字典的使用在英語學習上，一直扮演重要的角色，文獻指出字典使用有助於學習者字彙的學習、閱讀理解、及寫作。然而並非所有的字典使用者都能得到相同的成效。事實上，字典的使用並不如想像中簡單，而這些字典使用技巧的教學並未因英文字典的普及而受到重視。因此本研究的主旨在進行字典使用技巧的教學於學校的正式英語課程中，並探討字典使用技巧教學對台灣國中生閱讀理解之影響。
本研究的對象是四十個國中二年級的學生，分別來自台南市立成功國民中學的兩個班級，此兩班各二十人被任意分派為實驗組與對照組：實驗組於英語課程中接受字典使用技巧的教學，而對照組則無。首先，此40個受試者先填寫一份關於字典使用概況的問卷，並接受字典使用技巧與閱讀理解之前測。其後實驗組於每節英文課中接受二十分鐘的英語字典使用技巧教學，此教學共為期三週。最後，此40個受試者接受字典使用技巧與閱讀理解之後測。
本研究結果摘要如下：
1.本研究所探討的十個與閱讀理解相關的字典技巧中，國中生普遍遇到困難，包括認識字典代號、瞭解單字與詞語在字典裡出現的先後順序、利用左右上角的指引字、快速瀏覽頁面、辨認同形異義字、去除規則變化的字尾、查閱衍生字、查閱英美式對照與地名及新字、辨認複合字、以及查閱多義字。
2.本研究顯示，國中生使用字典時，另一個常犯的錯誤就是將詞目中出現的任何文字，如例句或用法說明，任意取用片段作為該詞目的意思。
3.除了同形異義字的辨認受學生原本的文法知識影響之外，其他的技巧在接受字典使用的教學之後，大部分都能夠顯著改善。其中利用左右上角的指引字與去除規則變化的字尾，兩組的學生都有顯著進步，不論是否接受字典技巧的教學。
4. 本研究顯示，字典使用技巧教學對國中生英文字句的閱讀理解有顯著的影響。

