THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TYPES OF DICTIONARY USED AND IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS' PRONUNCIATION ACCURACY

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between types of dictionary used [ Monolingual, Bilingual (L1-L2), and Bilingual (L2-L1) dictionaries] and Iranian Intermediate EFL learners' pronunciation accuracy. Oxford Placement test was administered to select 80 intermediate EFL learners as the main sample. Two questionnaires were used to collect data. Questionnaire I was given to the 80 participants to collect some quantitative data about their preferred type of dictionary. Based on the participants' preferences in dictionary use they were divided into three groups including monolingual, bilingual (L1-L2), and bilingual (L2-L1) groups. The participants of the three groups then responded to the questionnaire II which reported their habits in dictionary use. They also took part in a task to check their skill in dictionary use. Subsequently, they were asked to read aloud a story in order to measure their pronunciation accuracy. Finally, some of them from each group were selected to attend an interview. According to the results of questionnaire I, the most frequently used dictionary type was Monolingual Mobile Dictionary and the least favored dictionary was Bilingual (L1-L2) Computer Dictionary. The data obtained from questionnaire II showed that consulting a dictionary for word definition, sentence example, pronunciation, and finding meaning were the most common habits of students. The results of Eta test showed a significant relationship between the type of dictionary used and pronunciation accuracy. Based on the results of the Pearson Correlation Test, it was found that there was a correlation between skill in dictionary use and pronunciation accuracy.