Primary Teachers

English

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Lexical and semantic fields in English. The necessary lexis for socialisation,
information and attitudinal expression. Typology of activities linked to
the teaching and learning of vocabulary in the foreign language class

Queda expresamente prohibida la difusión o transmisión de los materiales puestos a disposición del opositor/a
www.eponline.es Primary English. Unit 11

UNIT 11

LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELDS IN ENGLISH. THE

NECESSARY LEXIS FOR SOCIALISATION, INFORMATION AND
ATTITUDINAL EXPRESSION. TYPOLOGY OF ACTIVITIES
LINKED TO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF
VOCABULARY IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASS

Outline
0. Introduction............................................................................................................................... 3
1. Lexical and Semantic Fields in English ................................................................................. 4
1.1. Historical Evolution of Language ................................................................................... 4
1.2. The Selection of Vocabulary. ............................................................................................ 5
1.3. The Sources of English Lexicon. ...................................................................................... 6
1.3.1. Native Vocabulary ..................................................................................................... 7
1.3.2. Foreign Borrowings.................................................................................................... 7
1.3.3. Lexical relations .......................................................................................................... 8
1.3.4. Lexical creation ........................................................................................................... 8
1.3.5. Associative Meaning .................................................................................................. 9
1.3.6. Sense Relations............................................................................................................ 9
2. Lexis for socialization............................................................................................................. 10
2.1. Socialization Vocabulary. ............................................................................................... 11
2.2. Information lexis. ............................................................................................................. 11
2.3. Vocabulary related to expressions of attitudes. .......................................................... 12
3. Typology of activities linked to the teaching and learning of vocabulary in the foreign
language class. ................................................................................................................................. 12
4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 14

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Bibliography
 Tess Fitzpatrick and Andy Barfield (2009). “Communicative classrooms, where
instruction is typically varied and meaning focused, can be expected to provide a
rich lexical environment”. ‘Lexical Processing in Second Language Learners’.
Multilingual Matters. Bristol. UK.
 Richar Dury et Al. (2008) English Historical Linguistics: Volume II: Lexical
and Semantic Change. John Benjamins Publishing. Amsterdam/Philadelphia.
 Michael Lewis (2008). Implementing the Lexical Approach: Putting Theory
into Practice. Heinle, Cengage Learning.
 Alessandro Duranti, Elinor Ochs,and Bambi B. Schieffelin. (2012) The Handbook
of Language Socialization. Blackwell Publishing Limited
 Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language. CUP.
 French Allen, V. (1983) Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. OUR
 Gairns, R. & Redman, S. (1990) Working With Words: A Guide to Teaching
and Learning Vocabulary. Cambridge University Press.
 McLaren, N. Madrid, D. (Eds.) (2004). TEFL in Primary Education. Ed.
Universidad de Granada.
 Morgan, R. (1993) Vocabulary. OUR

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0. Introduction

"There have been changing trends - from Grammar-Translation to Direct Method to the
Communicative Approach-, but none of this has emphasised the importance of the learner’s lexical
competence over structural grammatical competence."
Summers 2014

Even when this quotation may not contemplate that vocabulary is a relevant issue in
many communicative methodologies, it has been a reality that, traditionally, the teaching
of vocabulary was limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading or
sometimes listening texts, without focusing on vocabulary itself. During this topic we will
cover the historical evolution of the study of new words, and we will also consider how
children learn vocabulary, how much vocabulary young learners are expected to learn,
what vocabulary to teach and how to teach it. We will also pay close attention to the social
use of language. Finally, we will consider vocabulary-learning strategies and we will
provide instances on how to apply this topic to the classroom practice.

