africans. They also tend to ignore other factors
that make the learning and use of English in Africa uniquely different from the
situations in Britain or America. The main reason for this is the fact that most
of the children’s and school dictionaries are produced abroad and sometimes
reprinted for African users without adequate adaptation for the unique situ-
ations and needs of African children. The production of English dictionaries
for young learners in Africa is an emerging development that needs to be sen-
sitive to the unique contextual necessities of English learning in Africa.
Focusing on South Africa and Zimbabwe, this article examines some chil-
dren’s and school dictionaries of English available on the market, paying par-
ticular attention to the selection of lemmata, explanations of meaning and
illustrative examples, in addition to the validation statements on the introduc-
tory and blurb texts. Given that the primary concern is establishing a diction-
ary culture at a tender age, the focus of the article is mainly on dictionaries
targeted at first-time dictionary users who are in their early school years,
roughly falling between the ages of six and nine years. However, some diction-
aries beyond this scope will also be considered as they are sometimes used by
younger users owing to the paucity of dictionaries in some African commu-
nities. It is concluded that English dictionaries can be effectively integrated in
the education systems of African countries and play an integral role in sup-
porting the educational needs of schoolchildren if they can project an African
user-perspective. The attainment of such a perspective, however, requires great
care for the dictionaries to remain useful in the learning and use of English.
This means that, in addition to applying the general principles of children’s or
school dictionaries, lemma selection, explanations of meaning, illustrative
examples and other such data categories should be of immediate relevance
to African children and their education. Before providing relevant sugges-
tions, the article acknowledges some innovative features in some existing
dictionaries.
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 3 of 24

2. Theoretical paradigms for children’s and school dictionaries

According to Hartmann and James’s (1998) Dictionary of Lexicography, hence-

forth the DoL, a children’s dictionary is:

A dictionary aimed at children. While the transition between the dictionary

for younger children and the school dictionary is fluid, the former is less
bound by the conventions of the traditional, fully-fledged GENERAL
DICTIONARY than the latter. It is based on a limited BASIC
VOCABULARY and uses illustrations and ‘stories’ – often humorous –
rather than formal definitions, to explain the meanings of the (predom-
inantly concrete) words.

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The most important point about children’s dictionaries, according to the DoL
explanation, relates to their target users, i.e. that they are produced for the use
of children. To that end, it would be expected that the data contained in such
dictionaries would always suit the consultation needs experienced by children
in specific situations. However, some children’s dictionaries do not fulfil this
expectation (cf. Miller et al. 1983). They manifest themselves as results of half-
hearted efforts of ensuring that necessary procedures are followed to produce
dictionaries in view of the needs of younger users, which are different from
those of adults, and reference skills, which are yet to be sufficiently developed
to enable the users to navigate the complex dictionary structures. The same can
be said of school dictionaries. Tarp (2012: 95) argues:

A school dictionary should not be understood as any dictionary used in

school or any dictionary disguised as such . . . simple reductions of more
comprehensive general dictionaries. Only dictionaries that have been
conceived and compiled from scratch and adapted to the specific
characteristics and needs of school children should be considered school
dictionaries in the true sense . . .

As reiterated by Tarp and Gouws (2012: 335), school dictionaries should be

‘specifically compiled for use in schools . . .’. The main features of a school
dictionary are best summed up by the explanation offered in the DoL:

A dictionary written for school-children, common features of which are a

controlled DEFINING VOCABULARY, a clear design and the incor-
poration of illustrations. The boundaries between the school dictionary on
the one hand, and CHILDREN’S DICTIONARIES, COLLEGE
DICTIONARIES and DESK DICTIONARIES on the other, are not
clearly demarcated.

As already intimated, school dictionaries are written for school children.

However, they may also be used by adults (teachers and parents) helping the
4 of 24 Dion Nkomo

primary target users. Secondly and related to the first point, it is mainly in
relation to schoolwork that dictionary using situations arise. This means that
the dictionaries may also be used when doing homework at home.
Furthermore, there are overlaps between school dictionaries on the one hand
and children’s dictionaries, college dictionaries and desk dictionaries on the
other hand. This means that school dictionaries, depending on the educational
level of the target users, will display features of the other types of dictionaries
that are cross-referenced in the DoL article for school dictionary.
The foregoing account regarding children’s and school dictionaries resonates
with the ideas of Edward Lee Thorndike, an American psychologist, who
specialised in language acquisition in the 1930s. Not only did Thorndike ap-

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preciate the role of dictionaries in language acquisition, he also demonstrated
that lexicographers had to be sensitive and responsive to the reference needs
and reference skills of the users in order to produce dictionaries that can fulfil
their role in language acquisition and learning by children. In a paper presented
on two occasions in 1928 and eventually published in the International Journal
of Lexicography in 1991, he argued:

It is instructive to apply psychology and educational science to the

problems of the school dictionary, not only because of the improvement
and the economy in learning which may result, but also because certain
general principles of textbook construction are thereby clarified and
emphasized. For the school dictionary, in its presentation of meaning of
words, is the extreme case of the modification of elaborate scholarly
knowledge for presentation to children (Thorndike 1928: 16).

