Towards A Better Presentation Of The Outside Matter In ECLDs From User Perspective

From textual perspective,a complete dictionary consists of dictionary list and functional parts or outside matter.The former,the main part of a dictionary,attracts interest from lexicographers,editors and users;while the latter,the parts prior to,after or in the midst of the word list,has long been a neglected corner both theoretically and practically.However,the fine and quality outside matter can help users to make an effective and full use of the information in the dictionary.This thesis aims to make theoretical and practical investigations into the outside matter so as to bring the role of materials into full play,thus assisting users' learning of English to a full extent.Firstly,users' lookup habit and preference is investigated and,it is found that users tend to consult materials in the dictionary list.The comparison and analysis of the outside matter in ELDs and ECLDs demonstrate that the former attach much importance to and incorporate a great deal of useful information in the outside matter;while ECLDs neither put much information in the outside matter nor in the dictionary list,thus the dictionary is not informative enough to assist users.To address the existing problems,this thesis proposed three effective approaches for the presentation of the format of the outside matter 1) disintegration, i.e.incorporating the materials into dictionary list if possible;2) provision of index in the front matter;3) a network of cross-references.Based on the approaches mentioned above,this thesis offers some tentative suggestions for the presentation of the outside matter in ECLDs.