Exploring Vocabulary Learning Problems of Secondary Level EFL Learners

in Their Dictionary
___________________________________________________________________
Hussen Kediro
Department of English Language and Literature, Ambo University
husnisdream@gmail.com

(2012)
______________________________________________________________________________

Abstract
This study examines vocabulary learning problems secondary level EFL learners encounter in their
dictionary use. The study specifically focuses on dictionary use practices, reference skills and look up
behaviors. To this end, thirty-six grade 11 students at Gelemso Secondary and Preparatory School
participated in the study. A questionnaire and dictionary reference skills test was designed and
administered to thirty-two subjects.. As a complementary method, unstructured interviews were conducted
with four subjects. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been employed in the analysis of the data.
The analysis revealed that students had basic vocabulary learning problems and difficulties in their
dictionary use practices, reference skills and look up behaviors. Though subjects hold high opinion of their
dictionary use practices and skills, questionnaire and dictionary reference skills test data indicated that
they had problematic practices and behaviors that affect the ease at which they acquire vocabulary from
dictionaries. The basic vocabulary learning problems associated with the students dictionary use practices
include: lack of dictionary use practice to the solution of lexical problems encountered in basic language
activities such as in writing, in translating and in composing oral tasks, lack of dictionary use practice in
classrooms, which is an important vocabulary learning setting, lack of integrating bilingual and
monolingual dictionary types and reluctance to use dictionary for looking up a variety of information that
is helpful for vocabulary learning. The reference skill level of the students, as the dictionary reference skill
test data indicates, is characterized by difficulties in identifying correct meanings, entries, parts of speech of
words and dictionary codes used in entries. Students look up behaviors such as not paying attention to all
definitions of a word while looking up in dictionary, writing down unfamiliar words to refer in dictionary
at the end of reading, focusing on other entries while looking up another word and browsing through
dictionary without having search purposes were also found to be the source of vocabulary learning
problems. Therefore, it is concluded that students dictionary use exhibits fundamental vocabulary
learning problems and hence, a dictionary reference skills training program aimed at creating dictionary
awareness and improving reference skills of the students may be essentially important.

Introduction
Research and practices in second language acquisition stress that vocabulary takes the central
position in language learning and teaching. Theorists and researchers in the field have
recently recognized the role of vocabulary in language educationand introduced a number of
approaches, techniques, exercises and practices into the field. It is thus evident from various
empirical grounds that language learners confront with the difficulty of acquiring a sufficient
lexical knowledge in order to learn and use the language. In support of this view (Singleton,
1999, p.4) states, the major challenge of learning and using a language-whether as L1 or as
L2, lies not in the area of broad syntactic principles, but in the `nitty-gritty` of the lexicon.
Lewis (2000 in Sanchez and Rosa, 2007) states that acquiring a sufficient amount of
vocabulary is the single most challenging task that learners face. Laufers (1998 in Laufer and
Levitzky-Aviad, 2006) view emphasizes the distinction between foreign learners and native
speakers in terms of the quantity of words each possesses.
Successive developments in the approaches, techniques and materials of vocabulary learning
and teaching in the past few decades have helped a great deal for the development of
vocabulary learning and teaching. This progress has significantly contributed to the