On that basis, Thorndike edited his series of Thorndike-Century dictionaries

(Landau 2001: 25), addressing separately the needs of ‘beginning, junior and
senior school children’ (Britannica Online). The series brought about the use of
frequency lists to select relevant words and dictionary definitions that were
tailored according to the users’ competence levels. This marked a clear depar-
ture from the practices having prevailed during and before the early twentieth
century when ‘any small sized dictionary was considered suitable for school
children without any concession to simplicity’ in lexicographic treatment
(Landau 2001: 25). Thorndike’s approach continued even after his death in
1949; Clarence Barnhart, with whom he had worked, listed Thorndike as a co-
author of the Thorndike-Barnhart series thirty years later. His ideas fit within
what is in modern lexicography known as the user-perspective (Hartmann
1989, 2001; Hartmann and James 1998) and the function theory of lexicog-
raphy (Tarp 2008).
Another important term that needs to be considered in relation to children’s
and school dictionaries, for two major reasons, is learner’s dictionary. Firstly,
the DoL article for school dictionary refers the user to learner’s dictionary,
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 5 of 24

suggesting clearly that one would have a better perspective of a school

dictionary in relation to the latter. The DoL then describes a learner’s diction-
ary as:

A PEDAGOGICAL DICTIONARY aimed primarily at non-native

learners of a language. The degree to which dictionaries have been
integrated into the learning process varies from culture to culture. The true
dictionary as a learning tool (‘learning dictionary’) is still in its infancy.

This explanation compels one to immediately refer to the article for pedagogical
dictionary, but before getting to that it is important to offer a close analysis of
the entire explanation. According to the explanation, a learner’s dictionary is

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for use by non-native speakers (additional learners) of a language. This sug-
gests a very narrow meaning of the term learner when referring to a non-native
speaker of a language. An opposition is implied between the terms learner
(non-native speaker) and mother-tongue speaker (native speaker). Yet the
term learner, which is derived from the verb learn, is clearly broader than
that. That additional language acquisition scholarship has reduced it to such
a restricted sense is by no means unquestionable, but it is also regrettable that
lexicographers have accepted this blindly. As Tarp (2008) observes, a learner is
someone is involved in a learning process, especially one which is planned and
motivated. Anyone going through a formal learning programme such as the
school is a learner. Thus, the term learner would refer to all school children, as
is the case in South Africa. A learner would, therefore, be a learner of a lan-
guage, either as a mother-tongue or an additional language, as well as a learner
of content or scientific subjects (Gouws 2010; Tarp 2008).
When the user of the DoL pursues the explanation of pedagogical dictionary
from the article corresponding to learner’s dictionary, the following explanation
is given:

A REFERENCE WORK specifically designed for the practical didactic

needs of teachers and learners of a language. The distinction usually made
between a dictionary for native speakers (SCHOOL DICTIONARY)
and one for non-native learners (LEARNER’S DICTIONARY) is not
helpful.

Once again, one may note the narrowness of the sense assigned to pedagogical
dictionary as it is only associated with the learning of a language. An indication
of the useless distinction between a school dictionary as the one directed at
native speakers and a learner’s dictionary as that directed at non-native learn-
ers is significant. Further to that, an implicit statement is made that school
dictionaries and learner’s dictionaries are both pedagogical dictionaries.
Gouws (2004: 268) concurs with that when he suggests that the term learner’s
dictionaries should be used ‘as an umbrella term for both school and
6 of 24 Dion Nkomo

non-school-directed dictionaries which display typical learner’s features’. He

writes that:

. . . learners’ dictionaries represent a category which tends towards

superhero status on account of the diverse nature of the data included
. . . and . . . the wide spectrum of the user groups at which learners’
dictionaries are directed (Gouws 2004: 267).

What adds further importance to the term learner’s dictionary in the context
of the present article is its prominence in practical lexicography where it even
features in dictionary titles. This prominence has also been passed on to meta-

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lexicography with the emergence of a specific theory of lexicography, i.e. the
theory of learner’s lexicography (Tarp 2008) which deals with dictionaries that
have a didactic value to learners.
The argument for a broader application of the terms learner and learner’s
dictionary above does not limit the applicability of the theory of learner’s lexi-
cography to the production, use and analysis of dictionaries which have been
identified using terms such as children’s dictionaries and school dictionaries. In
fact, it has to be noted that the formulation of the theory of learner’s lexicog-
raphy seems to have been consciously done in view of the limitations of the use
of the terms learner and learner’s dictionary (Tarp 2008: 125). The questions
raised in the profiling of learners within this theory can also be useful in the
production and evaluation of school dictionaries as types of learner’s diction-
aries. Therefore, some of them will be addressed with respect to some of the
English dictionaries available for use of schoolchildren in a number of African
countries.

