Lexical teachingimprove production, raise confidence, internalize grammar

Good _______. _______ for ______ here. I’m looking ______ _____ sharing some ideas about English teaching _____ you today.

Good _______. _______ for ______ here. I’m looking _____ _____ sharing some ideas about English teaching _____ you today.

Good morning/afternoon. Thanks for being here. I’m looking forward to sharing some ideas about English teaching with you today.

Could I say “Good daytime. Gratitude for existing here. I’m looking ahead to

sharing some ideas about English teaching to you today”?

How did you know what words to fill in?

What is lexical teaching?

●Your students know the word ‘take’

●Your students know the word ‘up’

●So they must know the meaning(s) of ‘take up’, right?

Words words wordsLexical teaching means focusing on the lexis, or words, of a language. Instead of grammar, lexis (or lexical items) is understood as the central element for language development.

Primary meaning is carried by lexis

昨日は公園に行きました。I go to the park yesterday. (Incorrect grammar, but a listener can still understand the speaker’s meaning because of correct lexis)

I went to the park today. (Correct grammar, but there will be misunderstanding between the speaker and listener because of incorrect lexis)

For communication, lexical competence precedes grammatical competence.

So, is it just teaching vocabulary?

Lexical teaching emphasizes lexical chunks.

‘Lexical chunks’ is an umbrella term for set phrases, collocations, and other terms used to describe groups of words that are often used together.

Some chunks:

by the way

heavy snow

not in a million years

caught my eye

surprisingly good

make yourself at home

Another way to think about itIn English, for example, children learn each letter (A, B, C, etc.) before learning to read and write whole words.

So, before learning to read ‘dog’, children learn ‘d’ -- ‘o’ -- ‘g’. But after learning to read ‘dog’, children no longer need to read each letter separately.

Expand this idea from letters to words to groups of words.

(see Krishnamurthy, 2002)

Individual letters

W -- h -- a -- t | i -- s | u -- p? 8 letters

Individual words

What | is | up? / What’s | up? 2-3 words

Lexical chunk

What’s up? 1 chunk

Chunk-by-chunk processing makes communication faster, more efficient, and

easier (Krishnamurthy 2002, p.289)

So far so good?(how many words are in the question above? How many

lexical chunks?)

Some principles (see Selivan, 2013)

1. Avoid teaching single words unless that is how the word is used.

2. Examples are better than explanations.

3. Words first, then grammar.

4. Encourage the study of high frequency patterns and words.

5. Explore uses and meanings of words students already ‘know’.

What activities are there for this kind of teaching?Lexical teaching does not require teachers to make big changes to their teaching styles.

There are a lot of activities for lexical teaching that can be adapted to fit with a teacher’s existing style.

(for examples see Davis & Kryszewska 2003; Lackman 2010)

Find someone who…

...likes to get their own way.

...takes a long time to get up in the morning.

...wants to get a pet.

...is getting together with friends after school.

...gets your sense of humor.

...……...

Song gapping and other musical activities

…[Maybe a reason why] all the doors are closed[So you could] open one that [leads you to] the perfect roadLike a lightning bolt, your heart will glowAnd [when it's time] you'll know…

…_____ _____ _____ _____ all the doors are closed_____ _____ _____ open one that _____ _____ _____ the perfect roadLike a lightning bolt, your heart will glowAnd _____ _____ _____ you'll know…

Remove lexical chunks that illustrate particular vocabulary, grammar patterns, discourse patterns, or other language features you want to emphasize.

Firework (Katy Perry)

Hotseat

Take up

Take away

Take on

Take back

Take out

Take in

Take over

Take down

Students who can see the list of lexical chunks must say meanings so that students who cannot see the list can guess the chunk.

International words brainstorming

For example: taxi

Take a taxi Taxi driverCall a taxi Taxi standGet a taxi Taxi serviceYellow taxi Taxi rideAirport taxi Taxi cabWater taxi Taxi companyExpensive taxi Taxi fareBlack taxi Taxi line

Collocation quizzes

Students must choose the correct collocation

Can be done before studying vocabulary as a knowledge-check

Can be done after studying to evaluate intake

Useful for differentiating synonyms or words used in similar contexts

heavy / strong / powerful teaheavy / strong / powerful rainheavy / strong / powerful windheavy / strong / powerful computerheavy / strong / powerful supportheavy / strong / powerful connectionheavy / strong / powerful enemyheavy / strong / powerful traffic

Collocation quizzes

Students must choose the correct collocation

Can be done before studying vocabulary as a knowledge-check

Can be done after studying to evaluate intake

Useful for differentiating synonyms or words used in similar contexts

heavy / strong / powerful teaheavy / strong / powerful rainheavy / strong / powerful windheavy / strong / powerful computerheavy / strong / powerful supporterheavy / strong / powerful connectionheavy / strong / powerful enemyheavy / strong / powerful traffic

What about grammar?!?