The contents of this unit is also connected with both the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages, the legal reference among the countries belonging to the
European Union, and the Educative Legislation in Spain and the Autonomous
Community of_________ in 2017. CEFRL Article 2.1.2 committed to Communicative
Language Competence, highlights the importance of Vocabulary learning and together
with the social function of language. It explains that the cognitive organisation of
vocabulary and the storing of expressions, etc. depend, amongst other things, on the
cultural features of the community or communities in which the child has been socialised
and where his or her learning has occurred.Accordingly, LOE 2/ 2006 modified by LOMCE
8/2013 along with Royal Decree126/2014 regulating Primary Education nationwide, and
Decree which establishes the curriculum in the Autonomous Community of , all
underline the importance of vocabulary learning as an essential element to achieve an
adequate degree of communicative competence in a foreign language, and the social
context in which the learning process takes place. Real communicative situations are to be
created within the classroom to offer chances of learning in context.

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There is no doubt about the importance of this topic for our everyday classroom
practice, because, as Brewster states, ‘Mastery of vocabulary is a basic ingredient for
communication. No matter how much we know about language, if words fail to come no
message is conveyed’.

1. Lexical and Semantic Fields in English

1.1. Historical Evolution of Language

The Lexical and Semantic Fields theory derives from the work of German and Swiss
scholars in the 1920's and 30's.

The term Semantic Field was coined by s the Swiss Ferdinand de Saussure, who put
forward the view of language as an interconnected system of signs such that an alteration
of any of the elements involved a change in the entire system. A semantic field is merely
an area of meaning containing words with related senses, (i.e. parts of the body: head,
arms, legs... It's a semantic field). According to Saussure’s theory:

 Words can belong to more than one field (Apricot: fruit or colour).
 Languages differ in their semantic fields: every language cuts the world up in
a special way.
 The best way to remember vocabulary is when it's associated in groups
(word families).

The Lexical field theory, was introduced in 1931 by the German linguist Josh Trier. Trier
stated that the accuracy of understanding of an individual word depends on the presence
of the whole context and its particular structure. When we talk about Lexical Fields, we
refer to formal linguistic devices and rules for word-formation. As a way of an example,
we can create new words out of a base, from the word “happy” we get the new word
“unhappy”. In this sense, words can be simple or complex.

o Simple Words are formed by only one constituent. Take the case of “house” or
“light”.
o Complex Words are formed by more than one constituent. Following the previous
examples, this is the case of the word “lighthouse”.

Regarding English Lexicon, David Crystal (2003) states that the number of English
words could reach the million of lexemes. This vastness of the Lexicon comes from the
enormous stock of English native words and the avalanche of foreign borrowings over the
centuries. The use of prefixes, suffixes, compounding and other processes of word-

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building turns out to play its crucial part in English vocabulary growth. Therefore, English
vocabulary has a remarkable range, flexibility and adaptability. English seems to have far
more words in its core vocabulary than other languages.

For example, alongside kingly (from Anglo-Saxon) we find royal (from French)
and regal (from Latin) There are many such sets of words which add greatly to our
opportunities to express subtle shades of meaning at various levels of style.

1.2. The Selection of Vocabulary.

Been such a rich language regarding words, the selection of the vocabulary to be taught
in the classroom is a difficult one and, throughout the history of foreign language
teaching, two basic tendencies have appeared, as far as vocabulary selection criteria are
concerned: Use Frequency and Opportunity of Word Appearing.

The first term, ‘Use frequency’, underlines the theory that there are certain words which
are more frequently used than others, and we should make a selection for classroom use
from those term. In this sense, in 1921 Edward Thorndike published in the USA ‘The
Teacher’s Word Book’ where the 5,000 most common English words in written language
were included. This number was increased within a few years and in 1944 by Thorndike
who published, together with Lorge, ‘The Teacher’s Word Book’ of 30,000 Words. This last
book was a sort of guide to help the teacher organise rationally reading lessons in
American schools. Michael West took the idea and applied it to foreign language teaching
and in 1953 ‘A General Service list of English Words’ appeared, where the two thousand
most commonly used English words were included. In this book both lexical and
grammatical content words were found.

