DIGITAL DICTIONARIES AND THEIR DEPLOYMENT IN TEACHING ARABIC AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65944/MOTURIDIY/2026-1/2Keywords:
Digital dictionaries; Teaching Arabic; Arabic as a second language; Electronic dictionaries; Lexicography; Arabic language learning; Educational technology; Language teachingAbstract
This study puts digital dictionaries to the test of actual experimentation, moving them from the realm of theoretical discussions about their nature, features, and preparation, to the field of practical application through their real use in teaching Arabic as a second language. The purpose is to identify the problems that hinder their effective employment and prevent full benefit from them. This is based on the researcher’ s observations during his own use of some digital dictionaries in teaching his students, as well as on the attitudes and opinions of teachers and learners collected through two questionnaires – one directed to teachers and the other to learners. These questionnaires aimed to identify the tendencies of both teachers and learners toward using digital dictionaries in learning and teaching Arabic, as well as the problems they encountered and the drawbacks they noticed during their use. By searching for solutions to these problems in the literature of lexicography in general and digital lexicography in particular, the researcher identified a set of suggestions and specifications that should be available in the desired digital dictionary, in order to narrow the gap between the current state of digital dictionaries and what they ought to be in the field of teaching Arabic as a second language.
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