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Chapter 8: Teaching lexis - Coggle Diagram
Chapter 8: Teaching lexis
(N) What is lexis?
recent shift in understanding: lexis>vocabulary
lexical items: can consist of more words having a fixed, single unit of meaning together, eg. idioms, phrasal verbs, collocations
definitions:
lexis
: bigger, internal database of words and typical/fixed combinations
collocations
single word vocab. items
chunks / multiword items
vocabulary
: single words & tightly linked 2-3 word combinations
grammar
: generisable patterns of the lg, ability to construct phrases, sentences, word combinations and grammatical features to express a precise meaning
collocations and chunks are somewhere between vocabulary and grammar, often referred to as 'words' to simplify
to simplify the terms vocab. and lexis are used interchangeably
(N) Presenting lexis
presentation techniques
first: present: offering cues and eliciting the words from the students
second: practise: students repeat, short dialogues
examples for conveying meaning:
gesture
translate
mime
draw
show a picture or flascard
act out
have students act it out
tell a personal anecdote
build a model
point to object
explain the meaning
read out the definition
tell a short story
show an object
act out a conversation
students who know explain it to the others
draw a diagram or graph
make sure that students get to hear and use the new lexis in realistic sentences
more abstract words are hard to teach by showing, illustrating or demonstrating, then the students need to hear them in context
(E) Lexis and skills work
Advantages
learners meet the language in realistic contexts
learners see how the items fit into a whole text
co-text= a text that immediately surrounds a lexical item
Pre-teaching lexis= solving activities designed to revise, teach and practice lexis before working on the text or recording
Lexis and listening work
common pre-teaching tasks
brainstorm words on a set topic
divide these words into two groups
match the words with the definitions
label the items in the picture with names
check the meaning of these words in the dictionary
complete gapped sentences from a word list
discuss a topic
predict which words you expect to be in the text (from a list)
match the words with the pictures
teacher-led presentation, clarification
offering definitions of words and eliciting the items from students
Using short anecdotes for pre-teaching
What to do with the story?
tell it, asking comprehension questions as words come up
tell it, asking comprehension questions afterwards
tell it, explaining meanings
tell it, pretending to forget the words and elicit them from students
tell it, showing flashcards or board drawings
tell the whole story with the lexis included, then retell it and 'forget' them
Planning a story including specific lexis
pre-teaching is not compulsory!
it might undermine the aims of your reading/listening work
Dealing with lexis during reading or listening work
give brief explanations
help quietly the students who ask for it
deal with an item when a student asks for it
tell the students to do their best without knowing some items
After the first phase of listening or reading work
Questions to ask
Find words in the text that match this list of synonyms.
Cab you find any multiword items?
Find some words in the text that mean...
What is the opposite of this word?
Can you guess the meaning of this word from the text?
How many different words does the writer use to describe the...?
Lexis work after the main stages of reading or listening work
follow-up tasks that focus on the use of lexis in the text and encourage the learners to use the items themselves
Lesson procedures
oral practice of lexis
reading to find specific information
written practice of lexis
further lexis work
pre-teach lexis
communicative activity (role plays)
(R) Remembering a lexical item
Remembering
Putting into storage
Keeping in storage
Retrieving
Using
Alternative ways of recording lexis
Lexical items list
Provides more information than classical the traditional lists
Lexical item
Pronunciation
Translation
Grammar
Collocations
Example
Idea to remember
Labelling
word set
eg picture of a kitchen
Word or topic webs
diagram
connections in meaning ore use between words visually indicated in structure
word webs can be extended into topic webs
Word page: collocations and chunks
for recording lexical items that typically go together in patterns with a single key word
key word in centre box
columns before & after box
phrases, sentences, chunks,...
Lexical item page: lexical item collector
can be used to
record lexical items
collect & relate items
classified as different grammatical types
Recording words in student notebooks
representation of end result of a lesson procedure
examples
collocations table
map to associate
(N&E) Knowing a lexical item
what does knowing a word means for a student?
students think it means that they have already seen it & know the meaning
actually knowing a word is about using them successfully and correctly in context, new meanings can always emerge
It is important to show students how the language and lexis is being used
in case of an error, review a range of collocations
record real language (do not generalize universal models out of fixed sentences)
redesign your pages (changing the format, creating a mind map, labelling a picture)
challenge students to upgrade language (give appropriate feedback)
chunk and collocation spotting
find phrases of three or more words that seem to be a fixed chunk
underline ten nouns and search out which verb is used in connection with each one
find pairs of words that seem to go together
give collocations rather than definitions
games aiming to work on collocational understanding
chunk watching
guess the collocation
quick choices
sort and classify items (eg. from a holiday story: travel words)
collect lexical items (list interesting items on the word pages, give specific collecting tasks)
revisit lexical item pages (integrate their use into your lesson)
record lexical items in useful ways (word pages, word lists, collocation grids)
what are some things we can know about lexical items?
which streses are stronger or weaker
what part(s) of speech it is
which syllables are stressed
grammatically related forms
phonemes
the basic/core meaning
the number of syllables
other meanings, metaphorical meanings
how it's spelled
immediate collocates
restrictions on meaning
collocational field
social appropriacy
colligation
connotations
synonyms, homonyms, homophones, antonyms
common chunks it appears in
suffixes/prefixes that can be added to the word
lexical families & sets
visual image ppl have for this word, personal feelings
false/true friends
mnemonics
translation(s)
in classroom context: usually only time for core meaning, spelling, pronunciation ->problems will arise if we only look at these
(N) Lexis in the classroom
can convey meaning even without grammar -> useful
can be difficult to obtain huge amounts of it
translating lexis isn't always useful, lexical items live in their own languages, works differently
solutions to the problems regarding lexis:
English-English dictionaries: example sentences and context
systematic ways of helping students with lexis:
practising using them
memorising them
meeting new lexical items and understanding them and their use
recalling and using them
differences between productive (understand and use) and receptive (understand but don't use) lexis
still, both should be practiced (eg. pronunciation, using them in context)
role of lexis in the classroom
using English-English dictionaries
adapt classroom work around productive use and receptive recognition
students need to practise, learn, recall,use items
dealing with multiword items
important, deserves a systematic approach and focus
(E) Lexical practice activities and games
Tasks
building new lexical items from given words (with prefixes and suffixes)
classifying items into lists
matching lexical items to others (collocations, synonyms, opposites)
completing a specific task using given lexical items
matching parts of lexical items
filling in crosswords, grids, diagrams
matching pictures and lexical items
gap filling
written tasks
memory games
discussions, role plays
Using lexical practice exercises in class
pairwork or small groupwork
the whole class solves it together
everyone solves it on their own
solving the exercise as a competition (with teams)
using the exercise as source material for a series of activities
solving the exercise in pairs
checking and comparing answers as a whole class
explaining new lexical items to other students
writing their own questions in the same style as a group
looking up unknown items in their dictionaries
using the new questions as a quiz between teams
matching word groups with pictures