The second criteria is based on the ‘Opportunity of Word Appearing’, according

towhich there are certain words becoming more necessary because of their direct
relationship with the learning and with the objectives aimed.

Globally speaking, words come in two forms: oral and print. Word knowledge also
comes in two additional forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes
words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes
words that we use when we speak or write. Receptive or passive vocabulary is typically
larger than productive or active vocabulary and may include many words to which we
assign some meaning, even if we don't know their full definitions and connotations.

Nevertheless, when teaching words it is important to distinguish between both types of

vocabulary. Seeing that active/productive vocabulary is the one you can understand and

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recall and it is ready to use for real communication, we should give greater amount of
practice to this type of vocabulary in our communicative EFFL classes.

"Knowing" a word is a matter of degree rather than an all-or-nothing proposition (Nagy

& Scott, 2000). The degrees of knowing a word are reflected in the precision with which
we use a word, how quickly we understand a word, and how well we understand and use
words in different modes (e.g., receptive, productive) and for different purposes (e.g.,
formal vs. informal occasions). Finally, knowing a word means being able to appreciate its
connotations and subtleties. When we know a word at this level, we can use and recognize
it in idioms, jokes, slang, puns, etc.

But, how many words do students need to know?. At the present time, there is
considerable consensus among researchers that primary school FL students add
approximately, depending on the level, 50 to 500 distinct words yearly to their
vocabularies. Reviews of classroom intervention studies suggest that, in general, no more
than 8 to 10 words can be taught effectively each week. This means no more than
approximately 400 words can be taught in a year.

So how do students acquire new words? An extensive body of research indicates that
the answer is through incidental learning - that is, through exposure to and interaction
with oral language. However, such incidental encounters cannot ensure that students will
acquire in-depth meanings of specific words (Fukkink, 1998). For some words, such as
those that are crucial for content area concept, most students need to have intentional and
explicit instruction. As a result, developing understandings of word meanings is a long-
term process, one that involves many encounters with both spoken and written words in
varying contexts. On the first encounter with a new word, a student stores in memory
some information about how the word fits into what s/he is perceiving. This information is
reinforced each time s/he sees or hears the word. With each new encounter, the student
picks up more information about the word from its use in various contexts. As a result, the
student gradually acquires ownership of the word.

1.3. The Sources of English Lexicon.

To properly learn the vocabulary of English we should be familiar with all aspects. of
the vocabulary of the language, that is, how words are formed, how they have developed
over time, how they are used now, how they relate in meaning to each other, and how
they are handled in dictionaries and other books. These are the sources of the English
Lexicon:

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1.3.1. Native Vocabulary

The Anglo-Saxon lexical character of the English Lexicon dominates everyday

conversations, whether it be grammatical words (in, on, be, that), lexical words (father,
love, name), or affixes (mis-, un-, -ness, -less). Although Anglo-Saxon lexemes comprise
only a relatively small part of the total English Lexicon, they provide almost all the most
frequently used words in the language.

1.3.2. Foreign Borrowings

Loan words or borrowings are those lexemes taken from other languages. Over 350
languages are on record as sources of English present-day vocabulary, and the locations of
contact are found all over the world (Crystal, 2003).

The influence of Latin is strong, especially after the arrival of Christianity (e.g. bishop,
church, school, giant, lobster, purple, plant...)

The Viking invasions alone resulted in about 2000 Scandinavian words coming into
English (e.g. dirt, egg, kid, leg, skin, sky, window...).

After the Norman Conquest, the influx of words from the continent, especially French,
doubled the size of the English Lexicon (council, government, mayor, minister,
parliament...)

Since the 1950s, a fresh wave of borrowing has been taking place.

