Multidisciplinary, Language and Linguistics, Education, Human-Computer Interaction
14
Scopus Publications
510
Scholar Citations
12
Scholar h-index
13
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Making Dictionary Content Accessible for People with Visual Impairments Geraint Paul Rees Lexikos, 2026 This article discusses the development and evaluation of EDictViz: a visually accessible dictionary website intended to meet the accessibility needs of people with visual impairments. It is argued that dictionary access is important not only because of the utilitarian role that dictionaries play in resolving language queries but also because of their potential to promote social inclusion. With reference to previous research, a summary is provided of the barriers to access typically faced by people with visual impairments when using dictionary websites. Following this, the way in which these problems have been addressed in the development and evaluation process of EDictViz thus far is discussed. An evaluation of a development version of EDictViz based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is reported — it indicates that the latest prototype version of the tool is accessible. This suggests that the design decisions taken at the outset of the project were sound. Throughout this process the parallels between lexicography research, which is often concerned with providing efficient access to lexicographic data, and accessibility research in general are drawn. Plans for future experimental studies to evaluate EDictViz which directly involve people with visual impairments are set out. This development process demonstrates the potential for mutually beneficial collaboration between accessibility and lexicography researchers. Keywords: accessibility, advertisements, education, language learning, language teaching, lexicography, lexicotainment, online dictionaries, WCAG, web development
Exploring Which Aspects of an Online Monolingual Learners’ Dictionary Can Be Investigated Using the Archived Web Geraint Paul Rees International Journal of Lexicography, 2025 The historical development of print editions of monolingual English learners’ dictionaries has been well documented. In contrast, the evolution of their online counterparts remains underexplored. It is argued that this is because documentation of changes to online dictionaries is scarce. The use of archived web material is posited as a means of addressing this research gap. Drawing on Lew and Szarowska’s (2017) online dictionary evaluation framework and Brügger’s (2018) concepts of webstrata and digitality, this study explores the feasibility of using archived web material for diachronic research on websites that provide access to The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Findings indicate that although existing archived material allows investigation of common research themes in lexicography, changes to archiving practices are necessary to facilitate in-depth research. To this end, techniques for exploiting existing archived web material are discussed along with suggestions for the creation of an ideal web archive.
Documenting the Final Days of Monolingual English Learners’ Dictionaries Using the Archived Web Proceedings of Electronic Lexicography in the 21st Century Conference, 2025
The Effectiveness of OpenAI GPT-Generated Definitions Versus Definitions from an English Learners’ Dictionary in a Lexically Orientated Reading Task Geraint Paul Rees, Robert Lew International Journal of Lexicography, 2024 In metalexicographical research, experts have judged the performance of technologies such as OpenAI Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) in lexicographic production tasks as promising yet inferior to human lexicographers. It remains unclear whether this perceived inferiority limits the effectiveness of AI-generated lexicography in resolving practical language doubts. Accordingly, this study compares the effectiveness of AI-generated definitions to those from the Macmillan English Dictionary (MED) in resolving vocabulary doubts in a multiple-choice reading task designed to test lexical knowledge. It involves 43 L2 English users in the third year of an English studies degree at a Spanish university. Students provided with MED definitions performed better on the reading task than those without access to definitions. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of students with either MED definitions or without definitions altogether, and those provided with AI-definitions. The implications of these findings are discussed along with avenues for further research.
Academic Word Families in Online English Dictionaries Geraint Paul Rees Lexikos, 2024 The concept of the word family has been widely employed in research on vocabulary in the teaching and learning of foreign and second languages. The underlying assumption being that once learners know one member of a word family, they can recognise other members. Empirical research supports this vis-à-vis receptive knowledge of inflectionally related wordforms. However, studies of academic writing indicate that using appropriate derivative forms of a known word is challenging, suggesting a need for dictionaries with morphological support for writers. Traditionally, in paper-based dictionaries, this need could not be fulfilled due, in part, to space constraints. This study aims to establish if it is met in five online English dictionary websites. It analyses the treatment of seventy-four academic wordforms which academic writers have been shown to have difficulty deriving when presented with the related base word. Results indicate good coverage of the derivative forms across the dictionary websites examined but inconsistency within and between resources in the way in which forms are treated. Differences include the status as entries or subentries and the provision of writing support features such as examples, grammar patterns, and collocation information. Finally, changes to the treatment of derivatives to better serve academic writers are suggested. Keywords: academic writing, derivative forms, lexicography, morphology, online dictionaries, vocabulary acquisition, word families, writing support
A TEXTBOOK OR CHATGPT Which Helps Novice Programmers Most with Unknown Terms? Euralex Proceedings, 2024
Online Dictionaries and Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments Geraint Paul Rees International Journal of Lexicography, 2023 Making information about language accessible to users has long been a key concern of lexicographic research. Adopting a narrower perspective, this examination of three dictionary websites (collinsdictionary.com, merriam-webster.com, and dle.rae.es) employs the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to examine their accessibility for people with visual impairments. Dictionaries can be motors for social inclusion of this oft-marginalised group since, beyond resolving language doubts, they can also help affirm socio-cultural identities. Unlike paper dictionaries where space-saving conventions make accessibility a challenge, in principle, online resources are adaptable to the needs of users with visual impairments. In practice, although none of the websites evaluated meet any officially recognised WCAG conformance level, they do contain features aimed at improving accessibility for this group. Most impediments to accessibility are the result of ancillary elements such as advertising, social media, games, and word of the day features. Although these ancillary elements may not necessarily be the principal focus of dictionary use, they nonetheless have a negative effect on the accessibility of the dictionary entry itself. This article concludes with suggestions for solving several of these accessibility issues.
