THE LEXICAL APPROACH The State of ELT and a Way Forward MICHAEL Lewis TEACHER THANGLanguage Teaching Publ 14a Church Road, Hove, BN3 2EB, England No unauthorised photocopying ‘sas rome. Nop of hs publeaion may be eproduet, oed in eal te, 2 at fbb) any ean, crn, chanical, potoeopsog, erg, ‘Sines, whou he pir perma a he Copa owner. Acknowledgements 1 am grateful to many people who have discussed ideas in this book with me, particularly those who contributed the ‘Words of Wisdom’ opposite. Peter Wilberg frst impressed on me the importance of collocation; Henry Widdowson struck a cord with ‘random lexicalisation’ and my colleague Fimmie Fill has proved, a8 usual, an invaluable sounding board. Equally, Jhany with no eontact with language teaching have exereised more influence than they know by encouraging me to think about language, people, values fnd what iti in life that matters, “The Author Michael Lewis taught English in Sweden at all levels from primary school to Maltin 1981 he co-founded LTP, He has lectured on language and Methodology in most European countries, Japan, the States and Central ‘America, He is the author of The English Verb and a number of student texts Gnd coauthor of Business English (with Peter Wilberg) and. Practical Techniques for Language Teaching (with Jimmie Hill). His main current iMerests lie'in the areas of grammar, vocabulary and the development of & lenical approach and appropriate tcacher-riendly classroom materials, (© Language Teaching Publications 1993 Reprinted 1994, 1996, 1999 ISBN 0 906717 99 X Cover design by Anna Macleod Printed in England by Commercial Colour Press, London E7. | | | Words of Wisdom Many people — professional colleagues, fiends, and writers have wit twin inluenced me. I have alvays fathered Paral sentence of phrases which sem tome to express at Hea more precy ssn than T have thought it, oF heard it expressed before. The few which Follow have profoundly influenced my thinking on matters touched on inthis book T hope their ereators recognise them, and do not wish to disown insights which sored to me athe time, and stil seem, profound The human mind cannot help but make meaning. Sister Margaret Walshe, Crawley, 1988, We improve our ideas trough a lengthy tral of broken images and abandoned Don Cupitt, Writing about the history of ideas. The teacher's primary responsibility is response-abiity Peter Wilberg, Editorial Meeting 1988, You cannot learn what you do not understand, Professor Henri Adamchiewski, JATEL 1992 Grammar is what has always made English a school subject. Jimmie Hill, Private Conversation 1984 Whew stadt travel, they don’ carey grammar books, they cary dictionaries Professor Stephen Krashen, British Council Conference, Milan 1987 Most examples n textbooks and grammar books are randomly lexicalised, Professor Henry Widdowson, TESOL Convention, San Francisco 1990 If you want to forget something, put it in ls Earl Stevick, Writing about memory. Our purpose is to help students make maximal sense from minimal resources. Otto Weiss, IATEFL 1989.Contents Principles and Im tions of the Lexical Approach Introduction Chapter 1 Background Terminology Basie Dichotomies and Polarites The Teacher's Mindset Chapter 2 Developing Ideas Spectra Non-linear Concepts Aspects of Language Aspects of Learning Chapter 3. "The Wider context Philosophical Problems Psychological Problems Contiguous Fields Chapter 4 "The Nature of Meaning Chapter § ‘The Nature of Lexis Introduction Different Kinds of Lexical Item The Spectrum of Idiomaticity Lexical Density. Vocabulary Size Context and Co-text 101 103 | i i i i I ' Chapter 6 Lexis in the Syllabus Chapter 7 Lexis in Language Teaching Lexis in the Classroom Lexical Exercise Types Chapter 8 Grammar Content in the Lexical Approach Misunderstandings about Grammar emphasised in the Lexical Approach Chapter 9 Explanation and Practice in the Lexical Approach Explanation Practice Chapter 10 The Nature of Error Chapter 11 Responding to Error Chapter 12 "The Role of Materials Chapter 13 ‘Teaching, Teacher Tra Methodological implicatio Afterword Background Reading and Bibliography 105 ns 17 133 133 137 148 148 1st 164 13 190 188 196 197