Dictionary is a reference source in print or electronic form containing words usually alphabetically arranged along with information about their forms, pronunciations, functions, etymologies, meanings, and syntactic and idiomatic uses. The earliest dictionaries in the English language were glossaries of French, Spanish or Latin words along with their definitions in English. The word “dictionary” was invented by an Englishman called John of Garland in 1220. There are different types of dictionaries such as bilingual, monolingual, learner and subject specific dictionary. Strategies or resources can also be explored by the teacher, for effective language delivery. ESL students have multi- language activities to engage in and the teacher cannot cope with all of these, within the classroom environment, hence the need for students to use dictionaries to complement classroom instructions. In recent times, scientific technologies have introduced sophisticated means of using the dictionary, aside using traditional book dictionaries.

Significance of the study

This study tries to analyse the reason for the poor usage of dictionary among higher secondary students and gives recommendations to overcome the problems. It is believed that vocabulary acquisition, develops the pronunciation skill introduction and steps there by the study skills is English will be enhanced. Hence dictionary usage is visited for enhancing the language ability, knowing the attitude of higher secondary students in dictionary usage, will help to provide recommendation for the students to enhance the language ability. Hence it is significant to know about the attitude of students or dictionary usage.

Review of Related Studies

The studies relevant to the title are Tananuraksakul (2015) investigated the effect of online dictionary usage on undergraduate studies. It refers to undergraduate learning strategies, this paper went on to a pilot study into how we use the Cambridge dictionary online can affect undergraduate students. It’s connecting was selectively inter-grated in a writing classroom as a tool to improve their English during writing assignments because appears become comprehensive then others. 73 students participated in this student completed. Learning technology and it turns possess positive attitude toward and motivation in learning English astronomy.

Sariqul (2006) studied ‘’The importance and Teaching’’ It is reference book is a dictionary words of a language usually alphabetically arranged with information on their forms and pronunciation, functions, meanings, spelling and idiomatic uses. Most of this information cannot be found in other reference books. It is only considering several advantages the use dictionary. It helps students learn how to use a dictionary. The dictionary can be very helpful resource for their studies.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are

1. To find out the level of attitude towards dictionary usage of higher secondary students of Tirunelveli district.
2. To find out the level of significant difference in the attitude towards dictionary usage of higher secondary students of Tirunelveli district with regard to personal variables namely age, gender and locality of school.

Hypothesis of the study

The hypotheses of the study are

1. There is no significant difference between male and female higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage
2. There is no significant difference between 15 to 16 aged and 17 to 18 years old higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage
3. There is no significant difference between urban and rural higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage

Methods used

The investigator employed survey method for this study.

Population and Sample

In this study random sampling technique was selected. The investigator collected data from 200 higher secondary students of Tirunelveli district among the total population size of 21,067 higher secondary students.

Tools used

Scale on dictionary usage, a tool constructed by the investigator and the supervisor was used.

Data Analysis

Table 1. Significant difference between 15 to 16 and 17 to 18 years old higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage.

In the above table, the p- value (0.92) is greater than 0.05, hence the null hypothesis is ACCEPTED at 5% level of significance. It shows that, there is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable age.

Table 2. Significant difference between male and female higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage

In the above table, the p- value (0.21) is greater than 0.05, hence the null hypothesis is ACCEPTED at 5% level of significance. It shows that, there is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable gender.

Table 3. Significant difference between urban and rural higher secondary students in their attitude towards dictionary usage

In the above table, the p- value (0.11) is greater than 0.05, hence the null hypothesis is ACCEPTED at 5% level of significance. It shows that, there is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable locality of the school.

Findings

The investigator found out that

• There is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable age.
• There is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable gender.
• There is no significant difference in attitude of higher secondary students towards dictionary usage with regard to the personal variable locality of the school.

Discussion

The study reveals that 40% of students in rural area have low level attitude towards dictionary usage, 48.3 % of higher secondary students have average level of attitude towards dictionary usage and 11.7% of higher secondary students have high level of attitude towards dictionary usage.

54.1% of male students have low level attitude towards dictionary usage, 31.2 % of male higher secondary students have average level of attitude towards dictionary usage and 14.6% of male higher secondary students have high level of attitude towards dictionary usage. Whereas 39.5% of female students have low level attitude towards dictionary usage, 41.9 % of female higher secondary students have average level of attitude towards dictionary usage and 18.6% of female higher secondary students have high level of attitude towards dictionary usage.

Recommendations

From the findings it is recommended that

• The higher secondary students should be provided with dictionary and they should bring the dictionary in all the language classes and enhance their language ability.
• Online dictionaries are presently in use, to facilitate learners ‘efforts in language learning; making it an easier exercise for students. Hence the students should use them.
• The parents and teachers should motivate the students to use the dictionaries maximum in classrooms and houses.

Conclusion

The complementary role of the dictionary in language learning cannot be over emphasized. In the English classroom, the need for the dictionary is more compelling, because students need to gain proficiency in their first language to facilitate the learning of the target language. These students have multi- language activities to engage in and the teacher cannot cope with all of these, within the classroom environment, hence there is a need for students to use dictionaries to complement classroom instructions. Thus, this study emphasises the learners to use the dictionary maximal in academics.