CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW
E. Previous Studies
Many studies have investigated the impact of printed vs. electronic dictionaries on word retention. Koyama and Takeuchi (2004) in their study about ―Comprehending Two
Written Texts without Recourse to a Dictionary and Answering Vocabulary Questions with a Paper Dictionary (text 1) and an Electronic dictionary (text 2)‖ discovered that reference to a printed dictionary resulted in much better vocabulary retention than the consultation of a PED. By way of explanation, they pointed out that accessing the right entry in printed dictionaries is typically an arduous and elaborate task, whereas in electronic dictionaries it usually boils down to inputting the spelling of the headword. The similarity between these studies is they did a research an electronic dictionary. However, they did not do a research students‘ reading interest and the result was contrast as researcher‘s study. They said that printed dictionary is better than electronic dictionary.
Supporting to this study, Dwi Nita Febriyanti‘s research (2013) in ―The Effectiveness of Electronic Dictionary and Vocabulary Knowledge‖, the results of the printeds showed the highly positive response from the students toward the benefit of using electronic dictionary in EFL learning. The highest response of the first printed was shown on the success of using ED as a powerful tool for improving students‘ achievement in vocabulary learning and retention. Meanwhile in the second paper, the highest response was shown on the easiness of using electronic dictionary (ED) than paper dictionary (PD). The possibility of conducting searches easily, easy portability, and time efficiency were important benefits of the use of electronic dictionaries mentioned by the EFL students in the second paper.
Both of them also showed that a great number of students (88.29%) for the first paper and (92.06%) for the second paper use bilingual electronic dictionaries. Considering students 'interest in using electronic dictionaries and their benefits for EFL learning, the use of electronic dictionaries will increase students' motivation to study EFL.
Then, the results obtained by Dziemianko (2010) in ―Paper or Electronic? The Role of Dictionary Form in Language Reception, Production and the Retention of Meaning and Collocations‖. He found that using an electronic dictionary can lead to better retention of both meaning and collocations. It turns out that is not so much the effort put into the extraction of relevant information from the dictionary on printed as the saliency of an entry on the computer screen and, surprisingly, the ease of look-up that prove beneficial to learning. The difficulty of printed dictionary use may actually put off language learners, who might be confused, if not overwhelmed and annoyed, by the wealth of information not immediately relevant to the task at hand, which they are nonetheless bound to note and wade through.
The relevant study is conducted by Reza and Zahra (2013) in ―The Impact of Using Electronic Dictionary on Vocabulary Learning and Retention of Iranian EFL learners‖, This study aims to investigate the effects of electronic dictionaries on learning and long- term retention of the vocabulary of middle-low EFL students in Iran. To ensure the homogeneity of the participants, the Oxford Placement test was given to 74 female students studying in public secondary schools in Sabzevar, Iran. 60 participants were selected as homogeneous and assigned to the Electronic Dictionary (ED) and Paper Dictionary (PD) groups. During five treatment sessions, 35 vocabularies were instructed to the two groups. The ED group received words through the CD-ROM dictionary to find the meanings and definitions of new words being taught, while the PD group followed the usual method of using PD. The two groups immediately took the posttest given immediately after the treatment and the posttest delayed was given two weeks later. The results of the t-test revealed that students in the ED group outperformed those in the PD group. Therefore, it is recommended that ED can improve learning and vocabulary
retention. This study also provides pedagogical implications for using ED as an effective learning tool.
Then, according to Flynn (2007) in ―Electronic Dictionaries, Printed Dictionaries and No Dictionaries: the Effects on Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension‖, This paper describes experiments with Japanese EFL students comparing understanding, and knowledge of receptive and productive vocabulary obtained from reading expository texts with electronic dictionaries, printed bilingual dictionaries and no dictionaries.
Vocabulary knowledge was tested with a two-week pre-test, direct post-reading test and two-week post-test. Receptive knowledge is assessed by a checklist test for known and unknown items while productive knowledge is measured by matching item tests.
Understanding is measured by true or false questions translated into the student's first language. The use of dictionaries tends to produce higher scores on comprehension and vocabulary steps than students who read without a dictionary. The use of electronic dictionaries tends to produce superior gains in understanding and measuring vocabulary rather than using printed dictionaries. However, both groups of dictionary users need more time to read text than students who do not use dictionaries.
Next, Abbas Ali Zarei and Aijaz Ahmed Gujjar (2012) in ―The Contribution of Electronic and Paper Dictionaries to Iranian EFL Learner's Vocabulary Learning‖, Their research describing this paper is to investigate the contribution of paper dictionaries and electronic dictionaries to vocabulary learning for EFL students. To do so, four groups of male and female EFL students were selected. The experimental group (one male, one female) only used an electronic dictionary while the two control groups (male and female) only used paper dictionaries. The scores of the four groups in the vocabulary test were compared using the two-way ANOVA procedure. The results showed that although the gender of participants did not significantly affect their vocabulary learning and did not interact with the type of dictionary used by students, the contribution of electronic dictionaries for vocabulary learning was significantly greater than that of paper dictionaries. The findings of this study can be useful for instructors, textbook writers, syllabus designers and language learners.
The last is Rohmatillah (2013) in ―The Effectiveness of Using Electronic Dictionary to Teach Vocabulary Viewed from Students‘ Self-Efficacy‖. The purpose of this study is to find out whether: (1) Electronic Dictionaries are more effective than Print Dictionaries in teaching Vocabulary; (2) students with high level self-efficacy have better vocabulary knowledge than students with low self-efficacy; and (3) there is an interaction between teaching media and student self-efficacy. Experimental research was carried out at the Raden Intan State Islamic Institute, Lampung in the 2012/2013 Academic Year, from October to December 2012. Samples taking two classes were conducted using cluster random sampling technique. Each class is divided into two groups of students who have high and low self-efficacy. The technique used to collect data is questionnaires and vocabulary tests. Both instruments are tried to get valid and reliable items. The researcher analyzed the data using ANOVA or analysis of variance and the Tukey test. The research findings lead to the conclusion that: (1) using an electronic dictionary is more effective than the printed dictionary for teaching vocabulary for first semester students of English Language Education at Raden Intan State Islamic Institute, Lampung; (2) students who have high self-efficacy have better vocabulary knowledge than students who have low self- efficacy; and (3) there is an interaction between learning media and self-efficacy. The
results show that Electronic Dictionaries are effective learning tools that can improve vocabulary learning.
Different with the previous study mentioned above, this study is more focus on the mastering the vocabulary by using electronic dictionary and wants to know about the how the students are interested in reading for the Eighth grade students. It can be seen from the last researcher, Rohmatillah. Her study focused on self-efficacy, meanwhile, in this study focused on reading interest. Therefore there were differences between this study and the previous ones.