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Date Posted: 03:47:07 10/18/05 Tue
Author: Ana Teresa Vieira e Meirelles
Subject: Final Paper for Evaluation - Lexis and Second Language Classroom

Lexis and Second Language Classroom


Vocabulary is widely considered to play a major role in second language acquisition, even though there are many who discredit using “lexis” and “lexicalized” expressions as the basis for second language learning, as proposed, for instance, by Michael Lewis (1993, cited in Richard and Rodgers, 2001). The most commonly used patterns to introduce vocabulary to second language students often fail to present the necessary information about it, and its connection to real English. As a consequence, researchers in the field of Linguistics have begun to take into consideration a second language classroom which integrates equal focus on both form and communication, thus leading to a more lexicalized approach to teaching English. This may hold the answers to researchers' concern about having students producing a more fluent and native-like second language.

There is a concept of English as a second language of new lexis and its applicability to students which is responsible for determining how accurate and native-like their production will be. A brief and simple explanation of a word's meaning will eventually fail to properly represent it in its range within the language. Therefore, vocabulary should be presented to students in a multitude of tasks, that involve the nexus of new and already known lexis and lexicalized expressions, as used in native speakers' discourses. Examples of such tasks are given by Souza (2005), which suggest the study of "key words" through a series of exercises whose aim is that of the student's analysis of these words in a variety of contexts. The result of such a practice will be of paramount importance in assisting students in the use of some particularities of the language, for instance, collocations.

Authors such as Nattinger (1992) and Lewis (1993) (cited in Richards & Rodgers 2001)have taken into consideration the use of vocabulary as a mainstream of English teaching. As described by Richard and Rodgers (p.132) this approach supports the idea that "Building blocks of language learning and communication are not grammar, functions, notions, or some other unit of planning and teaching, but lexis; that is, word and word combinations". Those combinations are, then, to be delivered to students in such a way that native-like language will be produced by them as a result, disregard the use of grammar and syntactical structures.

Although somehow contradictory to the core principal of the Lexical Approach, the use of a more lexicalized method has been the object of study and has been proven useful by some authors cited by Harwood (2002). Nevertheless, that author presents harsh criticism to the implementation of the Lexical Approach in an ESL classroom. He makes observations regarding problems such as how much corpora can be used without presenting "culturally inappropriate items", or how applicable these corpora could be to an ESL classroom. He also mentions that not only are teaching materials not available to teachers, but also that these corpora cannot be freely accessed by a great deal of learners and teachers. According to that author's view, only English native teachers or granted schools would be favored with such an approach. As for students, Harwood (2002) mentions that not all students have the urge to learn expressions and words that he refers to as "impolite, irrelevant and outlandish".


Despite all the criticism, the importance of vocabulary in the second language acquisition cannot be neglected. Wilkins (1972, cited in Paiva 2005) remarked the importance of vocabulary:
"The fact that while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. What we normally think of as 'vocabulary items' - nouns, verbs and adjectives - do indeed contain more information that is carried by grammatical elements..." (p.76) .
Gil (2004) proposes that focus on form and focus on communication are not to be seen as "antagonistic", but as "complementary" focuses that should be part of a second language classroom.

All the controversy over the use of a more lexicalized approach to teaching English has been responsible for innumerable analyses and proposals in the Linguistic field. Thornbury (1998, cited in Hardwood, 2002) mentions that the concept of taking a lexical approach to teaching is "work in progress". Even though that same author has his own critiques on the approach, it is worthwhile to note that the idea of a lexicalized approach can be applied in an ESL classroom. It still remains not only a real possibility, but also a necessary pedagogical decision to be taken by second language teachers.


Bibliography

Gil, G. (2004). Foco-na-forma e foco-na-comunicação: dois focos comprementares. In Dutra, D.P and Mello, H. (Eds.). A gramática e o vocabulário no ensino de inglês: novas perspectivas. Estudos Linguísticos 7. (pp. 41-53). Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da UFMG, POSLIN

Harwood, N. (2002) Taking a lexical approach to teaching: principles and problems. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 12, No. 2. (139-149). Retrieved in September 15, 2005, from

Paiva, V.L. M. O. (2004). Ensino de vocabulário. In: Dutra, D.P and Mello, H. (Eds.). A gramática e o vocabulário no ensino de inglês: novas perspectivas. Estudos Linguísticos 7. (pp. 71-101). Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da UFMG, POSLIN

Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). APPROACHES AND METHODS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Souza, L. F. (2005). Um novo olhar sobre o ensino de vocabulário. In: Paiva, V.L. M. O. (Ed.). Práticas de ensino e aprendizagem de Inglês com foco na autonomia. (pp. 51-82). Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da UFMG.

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