LCB TTC

Methods II
Yohana Solis
2009
 Look at this version of the introduction. What
do the parts printed in bold in square brackets
have in common?

The principles of the Lexical Approach have

[been around] since Michael Lewis published
'The Lexical Approach' [10 years ago]. [It
seems, however, that] many teachers and
researchers do not [have a clear idea of] what
the Lexical Approach actually [looks like] [in
practice].
 It is a language teaching method
published by Michael Lewis in 1993

Based on the insight of the language

lexicon

Language consists of lexical items (single

words or multi-word items)
 Language consists of
CHUNKS
LA highlights the
combinations which
are not only possible
but highly likely.
 Words
can stand alone
Single or multi-word
Collocations
certain words co-occur in natural text
Fixed expressions
social greetings,
politeness phrases,
idioms
Semi-fixed expressions
simple slot,
sentence heads,
minimal variation
 The mental state of knowledge
about words. It specifies how a
word is spelt, pronounced, its
parts of speech and what it
means.

Central attention to the lexicon

and how the lexicon is coded
formatted and organized.

Raising studentsawarness of,

and developing their ability to
chunk language succesfully.
The ability to retrieve ready-made chunks of
language cuts down on planning time : the speaker
is using long-term memory rather than processing
capacity.

Speakers show a high degree of fluency when

describing familiar experiences or activities in
familiar phrases. It is notorious that speakers are at
their most hesitant when describing the unfamiliar.
Pawley and Syder op.cit.
 Word formation : happy, unhappy, unhappily,
unhappiness etc

Pattern grammar
eg spend/waste (time)

Grammatical manipulation of chunks to give

alternatives :
make a loss He made an enormous loss

But also
An attempt to free grammatical words from
structural constraints eg would, any
 Language consists of grammaticalised
lexis, not lexicalised grammar.
The grammar/vocabulary dichotomy is
invalid; much language consists of multi-
words 'chunks'.
A central element of language teaching
is raising students' awareness of, and
developing their ability to 'chunk'
language successfully.
 Although structural patterns are known
as useful, lexical and metaphorical
patterning are accorded appropriate
status.
Collocation is integrated as an
organising principle within syllabuses.
The central metaphor of language is
holistic - an organism; not atomistic - a
machine.
 It is the co-textual rather than the situational
element of context which are of primary
importance for language teaching.

Grammar as a receptive skill, involving the

perception of similarity and difference, is
prioritised.

Receptive skills, particularly listening, are

given enhanced status.

The Present-Practise-Produce paradigm is

rejected, in favour of a paradigm based on
the Observe-Hypothesise-Experiment cycle.
 The teacher talk is the major source of
learner input
Organizing the technological
system,providing scaffolding to help
learners
The teacher methodology:
Task
Planning
Report
 Discoverer

Data analyst

Students talking time is dismissed,

encourage participation through
listening, noticing, and reflecting.
 Type 1 Course packages Collins
COBUILD English course
Type2 collections of vocabulary
teaching activities
Type 3 Printout versions of computer
corpora
Type4 concordancing programs and
attached data sets
 Corpus : a collection of examples of
texts/utterances of a language

Concordancer : computer software

which analyse corpora. See :
http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html
 The LA suggests more time devoted to
multi-word items
Awareness-raising receptive activities
Efficient recording of new language

It is not sufficient for an item to be

unknow, it needs to be unknown and
useful.
 Challenge the learners to master a
sufficiently large lexicon

Dictionary-based activities

Moderately ccompetent users of English

should handle around 2000 most
common lexical items
 Class time should be devoted to strategy
training for dealing with unknow lexical
items.

Class time is better spent raising awareness

and encouraging effective recording of
patterns.

Schmitt & Schmitt (1995): words that arevery

familiar should not be taught at the same
time for fear of causing confusion to the
learners lexicon.
 The Lexical Notebook replaces the
traditional vocabulary book
(L1 words=L2 word translation)

New items need to be recycled if they

are to be fully acquired / encourage
learners to look back at language they
have recorded and do something with it
1. Topic: awareness of
different types of lexical
items within a topic
framework
2. Situation: prediction of
lexical items likely to
appear
3. Collocation: recorded
as individual word-like
unit
4. Notion: synoptic
description of an event
with a psychological
unit
 Excercises and Conciousness-raising:
Activities which help
the learner notice L2 Accurate noticing of
more accurately lexical, grammatical
ensure quicker and or phonological
more carefully- patterns, help
formulate hypothesis convert input into
about L2. intake.
 Identifying chunks
Matching
Completing
Categorising
Sequencing
Deleting
If we want to incorporate insights from the Lexical Approach
into our teaching we will need to :

maximise input : text based approach possibly lexically

enhanced texts
maximise noticing activities learners need to realise the
items in the chunks are connected; eg use corpora examples
provide copious activities which ask learners to work
actively on the chunks
allow for productive practice of those chunks that we want
students to use productively
recycle in follow-ups reformulate Ss utterances to include
those chunks
recycle reuse the same text in future with different
activities
recycle lexically enhance future texts to include chunks
previously taught as well as new ones
recycle recycle - recycle
 Implementing the Lexical Approach, Michael Lewis, LTP
Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Richards &
Rodgers, Cambridge University Press, Chapter 12
Teaching Lexically, online course, summary by Gladys Baya
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/metu.efl252-173474-
lexical-approach-education-ppt-powerpoint/
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sueswift-147955-lexical-
approach-Pawley-Syder-Two-puzzles-linguistic-theory-nativelike-
selection-fluency-the-app-Education-ppt-powerpoint/
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sicesova-205692-
lexical-approach-presentac-1-education-ppt-powerpoint/