3. Problematic situations regarding dictionary use in African schools

In a survey conducted in Zimbabwe (Nkomo 2012) the following problematic

situations were identified:

. Only well-resourced private schools reserved for white students during the
colonial era and now accessible to students from wealthy backgrounds
(former Group A schools) stock various types of dictionaries in their libraries.
. Dictionaries are compulsory requirements only for students in the former
Group A schools while only a few teachers in government schools, includ-
ing those teaching languages, own dictionaries.
. The majority of pupils in primary schools have never used nor seen a
dictionary.
. Although some primary schools have one or two dictionaries as part of the
school property, the dictionaries are not usually appropriate for the pupils,
for example, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 7 of 24

. Teachers, at both primary and secondary/high schools, generally do not

encourage dictionary use as part of everyday learning.
. Only a minority of students at secondary/high schools own dictionaries,
but these are usually left at home as their use is either discouraged or
prohibited by teachers.
. Most of the dictionaries that students own are either inappropriate for
their educational levels (i.e. no school dictionary was found in any of
the ten surveyed government schools) or not up to date.
. When ordering dictionaries, schools do not specify types or titles. The
types and titles of dictionaries eventually supplied are determined by book-
shops which tend to provide schools with the most expensive dictionaries

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not suitable for school learners.

In the light of the above, the dictionary situation within the Zimbabwean edu-
cation system is uninspiring. The former Group A schools which consider dic-
tionaries to be integral elements within the learners’ educational toolkits generally
record impressive academic results at the Grade 7, General Certificate of
Education Ordinary Level (‘O’ Level) and General Certificate of Education
Advanced Level (‘A’ Level) examinations, both in the locally-administered and
the international Cambridge examinations. However, it is those students who
seem to need more help and support who do not enjoy the privilege of using
dictionaries whenever needs arise. School dictionaries provide data that may
address most of the educational needs of learners. Therefore, together with
other learning resources, dictionaries have a role to play within the country’s
education system. The Zimbabwean ‘O’ Level English syllabus does state that
pupils should be able to:

. . . understand and use the different types of reading materials they are
likely to meet both inside and outside school, including fiction, poetry,
drama, non-fiction, textbooks, reference books (especially dictionaries),
magazines, newspapers, instruction manuals and reports . . . (ZIMSEC
2008-2012: 13).

However, despite making reference to dictionaries as probably the most im-

portant reference books, particularly for students of language, the syllabus is
mainly an examination syllabus which teachers and students follow only to the
extent to which it prepares students for examinations. Emphasis is placed on
the examinable skills, of which dictionary skills are not. The irony of it emerges
when English examination markers, themselves experienced English specialist
teachers, are encouraged to use dictionaries when marking. Fair as it may be,
since it ensures that students may not be penalised due to the examiners’ lin-
guistic limitations, it would be equally fair for students to be allowed to use
8 of 24 Dion Nkomo

dictionaries in their learning activities in order to overcome their challenges,

which should be worse than those of their teachers.
The dictionary situation within the Zimbabwean education system is typical
of situations in other African countries. Although the South African curricu-
lum makes reference to dictionary use, Van der Merwe (2012) indicates
that dictionary use seems to be a peripheral activity. This explains the findings
of a study by Taljard, Prinsloo and Fricke (2011: 107), who note
that South African high school learners display no more than rudimentary
reference skills. Studies on dictionary use in African countries ‘highlight
the need for dedicated training of learners and teachers in the use of diction-
aries’ (Taljard, Prinsloo and Fricke 2011: 107). However, it is equally impor-

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tant to pay attention to the types of dictionaries available for use within the
school system, hence the focus of this paper on children’s and school
dictionaries.

4. Questions regarding imported English children’s and school dictionaries

Being host to several reputable dictionary publishers such as Oxford University

Press Southern Africa, Maskew Miller Longman, Pharos (NB Publishers) and
Cambridge University Press, South Africa is one African country whose dic-
tionary market has expanded thanks to children’s and school dictionaries, par-
ticularly in English. While these commercial publishers have made a huge
contribution to South African and African lexicography by publishing diction-
aries specifically targeting local user groups, they also market a variety of
children’s and school dictionaries neither compiled in South Africa nor specif-
ically for African learners of English who also learn mainly through English,
even though their home languages are more often than not one of the African
languages. The majority of the imported dictionaries were clearly compiled for
mother-tongue speakers in England and other countries in which English is the
dominant language. It is questionable whether such dictionaries can be of equal
use to English additional language learners in African countries. Consider the
following introductory remarks from the Oxford Very First Dictionary, hence-
forth the OVFD:

The Oxford Very First Dictionary helps young children enjoy and discover
the features of a dictionary. It contains 300 words in alphabetical order,
each with a simple definition and a colourful picture. There are also
additional end sections with words that children will find useful when
writing. The words have been chosen to support and develop speaking,
reading, and writing . . .

The Oxford Very First Dictionary is an ideal introduction to dictionaries

and other alphabetically ordered reference books. It helps children acquire
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 9 of 24

basic dictionary skills in a simple and enjoyable way: they can learn about
the alphabet and about the alphabetical order; they can find out how to
locate a word using the initial letter; they can check their spelling; and they
can learn how to use simple definitions of words (Kirtely 2007: 6-7).

According to the age indication on the blurb, the OVFD is targeted at children
aged four years and above. The quoted introductory text clearly indicates that
the lexicographers took into cognisance the needs of young English learners
when conceiving, designing and compiling the OVFD. This is apparent with
regard to the contents and methods of presentation (see Figure 1 below), which
should be considered to be user-friendly for children in general.

