Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the Iraqi 5th EFL students' beliefs and preferences towards the use and types of English dictionaries. The participants were twenty-six Iraqi EFL 5th grade (science stream) secondary school students in the Iraqi secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data was gathered by a questionnaire comprising 26- items about learners’ beliefs and preferences towards the use and types of the dictionaries. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics; mean and standard deviation were shown statistically. Additionally, these descriptive statistics were converted into percentages. The findings showed students’ positive beliefs towards English dictionaries as facilitator tools help them in improving their English and enhancing their pronunciation skills. These students showed their preferable and positive beliefs to electronic and online dictionaries as compared with paper dictionaries. Additionally, these students showed their positive beliefs to monolingual dictionaries as compared with bilingual ones. These findings confirm the importance of utilizing English dictionaries to enhance learning of English, and it is therefore recommended that more attention be directed to training students in effective electronic and online monolingual dictionaries in order to enhance their learning process and to improve their pronunciation and other dictionary skills.
Keywords: dictionary use and types, beliefs and preferences, Iraqi secondary school students, English as a foreign language (EFL).
Title: Beliefs and Preferences of EFL Iraqi Students towards English Dictionaries
Author: Waleed Noaman Sabah
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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