Using corpora to write dictionaries Geraint Rees Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics Second Edition, 2022 Lexicographers are often characterised as pioneer corpus linguists. This argument is valid to a degree. In the past, lexicographers were supported in their work by ‘corpora’ comprising millions of slips of paper recording examples of words in use. However, taking a more pedantic stance, as lexicographers are apt to do, the extent to which these collections of citations constitute what is currently understood as a corpus in corpus linguistics is questionable. Citation slips are not complete texts but rather extracts of texts recorded by citation readers. The decision on which extracts to record is subject to readers’ intuitions and prejudices. Corpus evidence has shown us that intuitions are an unreliable basis on which to build up an accurate picture of language use, since we tend to notice utterances which are unusual in some way rather than those that are typical or mundane. Prejudice comes into play since we tend to have preconceived, frequently inaccurate, ideas about what constitutes normal language use.
SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS IN E-LEXICOGRAPHY Ana Frankenberg-Garcia, Geraint Paul Rees, Robert Lew International Journal of Lexicography, 2021 Despite the remarkable advances made in recent years to facilitate the lexicographer’s work of interpreting and synthesizing the complexity of language uncovered by corpora, an uncritical use of cutting-edge corpus tools and resources can instill a false sense of assurance. In this paper, authentic examples pertaining to wordlist use, collocation research and example selection that arose when compiling a real-world lexical database are discussed through the lens of problems that can easily slip through the cracks in e-lexicography. In doing so, we emphasize the importance of solid training and sound lexicographic judgment when using corpora, corpus tools and corpus-derived resources, and provide an opportunity to reflect on how e-lexicography can be further refined in the future.
Discipline-specific academic phraseology: Corpus evidence and potential applications Corpora in Esp Eap Writing Instruction Preparation Exploitation Analysis, 2021
Identifying collocation issues in English L2 research article writing Corpora in Esp Eap Writing Instruction Preparation Exploitation Analysis, 2021
ColloCaid: A real-time tool to help academic writers with English collocations Euralex Proceedings, 2018
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Exploring which aspects of an online monolingual learners’ dictionary can be investigated using the archived web GP Rees International Journal of Lexicography 38 (4), 307-320 , 2025 2025 Citations: 3
Making dictionary content accessible for people with visual Impairments GP Rees Lexikos 35 (2), 165-184 , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Writing aids for data-driven learning GP Rees, A Frankenberg-Garcia The Palgrave encyclopedia of computer-assisted language learning, 1-6 , 2025 2025 Citations: 3
Investigating user perceptions of a corpus-informed DDL resource: User experiences of ColloCaid GP Rees Applications of Corpus Linguistics: Established and Emergent Contexts, 38-60 , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
The development and exploratory analysis of the Writing and AI Knowledge Scale (WAIKS) GP Rees, RS Fisher 2025
Can dictionary consultation during reading be improved? GP Rees, A Frankenberg-Garcia Choubsaz Y, Díez-Arcón P, Gimeno-Sanz A, Morgana V, Murphy C, Seracini FL … , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Documenting the final days of monolingual English learners' dictionaries using the archived web GP Rees Electronic lexicography in the 21st century (eLex 2025): Intelligent … , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Dictionaries embedded: writing assistants and other tools GP Rees, A Frankenberg-Garcia Elsevier , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Multimedia in Dictionaries GP Rees International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Lexicography and accessibility GP Rees, B Arias-Badia, E Bernal, S Torner Lexicography and Semantics, 290 , 2024 2024 Citations: 2
The effectiveness of OpenAI GPT-generated definitions versus definitions from an English learners’ dictionary in a lexically orientated reading task GP Rees, R Lew International Journal of Lexicography 37 (1), 50-74 , 2024 2024 Citations: 47
Akademiese woordfamilies in aanlyn Engelse woordeboeke GP Rees Lexikos 34, 437-468 , 2024 2024