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In addition to the Aa-Zz wordlist section, words dealing with colours,
shapes, days of the week, months of the year, numbers, as well as the ‘words
we write a lot’ should provide young English learners with a solid vocabulary
base that can facilitate the study of English as a subject and its use as the
language of teaching the other subjects.
The use of descriptive and sometimes circular definitions instead of the con-
ventional dictionary definitions such as the genus differentiae type is a clear
instance of considered concession to simplicity in order to make the dictionary
accessible to children (cf. Hartmann and James 1998: 20). This is further com-
plemented by the use of pictures which may easily stick in the children’s minds,
thereby establishing a broad and firm foundation of their mental lexicon.
Similar principles are manifest in the introductions and blurbs of other
English children’s dictionaries such as the Oxford First Dictionary, henceforth
the OFD (for five year-olds and above), the Oxford Children’s Dictionary,
henceforth the OCD (for eight year-olds and above) and the Longman New
Junior English Dictionary, henceforth the LNJED (lower intermediate and
intermediate levels), all of which are easily available on the South African
market. With the exception of the LNJED, all that is said in the other diction-
aries is that they are appropriate for children. Unfortunately, whether or not
those children are mother-tongue speakers of English is not mentioned. On the
other hand, the blurb of the LNJED states that this edition ‘has been written
especially for learners of English at a lower-intermediate level’. It may be
assumed that the word learner is used to refer to additional language learners
as it has been inherited from language acquisition scholarship and used in
practical lexicography.
Despite the application of the principles critical for the user-friendliness of
children’s and school dictionaries, the South African language learning envir-
onment poses some critical questions for the dictionaries. The introduction of
the OFD states that ‘[t]he selection of entries is based on extensive classroom
research into words young children come across in their reading and use in
their writing and speaking’ (Goldsmith and Delahunty 2007: 3). The question is
whether the findings of the research on which the dictionary is based reflect the
10 of 24 Dion Nkomo

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Figure 1: Back cover of the OVFD.

realities of the learning of English as both a mother-tongue and an additional

language. It is fallacious to think that additional language learners of English
will learn the language similarly to mother-tongue learners and that both sets
of learners would need the same dictionary at such an early age. This will even
render dictionary validation claims, such as the one found on the back cover of
the OCD, stating that it has been tested in schools, less useful. The tests con-
ducted in London schools might have shown that the dictionary is user-
friendly, but similar tests may lead to a different conclusion in South Africa.
Inside the dictionary covers and beyond the introductory remarks, the con-
tents of some children’s and school dictionaries with English as a treated
language on the South African market open the dictionaries to further scrutiny.
For example, in the case of the OVFD which treats the first 300 words based on
research in British schools, children of the same age who speak isiZulu or
Sesotho as a mother tongue may need more assistance regarding some words
that are not treated in the main text but merely listed as ‘[w]ords we write a lot’
in the back matter. Such young potential dictionary users usually have to start
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 11 of 24

by learning to write in their mother tongue, meaning that they would not be at
a stage where they write a lot in English. Should they become aware of the
inclusion of such words beyond the Aa-Zz text of the dictionary, they may still
have to look elsewhere for their meaning and usage. Yet the main text accom-
modates words like bear, dinosaur, octopus, rocket, etc. whose referents would
only exist through imagination among the privileged minority children in most
African communities. Even for a seemingly simple word such as queue, the
excluded synonym line would be a better candidate for the first 300 words
for the majority of African children who learn English as an additional
language.
A similar argument may also be extended to the use of corpora as the basis

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for inclusion, defining and illustrating language use in children’s dictionaries,
decisions for which are motivated as follows in the OCD:

In writing the . . . text I have made extensive use of the British National
Corpus, a language database containing 100 million words of written and
spoken English of all kinds assembled by a consortium of publishers and
academic institutions. This material offers rich insights into the ways in
which words are used and typical contexts in which they occur. Study of
the Corpus, as well as of children’s literature (both traditional and
modern), has been especially important in devising the example sentences,
which achieve a naturalness that is not possible solely on the basis of the
compiler’s intuition (Allen 2003: iii).

Indeed, corpus evidence has become integral in lexicography, particularly for

decision-making regarding inclusion, explanations of meaning and illustrative
examples (Sinclair 1987; De Schryver 2003, 2008). That learner’s dictionaries,
including children’s and school dictionaries, have become corpus-based or
corpus-aided is not surprising. While the use of a corpus gives a scientific
basis for the contents of the OCD, the fact that the corpus in question is the
British National Corpus already indicates its limited relevance and the diction-
ary on which it is based for learners outside Britain. What is questioned here is
the scope of the research on which the inclusion of words is based, given the
diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the learners. It is acceptable that
the inclusion of words such as abominable, abseil, manoeuvre, paraphernalia,
etc, is based on corpus evidence, but that does not make a dictionary contain-
ing such words user-friendly for 8 year old children who only encounter
English at school in an African speech community where the dictionary is
also sold. Ultimately, what can be learnt from this is that corpora based on
African texts would be required for school and children’s dictionaries for
African communities.
This criticism of lemma selection in imported English dictionaries, be it
based on sound user research or corpus evidence in the target user community,
12 of 24 Dion Nkomo

is consistent with additional language teaching principles derived from both

educational and language teaching theories. Obanya (2004: 10), a proponent of
mother-tongue based education in Africa, argues that ‘[g]enuine learning has to
begin with, and is anchored on, the learner’s immediate environment’. For
children’s and school dictionaries to be useful for English learners in African
communities, they need to start by helping the users with the acquisition of the
vocabulary dealing with what the users already know in their languages. The
learners’ first words should include kinship terms and words that relate to their
home environment, drawing in a balanced manner from both urban and rural
set-ups. The included words should have ready translation equivalents in the
languages of the dictionary users so that learning English does not translate to