development of the field of lexicography, which brought the creation different learners
dictionaries. Along with these developments and increased interest in vocabulary issues,
important learning strategies have been identified and classified into categories by scholars
and teachers. These vocabulary-learning strategies are, of course, part of language learning
strategies imbedded in the general learning strategies (Nation, 2001). In their attempt to
acquire second language vocabulary, learners particularly favor the most important strategies
(Schmitt, 1997). This suggests that learners make use of some of the basic strategies that suits
to their learning styles and levels. One of the most popular vocabulary learning strategies
frequently used by learners is the use of dictionaries. Since their emergence in the language
education, English learners dictionaries have accomplished a remarkable level of
sophistication and are the most important dictionaries dominated the field of EFL owing to
the widespread influence of the English language.
Such being the case, there has been controversy among experts and teachers over the use of
dictionaries. This controversy is concerningthe dictionary type that learners should use in
order to obtain greater benefit (Ellis & Beaton, 1993). Another claim is that excessive reliance
on dictionaries hinders learners from using other working strategies for vocabulary learning.
Evidently, many studies stress the advantage of providing instructions that can foster
guessing strategies to enable learners tackle problems of understanding the meanings of
words, which in turn reduces their reliance on dictionaries. Though it had been assumed that
word learning occures incidentally through the process of inferring word meaning, recent
studies suggest that learners who are left on their own tend to ignore unfamiliar words, use
consulting dictionary rarely and selectively as they also differ in their use of strategies (Fraser,
1999). Fraser adds that consulting slows task completion; however, if used in combination
with inferring brings about positive effect on learners performance in reading and vocabulary
learning in L2 settings. The importance of training learners in lexical processing strategies to
enable them develop their L2 comprehension and vocabulary learning effectively and
accurately is therefore one of the pedagogical implications of studies as to Fraser.
Research indicates that learners use of dictionaries and the required skills to access
dictionary information determine the advantage learners can gain. Using and making
dictionaries hence, should consider what research has shown and that future studies will
hopefully continue to explore problems of vocabulary learning attached to dictionary use.
This study examines secondary level EFL vocabulary learning problems specifically focusing
on dictionary use. The study focuses only on problems of vocabulary learning related to
dictionary use. The research therefore concentrates on the problems of vocabulary learning
among secondary EFL learners who use dictionaries as a means of vocabulary increment.

Methods
Participants of this study are grade 11 students of Gelemso Secondary and Preparatory
School. Grade 11 students were selected because of their upper-intermediate level in
secondary level education and they have had at least two years of instruction in English.
These students had the experience and exposure to wide areas of interdisciplinary readings in
English. The total number of population in grade 11 of Gelemso Secondary and Preparatory
School was 336. From four classes, 36 students were selected. Nine subjects were selected
from each class. Accordingly, simple random sampling was employed to select representative
samples. From the samples four of them were purposively selected for interview.
A questionnaire containing eighteen items was used in the study. Most items were designed
in a way that allow subjects to respond by ticking boxes except for few questions requiring
short written responses. The questions covered issues related to dictionary use practices and

dictionary use behaviors of students. There were also few questions related to reference skills.
Some of the questions were constructed based on Bejoints (1981) questions phrased
differently and extended to cover more alternatives for responses making them fit into the
context of the present study.
In order to answer the research questions conncerning learners vocabulary learning problems
attributed to lack of reference skills dictionary skill test was designed and administered to the
same group of subjects who had completed the questionnaire. The test was designed by the
researcher because standard tests to be adapted were not easily found.
Part one of the test contained six words some of which are polysemous (multiple entry)
words and which subjects had to look up in dictionary and write their meanings after reading
a three paragraph short text containing these words. This part also consisted of items
containing two of these words for which subjects had to identify their parts of speech in the
context of the text. Part two consisted of nine abbreviations taken from a monolingual
dictionary. Subjects were requested to write the full word or phrase for the abbreviations.
This part also consisted of four phrasal words for which subjects had to identify the
headwords under which the words would be looked up and two sets of four words which
subjects had to order them alphabetically in a dictionary.
To support the questionnaire and dictionary skill test data, four subjects were interviewed.
Questions having similar contents were covered in the interviews. From the students, three of
the interviews were recorded.The recorded responses were transcribed and summarized.

Procedures
Subjects were informed a day before to be ready for the dictionary use questionnaire and
dictionary skill test and to bring their dictionaries in to the session. The next day all the
subjects were available but only fourteen of them brought their dictionaries. In order to
minimize the effect of this shortage, two copies of dictionaries were added from the school
library and subjects were made to sit in pair to use one dictionary for two.
First, the necessary explanations for procedures were given for both the questionnaire and the
test. Next questionnaires were distributed to subjects and assistances were offered by
clarifying points of difficulty. After subjects had completed the questionnaies dictionary skill
test papers were distributed. There was no time limit put on the test and subjects were
allowed to work on using their dictionary at any stages in their progress in the test.
Though few subjects indicated that they use only bilingual dictionaries, all of them were
using monolingual dictionaries in the test. Two types of monolingual dictionaries were used
in the test, Oxford Advanced LearnersDictionary (6th edition) and Oxford Dictionary of
Current English and Collins COBUILD (5th edition)

Results and Discussion

Recent developments in the field of lexicography have led to an increasing interest of
researchers in foreign language learners dictionary use. Second language vocabulary
acquisition research in the past few decades had paid attention to the significant role
dictionary plays in language learning. Language learners dictionary use attracted the interest
of researchers largely because dictionary use has been viewed as both a strategy and a tool for
vocabulary learning in particular and language learning in general. Hence, it is becoming
increasingly difficult to ignore learners dictionary use in several ways.

