Enhancing the learnability of Chinese–English dictionaries for Chinese as a foreign language learners: the neglected legacy of Robert Morrison in his compilation of Wuche Yunfu (1819)

In previous studies on learner lexicography, design features of both the content and presentation of learner's dictionaries are the two major research concerns. The quality assessment of learner's dictionaries also covers the two dimensions. Terms used for evaluating them are respectively "usability" or "availability" for the former and "findability" or "accessibility" for the latter. However, the lexicographical construction of "learnability", which takes into account the users' reference and learning needs, remains virtually unexplored either theoretically or practically. Compared to the features of dictionary design mentioned above, "learnability" as the design phi-losophy of learner lexicography is worth more serious consideration. The present paper aims at exploring the lexicographical notion of "learnability" by way of introducing the neglected legacy of Robert Morrison in his compilation of Wuche Yunfu (五车韵府) (1819)1, which is characterized by a high degree of learnability illustrated in the dictionary entries. Morrison's pioneering efforts may help with the conceptual clarification of "learnability" in compiling learner's dictionaries, bilingual ones in particular. Moreover, it is hoped that the recognition of Morrison's lexicographical practice will be beneficial to the future production of better Chinese–English dictionaries for non-native Chinese learners.Keywords: learnerability, learner lexicography, Chinese as a for foreign language learners, Wuche Yunfu, Chinese–English dictionaries, bilingua

A Web-based Operation Management System for Distributed Divisional Organizations

Operation Management is an important and complex task for a divisional structured organization, especially when the divisions are distributed geographically. In most cases, such organizations didn’t not urge all of it’s divisions to use an integrated information system at the very beginning. But with the development and the expanding of the organization, they sometimes found themselves in the trouble of information exchange and almost lost control of their divisions. At such time, however, on one hand the head quarter inquires more detailed information and more business control on the divisions. On the other hand, some divisions are well built and have its own business processes and information systems. It’s impossible for them to rebuild the information system to integrate with the other divisions and the head quarter as well. Operation Management System (OPMGT) enables real-time inspection of the divisions’ operational data and flexible operation evaluation of each division via the Internet and without much change on the other information systems. The OPMGT presented in this paper was originally developed for the head quarter of a distributed divisional based organization to govern the distributed divisions. System analysis, design and implementation of OPMGT are discussed in detail. Having been developed on the basis of eFramework, a J2EE framework, OPMGT is proved to be highly sufficient in operation management of a distributed divisional structured organization, and it may also do some help to integrate information systems in some degree