A Stellenbosch University (SU) alumnus was recently awarded the international A.S. Hornby Dictionary Award.
Dr Lorna Hiles Morris completed her PhD in lexicography in 2021 at the department of Afrikaans and Dutch at SU, according to Prof Rufus Gouws, Morris’ PhD supervisor.
Pictured above is Dr Lorna Hiles Morris (left), PhD graduate at Stellenbosch University (SU), and Prof Rufus Gouws, Morris’ PhD supervisor and a professor in Afrikaans linguistics in the department of Afrikaans and Dutch at SU. Morris completed her PhD in lexicography in 2021. PHOTO: Supplied/Michael Morris
Morris’ award consists of a £15 000 two-year research grant that will aid her research into electronic dictionary devices for South African primary school children, she stated.
“I feel thrilled and very excited to get going with the research,” said Morris. “It is also incredible knowing that the Hornby Trust is willing to take my research seriously and to back it up.”
Support for second language learners
The idea for Morris’ PhD came from wanting to provide more support to learners, especially those learning in their second language, she said. “An electronic dictionary felt most appropriate for that.”
“During my PhD, I tested the [dictionary] entries in schools in the Western Cape and on paper,” she said. “Testing the sample dictionary entries in more schools and on actual electronic devices will make the research so much more useful.”
“Growing up, I loved browsing the dictionary and seeing where different words would take me, or what else I’d find on a page, and I wanted to recreate that feeling of ‘serendipitous discovery’ in an electronic dictionary,” said Dr Lorna Hiles Morris, a PhD graduate at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Dominique Fuchs
Electronic dictionaries will benefit students, Gouws explained. “Learners are largely part of a digital society and many of them prefer digital products to printed products. Many learners should be more eager to consult an electronic dictionary, rather than rummage around between the covers of a printed dictionary,” he said.
The grant will fund the compilation of some sample dictionary entries that Morris can use to test in schools, she explained.
Paving the way
Through her research, Morris wants to show that electronic dictionaries can offer so much more support to learners learning in their second language than printed dictionaries, and that there is a solution that does not involve the internet or expensive tablets, she stated.
The research could eventually pave the way for the production of good quality, easily available pocket electronic dictionaries that will serve to enhance learners’ literacy skills in English, said Susan Maingay, a trustee of the Hornby Trust.
“This, we believe, could be of particular importance for pupils in schools where resources are scarce,” Maingay said.
Dr Lorna Hiles Morris obtained her PhD in lexicography from the department of Afrikaans and Dutch at Stellenbosch University which is located in the Arts and Social Sciences building. “During my PhD, I designed bilingualised entries with illustrations, hyperlinks between related words, more synonyms and antonyms, thematic word banks, etc., all of which are not possible in a print dictionary,” said Morris. “The connections between words is important for browsing, which is something people rarely do with an electronic dictionary.” PHOTO: Dominique Fuchs