Previous research has much more focused on the general survey of dictionary use of
relatively advanced learners (Dziemianko and Lew, 2006). Very few studies have examined
the actual dictionary use and difficulties or problems in connection to vocabulary learning.
The present study examines vocabulary learning problems encountered by secondary level
learners who use dictionary as a reference material in their learning. The issues discussed in
this paper focus on the practice of dictionary use, the skills level of learners and dictionary
look up behaviors as relating to vocabulary learning problems. This study produced results
that are consistent to a great deal of previous findings such as that of Neubach and Cohen
(1988), Scott and Nagy (1997) and Nesi and Meara (1994).
On the question of learners dictionary use practices, this study has raised a number of issues
and the findings revealed important problems related with the practices. The major findings
will now be discussed.
It is widely agreed that dictionary use in reading is the chief source of vocabulary learning
since reading provides significant amount of unfamiliar vocabulary items. Moreover, reading
provides a variety of context in which words can be learnt. This condition alone, however, is
not guarantee the full possibility of learning and consolidating vocabulary since it enhances
only receptive or passives reading vocabulary. Other activities such as writing and speaking
may play a significant role in making the learners use this passive vocabulary productively.
Hence, the use of dictionary in activities other than reading is a practice that fosters students
vocabulary learning.
This study found that learners dictionary use is confined to reading activity and students
make limited practice of dictionary use in other activities like writing, speaking and
translation. Lack of practice in using dictionary in a variety of language activities affects the
extent to which learners acquire vocabulary in content areas and their success in completing
tasks and assignments.
In connection with the practice of avoiding dictionary use in productive language activities, it
has been found that learners tend to focus much on meaning or definition when consulting
dictionary in their reading. This seems to be a practice emerged from learners total reliance
on reading as a primary source of vocabulary increment.Learners do not just look up
unknown words but for the sake of understanding and retaining their meanings and their
various aspects but for the sake of understanding the general contextual meaning of text
(Aust, Kelley, and Robby, 1993). When learners encounter unfamiliar word in a text, the
very first information they would need to solve their immediate problem (problem created by
the presence of unknown words in a text) is looking up its meaning in the dictionary.
Therefore, it is important to consider here the type of dictionary information, which learners
would give more emphasis in reading situations.
Learners lack of practice in using dictionary in several other activities limits the chance to
learn the words different aspects. For instance, learners dictionary use in writing can elicit
the need for checking the words spelling, usage, grammatical category, level of formality etc.
Reluctance to use the dictionary in writing, therefore, affects the learning of these and other
aspects of word knowledge. A similar problem occurs when learners have not the practice of
using dictionary in composingspeaking activities. In speaking activity, learners may need
information to learn pronunciation, level of formality, collocation and the like. In this
respect, the dictionary can easily be the solution.
Another problematic practice the study identified is the use of dictionary in only few learning
environments. Large number of subjects in the study use dictionary at home and to some
extent in their library reading. Of course, there is nothing wrong in using dictionary in these

