2009 Top Dictionary Software

Quote: www.toptenreviews.com

RANK #1 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus #2 Babylon-Pro + Oxford #3 Random House Webster’s College Dictionary #4 Encarta Right-Click Dictionary #5 Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary CD-ROM #6 SpellExpress #7 Simon and Schuster #8 Visual Thesaurus

Why Dictionary Software? Dictionary software is a reference tool for your computer desktop that will improve your writing skills, your vocabulary and reading comprehension. Good communication skills can make or break a deal, get you that job promotion and improve the way you express yourself. It can assist with many projects like creative writing, professional proposals, academic papers, marketing, B2B communication and fun word games. Many of these programs are much more than a dictionary; they allow you to search words through a number of methods. You can search by definition, find rhyming words and use advanced searches to limit your search by time period, origin and more. In addition, the dictionary will interact with your word processing, email and other applications making it easy to find definitions, synonyms and spell–check. Dictionary software can provide more than just a definition—you’ll have access to phonetic symbols, audio pronunciations, illustrations, parts of speech vocabulary exercises and more. In this site, you’ll find articles and comprehensive reviews on dictionary software that will help you make an informed decision on which software package is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS, We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™ What to Look for in Dictionary Software Dictionary software should be accessible at any time while you’re writing or reading. It ought to be easy and convenient to use and provide all of the information pertaining to words and language that you need to communicate and understand. Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate dictionary software: Feature Set Dictionary software should have a number of practical features that will provide information on words and more. These features may include a thesaurus, parts of speech, audio pronunciations, illustrations and word origins. Ease of Use The programs should work along side other programs so you can quickly find definitions of the words your reading or writing. The average person should feel confident in using the software regardless of their computer knowledge. Search Capabilities The best dictionary software will search entries using a number of different methods including: by clicking or dragging a word, entering the word in the search box, browsing the entries alphabetically and more. Content The dictionary should contain a large number of entries. The largest collection of words we found was over half a million. Ease of Installation The software should be easy to install and set up, not include adware and not cause run errors on your computer. Help/Support The manufacturer of the program should provide various ways to find answers to questions you have and teach you to use the software. This support may consist of FAQs, tutorials, an online form, email address and a phone number.

Skimming Tips

Recall how you find a name in a telephone book? You don’t read any more than necessary to find the name you seek. Notice that you go directly down a column of news. Maybe you use your finger to guide your eyes. This type of reading is usually called scanning. Skimming uses the same type of skill mechanically but a different skill mentally. In scanning, you know what you are looking for. In skimming you don’t.

Since you don’t know exactly what you are looking for while skimming, prepare yourself by reading the title, source, author, and picture: then you question yourself, — who, what, when, where is this likely to be mainly about? With a questioning mind you direct your eyes down the column of print, or in a zig-zag, if the lines are quite long. Look for exact names of people, places, things, ideas, numbers, and words like therefore, whenever, until, because, and instead, to clue you to how and why.

When you first start to learn to skim you may see only the words in bold type, italics, digits, or capitalized words. Soon you will note new or unusual vocabulary. As you become an efficient skimmer your span of perception will develop and your ability to make closure will increase.

Skimming is a step you should always take before you read any article of factual or practical narrative. You will soon be able to detect most important facts, strange vocabulary, and words that are clues to important relationships.

It’s a good practice to skim everything in mass media after reading the title and first paragraph. You may get all the information you want. This keeps your skimming skills from deteriorating, or will give you the practice you need to develop necessary skills.

Skim everything you intend to read before you make a final decision to read, discard, or study the material.

Skim all highlighting and develop a read-skim pattern to use for rapid review. And don’t overlook this! Reviewing frequently and rapidly is the best way to memorize (or simply remember information) from notes and long text assignments.

By College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University

Concentration Tips

The art or practice of concentration is to eliminate distraction and focus on the task at hand. If you find that you read through material and suddenly discover that you have no idea about what you’ve just read, or if you attend lectures and have difficulty paying attention to what is being said, these tips may help:

• Stick to a routine, efficient study schedule
• Study in a quiet environment
• For a study break, do something different from what you’ve been doing (e.g., walk around if you’ve been sitting), and in a different area
• Avoid daydreaming by asking yourself questions about the material as you study it
• Before lectures, look over the notes of the previous lecture and read the course material pertaining to the lecture so that you can anticipate the main ideas that the instructor will cover
• Show outward interest during lectures (attentive expression and posture) to self-motivate internal interest
• Resist distractions by sitting in front of the room away from disruptive classmates and by focusing on the instructor through listening and note taking

J. R. Hayes, The Complete Problem Solver, Franklin Institute Press, 1981

Reading Strategies

Quote: JohnsESL.com

The reading strategies offered on this page will help you become a better reader. These strategies will work both in and out of the classroom, but are particularly useful in the classroom. If you learn and use the reading strategies on this page you will improve both your reading comprehension and test scores.

Strategy 1: Ignore words that are unimportant.