A little background

The Lexical Approach

Pioneered by Lewis (1993)

Language is a personal tool, not an abstract resource

Successful language is different than accurate language

Chunking mimics the way children learn to process language

Lexicogrammar

Lexis and grammar are not different domains

Some see lexis as delicate grammar (for example, Halliday 1994), for others lexis is the starting point of grammar (for example, Hunston & Francis 1999)

Language patterns cannot be separated into categories of only grammar and only lexis (Hunston & Francis 1999)

Learning lexis is learning grammar

“I want to go home.”

If we want to analyze want to go in the above sentence, should we see it as a collocation (lexical item) or as finite verb + infinitive (traditional grammar).

Well, it can be both: lexicogrammar.

Want colligates with infinitive forms, and go is one of the most common collocations for want in that grammar pattern. The lexis and the grammar are intertwined.

How many chunks can you find? It’s ok if some chunks overlap.

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

How many chunks can you find? It’s ok if some chunks overlap.

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

Examples:

● (personal pronoun) (be-verb) happy to● happy to [verb]● join with you --- in● in what will go down [in history] as● go down in history● demonstration for● go down● in the history of

BenefitsImproved

productionRaised confidence

Internalized grammar

Learners can produce language that more accurately reflects the patterns of natural language use.Their brains are freed up to focus on other aspects of their discourse and communication.

BenefitsImproved production

Raised confidence

Internalized grammar

Learners can be more confident that the language they produce will be understood. They can understand more in listening and reading activities, too.

BenefitsImproved production

Raised confidence

Internalized grammar

The use and reuse of naturally occurring patterns means that learners get a lot of practice with a variety of meaningful grammar structures without having to think about the grammar structures.

More lexicogrammar development activities

Use chunks as templates for grammar exploration

Could you pass me the water, please?

Could you ------- [------] the water, please?

Could you pass [me] ----- ------, please?

Could you ------- [-----] ------- -------, please?

7-1 conversations

Write these lines on the board:

_ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ __

Students generate dialogues. The first line has 7 words, the second line has 6 words, and so on. As the lines get shorter, the students use fewer complete sentences and the communicative value of chunks becomes clearer.

An example of student text:- What are you going to do tonight?- I'm going to watch a movie.- What movie will you see?- The new Harry Potter.- Can I come?- Of course.- Thanks.

Online Resources (and activities)Learner’s and other specialized

dictionaries

Have clear definitions

Contain example uses

Are often coded for level (ex: CEFR)

Corpora

Can find common collocations

Can find MANY example uses

Can compare expressions

References

Davis, P. and Kryszewska, H. (2003). Chunking for beginners, Humanising Language Teaching, 5:2.

Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Frammar. 2nd edition. London: Arnold.

Hunston, S., & Francis, G. (2000). Pattern grammar: A corpus-driven approach to the lexical grammar of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Krishnamurthy, R. (2002). Language as chunks, not words. JALT 2002 Conference Proceedings, p. 288-294.

Lackman, K. (2010). Lexical Approach Activities: A revolutionary way of teaching. Ken Lackman & Associates Educational Consultants.

Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward. Hove: LTP.

Selivan, L. (2013). Start teaching lexically in 2013, Leoxicon (Blog), http://leoxicon.blogspot.jp/.

Discussion

1. Would lexical teaching be good for your classes? Do you already do it, or something similar?

2. Are there barriers that would make it difficult to do lexical teaching in your classes? Are there some inherent problems in lexical teaching?

3. Do you have some ideas for activities you often use for vocabulary teaching that could be altered for lexical teaching?

4. Are there other resources (online or offline) that would be useful for lexical teaching?

5. Is there a different approach to developing word knowledge and vocabulary that you prefer? Do you have any vocabulary or lexis teaching advice?

6. Could lexical teaching supplement or be used with other strategies you like for vocabulary and/or grammar study?