A textbook or ChatGPT. Which helps novice programmers most with unknown terms? G Rees, I Gibert 2024 Citations: 5
Academic word families in online English dictionaries GP Rees Lexikos 34, 437-468 , 2024 2024 Citations: 5
Less is more: Focused Design and Problem Framing in Visualisation–Developing the ColloCaid Collocation Editor JC Roberts, P Butcher, G Rees, R Lew, N Sharma, A Frankenberg-Garcia 2023 EG UK Computer Graphics & Visual Computing (2023): Computer Graphics … , 2023 2023
Online Dictionaries and Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments GP Rees International Journal of Lexicography , 2023 2023 Citations: 11
Using corpora to write dictionaries G Rees The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics, 387-404 , 2022 2022 Citations: 18
Slipping through the cracks in e-lexicography A Frankenberg-Garcia, GP Rees, R Lew International Journal of Lexicography 34 (2), 206-234 , 2021 2021 Citations: 57
2 Discipline-specific academic phraseology GP Rees Corpora in ESP/EAP Writing Instruction: Preparation, Exploitation, Analysis … , 2021 2021 Citations: 9
Identifying collocation issues in English L2 research article writing PT Pinto, GP Rees, A Frankenberg-Garcia Corpora in ESP/EAP writing instruction, 147-170 , 2021 2021 Citations: 20
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Developing a writing assistant to help EAP writers with collocations in real time A Frankenberg-Garcia, R Lew, JC Roberts, GP Rees, N Sharma ReCALL 31 (1), 23-39 , 2019 2019 Citations: 144
Slipping through the cracks in e-lexicography A Frankenberg-Garcia, GP Rees, R Lew International Journal of Lexicography 34 (2), 206-234 , 2021 2021 Citations: 57
The effectiveness of OpenAI GPT-generated definitions versus definitions from an English learners’ dictionary in a lexically orientated reading task GP Rees, R Lew International Journal of Lexicography 37 (1), 50-74 , 2024 2024 Citations: 47
Alfabetización informacional en la educación superior virtual: logros y desafíos C Pineda Báez, C Hennig Manzouli, Y Segovia Cifuentes, D Díaz Gómez, ... Información, cultura y sociedad, 83-104 , 2012 2012 Citations: 36
Multiple views: different meanings and collocated words JC Roberts, H Al‐maneea, PWS Butcher, R Lew, G Rees, N Sharma, ... Computer Graphics Forum 38 (3), 79-93 , 2019 2019 Citations: 34
Identifying collocation issues in English L2 research article writing PT Pinto, GP Rees, A Frankenberg-Garcia Corpora in ESP/EAP writing instruction, 147-170 , 2021 2021 Citations: 20
Using corpora to write dictionaries G Rees The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics, 387-404 , 2022 2022 Citations: 18
ColloCaid: a tool to help academic English writers find the words they need A Frankenberg-Garcia¹, G Rees, R Lew CALL and complexity–short papers from EUROCALL 2019, 144 , 2019 2019 Citations: 16
A phraseological multi-discipline approach to vocabulary selection for English for academic purposes GP Rees Universitat Pompeu Fabra , 2018 2018 Citations: 16
Herramientas de comunicación y presentación de contenidos en pregrados virtuales colombianos PO de Suárez, C Pineda-Báez, GP Rees Magis. Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación 8 (17), 65-84 , 2016 2016 Citations: 16
ColloCaid: A real-time tool to help academic writers with English collocations” R Lew, A Frankenberg-Garcia, G Rees, JC Roberts, N Sharma 2018 Citations: 15
Visualisation approaches for corpus linguistics: Towards visual integration of data-driven learning J Roberts 2018 Citations: 12
Online Dictionaries and Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments GP Rees International Journal of Lexicography , 2023 2023 Citations: 11
2 Discipline-specific academic phraseology GP Rees Corpora in ESP/EAP Writing Instruction: Preparation, Exploitation, Analysis … , 2021 2021 Citations: 9
Visualising Collocation for Close Writing. JC Roberts, PWS Butcher, R Lew, GP Rees, N Sharma, ... EuroVis (Short Papers), 181-185 , 2020 2020 Citations: 8
Visualisation and graphical techniques to help writers write more idiomatically JC Roberts, A Frankenberg-Garcia, R Lew, G Rees, J Pereda 2017 Citations: 6
A textbook or ChatGPT. Which helps novice programmers most with unknown terms? G Rees, I Gibert 2024 Citations: 5
Academic word families in online English dictionaries GP Rees Lexikos 34, 437-468 , 2024 2024 Citations: 5
Measuring user workload in e-lexicography with the nasa task load index GP Rees, I Kosem, M Cukr Electronic lexicography in the 21st century (eLex 2021). Post-editing … , 2021 2021 Citations: 5
Corpus evidence for a discipline-specific phraseological approach to academic vocabulary GP Rees Research in Corpus Linguistics, 61-74 , 2016 2016 Citations: 5