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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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An International Conference for the benefit of the English teachers organised by the British Council in collaboration with the Sri Lanka English Language Teachers' Association (SLELTA) was held on October 8, at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The conference inaugurated by Secretary to the Education Ministry Dr.(Mrs) Tara de Mel, was well attended and one of the resource person at the conference was Ms. Usha Aroor, Head of the English Language Teachers, at the Language and School Division of "Orient Longman (Pvt) Ltd and the chief editor of the 'Orient Longman Word Master' a learners' dictionary of modern English. In her presentation she said that the "Word Master" offered support to the beginners in South Asia keen to learn the English language and observed it enabled the learners 'to read beyond meaning into 'smear' or 'aura' a word may carry or acquire'. The dictionary showed the cultural background and experience of learners in South Asia.In order that learners may interrelate the meaning of word, a dictionary has to be culture connected. She illustrated her point with examples taken out of the dictionary. She said that the Word Master is the only learners dictionary in the world which placed the illustrative sentence or example before the definition of the head word. "This helps the user to predict and partly understand the meaning before he/she reads the definition. She also said that what we say or write was bound up with the society in which we live and its beliefs about suitable or unsuitable language. 'Word Master' provides useful labels to guide learners about words that are discriminatory or derogatory,approving or disrespectful and so on". Dr. (Mrs) Tara de Mel in her inaugural speech emphasised on government initiatives to foster reading habits as it empowers the learners. - Wiruma |
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