learning settings. The limitation is that these are not the only settings where word learning
occurs.
A very important and perhaps the chief source of vocabulary learning, classroom teacherstudent interaction, has not been indicated by learners as a setting in which dictionary is
used. However, large amount of vocabulary can be learnt in classrooms. The problem is that
the use of dictionary in classroom is not considered as a pedagogic practice among both
students and teachers. One interviewee said during the interview that he doesnt think of
bringing dictionary into classrooms because it is not a familiar practice and moreover the
dictionaries are not portable. Moreover, students are ashamed of bringing their dictionary
into classroom.
Because of the fact that the current practice of teaching vocabulary concentrated on implicit
learning and explicit instruction, the use of dictionary in classrooms has been discouraged
and is viewed as a hindering factor for the development of important skills such guessing
from context (Pousi, 2010). Thornbury (2002), also warns that careless dictionary use is
prone to grave errors. Therefore, reluctance to use the dictionary carefully on the part of the
learner may influence teachers perception of the use of dictionary in classrooms. However,
there are empirical evidences for the importance of integrating explicit strategies like
dictionary use with implicit strategies in the classroom. The existing literature supports the
use of dictionaries in classrooms. It is also evident from the existing dictionary types that
there are dictionaries designed for school use (PocketSchoolDictionary) and there are
classroom language activities that require the use of dictionary. Therefore, dictionary use in
classrooms is a productive and pedagogic activity as opposed to the prevailing assumption.
Another important finding is that there is limited practice of using several types of
dictionaries in combination. In this study subjects who use both monolingual and bilingual
dictionaries were 12(38%). This finding is contrary to what researchers such as Piotrowski
(1989) recommend: learners need to integrate monolingual and bilingual dictionary types in
order to get the advantages of both. The use of both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries
gives students the benefits of word learning through decoding and encoding activities.
Reluctance to pay attention to the introductory guidelines of dictionary is an issue that was
explicitly observed in the dictionary skill test responses though significant number of subjects
responded positively in the questionnaire. The test results proved that learners do not
carefully check these items in the dictionary even when the dictionary was in their hand
during the test. Though these results are consistent with that of Bejoint (1981) in terms of
subjects responses to questionnaire, in actual situations learners seem to be reluctant to such
sections.
It seems possible that these findings can well suggest that the dictionary use practices exhibit
leaners lack of dictionary awareness. Learners need to develop basic knowledge of general
function and internal contents of the dictionary. The fact that subjects in the study focus on
few dictionary information might be due to their limited dictionary awareness and their
general reluctance to utilize dictionary information to the extent of their language demand.
(Hrehorcik and Osuchowska, 2006) suggest that general introduction of the theory and
practice of lexicography should be incorporated into language courses as a starting point for
creating good dictionary use practice.
A more prominent problem of word learning has been observed in the dictionary skills test
results. Errors of subjects indicate fundamental shortcomings of different levels in their
reference skills. It has been reported frequently in the literature, that the majority of problems

that occur in the students dictionary use are the result of poor reference skills than the
shortcomings in dictionaries.
One of the dominant problems found in the subjects written responses to the meanings of
words in the reading text is the use of incomplete definition partly taken from the dictionary
definition. Most subjects provided a fragment of the dictionary definition, which do not fully
define a word. It is encouraging to compare this finding with that of Scott and Nagy (1997).
They call this type of sentence fragment selection sentence and label this error as fragment
selection error. When learners construct such sentences they choose key but inappropriate
word for the target word and write the sentence using that word. In some cases, learners take
only few phrases from the definition and put as it is. This problem occurs usually among
monolingual dictionary users. Those who use bilingual dictionaries usually put the translated
definition or synonym of a word.A similar finding was reported by Nesi and Meara (1994)
who relate the problem of misinterpreting monolingual dictionary entry with two factors. (a)
dictionary users latch on to a part of the dictionary definition, without really understanding
how it relates to the word they are looking up, (b) the dictionary entries were actually
misleading given the starting point of the users (p. 14). Miller and his colleagues also
indicated that students problems with definitions are not simply the result of incorrect sense
selection, rather it is the problem of focusing only on a fragment of the definition and
considering this as a definition by ignoring the rest of the definition which has great role in
the overall meaning.
Using the dictionary for understanding the meaning of words in specific text is difficult to
students because of a number of metacognitive processes it requires. These processes, for
example, include keeping the meaning of text while searching for a word and selecting from a
number of alternative meanings, generating sentences on the basis of a definition. Moreover
definitions use exteme versions of literate language which is more tense and
decontextualized. Scott and Nagy (1997) conclude that fragment selection errors indicate a
fundamental problem arising from lack of attention to the structure of the sentence and
definition when mapping information to a new word. But the limitation of their work is that
they studied specifically focusing on verbs.
Another problem of difficulty dominantly observed in the study was the use of incorrect
meanings to the context in which target words are used. This is also a problem mostly
encountered in the use of monolingual dictionary. Learners have difficulty in identifying the
dictionary meaning that fits to the original context in which the word appears. It is also
observed that learners do not seem to pay attention to the mismatch between text context and
dictionary meaning. Beyond this, learners also use several incorrect meanings for a single
word. This might seem to emerge from being doubtful about the correct meaning. These are
very consistent problems across the majority of responses. Another possible explanation for
this is that students do not always consider text context in determining the correct dictionary
definition. In many cases, learners take the first definition in the entry and they expect this
definition to correlate with the context assuming a lexicographic practice of putting the most
common or frequently used contextual meaning first. Learners are likely to solve their
problem with multiple entries if they receive training. Researchers warn that students may
experience dictionary fatigue if they encounter problems associated with multiple entry
(polysemic) word search, which is time-consuming and distracting.
An important problem learners commonly encounter during word search include forgoing to
make decision regarding the part of speech before search begins. In this study, significant
meaning errors were encountered because of this failure. As part of wordsearch strategy, the
need to identify and decide parts of speech should be considered carefully because failure to
do so leads to unsuccessful search results since words have different meanings in different

