3 Presenting

lexis

Presenting lexis
You may sometimeswant to offer a short)teacherled focus on the meaning,form
and use of lexicalitems.This may be to clarify a singleitem, perhapswhen a
problem comesup unexpectedlyin the middle ofa lesson,though more often you
will group items togetherand teacha small setat the sametime. It is usually most
useful when the lexicalitems presentedare connectedin someway, for example:
. words connectedwith the samelocationor event(egshopwords,weddingwords);
. words that havethe samegrammar and similar use (eg adjectivesto describe
people,movementverbs);
. words that can be usedto achievesuccessin a specifictask (eg persuadinga
foreign friend to visit your town).

Groupinglexicalitems fo1teaching
Thinkof oneor two otherwaysto grouplexicalitemsfor teaching.

Presentation techniques for lexis

If you just want to quickly conveythe meaning of one or more lexicalitems, there
are a number ofways you could do that.The most common techniqueprobably
involvesa presentation-practiceroute:
. Present:you first offer somecues,picturesor informalion about the target
items and elicit the words from studentsor model them yourself.Youwill need
to checkthat learnershaveunderstoodhow they are formed, what they mean
and how they are used.
. Practise:you then get the studentsto practise,eg by repeatingitems,using them
in short dialogues,etc.
These techniquesare similar to thoseusedin the present-practisesecdonon
grammar (seeChapter 7, Section2).
Alternatively,there are many other waysto conveymeaning.For eachlexical item
in the following random list, I've suggesteda different way that you could help
studentsbegin to learn the meaning.
g/ozes Mime putting them on.
disgusting Mime (eg smellingold food) and make a facial expression.
swimming Translateit.
cafi Draw a qluicksketchon the board or show a flashcardor
picture in a book.
ofun Draw aline. Mark neaeratone end ar'd alwagsatthe other.
Mark points along it'.usually,rareljt,etc.
chase Gettwo or three studentsto act it out.
Jrightened Tell a personalanecdote.
rossroads Build a model with Cuisenairerods or toy constructionbricks.
wind.owsill Point to dre object.
exploitation Explain the meaning (with examples).
ftope Read out the dictionary defrnition.

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Chapter8 Teachinglexis

put up with Tell a short story that includesit.

snpler Bring oneinto classto show them.
put yourfoot down Act out a shorr conversauon.
contactlens Studentswho know explain to thosewho don,t.
reduction Draw a diagram or graph.
Someof theseideasusedon their own might seemmore time-consumingthan I
worthwhile for a singleword. However,they may be valid if they are
ie if they alsoallow you to intoduce other itemsusinEthe sametechnique.
or illustration.For example,the idea given abovefor crossroads involvesusirg
Cuisenairerods to make a little road scene,which presumablywould takea
minute or so to setup and introduce.That might arguablybe long-winded, bur
becomesmore usableif, having setup the scene,you can then alsoeasilyteach
traflic lights,zebracrossing,signpost,ffafr;c using the same situational context.
Bear in mind that, whateveryou do, the stand-alonewords are not much usem
their own. For example,disgustingasa singleword has someuse but is limited-
ifstudents know that they can smell food and say'Ooh!That's disgustingl'and
'That caf6
was absolutelydisgusting!',it startsto becomea reallyusableitem_
ifyou presentlexicalitems,remembernot iust to teachisolateditems,but to
surethat learnersget to hear and use them in realisticsentences.

