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Date Posted: 11:01:57 07/11/03 Fri
Author: Simone Couto
Subject: Task 10

TENTH CLASS

July 7th to 11th

The lexical approach

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

It was in his 1993 book that the author Michael Lewis first came up with the expression “lexical approach”. He had as main objective the substitution (even if partially) of the grammar-rooted syllabus with a new one, based on developed language corpora composed of words, terms and structures truly used.

The lexical approach came into being in order to re-define grammar and vocabulary in a more modern way; to provide greater stress on collocation and; therefore, to make changes when methodology is concerned. Moreover, it is also one of the major streams of thought prevailing nowadays, revising what the role of the teacher and of the lessons ought to be.

The lexical approach lays down some fundamental principles, amongst which are: the unacceptance of the dichotomy between grammar and vocabulary; the use of collocations as an organizing tenet; the establishment of successful language as being a group where accurate language would be a variety; the substitution of the present-practice-produce model with a new one: observe-hypothesise-experiment one; and above all, the content of language as being a grammaticalised lexis, instead of the widespread lexicalised grammar.

With the lexical approach, students learn the foreign language through bigger chunks, without breaking it up into smaller units in order to make analysis. These bigger parts would be sentences, expressions, collocations and the like. Grammar rules are put aside and learners apprehend them through the actual use of the structures. Only once students have grasped how to use the grammar, is that the structures are analysed more in depth.

To sum up, it can be said that this approach does have many similarities to the communicative one, nonetheless the lexical approach gives an even grater emphasis on the lexis and its importance in the acquisition and production of the language in a realistic way, though in a didactical environment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://www.ltpwebsite.com/lexicalapproach.htm
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/lexical_approach.shtml
http://www.nspeak.com/lexical.htm

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