THE USE OF ARISTOTLE’S CATEGORIES IN WORD DEFINITIONS IN ESL/EFL CONTEXTS
1Recep Bilgin, 2Yunus Yildiz
1Tishk International University
2Tishk International University
ABSTRACT
The categories introduced to the world of science by Aristotle basically express the different situations necessary for the definition of a noun. According to Aristotle, who put forward 9 different categories related to the noun, the features that will distinguish an object from others are determined by these categories. In its definition, the noun is expressed as substance, while the other categories are determined as accidents. In addition, he mentioned 4 different causes of the existence of an object. All these are effectively used for word definitions, especially in dictionaries. The concepts of universal, which are related to the word, and differentia, which distinguish the word from others in its own kind, are the concepts that dictionaries especially focus on. Knowing and using these concepts correctly by teachers will help students understand better. This study was conducted to confirm this aim. In this study, 10 teachers were asked to define the given words and then the problematic situations in the definitions were mentioned to the teachers. Afterwards, the issue of categories and what universal and differentia are, were explained to the teachers and asked to redefine the words. In this case, it has been observed that teachers were more successful. In addition, the word definitions were given to the students, and they were asked what the word was. The rate of students knowing the words correctly was found to be sixty-five percent.
Keywords: Aristotle, Categories, Word Definitions, ESL / EFL context
Doi: 10.23918/vesal2022a36