Evans and Green Article

This article describes a survey done in Hong Kong to test the learning of tertiary students learning English. It breaks down their successes in different areas. They find that the students have particular difficulties with vocabulary. There are other problems with their learning as well, such as grammar, but vocabulary was the main problem.

I find this problem to be very interesting. They talk about the reluctance these students have for consulting dictionaries. It seems strange to me considering I was always taught to consult a dictionary before asking for help from someone else. Asking someone else is always the easy option, but I was always told to "look it up" if i asked my teacher what a word in French was. I find that I often take the same approach with my students. It is good to see that this actually does have a benefit in teaching a foreign language. I can't imagine going through a system that would not teach you to consult a dictionary if you cannot figure out a word. Then again, if you don't have a dictionary it is certainly useful to know how to get around that and ask somebody. I'm not sure how I feel about this issue, but it really stood out to me when I read the article.