VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 07:46:53 07/09/03 Wed
Author: Marcos Manso
Subject: TASK 10

TASK 10 – Lexical Approach

The Lexical Approach evaluates the theory and practice of ELT and clearly proposes a new direction. It synthesizes the best insights of previous theories, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and modern approaches to grammar. It attempts to develop learner’s proficiency with lexis, or word or word combinations. It is based on the idea that an important part of language acquisition is the ability to comprehend and produce lexical phrases as unanalyzed wholes, or "chunks," and that these chunks become the raw data by which learners perceive patterns of language traditionally thought of as grammar (Lewis, 1993, p. 95).

Some of the most important characteristics of the Lexical Approach are:

· It attempts to redefine the use of grammar and vocabulary. The grammar/vocabulary dichotomy is invalid. Language consists of grammaticalized lexis not lexicalized grammar.
· The central role of grammatical explanation, practice and correction is challenged, reduced, or discarded.
· A new centrality on lexis; lexis is the basis of language with focus on language use. Lexical phrases were seen as a productive resource for learners, aiding in the production, comprehension, and necessary analytical reflection on the forms and meanings of the target language.
· Increased understanding of the nature of lexis in naturally occurring language, and its potential contribution to language pedagogy
· Language consists of and learners are elicited to concentrate on multi-word prefabricated, unanalyzed wholes or “chunks” rather than traditional grammar and vocabulary. These chunks become the raw data by which learners perceive patterns of language traditionally thought of as grammar.
· First and second language comparisons and translation—carried out chunk-for-chunk, rather than word-for-word—aimed at raising language awareness.
· Instruction focuses on relatively fixed expressions that occur frequently in spoken language, such as, "I'm sorry," "I didn't mean to make you jump," or "That will never happen to me," rather than on originally created sentences.
· Increased emphasis on collocation and expressions including institutionalized utterances and sentence frames and heads which become an organizing principle. Collocation is not determined by logic or frequency, but is arbitrary, decided only by linguistic convention. Some collocations are fully fixed, such as "to catch a cold," "rancid butter," and "drug addict," while others are more or less fixed and can be completed in a relatively small number of ways.
· It involves combination of many small step-by-step changes (20 to 50 in every lesson) to produce continuous coherent text. Each chunk is unremarkable in itself but will cumulatively ensure more effective teaching and more efficient learning.
· Interaction of lexis, grammar, and phonology directly affects how learners will store new language.
· It denotes the importance of noticing, the value of repeating tasks, the design of lexical exercises.
· Intensive and extensive listening and reading in the target language.
· Repetition and recycling of activities, such as summarizing a text orally one day and again a few days later to keep words and expressions that have been learned active.
· Guessing the meaning of vocabulary items from context.
· Working with language corpuses created by the teacher for use in the classroom or accessible on the Internet—such as the British National Corpus or COBUILD Bank of English—to research word partnerships, preposition usage, style, and so on.

Marcos Manso

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.