parts of speech. Scottand Nagy (1997) note, when students do not recognize the appropriate part of
speach for a word, they often draw faulty conclusion about the meaning (p.188). They further
hypothesised that integrating information in a definition with the context sentence is a
difficult process involving complex mapping of elements in definitions onto the structure of
the sentence because it requires manipulating each elements at the same time.
Similarly, inflected and uninflected forms of words cause difficulties, as learners need to
decide which form they should look up in the dictionary. Nation (1990) warns, teachers
should avoid directinng students to use word form cues untill they have inferred on the basis
of sentence context.
In the present study, some subjects provided the following meaning for the word Trespass' "a
person who goes on to somebodys land without their permission. It is obvious that the students
gave this meaning because they looked up the inflected form of the word trespasser. The
meaning given for the above word does not match to that of the root word. This finding
confirms what Neubach and Cohen (1988) found in their study using reading tasks that
require the use of dictionary.
Problem of getting the right entry for a word has also been found in the study. In most of
such encounters students left spaces blank and some tried to put the synonyms. A very
frequently missed word, for example, was mold. It seems that this problem occurred with
most students because of their failure to distinguish between British and American English
spellings. The word mold is American English and it is spelt asmould in British English.
Therefore,it is likely that students will not easily get the words entry if they look for the
American English mold. Even if they get it, this entry merely directs them to see under the
headword mould. However, another hindrance is that they were not able to understand what
see mould indicates and simply wrote it as a synonym.
The study revealed that students dictionary use is problematic because their awareness about
the symbols and abbreviations and their functions is limited to only thosesymbols and
abbreviations that are familiar. Subjects were not able to recognize those dictionary codes
and abbreviations that do not occur in their day-to-day leaning activities. Abbreviations such
as fml, vt and fig were not correctly written by the greatest number of respondents while it was
possible to check them in the dictionaries available in their hands during the dictionary skill
test. Hence, researchers often comment that learners do not use dictionaries in the way
intended by lexicographers (Bejoint, 1981).
In terms of dictionary behaviors, this study was able to identify some dictionary use
behaviors that can be considered problematic to vocabulary learning. These behaviors
directly or indirectly affect the learning potential of the students. Learners often consider
dictionary consultation as a time-consuming activity and looking up new words each time
they occur in reading text as disruptive to them. Therefore, they develop some habits as a
result of these strains.
In this study, students have mentioned the habit of postponing word look up. They write in a
notebook or diary the unknown words they encounter and keep it to refer at a specific time
after reading. This is surely a bad behavior which is not productive or which cannot bring
about word learning since words are likely to be learnt or retained in context environments
than independent of context. A noteworthy dictionary look-up behavior identified during the
study included the habit of paying attention to words that were not meant for look up. A
ssignificant number of students mentioned that they focus on the rest words or divert their
attention to other entries while looking up unknown words. Arguably, this is one of the
problematic look up behaviors that adversely affect vocabulary development of learners as

