A Definition is Not Just a Definition: Language in Children's Dictionaries

"Children encounter new words every day. Although dictionaries designed for young readers can help students explore and experiment with language, it turns out many mainstream children’s dictionaries fail to accurately describe the world in which many students live." ~ Teaching Tolerance


Our friends at Teaching Tolerance have posted a fascinating & useful article from the Spring 2012 issue of their magazine, which is a great reminder that a word is not just a word with neutral value.

The article explores the evolving definitions and meanings of many words used in children's dictionaries. As Louise Robbins, senior editor for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade and Reference Division, says: “Language changes very fast—and it’s our job to reflect how that language is being used. ...We all realized [for example, that] kids hear the word gay in school. You can’t just say gay means ‘cheerful’ or ‘merry’ and pretend there isn’t another meaning that is more common in the culture.”

The creators of children's dictionaries discuss the challenges of dealing with complex issues related to words such as feminism, gender, race, and ethnicity -- as well as even "simple" definitions, like tan. Tan used to be defined as "skin turning brown," but that has been revised in Houghton Mifflin's new version as "skin turning darker." And, there are some words, like retarded, that aren't used in common practice anymore (in the case of retarded, by health professionals or the federal government), but remain in children's dictionaries (and often include the derogatory slang definitions of the word).

Read the complete article.

Do you use dictionaries for your children/students at home or school? How do you handle misleading or inadequate definitions?

If you want to explore language further, our free downloadable activity, Word Power(pdf), explores sample words in context and what kinds of values those words imply.

~ Marsha

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