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Date Posted: 19:19:37 07/10/03 Thu
Author: Flávia Pinheiro Bernardes
Subject: task 10

1 – Explain what a lexical approach is. Describe its main characteristics.

The lexical approach consists in providing learning through
lexis (words, or words combination), inspite of focus on grammar (Lewis, 1993). This approach has the focus on lexis which is misunderstood in language teaching because of the assumption that grammar is the basis of language and that grammatical knowledge provides communication. One of its main principles is that language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar. It’s also based on learners being able to comprehend and produce sentences, lexical phrases. Inspite of learning the meaning of the words, it introduces the concept of “chunks”: “instead of words, we consciously try to think of collocations, and to present these in expressions. Rather than trying to break things into ever smaller pieces, there is a conscious effort to see things in larger, more holistic, ways” (Lewis - 1997a, p. 204). It helps to build a linguistic sense on students, because they learn, not just the language itself (grammar structures), but also how to use it – one of the communicative principles.

There are a range of activities on this kind of approach, such as listening and reading exercices in the target language; comparison between first and second language by translation; working with a dictionary and other reference tools; guessing the meanings of unknow words (from a context); reinforcement of activities (summarizing a text orally, etc) among others. For example, a teacher can help students to memorize chunks by using expressions and phrases in their classes, like starting a class saying “Hy, how are you”, asking questions - using gestures, like “Did you listen” (pointing out to his/her ear), “I’m going to write it on the board...” (pretending to write something), and others. It helps students a lot more than just translating the words.
This approach must be introduced naturally, to stimulate students awareness of the language and it does not have to lead radical changes nor either has to be dogmatic.





Sources:
http://www.ltpwebsite.com/lexicalapproach.htm
http://www.ltpwebsite.com/implementing.htm
http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej09/r10.html
http://www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/0102lexical.html
http://www.nspeak.com/lexical.htm
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/lexical_approach.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/3472/lexapproach.html

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