Some examples of loan words are:

o Guitar, hacienda, mosquito (Spain).

o Balcony, concerto, giraffe, opera, violin (Italy).

o Crocodile, medicine, passport (France).

o Hamburger, kindergarten, lager (Germany).

o Assassin, emir, harem, intifada, zero (Middle East).

o Bonsai, geisha, haiku, hara-kiri, kamikaze, samurai (Japan).

o Bongo, marimba, safari (Africa).

o Bungalow, chutney, guru, pyjamas (India).

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1.3.3. Lexical relations

Most English vocabulary arises by making new lexemes out of old ones -either by
adding an affix to previously existing forms, altering their word class, or combining them
to produce compounds. Lexical relations are a great source of lexical creativity.

 Affixation: An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such

as a root or to a stem, to form a word. Affixes may be derivational, like
English -ness and pre, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed.
 Derivation and conversion: Derivation is the process of creating new lexemes
from other lexemes, for example, by adding a derivational affix. It is a kind of
word formation. Derivational affixes usually apply to words of one syntactic
category and change them into words of another syntactic category. For
example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow
--- slowly). Some examples of English derivational suffixes:
o Adjective to noun: -ness (slow--- slowness).
o Adjective to verb: -ize (modern --- modernize).
o Derivation may occur without any change of form, for example telephone
(noun) and to telephone. This is known as conversion.
 Compounding: A compound is a word (lexeme) that consists of more than
one morpheme; eg: doghouse, breastfeed,…
 Backformation: It has to do with the reinterpretation of certain words, for
example,“donate” from “donation” or “housekeep” from “housekeeper”.

1.3.4. Lexical creation

 Neologism: A neologism is a word/term, or phrase which has been recently

created ("coined") often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in
newer language form: e-mail, app, spam, podcast. Neologisms can also refer to
an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning: troll.
 Onomatopoeia & reduplicatives: Words can be invented to describe sounds
and the thingsthat make sounds, such as 'cuckoo' or 'splash'. They can also be
invented by duplicating a sound, e.g. ping-pong.
 Acronyms: Phrases that are reduced to acronyms often enough become words
in their own right and the original phrase is often forgotten. Some are still
written as acronyms such as AIDS, but others are not, like radar (radio detection
and ranging).

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 Clipping: This is the shortening of a longer word, often reducing it to one

syllable. Examination becomes exam, laboratory, lab. Many examples are very
informal or slang, like 'bro' from brother, 'dis' from disrespect and 'maxing, from
maximising.
 Blending: Blends are words created by combining elements from two words -
normally beginning and end - and so combining their meaning to create a new
one: electrocute (electrify and execute); smog (smoke and fog); brunch (breakfast
and lunch).

1.3.5. Associative Meaning

The meaning of words becomes attached to a word because of its use. We mainly find
four ways in which this can happen:

 Connotation: has to do with meanings that are socially acquired. The extra
meaning in some words is known as the connotative meaning. In spoken
language, the presence of connotation is often signalled by intonation.
 Collocation: refers to the tendency for particular words that are otherwise
synonymous, such as quiver and tremble. We can say tremble with fear and
quiver with excitement.
 Stylistic meaning: has to do with the concept of register. Words have more or
less, a degree of formality within the language. The following examples differ in
associative meaning because they belong to separate styles of English:
Residence (formal) Home (general) Gaff (slang)
 Metaphor: refers to a process in which one semantic field is transferred to
another. So, in the sentence the ship ploughed the water the field of farming is
transferred to that of sailing.
Because of their presence in speakers' minds, metaphors exert an influence
over linguistic behaviour.

1.3.6. Sense Relations

 Synonymy: this is a relationship between words that have a similar meaning

or sense. For example, youth/youngster; mad/insane.
 Hyponymy: this is a hierarchical relationship that exists between two terms
in which the sense of one is included in the other; i.e., car is a hyponym of
vehicle.