Teachingideas for lexis

Continuethe list with teaching ideas for the followingwords: Wednesday,tunne!.
chillv. overtake.
A simplelexis-presentationactivity at Beginner or Elementarylevelmight inr
using techniquessuch astheseto introduce studentsto a short list of new lexic{
items.This input (ie teaching)ofnew lexis would probably be followed by a
practiceactivity in which studentscould find waysto usethe words that they had
iust met or revised(seethe next section).
However,evenif you haveusedthesetechniquesin class,you can,treally saythat
the studentshavelearnedtie new item.The first meetingwith a lexicalitem (in
classor elsewhere)is only one step.Coming to really learn the scopeand limits of
a lexicalitem is a long and gradual process;a lexicalitem learnedinitially at
Beginner level (for example,6ooA)can go on revealingmore and more ofitself
even up to Advanced,level (to do somethingby thebook,bookzaorm,bookish,kttle
blnckbook,to throw thebookat someone, to booksomeone, etc).The list ofteaching
ideas for swimming can be extended to include some ways of studying this lexical
item beyond a frst meeting,for example:
. draw a circle wirhthe word swimmlngin the centre.Add iines leadingfrom rhb
word to a variety ofcollocations or phrases:- pool,- lesson,- tunks, Shall."Lv
go -, etc.Theseitems could be elicitedfrom students,searchedfor in
dictionaries,found in texts,erc,
. :useswimmingasstarting point and collect a number of connectedlexical
eg water polo, diaing board, deep end, crawl, etc;
. collect grarnmadcal variadons on swimming, eg swim, swam.
szoxmmers.
The teachingideasin this sectionare mainly to do with showing,illustrating or
demonstratingthe meaning.This is possiblefor many words (particularly
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 practice
4 Lexical andgames
activities

tangible,visibleobjectsor simpleverbs), but problemattcfor more complex

meanings(eg supetficial,reaelation,
avert).In utch cases,learnersare likely to need
to seeor hearwords in specificcontextsin readingtexts or listeningmaterials.

Lexical practice activities and games

After studentshaveseenand heard a new lexicalitem for the hrst time, they will
need opportunities to becomemore familiar with it, to practiserecognising,
manipulating and using it. Many simple lexicalpracticeactivitiesare based
around the following ideas:
. discussions,communicativeactivitiesand role play requiring useof the lexicalitems;
. making use of the lexis in written tasks.
There are many published exerciseson lexis.Theseinclude:
. matching picturesto lexicalitems;
. matching parts oflexical items to other parts, eg beginningsand endings;
. matching lexicalitems to others,eg collocations,synonyms,opposites,setsof
relatedwords. etci
. using prefi-resand suffixesto build new lexical items from given words;
. classifyingitems into lists;
. using given lexical items to completea specifictask;
. frllingin crosswords. gridsor diagrams:
. filling in gapsin sentences;
. memory games.
Many such tasksseemto be designedfor studentsworking on their own, but can
easilybe usedin class.

Usinglexicalpracticeexercisesin class
Thisis a practiceexercisefrom a lexisbookfor Beginner/ Elementarystudents.
H o wc o u l dy o uu s ei t i n a c l a s so f s t u d e n t s ?

Which word B diflerent from ihe othe6'

@tF

Frorn WordGameswith Englishl,Howard-lTilliams and Herd (Heinemann,1986)

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Chapter8 Teaching
lexis

There are many options.For example:

You could askeachstudentto do the exerciseon his / her own.
Studentscould work togetherin pairs or small groups to find the answers
(possiblycomparing with other pairs later).
The whole classcould decideon answerstogedrer.
You could make teamsand the exercisecould be run asa competition, giving
questionsin turns to the separateteamsand awardingpoints for right answers-
You could alsouse this exerciseassourcematerial for a seriesofactivities, perhaps
getting students to:
. match word groups with the pictures;
. lookup any lexical items they don't know in their dictionaries;
. explain new lexicalitems to other students;
. do the exercisein pairs;
. checkand compare answersasa whole class;
. in groups,write their own questionsin dre samestyle;
. use the new questionsasa ouiz betweenteams.
This kind of practiceis mainly focusedon reading and writing and on using the
lexicalitems individually and awayfrom any context.The studentsare learning
about the lexicalitems rather than actuallyusing them. In lexiswork, you also
needto provide chancesfor studentsto get oml and / or written practicein using
the lexicalitems.

Lexicalitemsin a practicetask
Herearetwo exercisesfrom a higher-levellexisbook.Listten or moreitemsof
that studentswill practisewhentheydo theseexercises.

