Dictionary Usage Preferences of Chinese Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language: The Case of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Dictionaries play a crucial role in developing vocabulary knowledge and language skills in foreign language education. With evolving user expectations and technological advances, dictionary design has shifted from traditional to corpus-based approaches. This study aims to reveal the dictionary usage preferences of native Chinese learners of Turkish as a foreign language and the content adequacy of the existing dictionaries in this field for language teaching. The research questions of the study are as follows: 'What are the dictionary usage preferences of native Chinese learners of Turkish as a foreign language?' and 'How adequate is the content of the dictionaries commonly used by native Chinese learners during the process of learning Turkish for language teaching purposes?' The study group consists of 48 undergraduate students from the Turkish Language Department of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. A structured questionnaire captured their usage frequency, preferred dictionary types, and language combinations. Results show that students frequently use dictionaries, favoring printed and online Turkish-Chinese dictionaries, particularly Zhou Zheng Qing's version. To evaluate content adequacy, the study compares the widely used traditional Turkish-Chinese dictionary with a corpus-based learner's dictionary. Using a checklist derived from lexicographic theory, key differences in structural and functional features are analyzed. Findings suggest that traditional dictionaries lack contextual support, authentic examples, and production-oriented design. In contrast, the corpus-based dictionary offers rich, pedagogically valuable content aligned with modern language learning needs. The study recommends incorporating corpus-based resources into Turkish language instruction and promoting dictionary awareness among learners.