THE LEXICAL APPROACH

The lexical approach to second language teaching has received interest in recent years
as an alternative to grammar based approaches. The lexical approach concentrates on
developing learners proficiency with lexis, or words and 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). Instruction focuses on relatively fixed expressions that
occur frequently in spoken language, such as, Im sorry, I didnt mean to make you
jump, or That will never happen to me, rather than on originally created sentences
(Lewis, 1997a, p. 212). This digest provides an overview of the methodological foundations
underlying the lexical
approach and the pedagogical implications suggested by them.

A New Role for Lexis

Michael Lewis (1993), who coined the term lexical approach, suggests the following:
Lexis is the basis of language.
Lexis is misunderstood in language teaching because of the assumption that grammar is
the basis of language and that mastery of the grammatical system is a prerequisite for
effective communication.
The key principle of a lexical approach is that language consists of grammaticalized
lexis, not lexicalized grammar.
One of the central organizing principles of any meaning centered syllabus should be
lexis.

Types of Lexical Units

The lexical approach makes a distinction between vocabulary traditionally understood as a

stock of individual words with fixed meanings and lexis, which includes not only the single
words but also the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons. Lexical
approach advocates argue that language consists of meaningful chunks that, when
combined, produce continuous coherent text, and only a minority of spoken sentences are
entirely novel creations.
The role of formulaic, many-word lexical units have been stressed in both first and second
language acquisition research.
(See Richards & Rodgers, 2001, for further discussion.) They have been referred to by
many different labels, including gambits (Keller, 1979), speech formulae (Peters, 1983),
lexicalized stems (Pawley & Syder, 1983), and lexical phrases (Nattinger & DeCarrico,
1992). The existence and importance of these lexical units has been discussed by a
number of linguists. For example, Cowie (1988) argues that the existence of lexical units in
a language such as English serves the needs of both native English speakers and English
language learners, who are as predisposed to store and reuse them as they are to
generate them from scratch. The widespread fusion of such expressions, which appear to
satisfy the individuals communicative needs at a given moment and are later reused, is
one means by which the public stock of formulae and composites is continuously enriched
(p. 136).
Lewis (1997b) suggests the following taxonomy of lexical items:
words (e.g., book, pen)
polywords (e.g., by the way, upside down)
 collocations, or word partnerships (e.g., community service, absolutely convinced)
institutionalized utterances (e.g., Ill get it; Well see; Thatll do; If I were you . . .; Would
you like a cup of coffee?)
sentence frames and heads (e.g., That is not as . . . as you think; The
fact/suggestion/problem/danger was . . . ) and
even text frames (e.g., In this paper we explore . . .; Firstly . . .; Secondly . . .; Finally . . .)
Within the lexical approach, special attention is directed to collocations and expressions
that include institutionalized utterances and sentence frames and heads. As Lewis
maintains, 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 (1997a, p. 204). Collocation is
the readily observable phenomenon whereby certain words co-occur in natural text with
greater than random frequency (Lewis, 1997a, p. 8). Furthermore, 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,
as in the following examples:
blood/close/distant/near(est) relative
learn by doing/by heart/by observation/by rote/from experience
badly/bitterly/deeply/seriously/severely hurt

Lexis in Language Teaching and Learning

In the lexical approach, lexis in its various types is thought to play a central role in
language teaching and learning. Nattinger (1980, p. 341) suggests that teaching should be
based on the idea that language production is the piecing
together of ready-made units appropriate for a particular situation. Comprehension of such
units is dependent on knowing the patterns to predict in different situations. Instruction,
therefore, should center on these patterns and the ways they can be pieced together,
along with the ways they vary and the situations in which they occur.

Activities used to develop learners knowledge of lexical chains include the

following:
Intensive and extensive listening and reading in the target language.
First and second language comparisons and translationcarried out chunk-for-chunk,
ather than word-for-wordaimed at raising language awareness.
Repetition and recycling of activities, such as summarizing a text orally one day and gain
a few days later to keep words and expressions that have been learned active.
Guessing the meaning of vocabulary items from context.
Noticing and recording language patterns and collocations.
Working with dictionaries and other reference tools.
Working with language corpuses created by the teacher for use in the classroom or
accessible on the Internet (such as the British National Corpus [http://thetis.bl.uk/BNCbib/]
or COBUILD Bank of English [http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/]) to research word
partnerships, preposition usage, style, and so on.
THE TEACHING OF VOCABULARY

Traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary above elementary levels was mostly incidental,
limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading or sometimes listening texts.
This indirect teaching of vocabulary assumes that vocabulary expansion will happen
through the practice of other language skills, which has been proved not enough to ensure
vocabulary expansion.

Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus,
and taught in a well-planned and regular basis. Some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue
that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because language consists
of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar.