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 Antonymy: the relationship between words which are opposite in meaning or

sense; i.e. big/small.
 Polysemy: a sense relation in which a word, or lexeme, has acquired more than
one meaning; i.e., chip can mean a piece of wood, food or an electric circuit.
 Homonymy: this is a relation between words that have the same form, but
unrelated senses. Homonyms may have the same phonological form, such as
write/right. These are homophones. Other words may have the same
graphical form: lead (of a dog) and lead, (of a pencil). These are homographs.

2. Lexis for socialization

Another important aspect to consider is sociocultural context which refers to the fact
that the language used by a sociocultural group is closely connected with its values,
attitudes and beliefs. Consequently, learning a language involves understanding and
interpreting the culture of which it is part. It is important, therefore, for EFL students to
develop the ability to interpret texts from perspectives other than their own.

The selection of vocabulary to teach to teach in an EFL lesson will depend on age, level,
needs and interests of students, as well as on the teaching materials and resources being
used. Nevertheless, teachers have to make sure that high frequency words are given a lot
of attention in the EFL classroom. It is necessary to teach that kind of vocabulary useful in
the student-teacher interaction or which refers to instructions on how to do classwork,
what is known as "classroom language", so important in creating a more natural context to
use the language as a means of communication.

Words must not be taught as individual items, but grouping them according to what
they might have in common, be it a semantic field, similar meaning, similar function, or
any others.

Contextualizing vocabulary is also a way to group words, helping students understand

their meaning. Contexts in which to teach new words vary depending mainly on age
groups but also on other factors such as group interests.

The lexical content to be taught will also depend on the communicative

situation/function we present. The three main basic communicative functions of human
interactions are: socialization, information and expression of attitudes. Here are some
examples of vocabulary sets of each function for primary education.

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2.1. Socialization Vocabulary.

It varies depending on whether the context if formal or informal and includes

expressions to start and end a conversation, to compliment or congratulate, to offer and
thank, to apologize and regret and also to speak on the phone, among many other. As a
way of an example we find the following expressions:

-Greetings:

Hello, Good morning / afternoon / evening, Nice to meet you, …

-Saying goodbye:

Goodbye / bye, bye, See you tomorrow ...

-Congratulating:

Well done!, Good job!, Congratulations…

-Special days:
Merry Christmas, Happy birthday...

2.2. Information lexis.

Understanding and giving information is a basic communicative element in everyday

human relationships. It comprises the type of vocabulary and expressions needed to ask
and give information. These include asking and giving opinion, expressing agreement and
disagreement, interrupting or asking for clarification among others. We should teach
expressions such as:

 Identification:

Proper names, telephone numbers, addresses, physical characteristics, health, work,

possession, origin (nationality), age...

 Places:

The house (bedroom, kitchen...) Shops (clothes shop)

Buildings (supermarket, bank...)

 Prices:

Numbers

Pound/penny, cent/euro/dollar...

 Weather:

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Sunny/windy/cloudy..

 Time:
O'clock, quarter past, half past,…

2.3. Vocabulary related to expressions of attitudes.

Knowledge of this vocabulary is needed to show feelings, wishes or intentions.

Children like to express their likes and dislikes, their regrets, emotions and decisions. The
aforesaid is clearly exemplified with expressions such as:

 Likes and dislikes:

I Like, I love, I enjoy, I don’t like, I hate, I can’t stand , food, hobbies, heavy music...

 Expressing gratitude:

Thank you/Thanks/thank you very much, Thanks, I am grateful, this is great

Not at all/that's all right...

 Apologizing:

I'm sorry

 Requesting:

Please

 Expressing appreciation:

Nice!, Good!, Excellent!, Great!...

 Granting forgiveness:

That's all right, Never mind...

3. Typology of activities linked to the teaching and learning of vocabulary

in the foreign language class.

It is necessary to offer our EFL students the widest range of vocabulary activities since
children get enthusiastic easily but they also get tired and lose concentration fast.