When reading, you may often come upon a word or phrase that you don’t understand. Your first impulse may be to look up the word in your dictionary. Before resorting to a dictionary, though, you should first determine whether the word you don’t know is important. If it isn’t, then ignore it. Consider the following sentence.

The farvenugen truck was parked in front of the house.

What does the word farvennugen mean? You probably don’t know. Right? Now ask yourself, Is the word farvennugen important in understanding the sentence? No, not really. We can tell that farvennugen is being used as an adjective, but it isn’t important to the meaning of the sentence. The point of the sentence is where the truck was parked, not what kind of truck it is, so, we can ignore that word and still understand the sentence.

Strategy 2: Use the context to guess the meaning.

If you follow Strategy 1, and you determine that the word you don’t know IS important, then before using a dictionary, try to guess the meaning of the word from the context. Context refers to the words and phrases surrounding the word that you don’t understand. Once you think you have guessed the correct meaning, then look up the word in your dictionary to insure you have made a correct guess. Then practice using the word in different contexts. This will help you increase your understanding of the word, which in turn will help you increase your vocabulary.

Being able to guess the meaning of words from their context is a skill that is particularly helpful when you come across idioms. For example, in the sentence

Jimmy lost track of time and was late for class,

the phrase lost track of time is an idiom that means to forget about the time. If you didn’t know the meaning of this idiom and you looked up each word in the dictionary, you still would not understand the sentence.

Strategy 3: Scan for specific information.

Scanning is a skill that requires that you read quickly while looking for specific information. To scan a reading text, you should start at the top of the page and then move your eyes quickly toward the bottom. Generally, scanning is a technique that is helpful when you are looking for the answer to a known question. This is especially helpful when taking a test.

Strategy 4: Skim for general information.

Like scanning, skimming requires you to read quickly. When you skim a text, though, you are not looking for specific information, but rather, you are trying to get the main idea or point of the text you are reading. When skimming a reading selection, start with the title of the text, then read the topic sentence of each paragraph. Skimming is a skill that is especially suited for doing research. By skimming a few pages of a reference book or novel, you can generally tell if the book or novel will be useful for your research.

Strategy 5: Read in units or chunks of words.

When we see sentences written on paper, we see words that are separated by spaces. What we hear when we speak, though, are not words but sounds. Words are separated by spaces on paper for convenience. Reading is similar to speaking because people who are proficient readers read sentences in units of words rather than one word at a time. This skill takes practice, but if mastered is well worth the effort.

Top 5 mistakes English learners make

Quote: EffortlessEnglishClub.com
What are the most common mistakes that English learners make? Which mistakes do most English learners need to correct, in order to learn English much faster?

Here are the top 5 English Learning Mistakes:
1. Focusing On Grammar
This is the biggest, most common, and worst mistake. Research shows that grammar study, in fact, actually hurts English speaking ability. Why? Because English grammar is simply too complex to memorize and use logically…. and real conversation is much too fast.
You don’t have enough time to think, remember hundreds or thousands of grammar rules, choose the correct one, then use it.
Your logical left-brain cannot do it. You must learn grammar intuitively and unconsciously, like a child. You do this by hearing a lot of correct English grammar- and your brain gradually and automatically learns to use English grammar correctly.

2. Forcing Speech
Both English students and teachers try to force speech before the learner is ready. The result is that most students speak English very slowly- with no confidence and no fluency. Forcing speech is a huge mistake. Don’t force speech. Focus on listening and be patient. Speak only when you are ready to speak- when it happens easily and naturally. Until then, never force it.

3. Learning Only Formal Textbook English
Unfortunately, most English students learn only the formal English found in textbooks and schools. The problem is- native speakers don’t use that kind of English in most situations.
When speaking to friends, family, or co-workers, native speakers use casual English that is full of idioms, phrasal verbs, and slang. To communicate with native speakers, you must not rely only on textbooks.. you must learn casual English.

4. Trying To Be Perfect
Students and teachers often focus on mistakes. They worry about mistakes. They correct mistakes. They feel nervous about mistakes. They try to speak perfectly. No one, however, is perfect. Native speakers make mistakes all the time. You will too. Instead of focusing on the negative- focus on communication.
Your goal is not to speak “perfectly”, your goal is to communicate ideas, information, and feelings in a clear and understandable way. Focus on communication,focus on the positive. You will automatically improve your mistakes in time.

5. Relying On English Schools
Most English learners rely totally on schools. They think the teacher and the school are responsible for their success. This is never true. You, the English learner, are always responsible. A good teacher can help, but ultimately you must be responsible for your own learning.
You must find lessons and material that are effective. You must listen and read every day. You must manage your emotions and remain motivated and energetic. You must be positive and optimistic. No teacher can make you learn. Only you can do it!
While these mistakes are very common, the good news is that you can correct them. When you stop making these mistakes, you change the way you learn English. You learn faster. Your speaking improves. You enjoy learning English.

Good luck… you can do it!