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learning a foreign culture, which may lead to cognitive instabilities among the
learners. Verhallen and Schoonen (1998), who draw inspiration from the works
of renowned educationists like Lev Vygotsky and James Cummins, further
argue that vocabulary learning is more than just getting acquainted with
word forms or labels. They contend that:

The first understanding of words stems from everyday situations. Children

make spontaneous generalizations based on their everyday experience. At
first, children develop so-called spontaneous everyday concepts that are dir-
ectly related to their environment (Verhallen and Schoonen 1998: 455-456).

With specific reference to additional language learners, Verhallen and Schoonen

(1998) further remind us that their vocabulary knowledge has to be built from
scratch. This implies that in their early educational years, learners do ‘not only
have a smaller L2 lexicon than their monolingual peers, but they know less about
seemingly familiar words’ (Verhallen and Schoonen 1998: 456) like queue in the
OFVD or abominable in the OCD, whose more common synonyms would res-
onate with early dictionary users in Africa. Therefore, the appropriateness of
children’s or school dictionaries on the basis of first words would vary between
mother-tongue speakers and additional language learners.
Besides including words that are clearly incompatible with English ad-
ditional language learners’ vocabulary competence and situations, particularly
in an African context, while excluding those that are relevant to the learner’s
socio-cultural environment, being monolingual, is another huge drawback of
the imported children’s and school dictionaries with English as a treated lan-
guage. Monolingual children’s and school dictionaries for additional language
learners of English uncritically perpetuate the tendency of discouraging or
disapproving the use of mother tongue in additional language learning.
Despite the fact that some of the dictionaries are of unquestionably sound
quality, the majority of the children who end up using them are yet to have
the English decoding skills that can help them make sense of some definitions
and other provided data, no matter how simplified these may be. Definitions
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 13 of 24

generally ‘play an important role in vocabulary learning and instruction – in

the introduction of new words in language arts and in instruction on new
terminology and concepts in science, social studies, mathematics, and other
domains of knowledge’ (Scott and Naggy 1997: 184). However, some metalex-
icographers and language teaching scholars have cast doubt regarding the ef-
ficacy of some dictionary definitions in vocabulary acquisition (De Schryver
and Prinsloo 2011; Gardner 2007; Scott and Naggy 1997; Alshawi 1987). While
various reasons are advanced to explain this problem, the quality of some
definitions and the ability of the target users to make effective use of definitional
information come to the fore. Gardner (2007: 358) argues that the ‘L1-versus-L2
variable’ cannot be discounted when trying to understand the extent to which

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definitions assist learners. Verbal abilities and reading skills of additional learners
in the target language impact on the successful retrieval of vocabulary information
about meaning and usage from dictionaries. Accordingly, Tarp (2004; 2008) pro-
poses that bilingual learner’s dictionaries can play a huge role at the initial lan-
guage learning stages until the learners have acquired basic vocabulary and
grammar skills. For example, the simple definition of ill which states that ‘If
you are ill you do not feel well’ can pose problems for non-mother tongue chil-
dren, even those aged above four years, as long as they may not know the mean-
ings of feel and well which are used in the definition but are themselves not defined
in the OVFD. The simplicity of such words may not be taken for granted for
learners who encounter English at school. Even the supporting illustration does
not capture the meaning clearly (see Figure 2). However, translation equivalents
and mother-tongue explanations are more likely to be more comprehensible, as
long as the user can read in his/her mother tongue.

5. The Zimbabwean-published school dictionary: A foreign dictionary in disguise

The questions raised in the previous section regarding some English diction-
aries that end up being used by schoolchildren in African countries are not
necessarily about the fact that the dictionaries are produced abroad. This sec-
tion will demonstrate that the African user-perspective advocated in this article
is about how the dictionaries are conceived, designed and compiled, regardless
of where this is done. There is so far one English primary school dictionary
published in Zimbabwe, i.e. the Ventures Student’s Dictionary (VSD), by
College Press, an associate of MacMillan Publishers, in 1984. Although not
popular in schools, most probably owing to a poor societal dictionary culture
as the education system displays an indifferent attitude towards dictionaries,
the VSD is still available in print and its publisher continues to market it. The
introduction of this dictionary, quoted here in full, states:

This dictionary is written for students with a basic knowledge of the

English language but who have not yet reached an advanced level of
14 of 24 Dion Nkomo

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Figure 2: Page 14 of the OVFD.

ability. It has been prepared with two particular groups of users in mind:
students for whom English is a Second Language, that is those who are
taught school subjects such as geography, mathematics, physics, and
literature in English; and students studying for examinations at the
intermediate level. The choice of entries and meanings reflects the needs of
both such groups: for example, greater attention has been paid to ‘study
language’ – than is usual in dictionaries of a similar size.

