Treatment of the Way-Construction in English-Chinese Learners’ Dictionaries: A Construction Grammar Approach

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on the treatment of the way-construction (work one’s way through, find one’s way to, etc.) in English-Chinese learners’ dictionaries (ECLDs). Despite its complexity in structure and meaning, little research has been conducted into the systematic organization of the way-construction in learners’ dictionaries. Adopting a construction grammar approach, we subdivide the way-construction into three interpretations. We suggest that the ‘path-creation’ interpretation is the basis, while the ‘manner’ and ‘accompaniment’ interpretations are its subtypes, and provide evidence for these claims. We then identify the deficiencies in addressing the way-construction in current ECLDs. In addition, we conduct an acceptability judgement test and a translation test to pinpoint the difficulties that Chinese EFL learners might encounter in acquiring the way-construction. Finally, we propose a refined version for ECLDs concerning the treatment of the way-construction. This study is not only intended to optimize the entry of the way-construction for ECLDs, but also to offer a possible solution through which constructions can be systematically organized in learners’ dictionaries.