Grammatical Currents in Pedagogical Dictionaries

Grammatical information about a particular headword in a learner's dictionary seems to be one of major issues in pedagogical lexicography. It is one of many categories accounted for by dictionaries in the body of a particular dictionary entry. In this work we are primarily concerned with the type, amount, clarity, exhaustiveness, findability and efficiency of grammatical information in pedagogical dictionaries. Among many improvements which await introduction in such dictionaries, there is one that could be reflected in the design of the publication, thus more successfully guiding EFL learners in their use of new lexical items, according to their grammatical properties. The solution we attempt to advocate is a reference work for advanced learners of English as a foreign language that can comprise two main functions, that is the provision of the lexical items and all their properties traditionally included in the microstructure of a dictionary together with a grammar book that would be referred to by cross-references specified for many troublesome grammatical areas, particularly those whose origin might be contributed to the interference from the mother tongue.