learners encounter problem of word retention due to frequent interference of other dictionary
information when they look-up unknown words.
With regard to look up frequency, relatively, the subjects indicated high frequency of look up.
More than half of the subjects use their dictionary frequently and consult it in their reading.
Look up frequency has been considered as an undesirable dictionary behavior. High
frequency of look up implies much reliance on dictionary which in turn reduces the chance to
experiment with guessing. The assumption here is that substantial amount of reading time
and consistency of understanding is saved by reducing the frequency of direct look up and
trying to employ guessing from context.
A number of earlier studies suggest that high frequency of look up does not help for word
learning and better comprehension. Harmer (1991) comments:
Whilst we wish to encourage sensible dictionary use, we do not want this to interfer
with other methodological concerns. We do not want students to be checking every word
of a reading text in their dictionaries when they should be reading for general
understanding (p.175).
This study has been subjected to some potential limitations in the course of its progress.The
study employed methodological triangulation assuming that consultatingdictionary is an
activity involvingcomplexprocedures. However, the inclusion of experimental methods
would have been a better approach especially interms of investigating reference skills.
Observational and introspective techniques such as the think aloud protocol could have been
more effective in examining dictionary use behaviors.
Another limitation is that the study used dictionary skill test which consisted few items
asking only basic dictionary skills. The inclusion of several dictionary skill items would have
been important to explore the problems in depth. Therefore, the resource needed to
administer extensive tests and the difficulty of collecting dictionaries have been taken into
consideration when designing this study.

Conclusions
The purpose of the current study was to identify problems of vocabulary learning
encountered in the use of dictionaries among secondary level EFL learners, focusing mainly
on the general practices of dictionary use, reference skills and look up behaviors. The findings
suggest that the dictionary use of the learners is characterized by the presence of a number of
problems or difficulties that in turn affect the learning advantage students can gain from the
dictionaries.
The study employed questionnaire and dictionary reference skill test as primary instrument of
data collection and interview as a complementary method to explore the problem. A
combination of qualitative and quantitative data analysis was performed and based on the
analysis major set of conclusions have been drawn.
Subjects in the study use their dictionary mostly in reading activity and do not satisfactorily
use it for other activities. This affects the chance to learn significant amount of vocabulary
using dictionaries in receptive and productive activities.
The study also found that relatively few learning settings and situations are supported by the
use of dictionaries. Those learning settings that provide a significant amount of vocabulary
items are in need of dictionary use.

The study again revealed that the use of dictionaries for various kinds of information is
limited. Meaning (definition) and synonyms are the only dictionary information that the
majority of the subjects use.
The study has also found problemsrelated to subjects reference skills. Many subjects apply
incorrect meanings that are contextually unrelated to the text in which a word has been used
and take a fragment of the dictionary definition that do not give complete and clear meaning.
Subjects had also made unsuccessful search for multiple entry (polysemous) words. They had
also difficulty of understanding codes and abbreviations used in the entries and failure to
identify headwords under which phrasal words are looked up. Difficulty in making
connection between dictionary meaning and text context, forgoing to make consideration
and decision regarding the part of speech for a word before search and failure to recognize
the distinction between British and American English spellings are also problems identified in
the study.
The dictionary behaviors of students identified in the study include, focusing on other entries
and dictionary information while looking up the target word, keeping a word in a note to
refer it back after reading and high rate of look up frequency.
Students make relatively limited use of guessing from context with limited checking to
confirm successfulness of search. Some subjects also mentioned browsing through dictionary
without having specific search purposes as their habit.
Though the majority of subjects indicated that they had received dictionary reference skills
training in their response for questionnaire item, the dictionary reference skills test proved
that they lack even the basic skills of dictionary use and they need further training in those
essential dictionary reference skills.

Implications
The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future research and
practice or policy.
Regarding further areas to be covered by future researches, there are several domains of the
subject still awaiting studies of deferent designs and levels. Experimental studies either
replicating or supplementing this study using control and experimental group subjects would
be essential. The use of verbal protocols technique is also advisable in studying the processes
involved in the users word look up.
More broadly, research also needed to determine the effect of dictionary use in various
receptive and productive language activities on vocabulary development and solving lexical
problems associated to these activities.
Another important area requiring further study is difference between proficient and nonproficient users in terms of dictionary reference skills and reference needs to determine
whether proficiency level is a factor for successful dictionary use.
With regard to practice, it is recommended that dictionary use skill training that can create
dictionary awareness and dictionary use skill need to be given to students as a teaching
intervention at the beginning grades of the secondary level education as far as their progress
to advanced level is concerned. The training need not be a long session that consumes much

of classroom time, but it may be given for few minutes before or after regular classroom
teaching in little but often way (Scholfield, 1982).

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Hussen Kediro is currently teaching EFL courses in the department of English Language and Literature
at Ambo University, Ethiopia. He has received BA degree in English Language and Literature from
Arbaminch University, Ethiopia and MA in TEFL from Addis Ababa University. His research interests
include EFL/ESL vocabulary, dictionary use, reading and literature.