Practice
Write or discussthe answersto thesequestions.
1 How much do you know about eachof the planetsin our system?
2 H o w f a r d o y o u t h i n k m a nw i l l g e t i n s p a c ed i s c o v e riyn t h e n e x t
h u n d r e dy e a r s ?
3 Do we reallyneedto know what other planetsand systemsare like?

You are an astronautreportingbackto Earthfrom outer space.

Describewhat you can seeas you float through space.

Frcm Wordbuildnrby Guy\Tellman (Heinemann, 1989)

Somepossiblelexis:planet,solarsystem, Earth,Mars,fupiter, Saturn,Sun,stur.

galaxy, UFO, comet,spaceship,
satellite,moon,rocket,alien, black hole,nngs,
speedof light, ET, etc.
Many practiceactivitiescombine giving the studentsa list of lexical items and
setLingthem a taskto do with thoselexicalitems.The practiceactivity inTask t
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 practice
4 Lexical activities
andgames

for example,is precededin the book by an actrvitythat focusesthe studentsclearly

on a largenumber ofuseful lexicalitems.
qffif@* Designinga task for specificlexicatitems
Lookat the pictureand lexicalitemsbelow.Designa task that will givestudents
writtenor oral practicein usinga numberof theselexicalilems: cashregister,shop
asslstant, trolley,credit card, expensive,thief, purse, change,shoppingbag,
receipt, customer,pay,paid, shopping(noun).

+#USEHOLD

Figure 8.2 Supermarketpicture

Here are four ideas:

1 You were at the shopsyesterdayand you lost your purse.you think another
person took it. Look at the picture and think about your story.The other
student in your pair is a policewoman.Tell her exactlywhat happened.
2 Do you like shopping?Vhat are someof the problems?perhapsthis picture will
give you someideas.lfrite frve or six sentencesabout what vou like and dislike.
When you arereadl. comparewith orier srudents.
3 Get into groups oftluee. Look at this picture. In your group, one studentis this
man, one studentis the shop assistant,and one student is this woman. First of
all, think about what they are discussing.Are they arguing?I hy?Then stand
up and practisethe conversation.
4 nyrite a strongletter of complaint to t]]e managerof this shop about a terrible
incident that happenedto you yesterday.

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ChapterI Teaching
lexis

Lexis and skills work

A greatdealof lexs work in classoccursin relation to readingand listening tasks.
There are definite advantagesin this, most importantly becauselearnersmeetihe
languagein realisticcontextsand seehow the items fit into t}te meaning and st1'le
ofa whole text.
The text that immediately surroundsa lexicalitem is referred to asco-text. Co-
text providesimportant exposurefor learnersto samplesoflanguagebeing used.
This suggestswhy texts are often more useful for teachinglexis than lessonsthat
focus on lexis asseparated,stand-aloneitems without such surrounding languagc-
When using readingor listeningtexts,a focus on lexismay occur before,while or
after the studentsread or listen.

Pre-teaching lexis
The teachermay selectsomeactivitiesspecificallydesignedto revise,teachand
practiselexisbefore moving on to work on the text or recording.The lexis selected
for teachingis likely to be that most neededfor completion ofwhatever listening
or readingtasksare to be set.Although this is usually calledpre-teaching,
rememberthat this work may be helping studentsto recallitems they already
know asmuch asintroducing new items .The main aim is to help ensure that the
following activity will work (becausethere will be fewer stumbling blocks of
unknown lexicalitems).This work may, of course,alsoteach or revisesomelexis
that may be useful in its own right.

Lexis and listening wolk

Thefollowingaudioscriptis for a recording
that will be usedwith an Elementary
class.Thestudentshaverecentlybeenworkingon waysof describingposition
(nextto, behind,beside,eIc).Theirtask whenlisteningwill be to lookat a picture
(Figure8.3) and notethe mistakes.
R e a dt h e a u d i o s c r i patn du n d e r l i nteh r e eo r f o u rl e x i c ailt e m st h a ty o um i g h t
pre-teach. Whatotheritemsdo youthink studentswill need(orwant)to
understand?