There are several aspects of lexis that need to be taken into account when teaching
vocabulary. The list below is based on the work of Gairns and Redman (1986):

Boundaries between conceptual meaning: knowing not only what lexis refers to,
but also where the boundaries are that separate it from words of related meaning
(e.g. cup, mug, bowl).

Polysemy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form with
several but closely related meanings (head: of a person, of a pin, of an
organisation).

Homonymy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form

which has several meanings which are NOT closely related ( e.g. a file: used to put
papers in or a tool).

Homophyny:understanding words that have the same pronunciation but different

spellings and meanings (e.g. flour, flower).

Synonymy: distinguishing between the different shades of meaning that

synonymous words have (e.g. extend, increase, expand).

Affective meaning: distinguishing between the attitudinal and emotional factors

(denotation and connotation), which depend on the speakers attitude or the
situation. Socio-cultural associations of lexical items is another important factor.

Style, register, dialect: Being able to distinguish between different levels of

formality, the effect of different contexts and topics, as well as differences in
geographical variation.

Translation: awareness of certain differences and similarities between the native

and the foreign language (e.g. false cognates).

Chunks of language: multi-word verbs, idioms, strong and weak collocations,

lexical phrases.
 Grammar of vocabulary: learning the rules that enable students to build up
different forms of the word or even different words from that word (e.g. sleep, slept,
sleeping; able, unable; disability).

Pronunciation: ability to recognise and reproduce items in speech.

The implication of the aspects just mentioned in teaching is that the goals of vocabulary
teaching must be more than simply covering a certain number of words on a word list. We
must use teaching techniques that can help realise this global concept of what it means to
know a lexical item. And we must also go beyond that, giving learner opportunities to use
the items learnt and also helping them to use effective written storage systems.

Lewiss most important contribution was to highlight the importance of vocabulary as being
basic to communication. We do agree that if learners do not recognise the meaning of
keywords they will be unable to participate in the conversation, even if they know the
morphology and syntax. On the other hand, we believe that grammar is equally important
in teaching, and therefore in our opinion, it is not the case to substitute grammar teaching
with vocabulary teaching, but that both should be present in teaching a foreign language.

Lewis himself insists that his lexical approach is not simply a shift of emphasis from
grammar to vocabulary teaching, as language consists not of traditional grammar and
vocabulary, but often of multi-word prefabricated chunks(Lewis, 1997). Chunks include
collocations, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and idioms, and according to him, occupy a
crucial role in facilitating language production, being the key to fluency.

An explanation for native speakers fluency is that vocabulary is not stored only as
individual words, but also as parts of phrases and larger chunks, which can be retrieved
from memory as a whole, reducing processing difficulties. On the other hand, learners who
only learn individual words will need a lot more time and effort to express themselves.

Consequently, it is essential to make students aware of chunks, giving them opportunities

to identify, organise and record these. Identifying chunks is not always easy, and at least in
the beginning, students need a lot of guidance.

Hill (1999) explains that most learners with good vocabularies have problems with fluency
because their collocational competence is very limited, and that, especially from
Intermediate level, we should aim at increasing their collocational competence with the
vocabulary they have already got. For Advance learners he also suggests building on what
they already know, using better strategies and increasing the number of items they meet
outside the classroom.

The idea of what it is to know a word is also enriched with the collocational component.
According to Lewis (1993) being able to use a word involves mastering its collocational
range and restrictions on that range. I can say that using all the opportunities to teach
chunks rather than isolated words is a feasible idea that has been working well in my
classes, and which is fortunately coming up in new coursebooks we are using. However,
both teachers and learners need awareness raising activities to be able to identify multi-
word chunks.
Apart from identifying chunks, it is important to establish clear ways of organising and
recording vocabulary. According to Lewis (1993), language should be recorded together
which characteristically occurs together, which means not in a linear, alphabetical order,
but in collocation tables, mind-maps, word trees, for example. He also suggests the
recording of whole sentences, to help contextualization, and that storage of items is highly
personal, depending on each students needs.

We have already mentioned the use of dictionaries as a way to discover meaning and
foster learner independence. Lewis extends the use of dictionaries to focus on word
grammar and collocation range, although most dictionaries are rather limited in these.

Lewis also defends the use of real or authentic material from the early stages of learning,
because acquisition is facilitated by material which is only partly understood (Lewis, 1993,
p. 186). Although he does not supply evidence for this, I agree that students need to be
given tasks they can accomplish without understanding everything from a given text,
because this is what they will need as users of the language. He also suggests that it is
better to work intensively with short extracts of authentic material, so they are not too
daunting for students and can be explored

We must take into account that a lexical item is most likely to be learned when a learner
feels a personal need to know it, or when there is a need to express something to
accomplish the learners own purposes. Therefore, it means that the decision to
incorporate a word in ones productive vocabulary is entirely personal and varies according
to each students motivation and needs.