Students sometimes use a learner’s dictionary that is too advanced for their
real needs. It is hoped that this medium-sized dictionary will indeed be a
useful reference book and will be found to develop the knowledge and
abilities of the intermediate learner of English (Manser 1984: i).

Although the last paragraph of the excerpt indicates that the conception of the
VSD was born out of a careful consideration of real problems regarding the
availability and accessibility of children’s and school dictionaries, the diction-
ary itself is far from being the best solution. It may be too advanced for most
intermediate additional language learners of English in Zimbabwe. Its user
guide states that pronunciation is indicated using the spelling of the
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 15 of 24

International Phonetic Association (IPA). Not only primary school pupils in

Zimbabwe will struggle with this, but also many advanced English learners
without the relevant linguistics training. This part of the user guide further
states that ‘the form of speech shown is the kind of British English spoken
by educated native speakers in England’ (Manser 1984: v), which would be
different from the one spoken by the majority of English teachers in
Zimbabwe. When the dictionary is considered as a whole, including its back
matter texts, it becomes apparent that the VSD was compiled like other English
learners’ dictionaries whereby the target user is only known for being an ad-
ditional learner of English, but not a specifically Zimbabwean one. The only
Zimbabwean aspect of this dictionary is that it was published in Zimbabwe.

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Otherwise it could be one of the Macmillan learners’ dictionaries which College
Press renamed according to the Ventures Textbook Series for the Zimbabwean
market. The only Zimbabwean word or concept that is used in the dictionary is
Zimbabwe, firstly on the imprint giving bibliographical details and in the back
matter text listing names of countries and continents. Besides this, its long list
of abbreviations does not contain specifically Zimbabwean abbreviations such
as ZIMSEC (Zimbabwe School Examination Council), ZRP (Zimbabwe
Republic Police), ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union), ZANU PF
(Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front), etc., which the dictionary
users may encounter in their various school subjects. Outer texts listing
Zimbabwean cities, languages, abbreviations and giving a historical outline
of the English language or education system in the country would have given
the dictionary a distinctly Zimbabwean user-perspective that is also in line with
the objectives of teaching English within a particular socio-cultural context.

6. African school dictionaries for African children and schools

Despite the regrettable situation regarding English dictionaries available for

use by schoolchildren in Africa highlighted in the foregoing, there have also
been some positive developments. In this section, the African user-perspective
is discussed in relation to the Oxford First Bilingual Dictionary (OFBD) series,
the Maskew Miller Longman Foundation Phase (MMLFP) dictionaries and
the 2009 edition of the Longman Primary Dictionary (LPD). These dictionaries,
it is demonstrated, represent a milestone in the area of pedagogical lexicogra-
phy for Africa. They project an African user-perspective that may provide an
early lexicographic support for young learners in the respective African com-
munities and a solid foundation for a dictionary culture that is currently a
concern for lexicographers. However, there will always be need for improve-
ment on both practical lexicography and the teaching of dictionary skills for a
dictionary culture to be firmly established.
16 of 24 Dion Nkomo

6.1. The Oxford first bilingual dictionary series

The OFBD series initially paired English with the other ten official languages
of South Africa, leading to the publication of ten dictionaries. This success saw
the expansion of the series into other Southern African countries such as
Zimbabwe where English has been paired with Shona and Ndebele to produce
two dictionaries in 2012. Additional language learning is identified as the main
goal of the OFBD series. The instructions ‘Funda IsiNgesi’ (Learn English) and
‘Learn IsiXhosa’ are prominently marked on the front cover of the isiXhosa
English OFB dictionary. In the series, each ‘dictionary has been designed to
help children in their first few years of learning English or . . . as an additional

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language’ (cf. Hall et al. 2009). However, the learning of Shona and Ndebele as
additional languages is as rare as the learning of English as a home language in
Zimbabwe. This is different from the South African context where learners can
choose, depending on the school they attend, its geographical location and the
languages on offer, to study English as a home language and their mother
tongue as an additional language. In Zimbabwe, the OFBD series should sup-
port the learning of Shona and Ndebele mainly as mother tongues and English
as additional language, meaning that the mere replacement of South African
languages with Zimbabwean languages as part of the bilingual pairs with
English was conceptually flawed. It should not have been a matter of adding
Zimbabwean languages to the concept but also reconfiguring the concept to
suit the Zimbabwean language learning context.
In terms of its design features, the OFBD series appears to have been an
inspired adaptation of the original dictionary concepts of the Oxford first and
very first dictionaries discussed in the previous sections. As can be seen from
Figure 3 which captures the contents page of the OFBD: IsiXhosa/English, the
basic thematic categories under which the included words fall in the picture
pages (pages 6-37) are clearly relevant for language learning at the foundation
phase, i.e. Grade R (reception grade) – Grade 3. Some of the themes, such as
shapes, time, numbers, etc., directly link with other learning areas and text-
books. This makes the dictionaries potentially useful resources in the learning
of English as a subject and also for the purposes of its use in the other content
subjects, even without the sophisticated use of a corpus.
Furthermore, the inclusion of the category ‘On the farm’ in each of the
dictionaries in the series provides a balance between urban and country life
in a manner that could be helpful to both urban and rural users of the diction-
aries in an African set-up (see Figure 4). In other words, while urban kids get
an exposure to country life that some of them may not be familiar with, young
rural learners will also find the dictionary appealing and helpful as it provides
them with English vocabulary for referents that they are exposed to on a regu-
lar basis, but maybe having only known them in their mother tongue due to
limited exposure to English in their own home environments. This makes the
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 17 of 24

