Dictionaries for Adults in Literacy Programs

8/8/2019 Dictionaries for Adults in Literacy Programs

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Dictionaries for Adults in Literacy ProgramsA Bibliography of Resources Available from North Carolina Community

College Literacy Resource CenterFebruary 2002

Recurring questions from literacy educators sent us to our catalogs to locate dictionaries that

might be appropriate for students in adult literacy programs. While the list is not inclusive, itprovides options for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. Weve provided callnumbers for dictionaries that are available from North Carolina Community College Literacy

Resource Center.

Basic Dictionaries

Finding a basic dictionary for adults in literacy programs requires careful effort. Entries should bewords adults use and definitions should include adult references. The language must be

straightforward, with features that are helpful without being overwhelming. While there is nosingle dictionary that meets all adult requirements, here are several that adults might find helpful.

These dictionaries could be used by beginning and intermediate students.

The New Oxford Picture Dictionary New Readers Press, PO Box 131, Syracuse,

NY,13210.

Perhaps the only picture dictionary designed for adults, The New Oxford Picture

Dictionary includes color illustrations for over 2,400 words and is widely used withbeginning learners either as an independent resource of as a component of avocabulary development program. Bilingual editions, available in eight languages,

include second language words beside English words.

PE 1628

.M33

1987

The Dictionary of Essential English. American Guidance Service, 4201 Woodland

Rd, PO Box 99, Circle Pines, MN, 55014-1796, 1987.

Includes some 5,000 of the most frequently used English words. The dictionary has

short, clear definitions, simplified respellings to aid pronunciation, and readableprint.

PE1628.E921986

The Everyday American English Dictionary. National Textbook Company, 4255West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood, IL, 60646-1975, 1994

Includes 5,500 basic English words from everyday life (food, clothing, sports,government, school). Its brief, clear definitions and readable print should beappropriate for most adults.

These dictionaries could be used by more advanced students.

PE 1628.S48

1990

The New Horizon Ladder Dictionary of the English Language Revised EditionSignet, Penguin Books USA, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY, 10014, 1990.

Contains over 6,000 words divided into "ladders" based on frequency of use.Definitions are clear and accompanied by interesting sentence examples. Print is

extremely readable and the dictionary looks like an adult paperback book.

PE1628.5 The Fearon New School Dictionary Globe Fearon, 4350 Equity Drive, PO Box


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.F44 1987 2649, Columbus, OH, 43216, 1987.

Contains over 70,000 entries. Its compact size makes it easy to use by adults whoare fairly comfortable with reference books.Webster's New World Dictionary, Second Concise Edition Globe Fearon, 1982.

Webster's School Dictionary Globe Fearon, 1989.

The New World Dictionary is a hard cover, comprehensive dictionary with terms

from business, arts and sciences, slang and informal words. The School Dictionarycontains the same words in soft cover. It includes standard phonetic respellings andlists word derivations.

Spelling Dictionaries

Many adults are concerned about spelling correctly. For them, spelling dictionaries can be a

welcome resource.Spellex Word Finder Curriculum Associates, 5 Esquire Rd., PO Box 2001, N.Billerica, MA, 01862-0901.

Word Finder is a small soft cover book containing over 3,000 base words commonlyused in writing, along with common suffix forms. It can be used to verify spelling

and to select the appropriate form of a word for a particular situation.

PE 146

.D8361992

Spell It Right National Textbook Company, 1992

Spell It Right contains over 7,000 commonly misspelled words and more than 7,000ways in which they are likely to be misspelled. An adult can look up his or her "best

guess" and find correct the spelling of a word.

Electronic Dictionaries

Franklin Learning Resources (FLR 122 Burrs Road, Mt. Holly, NJ, 08060) produces electronicbooks that include a number of spelling aids. Two of them add oral pronunciations to visualdisplays. They also contain educational games, a prefix/suffix matching feature, and store 250

personal words.LRC The Speaking Acecontains 80,000 words in its database. The leaner types in a

word and presses Enter. The Speaking Ace verifies correct spelling, displays

correctly spelled options, and pronounces words. Among its added features areprefix/suffix matching, 4 levels of word ranking from elementary to advanced, andSAT prep words.

The Speaking Dictionary Companionconsists of an electronic book plus a hardcover Merriam Webster Basic English Dictionary. The 50,000 words in its database

match those in the dictionary. Like the Speaking Ace, the Speaking DictionaryCompanion verifies and corrects spelling, and pronounces words. It also includespage-finder access to the dictionary and a rhyming feature.

Related Resources

Three interesting books that, strictly speaking, are not dictionaries address issues of interest toadults.


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PE 2827.C65

1986

The Beginners Dictionary of American Usage National Textbook Company,1989.

Provides usage features as well as definitions for some 4,000 words.

The Spellex Thesaurus Curriculum Associates).

Lists 1,250 words from The Spellex Word Finder (c.f. spelling dictionaries, above)

giving part of speech, 3-5 synonyms, and a contextual sentence for each.

PE 2839

.S641994

The American Idioms Dictionary National Textbook Company, 1994.

Contains 8,000 common idioms plus a phrase finder to help locate them.

Documents

Dictionaries for Adults in Literacy Programs