Logically, production will depend on motivation, and this is what teachers should aim at
promoting, based on their awareness of students needs and preferences. Task-based
learning should help teachers to provide authentic, meaningful tasks in which students
engage to achieve a concrete output, using appropriate language for the context.

Finally, the Lexical Approach and Task-Based Learning have some common principles,
which have been influencing foreign language teaching. Both approaches regard intensive,
roughly-tuned input as essential for acquisition, and maintain that successful
communication is more important than the production of accurate sentences. We certainly
agree with these principles and have tried to use them in our class.

Basic principles

The session centred on the following points, which cover the basic principles of the Lexical
Approach with regard to the teaching of grammar and vocabulary.

1) The Lexical Approach attitude to grammar centres around the belief that learners
develop an ability to understand how to use grammatical structures by focusing on
chunks of language in context. This is an alternative approach to focusing on
explanation and practice of grammar.
2) It discourages the practice of trying to explain grammar with rules, believing that
this approach over-simplifies the language and is deceptive for learners.
 3) Lexis is the focus because lexis is central in creating meaning and the role of
grammar is only to manage lexis.
4) Learners can use whole phrases without understanding their constituent parts, in
much the same way as a child learns its first phrases and sentences without
analysing each individual component.
5) It distinguishes between vocabulary (individual words with fixed meanings) and
lexis (both individual and combinations of words which fit together in meaningful
lexical chunks).
6) As words are not normally used in isolation, it advocates learning lexis in chunks or
patterns of actual use, giving learners a better understanding of the meaning of
vocabulary than would be gained from learning single words.
7) It emphasises that, in order to properly understand a particular word, phrase or
structure, learners must consider the context in which the language is used.

Practical classroom activities.

Several of the following activities were demonstrated in the session, the rest given as a
handout to participants. The activities were designed to focus on the following points:

Learning lexis in chunks

Raising learners awareness of fixed expressions, learned as a whole phrase.
Contextualising lexis.

1) Adjective / noun collocations: Deleting / odd-one-out exercises:

STRONG language / cheese / intelligence / accent / indication

BRIGHT idea / green / smell / child / day / room

CLEAR attitude / need / instructions / alternative / day / conscience / road

NEW experience / job / food / potatoes / baby / situation / year

HIGH season / price / opinion / spirits / house / time / priority

SERIOUS advantage / situation / relationship / illness / crime / matter

Collocations like this can be presented as a written activity or, for more of a
challenge, as a listening dictation. Make it into a game by having students buzz
the word that doesnt match when they hear it. Students then write down the other
collocations already dictated from memory and add 3 more to the list.

Polywords

Bread and butter / black and white / to and fro / here and there / now and then / high and
low / here and now / far and wide
 Reverse order of one or two examples and have students correct.
Put any of these phrases into example sentences or questions for students to ask
each other in pair work.

2) Verb / noun collocations: Matching and recording word partnerships

i) Dictate the following verbs to students:

TAKE CATCH HAVE SPEND MAKE DO PAY PLAY GO

They write a noun which collates with each verb (eg. take a taxi; catch a bus),
then compare with a partner and tick all the word partnerships that are the same.

gymnastics / football / swimming / jogging / judo / basketball

PLAY DO GO

Students match the sports nouns to the 3 verbs.

They can then use the word partnerships to write about the sports they do and ask
each other questions.

3) Fixed expressions

There is one word wrong in each of these expressions

Ask students to correct it

Then think of an equivalent expression in Spanish

Its up with you. Look at it from my line of view

It never touched my mind Could you hold in a moment, please?

Have your time theres no hurry.

Sorry, I didnt take that. Could you say it again, please?

This is a good awareness-raising activity for Fixed Expressions. Learners must notice the
exact words of these types of expressions because even a small mistake can change the
meaning or make the phrase meaningless. Accuracy is very important here and
demonstrates the point that a lexical mistake can hinder effective communication, unlike a
grammar mistake which very often does not.

This simple exercise can be used after hearing or reading a dialogue.

4) De-lexicalised verbs:
When I . my exam results, they werent very good and I .quite upset. My
father annoyed because he thought I hadnt done enough work but my mother just
said, Well, youll soon over it. Youll just have to .a job.

Ask students to scan the text and guess the missing verb (get).
Then complete the gaps with the correct form of the verb.
Follow-up: asking questions and completing sentences about themselves and
each other, using the expressions with get.
Eg. When was the last time you got annoyed?

What things do you get upset about?

I get upset when .

I get annoyed when .

Source: materials adapted from Implementing the Lexical Approach M.Lewis (LTP
1997)