Method of Teaching English

2. By: MASNUR
141100805
TARBIYAH/PBI
UNIT 1/ SEM. VI
The Lexical
Approach

3. Key figures:
Dave Willis – “Lexical Syllabus” - (1990)
Michael Lewis – “The Lexical Approach” -
(1993)
“Implementing the Lexical
Approach” – (1997)

4. The basic concept on which this
approach rests is the idea that an
important part of learning a
language consists of being able to
understand and produce lexical
phrases as chunks.

5. Students are thought to be able to perceive
patterns of language (grammar) as well as have
meaningful set uses of words at their disposal when
they are taught in this way.

8. In the 1990s, Michael Lewis wrote two books
outlining his language learning theory: The English
Verb and The Lexical Approach. According to the
Lexical Approach, students should learn 'chunks' of
language, since language is made up of
collocations, idioms, and fixed phrases.
Collocations might be described as the
words that are placed or found together in a
predictable pattern. Examples range from two
word combinations such as problem child to
extended combinations such as He’s recovering
from a major operation. These language
patterns comprise much of speech and writing.

9. There is a distinction between vocabulary, traditionally
thought to be constituted of single items, and
lexis, which
includes not only the single words but also the word
combinations that we store in our mental lexicon.
 MULTI-WORD ITEMS OR CHUNKS
 WORDS book, pen
 POLYWORDS by the way, upside down, on the other hand
 COLLOCATIONS community service, do a job
 FIXED EXPRESSIONS I´ll get it; We´ll see; If I were you ...
 SENTENCE FRAMES OR HEADS The problem is …, That
is all very well, but …

10. single Words (pencil, watch)
Polywords (by the way,anyway)

11. Trinomials: cool, calm, upside down
Similes: as old as the hills. Convinced
Connectives: finally, to

12. Fixed Expressions Social greetings
( Good morning! It’s a lovely morning, isn’t it )

13. Semi-fixed Expressions Minimal variation ( It’s /
That’s not my fault)
Idioms: shead crocodile tears,dead drunk, to run
partnerships

14. There are some combinations of words which co-occur naturally with
greater than random frequency.

15. Introduction of chunks – practice of chunks – accumulation of
chunks, use of chunks and coolocations
Teaching individual collocations
Making students aware of collocattions
Extanding what students already know by adding knowledge of
collocation
restrictions to know vocabulary
Storing collocations through encouragin students to keep a lexical
notebook

16. It lacks full
characterization of an
approach lack of a
detailed learning theory

17. Deliberately draw attention to chunks, collocations, idioms, etc.. And invite
learners to do the same
Focus attention on identifying and using chunks
Teach learners to be critically aware
Teach the what good language learners do and how to do it
It is lexically based theory of language
It doesn’t have any certain learning theory
Learning lexis is not an easy task, it is a slow and complex process which
require a lot of dedication and effort from teachers and learners.

18. http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/vocabulary/
02/lexical.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_approach
http://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/lexical-
approach/
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~nharwood/lexapproach
.htm
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/lexical-
approach-1-what-does-lexical-approach-look