
Amy Chi joined the Center in 1992 and has been teaching, writing materials and co-ordinating a range of English courses for academic purposes to both undergraduate and postgraduate students from all disciplines of the university.
The core of her research work is in the area of pedagogical lexicography, underpinning teaching and learning English as a second language. The scope of her research includes EFL learners’ dictionaries, dictionary use training methodology and materials, second language vocabulary acquisition and phraseology. Her other research interests include lexicology, language and culture, history of English and phonetics.
She was invited as Advisor for the compilation of the Macmillan English Dictionary (First edition, 2002), and an external reviewer for Lexikos Journal, Journal of Translation Studies of Chinese University Press and Commercial Press (HK Ltd.). Chi was the founding secretary (1997-1999) and Executive Board member (1999-2011; 2021) of ASIALEX– Asia Association for Lexicography. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of ‘Lexicography’ (Journal of ASIALEX) published by Equinox.
She is a dedicated hiker.
Professional Interests
Teaching English for Academic Purposes
Pedagogical Lexicography
Dictionary use training for ESL/EFL teachers
Second language vocabulary acquisition
Phraseology
Lexicology
Language and Culture
Scholarship
(Second edition) "Researching Pedagogical Lexicography" in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Lexicography
Amy Chi

This is the latest (second) edition of the book. The published date is 24th March, 2022.
Dictionary Literacy Training for EFL Teachers
Amy Chi
When A. S. Hornby first conceived and compiled the Idiomatic and Syntactic English Dictionary (1942), the dictionary was supposed to be an integral part of EFL teaching and learning and students were to learn how to use the dictionary to support their learning from the English teacher. However, since the development of ESL lexicography and ESL/EFL teaching methodologies have evolved on separate paths in the past few decades, the relationship between the two has become less dynamic and supportive. Such a fractured relationship has seriously impacted EFL students who mostly depend on teachers to impart knowledge and instil the practice of using dictionaries to support their learning. Dictionary use researchers have long advocated a need to bridge the gap between the English language teacher and the pedagogical dictionary. However, if English teachers want to understand and keep abreast of the development of EFL learners’ dictionaries with respect to how these dictionaries can support their students’ learning of English, they need to be informed and/or trained since these dictionaries have grown in number and include new features to support English language learning. This project suggests producing online training material for autonomous learning on ‘Dictionary literacy for dictionary use teaching’. The aim is to empower English language teachers with apt pedagogical lexicographical knowledge and teaching methodology to design dictionary use teaching and learning activities suitable for their students who are at various language proficiency levels, and subject to different learning environments.