 |
The Duke of Edinburgh *ESU English-Speaking Union English Language Book Award is given to 'the best book published each year in the field of English language teaching'. The Oxford Student's Dictionary, published in September 2007 for learners using English to study other subjects, was the 2008 joint winner with Always On, published by OUP New York.
'Original, very relevant and helpful'
The panel of judges recognized that this 'clear... original, very relevant and helpful' dictionary meets the needs of an increasingly important group of learners. They judged the OSD to be 'an incredibly useful aid for teachers and students' that 'is moving dictionaries away from being merely word lists'.
Developing a dictionary for learners using English to study other subjects
Alison Waters (Managing Editor, ELT Dictionaries) explains how the OSD was developed. 'As part of our research for the dictionary we talked to a number of teachers and students in bilingual or CLIL programmes around the world to find out what type of dictionary they would find most useful. Students are using English to study a wide range of subjects and need both clear explanations and help in using the words correctly. Defining specialist words such as diffraction or oxbow lake using language that students will understand is not easy, so the dictionary has illustrations and diagrams to help students with difficult concepts and processes.' The judges commented on the dictionary's 'excellent coverage' and were 'particularly impressed' to find entries for words such as familiarization trip (tourism) and SWOT analysis (marketing).'
The ultimate in dictionary CD-ROMs
The CD-ROM has everything students will expect - dictionary look-up, hundreds of illustrations, practice exercises - but, as Frank Keenan (Publishing Systems Manager) remarks 'they will also find a few surprises. The Topic Dictionary allows students to search words by subject area, and they can compile their own topic dictionary for the words they find most useful, adding in their own notes or translations - and email their personal dictionary to a friend. And in addition to the illustrations from the print dictionary, the CD-ROM has video clips to show complex processes such as the carbon cycle.
Award ceremony at Buckingham Palace
The dictionary's editors, Alison Waters (Managing Editor) and Victoria Bull (Development Editor) together with Frank Keenan (Publishing Systems Manager) will be presented with the Award by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace on 12 November.
Notes
The Oxford Student's Dictionary for learners using English to study other subjects was published in both with and without CD-ROM editions in September 2007. It is written for Upper-Intermediate to Advanced level students. It identifies the Oxford 3000™ keywords (the most important words to know in English) and the words on the Academic Word List (the most important words to know to study other subjects in English). The entries include general and curricular vocabulary to support students studying subjects such as biology, history, mathematics, geography, history, art, music, etc.
*The English-Speaking Union is an international educational charity founded in 1918 to promote 'international understanding and friendship through the use of the English language'.
**HRH The Duke of Edinburgh English-Speaking Union English Language Book Award was founded in 1971 to recognise the best book published each year in the field of English language teaching.
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Content and graphics © 2001-2010 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. | |
: Tel: 03-5444-5454 / Fax: 03-5444-6644 / |
|