It should be advisable to design activities in which the students use the four
linguisticskills in an integrated way as well as other strategies as: classification,
association, memorization... This may help to train the EFL learners in the use of

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learning strategies and receptive skills, and to increase their capacities of observation,
concentration, guessing and inferring.

In order to make learning of vocabulary as meaningful as possible, we could use games

that cover all sorts of topics (cardboard games, memory games, guessing games, TPR
games…)

Stories which offer an opportunity for repetition and/or anticipation, information gap
activities in which vocabulary just learned is purposefully used, action songs, etc, will
provide the EFL learner with opportunities to revise and recycle vocabulary.

We cannot forget the importance of learning the culturally bound vocabulary of the
target language. Some of the activities to deal with socio-cultural context are the following:

 Asking students to compare words and expressions used in their L1 and English.
 Speaking contexts with those used in their own L1 context.
 Students comment on the sociocultural associations of lexis in a given text.
 Students research a given set of items with sociocultural associations uizzes
focusing on sociocultural lexical items.

Some of the most useful criteria to select the vocabulary to be used in the classroom
are:

 Frequency: function words which will be usually pick up by children through

continuous exposure and use in different contexts.
 Usefulness: vocabulary to match children’s daily experience.
 Simplicity: the selection of words which should be limited.
 Authenticity Of Expression And Fun Value: the vocabulary selected must be
essential for communication as well as child-centred words. In fact, these
words will be the easiest to learn and remember for our pupils.

The typology of activities used to teach vocabulary are traditionally related to the
different learning moments or stages known as Presentation, Practice and Production
stages.

The Presentation Stage main aim is to elicit students’ previous knowledge, arouse
their interest and curiosity and present the meaning and form of the new vocabulary
through imitation and repetition. Control of interaction is totally in the hands of the
teacher who must try to use realia, drawings, pictures, flashcards, actions, mime, new
technologies and multisensory activities which involve watching, smelling, tasting,
listening and touching.

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At the Practice Stage, our pupils will work with the whole class, in groups or in pairs
going through guided activities, at first, to build up their confidence in English. Then, as
progress is made, they will go through meaningful and extensive activities to improve
their domain of the vocabulary. Here the degree of teacher’s control is gradually
minimized. Some activities are as follows: classifying, labelling, dictations which can be
easily graded to cater for diversity, what’s missing games, wordsearch, crossword,
spotting differences or “I spy” games, to name just a few.

At the Production Stage our students will use the vocabulary in freer and more
creative ways checking how much they have learnt. They will also work without
depending so heavily on the linguistic support provided by the teacher. The most
common activities include: picture dictionaries, collages of pictures around a particular
theme, word networks based on a topic, word families or vocabulary books made on their
own.

During all the process the students should also benefit from having some vocabulary
Learning Strategies we should try to make them familiar with. Commonly used strategies
seem to be simple memorization, repetition, but there are many other strategies we can
foster in our students, like:

 Study and practice meaning in a group.

 Connect a word to a previous personal experience.
 Connect the word to its synonyms and antonyms.
 Use semantic maps.
 Group words together to study them.
 Use physical action when learning a Word.

4. Conclusion

The strong and established relationship between students' vocabulary knowledge

and their ability to successfully comprehend words they may encounter places a heavy
demand on EFL teachers. The demand is that significant attention be given to the
development of students' vocabulary knowledge. Much is known from research about
how young children acquire words and how they learn to use them in spoken language.

It is clear that rich oral language environments must be-created in the first stages of
EFL learning to promote the development of new L2 vocabulary.

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As students progress through the grades, the development of their EFI vocabulary
knowledge must remain a priority. Attention to vocabulary development is important for
all students, but is especially important for EFL learners.

In summary, we know a lot about vocabulary knowledge, its acquisition, and its
importance across the school years. The challenge is to put what we know to work in the
EFL classrooms.

* * *

Tema demo de la especialidad de Inglés del Cuerpo de Maestros. epOnline

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