Transcript Lexical Approach

Lexical Approach
Carlos Islam, The University of
Maine
Ivor Timmis, Leeds Metropolitan
University
The theory of language
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Task 1
Look at this version of the introduction. What do the
parts printed in bold in square brackets have in
common?
The principles of the Lexical Approach have [been
around] since Michael Lewis published 'The Lexical
Approach' [10 years ago]. [It seems, however,
that] many teachers and researchers do not [have a
clear idea of] what the Lexical Approach actually
[looks like] [in practice].
Explanation:
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All the parts in brackets are fixed or set
phrases. Different commentators use
different and overlapping terms 'prefabricated phrases', 'lexical phrases',
'formulaic language', 'frozen and semi-frozen
phrases', are just some of these terms. We
use just two: 'lexical chunks' and
'collocations'.
'Lexical chunk'
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'Lexical chunk' is an umbrella term which
includes all the other terms. We define a
lexical chunk as any pair or group of words
which is commonly found together, or in close
proximity.
'Collocation'
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'Collocation' is also included in the term 'lexical
chunk', but we refer to it separately from time to
time, so we define it as a pair of lexical content
words commonly found together. Following this
definition, 'basic' + 'principles' is a collocation, but
'look' + 'at' is not because it combines a lexical
content word and a grammar function word.
Identifying chunks and collocations is often a
question of intuition, unless you have access to a
corpus.
Lexical Chunks (that are not collocations)
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by the way
up to now
upside down
If I were you
a long way off
out of my mind
Lexical Chunks (that are collocations)
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totally convinced
strong accent
terrible accident
sense of humour
sounds exciting
brings good luck
A theory of learning
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According to Lewis (1997, 2000) native
speakers carry a pool of hundreds of
thousands, and possibly millions, of lexical
chunks in their heads ready to draw upon in
order to produce fluent, accurate and
meaningful language.
How then are the learners going to learn the
lexical items they need?
Criticism :
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One of the criticisms levelled at the Lexical
Approach is its lack of a detailed learning
theory. It is worth noting, however, that Lewis
(1993) argues the Lexical Approach is not a
break with the Communicative Approach, but
a development of it.
According to Lewis:
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Language is not learnt by learning individual sounds
and structures and then combining them, but by an
increasing ability to break down wholes into parts.
Grammar is acquired by a process of observation,
hypothesis and experiment.
We can use whole phrases without understanding
their constituent parts.
Acquisition is accelerated by contact with a
sympathetic interlocutor with a higher level of
competence in the target language.
Schmitt (2000) :
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Schmitt : 'the mind stores and processes these
[lexical] chunks as individual wholes.' The mind is
able to store large amounts of information in long
term memory but its short term capacity is much
more limited, when producing language in speech
for example, so it is much more efficient for the brain
to recall a chunk of language as if it were one
piece of information. 'Figment of his imagination'
is, therefore, recalled as one piece of information
rather than four separate words.
Lexical approach: Principle 1- Grammaticalised
lexis
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The basic principle of the lexical approach is:
"Language is grammaticalised lexis, not
lexicalised grammar"(Lewis 1993). In other
words, lexis is central in creating meaning,
grammar plays a subservient managerial
role. If you accept this principle then the logical implication is that
we should spend more time helping learners develop their stock of
phrases, and less time on grammatical structures.
Example :
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Chris: Carlos tells me Naomi fancies him.
Ivor:: It's just a figment of his imagination.
Has Ivor accessed 'figment' and 'imagination' from his vocabulary
store and then accessed the structure: it+to be+ adverb + article +
noun + of + possessive adjective + noun from the grammar
store?
Or is it more likely that Ivor has accessed the whole chunk in one
go?
Lexical Approach:Principle 2 - Collocation
in action
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In an application form a candidate referred to a
'large theme' in his thesis. This sounded ugly, but
there is nothing intrinsically ugly about either word,
it's just a strange combination to a native-speaker
ear. In the Lexical Approach, sensitising students to
acceptable collocations is very important, so you
might find this kind of task:
Underline the word which does not collocate with
'theme':
main theme / large theme / important theme / central
theme / major theme
Task 2
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Complete the following sentences with as many different words
as you can.
(a) The Lexical Approach has had a strong…………….on me.
(b) Carlos and Ivor ……………..me to try out the Lexical
Approach.
A second important aspect of the Lexical Approach is that lexis
and grammar are closely related. If you look at the examples
above, you will see in (a) that 3 semantically related words impact, influence, effect - behave the same way grammatically:
have a/an impact/influence/effect on something. In (b) verbs
connected with initiating action - encourage, persuade, urge,
advise etc all follow the pattern verb + object + infinitive. This
kind of 'pattern grammar' is considered to be important in the
Lexical Approach.
Lecical Approach: Principle 3 - Noticing
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Sometimes the noticing is guided by the teacher i.e. the teacher
directs the students' attention to lexical features thought to be
useful;
sometimes the noticing is 'self-directed', i.e. the students
themselves select features they think will be useful for them.
Sometimes the noticing is explicit, e.g. when items in a text are
highlighted;
sometimes it is implicit e.g. when the teacher reformulates a
student's text ( how reconstruction and reformulation can
enhance noticing and practical suggestions for reformulating).
Lexical Approach: Principle 4 - Language Awareness
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Learning materials and teachers can best
help learners achieve noticing of lexical
chunks by combining a Language
Awareness approach to learning with a
Lexical Approach to describing language.
Tomlinson (2003) sums up the principles, objectives and
procedures of a language awareness approach as
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'Paying deliberate attention to features of
language in use can help learners to notice
the gap between their own performance in
the target language and the performance of
proficient users of the language.
Noticing can give salience to a feature, so
that it becomes more noticeable in future
input, so contributing to the learner's
psychological readiness to acquire that
feature.
( continues)
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The main objective is to help learners to notice for themselves
how language is typically used so that they will note the gaps and
'achieve learning readiness' [as well as independence from the
teacher and teaching materials].
The first procedures are usually experiential rather than
analytical and aim to involve the learners in affective interaction
with a potentially engaging text. [That is, learners read a text, and
respond with their own views and opinions before studying the
language in the text or answering comprehension type
questions.]
Learners are later encouraged to focus on a particular feature of
the text, identify instances of the feature, make discoveries and
articulate generalizations about its use.'
Research project at The University of Maine
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groups of students were exposed to materials
based on the principles and procedures
Tomlinson outlines. The noticing activities
asked students to identify, analyse and make
generalisations about lexical chunks and
collocations.
The students involved in the research were
surveyed after using these materials and
asked how useful and enjoyable they found
the materials.
Responses:
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All but one of the students said the materials were very useful
and all the students reported the class was either very useful or
useful.
All the students said the materials would help them learn
independently.
Over half the students thought the materials were useful for
learning vocabulary.
All the students said they enjoyed the stories.
The teachers said that the readings were 'great', the students
understood and could appreciate the materials relevance for
developing reading as well a productive skills.
One teacher said he was not sure if making the distinction
between different types of lexical chunks was necessary.