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Figure 3: The contents page of the OFBD: IsiXhosa/English.

dictionaries in the OFBD series much more than mere bilingual versions or
translations of the imported Oxford first and very first dictionaries.
Unlike the OVFD and OFD, which only provide simplified English defi-
nitions and illustrative pictures for the selected words, the dictionaries in the
OFBD series also provide meaning information through translation equiva-
lents. Although the circular and simplified definitions which even use the de-
finiendum in the OVFD and OFD are generally user-friendly for young children
(De Schryver and Prinsloo 2011), they are in all probability more effective to
mother-tongue speaking learners than additional language learners. Some mis-
givings regarding definitions for young additional language learners, no matter
how simplified the definitions are, have been discussed in Section 4. For ex-
ample, the words wild, furry and tail in the definition of the word fox as ‘a wild
animal that looks like a dog with a long furry tail’ in the OFD may impede
the understanding of an eight-year old English additional language learner.
These are some of the words that they will still be learning in the new language
as the majority, especially in rural areas, encounter the language at school.
Figure 4 illustrates how the translation equivalents are provided in the
OFBD series.
18 of 24 Dion Nkomo

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Figure 4: OFBD: Shona/English page 22-23 showing the category ‘On the
Farm’.

As can be seen from Figure 4 above, a translation equivalent is given for each
English word adjacent to a pictorial illustration. The word mbudzi as a Shona
equivalent for goat, complemented by the pictorial illustration, offers a prompt
recognition of what a goat is to a Zimbabwean Shona-speaking child. Provided
the learner knows the Shona word, the definition for the word goat becomes
less relevant as a source for meaning information. At least the user would have
made progress by adding the word goat to his/her limited English vocabulary.
Another important innovation that provides meaning information in the
OFBD series is represented by bilingual stories under the section ‘Support
for teachers or parents’. Each story matches a particular theme/scene in the
dictionary and narratively explains the meaning of the words dealt with on
each double page spread while highlighting word usage. Given the limited
efficacy of definitions highlighted earlier, the stories can contribute to effective
meaning transfer for the age group at which these dictionaries are aimed, as
acknowledged in the relevant scholarship (Collins 2005; Justice, Meier, and
Walpole 2005; Hickman, Pollard-Dulodora and Vaughn 2004). Through the
stories, teachers are presented with a useful tool that can be used together with
the themed pages in classroom activities.
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 19 of 24

Besides providing translation equivalents, the OFB dictionaries are bilingual

in every respect, with each detail given in English being also rendered in the
respective language with which English is paired. This includes the reference
pages, dictionary activities and the alphabetical indexes which facilitate rapid
access to the thematic sections of the dictionaries. That way, the young learners
are given a chance to learn English as an additional language through, and
together with, their mother tongue. The integration of bilingual stories, refer-
ence pages, dictionary activities, support for teachers or parents and indexes in
both languages covered by each dictionary can contribute to the development
of a dictionary culture as dictionary users realise the direct links between the
dictionary and everyday learning activities.

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6.2. The Maskew Miller Longman Foundation Phase dictionaries

The MMLFP dictionary series entered the South African market in 2010. Like
the OFBD series, the MMLFP dictionaries are bilingual. They pair English
with the other South African official languages. They were also conceived to
support additional language acquisition at the Foundation Phase, both English
and the other languages with which it is paired. However, there are a number of
differences between the two dictionary series. Firstly, while the OFBD series
pairs English with all the other official South African languages and others
spoken in the neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, the MMLFP pairs
English with only five official languages of South Africa. This perhaps high-
lights commercial viability of such dictionaries as a challenge posed by the
undeveloped dictionary culture in African communities. Secondly, the
MMLFP dictionaries have three main sections. The first is the thematic section
which is illustrated by Figure 5 below, an article stretch from the Isichazi-
magama-siseko: IsiXhosa/English (MMLFPD: IsiXhosa/English).
Like the other children’s dictionaries, the MMLFP dictionaries make use of
pictorial illustrations. However, unlike the OFB dictionaries, access to the
English word is gained through equivalent words in the respective languages
paired with English. This means that the English additional language learner
should know the word in their mother tongue first, or at least be able to rec-
ognise the pictorial illustration of the relevant object for each lemma. After
that, the learner can learn the equivalent English word for the mother-tongue
word, as well as its spelling, or the name of the illustrated object.
Section 2 of the MMLFP dictionaries is an alphabetically arranged part of
the dictionary as illustrated by Figure 6 below, an article stretch from the
Isichazi-magama-siseko: IsiXhosa/English. This section builds on Section 1 by
providing definitions in the mother tongue, in addition to English translation
equivalents. This procedure certainly increases the understanding of a concept
or object. In this respect, the MMLFP dictionaries fall somewhere in between
the OFD, which provide English definitions and the OBFD series, which uses
20 of 24 Dion Nkomo

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Figure 5: Article stretch from Isichazi-magama-siseko: IsiXhosa/English.

