New Dictionaries for Old Problems: Addressing the Treatment of Vocabulary in the Classroom through the Use of Innovative Tools

Abstract

The way in which the treatment of the norm and grammar in the classroom should be approached is a classic debate in language teaching. Using the lexicon as an articulating element to understand the language system, and using the dictionary as a fundamental resource and tool in the classroom constitutes a course of action that can contribute in a relevant way to that debate. This article describes a classroom experience in which a dictionary of neologisms was collectively elaborated, with the words most frequently used by university students, using Moodle. It is a pedagogical proposal that is addressed to first-year students of the Degree in Primary Education and that is oriented towards the dictionary, but not only as a work tool, but as the final goal of the activity. The students must decide on the lemmas, create their own entries in a rigorous, documented and systematic way, as well as assess those of their peers, through collective work and co-evaluation in the group, and using various digital tools.