Monolingual, bilingual and biligualised dictionaries: Which are more effective, for what and for whom?

The paper examines the differences in the effectiveness of three types of dictionaries: monolingual, bilingual and 'bilingualised' in the comprehension and production of new words by EFL learners. The subjects were 123 high school and university learners. The test consisted of fifteen low-frequency words. Five were given with their entries from a monolingual learner's dictionary, five - with their translations from a bilingual dictionary, and five-with the entry from a bilingualised' (or semi-bilingual) dictionary. The subjects were tested on the comprehension of the target words and on their ability to use these words in sentences of their own. The results of the experiment suggest that different dictionaries may be suitable for users with different abilities for dictionary use.