American Heritage ESL Dictionary

The American Heritage English as a Second Language , 1998 edition, is a good dictionary for Learners of English as a Second Language ( ESL ). It gives access to pronunciation, it gives clear definitions with basic words, it gives phrase and sentence examples for using the word and it also provides information on homonyms or words that sound the same but with different spelling (such as " wrote " and " rote ") and meaning. All necessary features for a second language learner dictionary. What it lacks : we are in 2010 , a 1998 edition needs updates to accommodate all the new scientific and technological events ( ipods, social medias, netbooks, etc)and socio-political events ( taliban, ax of evil, niqab ). more photos and drawings on top of a plain description for words such as " corn flakes : a crisp, flaky, cold cereal prepared from coarse cornmeal " ; a photo would help a lot. But, with all these and other imperfections, it remains a solid and effective tool to learn and master American English for foreigners.

I use this in my college classes because it is easy to read, gives all meanings of each word, gives use in a sentence, and is clear enough for beginners to use. I have even used this with high school ESL students with great sucess. It also has a CD that talks and a workbook that breaks down how to use the dictionary.

This dictionary will help intermediate ESL learners tremendously. It offers brief but precise definitions of important words. The only drawback is the pronunciation key. It uses typical American pronunciation keys, and students who are used to international phonetic alphabets might find it difficult to figure out how to pronounce new words.

This dictionary will help you improve your english skills with nice and understandable definitions, completed with good information. Excellent for studying english.

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