Figure 6: Page 1 of Isichazi-magama-siseko: IsiXhosa/English.

translation equivalents and bilingual stories to provide information on mean-

ing. Besides translation equivalents and definitions in the mother tongue, the
MMLFP dictionaries elucidate the understanding of the selected words by
means of examples in both English and the mother tongue. The examples
provide text production guidance as they demonstrate to the user how the
words in both languages are actually used in text.
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 21 of 24

Finally, the third section of each MMLFP dictionary adopts the alphabetical
indexing approach, just like the OFBD series. The indexes are available in two
languages and page numbers are used to guide users to the pages in which the
words are treated more comprehensively. The entire arrangement adopted for
the dictionaries make them poly-accessible.

6.3. Examples in the Longman Primary Dictionary

Another school dictionary that illustrates the potential of an African user-

perspective in children’s and school dictionaries with English as a treated
language is the 2009 edition of the LPD (Longman Primary Dictionary). The

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dictionary generally displays the usual features of children’s and school dic-
tionaries, inter alia the ‘entries from many school subjects including maths,
geography and science’, large font, and illustrations and pictures intended to
aid comprehension. A bold statement is made on the blurb that this dictionary
‘has been especially written for primary school students in Africa’. In addition
to the inclusion of words considered relevant for the curricula of the different
education systems of Africa, the inclusion of words such as bakkie, impala,
indaba, kopje, rondavel, robot, safari and veld adds to the African user-perspec-
tive that is advanced in this article. In other English dictionaries, e.g. the 7th
edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the treatment of such
lemmata includes labels that link the words to Africa.
Besides the inclusion of words that are of distinctly African origin, illustra-
tive examples in the LPD constitute the most salient feature of the proposed
African user-perspective in children’s and school dictionaries with English as a
treated language. The lexicographers seem to have cautiously formulated ex-
amples that make reference to distinctly African place names (countries, cities
and natural landscape features such as mountains and rivers) and personal
names (including those of real and well-known African personalities). There
are over 100 such examples in the article stretch Aa alone. Not only do such
examples illustrate the meaning and usage of the illustrated words, some of
them even provide data that may be of integral cognitive value in other school
subjects. For instance, the examples of the words A.D (The main walls of Great
Zimbabwe were built in 1200 A.D.) and anniversary (In 1996, Botswana cele-
brated its 30th anniversary of independence) could be useful for students study-
ing history as a subject in selected African countries, provided that such
examples remain factually accurate.
However, the value of localised illustrative examples in the LPD would vary
depending on the dictionary user’s nationality, locality and familiarity with
some of the localised referents. For example, the illustration of the word
abroad in this dictionary (When did Peter Ndlovu go abroad?) could be more
helpful to Zimbabweans who know the famous Zimbabwean soccer legend and
his successful career which saw him leave Zimbabwe to play for Coventry City
22 of 24 Dion Nkomo

Football Club in England. To them, the sense of abroad would be elucidated

and the usage of the word would be illustrated effectively, with England being a
clear case of abroad. This may not be the case for some dictionary users who do
not know him, where he came from and where he went. Accordingly, the name
Peter Ndlovu becomes a bonus to Zimbabweans among all the other English
learners in Africa who are the target users of the dictionary. Similarly, the
general dominance of South African proper names in the illustrative examples
of the LPD may imply that South African learners benefit more than the ma-
jority of learners in other African countries, thereby indicating that while an
African children’s or school dictionary makes commercial sense, its utility
value may not be easily unattainable, especially for younger users such as pri-

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mary school children. Nevertheless, the localisation of examples demonstrated
in the LPD appears to be a worthwhile undertaking that could be part of an
African perspective in the compilation of English dictionaries intended for use
in the African context, particularly by schoolchildren.

7. Conclusion

Well-conceived children’s and school dictionaries have a great potential of,

over and above supporting learning, inculcating a dictionary culture. This po-
tential mainly lies in the design procedures and features of such dictionaries,
which are different from those of adult users. However, this article has indi-
cated that such a potential is limited in the majority of English dictionaries
available for the young school children who learn and use English as an add-
itional language in African communities. Although they were produced in ac-
cordance with the principles that make them suitable for and accessible to
children in terms of age, the user-perspective of these dictionaries, is biased
towards mother-tongue English-speaking children and based on foreign curri-
cula. This is not even helped by the practice of publishing some such diction-
aries as local editions without the requisite adaptation. Perhaps that partly
explains the generally negative attitude towards dictionaries within education
sectors of African countries, and consequently poor dictionary skills and dic-
tionary culture. However, progress has been made. The dictionaries discussed
in Section 6 of the article demonstrate that localised lemma selection and il-
lustrative examples, in addition to the bilingual dimension of the analysed
dictionaries respond to the linguistic, cultural and educational realities of
English learning and use in African countries. Such aspects define an African
user-perspective in the conception, compilation and design of children’s and
school dictionaries. It underlines the word specific that recurs in the account of
the function theory of lexicography, which argues that every dictionary should
be compiled to solve specific problems experienced by a specific user in a spe-
cific situation (cf. Bergenholtz and Tarp 2003; Tarp 2008).
 An African User-perspective on English Dictionaries 23 of 24

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