Didactic Materials to Foster Dictionary Skills in the EFL Classroom

Abstract

The present project can be identified as belonging to Modality number 6: didactic materials included in the rules established by Jaume I University. This particular modality refers to the creation of singular didactic materials, educational innovations as well as technological resources which can be exploited in an educational context. In this particular case, a series of didactic materials have been created to reinforce the learning of English skills through the reiterated employment of digital dictionaries, to foster their use. In the present case, the elaborated didactic materials belong to the English subject taught in 4 th grade of ESO in IES “Els Ports”, Morella. On the one hand, through the development of the whole set of activities we pretend to break with the traditional methodology of teaching grammar, vocabulary and the different skills. In order to strengthen this teaching and learning process students increase their use of Communication and Information Technologies (ICTs) since they have to make a proper use of technological equipment and the affordances it brings into language learning. On the other hand, the creation and preparation of these activities aims at examining the use of two particular online dictionaries in depth, since all of them do not exhibit the same information and all e-dictionaries do not present information in the same way. Moreover, the lack of activities in textbooks requiring students to use online dictionaries is a reality since the textbook employed in IES “Els Ports” to teach English does not exhibit these exercises, or whether they exist, the statement implies to use a dictionary if needed, without being more specific and without being a requirement. Finally, the assessment will not follow the usual process, in contexts in which students have to sit in front of a final exam because all the activities are complementary to the first unit of the book. In this sense, each activity will receive a 5% within the unit, so that, 10 dictionary activities will account for five points in the unit. In the same way, several methods will be used in order to evaluate the activities: field notes through direct observation in the classroom, material/task delivery and rubrics.