The TEFL Academy e-Learning

Lexical approaches to language teaching emphasise the importance of vocabulary in language learning. A lexical syllabus is organised according to the vocabulary that is to be taught rather than the grammar or the functions. A large proportion of the language we produce seems to be memorised 'chunks of language', rather than original creations generated through combining our grammatical and lexical knowledge. Examples are the _____er, the _________er (as in the bigger, the better), you must be joking, to cut a long story short.

These 'pre-fabricated chunks' are given various names such as lexical phrases, holophrases, gambits and lexicalised stems. What they are called does not really matter, but it is very useful for the language teacher to recognise and teach these chunks.

A set of words that can be grouped together because they are associated with a particular topic. For example, the words kettle, washing machine, cooker and dishwasher can be grouped together in the category kitchen appliances.

All the words in a language.

Adjective: lexical

lexeme: the set of forms taken by a single unit of meaning. Fear, feared, fearing, fearful, fearsome are all the same lexeme.

A linking word or linking phrase is one which links clauses or sentences. It is also called connective, connecting word, connecting phrase. Conjunctions are a type of linking words.

Linking verbs, also called copula verbs, are verbs that link the subject of a clause to something that tells us more about the subject of the clause:

1. This car is really expensive.
2. Youth unemployment is a really difficult problem.
3. Maria seems nice.
4. Shannon has become a doctor.
5. She was late again.

It is a learning style.

It is also referred to as primary stress. If a word has more than one syllable (is 'multisyllabic'), one syllable will be more strongly stressed than the others. That syllable is the main stress. There are three levels of word stress in English: primary, secondary and tertiary. Most multisyllabic words have only primary and tertiary stress. If you find it difficult to identify the primary stress, it may be because there is a secondary stress (e.g, interesting, narrow). In transcription the primary stress is indicated by a straight apostrophe-like symbol before the primary stressed syllable, while the secondary stress (if shown) is indicated by a straight comma-like symbol before the secondary stressed syllable.

e.g. interesting  / ˈɪnˌtrəstɪŋ/

The main verb (also called lexical verb) in a clause is the verb which tells us about what the subject does. If there are any other verbs in the same verb phrase, they are auxiliary verbs. For example, in 'He will have been working here for 20 years.' the main verb is work. The others (will have been) are all auxiliaries in this sentence.

This stands for Meaning, Form and Pronunciation - a useful checklist for teachers when teaching a piece of new language.

Minimal pairs are two words which have only one sound difference between them. Most obvious are rhymes where the first sound is different, e.g, pit and bit.

But the difference may occur in another part of the word, e.g., bit and beat - here the vowels are different, or bit and bid, where the final sound is different. Minimal pairs are very useful in pronunciation teaching, focusing on the sounds your students tend to confuse.