English-Majored Students’ Use of Online Dictionary in Translation Study: A Survey at a Vietnamese University

Abstract

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and its adverse impacts, classes were moved online, facilitating the use of computerized learning assistant tools. Online dictionaries, thus, have become even more widely used even though they were already popular in this digital era. This study aims to shed light on how English majors at a public university in Hanoi used web-based dictionaries during Translation study as well as how they perceive their advantages and disadvantages. An online questionnaire survey was delivered to 182 third-year and fourth-year students who participated in Translation courses. The findings show that most students employed online dictionary with great frequency, mostly for checking lexical meanings and finding collocations, and expected a great number of examples of word use in contexts. The paper also reveals the students’ perceptions of the effects of online dictionary on their Translation study. On that basis, some recommendations for using web-based dictionary in teaching and learning Translation are put forward with a hope to allow instructors and learners to make the best use of the available resources. It is also hoped that the research results can provide a foundation for integrating a training course on using computer-aided translation tools in the curriculum.