by Robert Oliphant
Columnist EducationNews.org

The Australian government's recent decision to provide every high school student with a computer makes plenty of sense as an object lesson for President-elect Obama and his administrative appointees.So does its sense of urgency at a time in world history when the USA, like Australia and other nations, can expect a long, hard-ball economic recovery demanding the productive best from its high tech workforce across the board, not just a few bearded boffins puttering about in cushy labs.

Early-on computer literacy is a must. of course.But so are the high tech vocabularies that can now, thanks to dictionary-based high speed electronic learning, be acquired far more quickly andretentively than was the case as recently as three years ago.

The Graeco-Latinate problem. . . .For both Australian and American high schoolers, learning high tech vocabulary has always been a cognitive nightmare, far more so than for students in France, Spain, and Latin America.The reason for our grief stems from the fact that nearly all our technical terms (medicine, biology, etc.) are strange and alien Graeco-Latinate creatures, most of them coined after 1600.Consequently, we have to learn Balneology (science of baths and bathing) as a unit by rote, as opposed to long-time English words like Bathtub and Washcloth, whose meanings can be inferred from their structural elements.

What's new and hopeful today, and what's implicit in the Australian policy, can be spelled out in one phrase: dictionary-based high speed electronic learning.As opposed to relying upon conventional glossaries of technical terms in textbooks and even on the internet, Australian and American learners now have authoritative high speed access to memory-friendly multi-sensory clue information regarding thousands of technical-term learning targets terms via online dictionaries, e.g., the Macquarie in Australia and dictionary.com in the USA, along with downloadables like Random House Unabridged Word Genius.

Electronic learning versus print learning. . . . But how well does dictionary-based electronic learning actually work when it involves an army of mnemonically hostile technical sesquipedalia?By way of a replicable experiment, any interested reader can spend a few minutes preparing to take two short spelling bee-style tests.The first preparation calls for using a print dictionary to learn one of the following 3-word groups of anatomical terms:(A) cerebrovascular, cricopharyngea, mechanoreceptor. . . . (B) parasympathetic, rhombencephalon, sinorespiratory.The second calls for learning the other group online via dictionary.com (see closing note)

My prediction, based on actual trial runs, is that for most of us the dictionary.com tool will produce much better test performance (spelling bee-style), even with much less time spent, e.g., three minutes per target rather than five.

Online dictionaries versus downloaded dictionaries. . . . Along the same line, somewhat more ambitiously, a reader can also compare the relative effectiveness of dictionary.com against that of the Random House Unabridged Word Genius electronic dictionary (WordGenius.com) via the following 10-word groups(A) amphiarthrosis, anteroparietal, cardiovascular, galactophorous;hepatopancreas;arteriovenous, aryepiglottic, bulbourethral, extravascular, gastrocnemius. . . . (B) interpupillary, intervertebral, laryngopharynx, myelencephalon, prosencephalon;gastrohepatic, hemocytoblast, hypochondrium, interscapular, maxillofacial.

Passing the transparency test. . . . As set forth here, these two cost-effectiveness tests are "transparent" in the best sense ("open, obvious") of that overworked word.The test-question format is familiar to us, e.g., Please indicate the headword in your dictionary whose pronunciation is represented as /hee'meuh suy"teuh blast'/, and whose definition is listed as "a primordial cell capable of developing into any type of blood cell" (if this is a multiple choice test, please represent your answer via its SECOND vowel letter: A, E, I, O, none-of-these.

Just as important, the correct-answer sources (dictionary.com and WordGenius™) are accessible, and the entries for the word targets (14- and 13-letter anatomical terms) can be located in both sources.In a climate where both liberals and conservatives now have good reason to label themselves as "transparentists," a replicable experiment like this surely has a claim on the attention of those worrying about the high tech literacy of tomorrow's workforce.

TO CONCLUDE. . . . I have no suggestions to make regarding exactly how dictionary-based high speed electronic vocabulary learning (HSEVL) should be implemented and by whom.Instead I urge each concerned citizen to take a personal best whack at memorizing (that's what learning is, isn't it?) at least one of the 26 anatomy terms presented above.I'm positive that those who give it a try will be enthusiastic about the potential benefit of high speed dictionary-based electronic vocabulary learning, as well as filled with ideas regarding its practical applications.

Solid evidence and original ideas — aren't these what any nation needs in facing its economic problems, especially those of low productivity and high unemployment? (how many of us will ever forget what it feels like to be fired from one's job?).

[NOTE:As a matter of convenience, the above lists were produced using the search capabilities of the Word Genius version of Random House Unabridged (another version of which is available at dictionary.com).Similar target lists with the same level of difficulty (14- and 15-letter single definition headwords] can be produced from online glossaries like those of the University of Maryland and Kaiser Permanente.The important consideration is to establish a consistent match between each word target, its question format and its different dictionary presentations (print, dictionary.com, and WordGenius).

List, question format, dictionary presentations, comparison of study results — this is the design of our replicable experiment, be it 20 anatomical terms or 1,500 health care terms in the dictionary-identified fields of anatomy, dentistry, immunology, medicine, ophthalmology, pathology, physiology, psychiatry, and surgery.]

Published December 9, 2008