Dictionary use has played an important role in English learning. Researches showed that dictionary has facilitating effects on vocabulary learning, writing and reading comprehension. However, not all dictionary users can benefit from the use of dictionaries. In fact, dictionary use is not as easy as what we thought, but dictionary skills instruction does not receive much attention in spite of the prevalence of dictionaries. The purpose of this study is to carry out dictionary skills instruction in English classrooms and to assess the effects of dictionary skills instruction on reading comprehension of junior high EFL students in Taiwan.
The subjects in the study were 40 second-year junior high students of two classes from Tainan Municipal Cheng-gong Junior High School. Each class was randomly assigned to the experiment group or the control group. The experiment group received dictionary skills instruction in English classes, and the control group did not. First, the 40 subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their dictionary use backgrounds. Then, they were asked to take a pre-test on their dictionary skills and local reading comprehension. After the pre-test, the experimental group received dictionary skills instructions during each class time for about 20 minutes. The instruction lasted about 3 weeks in the beginning of the second semester. Finally, the 40 subjects were asked to take a post-test on their dictionary skills and local reading comprehension.
The major findings of the current study were summarized as follws:
1. Generally speaking, among the ten dictionary skills investigated in the current study, junior high EFL students in Taiwan encounter problems more or less. The problems include understanding short forms, labels, and grammar codes of the dictionary, getting familiar with the alphabetical orders, making use of guide words, scanning a dictionary page, distinguishing a homograph, removing regular inflections, removing affixes of derivatives, scanning nearby entries or seeking in the addendum, recognizing compounds or idioms, and finding the right meaning of a polysemous.
2. In addition to these problems, the frequent application of ‘Kidrule strategy’ made the situation worse. The participants were very likely to pick any Chinese fragments ‘near’ the target words (or other words with similar spellings.) and misinterpret the fragments as the meanings of the target words.
3. Most of the above mentioned problems could be reduced after receiving dictionary skills instruction from their English teacher in a short time. Only the ability to distinguish a homograph can not be improved merely through the teacher’s instruction in a short time. It seems that, to distinguish homographs, the participants’ grammatical knowledge played a more important role than the dictionary skills instruction. As for the using of guide words and the removing of inflections, these two skills can be improved without the teacher’s instruction.
4. According to the study, the use of dictionaries with proper dictionary skills instruction and enough practice could make a significant difference in the performance of local reading comprehension tasks.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. THE IMPORTANCE OF DICTIONARY USE 1
1.1.1 The Prevalence of Dictionaries 1
1.1.2 The Curriculum and MOE Competence Indicators 2
1.1.3 The Popularity of Dictionary Look-up Contests 2
1.1.4 The English Proficiency Requirements 3
1.2 RESEARCHES ON DICTIONARY USE 5
1.2.1 The Pros of Dictionary Use 6
1.2.2 The Cons of Dictionary Use 6
1.2.3 Moderate Use of Dictionary Use 6
1.2.4 The Difficulty of Dictionary Use 7
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 9
1.3.1 Lack of Independent Learning Attitude 9
1.3.2 Lack of Dictionary Use Study on Junior High EFL Students 10
1.3.3 Lack of Formal Dictionary Skills Instruction and Assessment 10
1.4 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY 11
1.5 MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTIONS 11
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 12
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS 12
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 15
2.1 THE EFFECTS OF DICTIONARY USE 15
2.2. DICTIONARY SKILLS 19
2.3 COMMON LOOK-UP ERRORS AND PROBLEMS IN ENGLISH READING 24
2.3.1 Problems in Establishing Which Lexical Item in the Reading Text Poses a Problem 25
2.3.2 Problems in Finding a Lexical Item in the Dictionary Macrostructure 26
2.3.3 Problems in Finding a Piece of Information in the Microstructure 26
2.4 VARIABLES IN THE USE OF L2 DICTIONARIES 27
2.5 THE APPROACH AND PRACTICE OF DICTIONARY SKILLS INSTRUCTION 28
CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 30
3.1 PARTICIPANTS 30
3.2 PROCEDURE 33
3.3 INSTRUMENT 34
3.3.1 The Questionnaire 34
3.3.2 The Dictionary 35
3.3.3 Dictionary Skills and Local Reading Comprehension Test A and B 36
3.3.4. The Dictionary Skills Instruction on the Experimental Group 44
3.3.4.1 Understand Short Forms, Labels, and Grammar Codes of the Dictionary 45
3.3.4.2 Get Familiarized with the Distribution of Letters (Alphabetical Order) 46
3.3.4.3 Make Use of Guide Words on the Right and Left Tops of the Dictionary 47
3.3.4.4 Scan a Dictionary Page 47
3.3.4.5 Distinguish a Homograph 48
3.3.4.6 Remove Its Regular Inflection First 48
3.3.4.7 Try to Remove Its Affixes (Derivatives) 49
3.3.4.8. Try to Scan Nearby Entries or to Seek in the Addendum 49
3.3.4.9. Consider Its Possibility of Being Compounds or Idioms 50
3.3.4.10. Working with the Menus or Other Short Definitions 50
3.3.5 Supplementary Methods 51
3.3.5.1 The Researcher's Direct Observations of the Participants' Look-up Process 51
3.3.5.2 Feedback from Students 52
3.3.5.3 Information from the Dictionary 52
3.4. DATA ANALYSIS 52
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 54
4.1 COMMON DICTIONARY CONSULTATION PROBLEMS OR ERRORS OF JUNIOR HIGH EFL STUDENTS IN TAIWAN 55
4.1.2 Get Familiarized with the Distribution of Letters (Alphabetical Order) 56
4.1.3 Make Use of Guide Words on the Right and Left Tops of the Dictionary 56
4.1.4 Scan a Dictionary Page 56
4.1.5 Distinguish a Homograph 57
4.1.6 Remove Its Regular Inflection First 58
4.1.7 Try to Remove Its Affixes (Derivatives) 58
4.1.8 Try to Scan Nearby Entries or to Seek in the Addendum 59
4.1.9 Consider Its Possibility of Being Compounds or Idioms 59
4.1.10 Practice Working with the Menus or Other Short Definitions 59
4.2 CAN THE ABOVE DICTIONARY CONSULTATION PROBLEMS OR ERRORS BE AVOIDED OR REDUCED BY RECEIVING DICTIONARY SKILLS INSTRUCTION? 60
4.2.1 Understand Short Forms, Labels, and Grammar Codes of the Dictionary 60
4.2.2 Get Familiarized with the Distribution of Letters (Alphabetical Order) 64
4.2.3 Make Use of Guide Words on the Right and Left Tops of the Dictionary 64
4.2.4 Scan a Dictionary Page 64
4.2.5 Distinguish a Homograph 65
4.2.6 Remove Its Regular Inflection First 65
4.2.7 Try to Remove Its Affixes (Derivatives) 65
4.2.8 Try to Scan Nearby Entries or to Seek in the Addendum 66
4.2.9 Consider Its Possibility of Being Compounds or Idioms 66
4.2.10 Practice Working with the Menus or Other Short Definitions 66
4.3 WILL THE READING COMPREHENSION OF JUNIOR HIGH EFL STUDENTS IMPROVE AS A RESULT OF THE DICTIONARY SKILLS INSTRUCTION? 67
CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS 70
5.1 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 70
5.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 71
5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 72
5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 73
REFERENCES 75
APPENDIX A 81
APPENDIX B 82
APPENDIX C 83
APPENDIX D 86
APPENDIX E 88
APPENDIX F 89
APPENDIX G 94
APPENDIX H 100
APPENDIX I 101
APPENDIX J 106
APPENDIX K 109
APPENDIX L 118
APPENDIX M 124

LIST OF TABLES
Table 3-1 The Profile of the Participants 32
Table 4-1 Paired-Samples T-test Results of the Experiment Group on Dictionary Skill 1 to 10 and local reading comprehension 61
Table 4-2 Paired-Samples T-test Results of the Control Group on Dictionary Skill 1 to 10 and local reading comprehension 62
Table 4-3 Independent-Samples T-test Results of Both Groups on Local Reading comprehension in the Pretest and Posttest 68
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3-1. The procedure of the study 34
Figure 4-1 Comparisons of the Dictionary Skill 1 to 10 and Local Reading Comprehension of the Experiment Group 62
Figure 4-2 Comparisons of the Dictionary Skill 1 to 10 and Local Reading Comprehension of the Control Group 63
Figure 4-3 Comparisons of Local Reading Comprehensions of Both Groups 68

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