This is the first history of dictionaries of English for foreign learners, from their beginnings in Japan and East Asia in the 1920s to the present day. Anthony Cowie describes the evolution of the major titles, and their fight for dominance of what soon became an enormous market. He shows how developments in lexical and grammatical theory crucially affected the content and structure of ELT dictionaries.

• Introduction


• The Genesis of the Learner's Dictionary


• Phraseology in the Leaner's Dictionary


• The Second Generation of Leaner's Dictionaries


• The Role of the Computer in Learner Lexicography


• The Third Generation of Learner's Dictionaries


• Focus on the Dictionary User


• References


• Index

After reading Modern Languages at Oxford Anthony Cowie trained as an EFL teacher in London. He taught English in Nigeria from 1956 to 1960, subsequently becoming an English Language specialist at the British Council. In 1964 he joined the School of English at the University of Leeds, where he is now Honorary Reader in Lexicography. He was a co-editor of the third edition and chief editor of the fourth edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. Dr Cowie is currently Editor of the International Journal of Lexicography, published by Oxford University Press.