Audioscript
\7ell, he'smade a few mistakes,hasn'the?This place sellingsnacks- that should
be a souvenirshop,shouldn't it? So,changethat name from 'Snacks'to 'Gifts'.Yer,
it'll be sellingpostcardsand toys and things.And why is the phone box over by dr
lake?I'm going to sackttrat artist when I seehim again!He's absolutely
incompetent.He getstwice my salaryand can't do a basicsketch.I mean,we
wanted the phone next to the shop,didn't we, not over thereby the lake.Yes,on rl:
right of the shop, by that street lamp. And I think there should be a letter box therr
aswell, on the wall of the shop would be hne. And there aren't enoughtrees- we
could do with a lot more trees- besidethe lake,along the edgeof the water.Yes,
that looks befter.

194
 5 Lexisandskillswork

ttui hr
//u/,//

Figure8.3 Amusementpark

The following lexical items are useful to do the task:szacks,souaenirshop,gifts,

Phonebox,strcetlamp, letter box,trees,edge.
Note that JacAart ist,absolutell,incompetent,twice,salqry, basicand sketch,although
probably unknown to the students,are not necessaryin order to completethe
task,and thereforedo not needto be pre-taught or otherwisefocusedon. It is
Iikely that you would not dealwith them at all, unlessa student specificallyasked
about them.
Here are somecommon pre-teachingtasksof the kind you frequently find in
coursebooks.
. Match rhewordsu ith fre picrures.
. Checkfre meaningof r1-tese wordsin t}e dicrionary.
. Malch fre wordswiri rhedefinirions.
. Brainstorm words on a settopic (ie collect asmany asyou can).
. Divide thesewords into two groups (eg food words and hobby words).
. Label the items in a picture with the right names.
. Complete gappedsentenceswith words from a list.
. Discussa topic (that will featurein the text).
. Saywhich words (from a list) you expectto be in a text about . . .
In addition to theseideas,you may want to do someteacher-ledpresentationor
clarification.Youcould use ideasfrom Presentinglexis(Section3 of this chapter),
for exampleoffering studentsdehnitions or illustrationsoflvords and eliciting the
items from learners.

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Chapter8 Teaching
lexis

Using short anecdotes for pre-teaching

One difhculty you may find when planning pre-teaching is that you have quite a
random collectionofwords, and it may be hard to organisethe teachinginto a
coherentshape.One strategyteachersoften use is to concoct a short story
(perhapsa personalanecdote)that includeseachof the separateitems.The storv
can be designedto help make the meaningsof the items clearand memorable.It
may be similar to the text that studentsare going to read or listen to, but it
shouldn'tbe so closethat it diffuseslater interestin working with that text.Vhen
the story has beenprepared,you can:
. tell it, miming or showingflash cardsor board drawings)etc to illustrate
meamngsasyou go;
. tell it. explainingor translatingmeaningsasyou go;
. tell it, askingcomprehensionquestionsand conceptquestionsaswords come
up in the story;
. tell it, askingcomprehensionquestionsand concept questionsafterwardsl
. tell it, pretendingto forget the words asyou tell the story.Elicit the words from
students;
. tell the whole story oncewith the lexis included,then retell it and 'forget' the
iterns (as above).

Planninga story includingspecificlexis

Workout a short storyyoucouldtell to helpstudentsat Elementary level
understand the meaningofthe followinglexicalitems'.bridge,basket,goldfish,
Ii brary, map, photographe
r.
Note that pre-teachingis not compulsoryl It may sometimesinterferewith or
undermine the aims of your reading or listeningwork. For example,if one of the
aims ofa readingtask is that learnersread quicHy and do not get woffied abour
lexicalitems they don't know, you may upserthis by dealingwith some of this
potentially unknown lexis beforethey evenstart the task.

Dealing with lexis during reading or listening work

Sfhile studentsare mainly working on readingor listening skills,you are lesslike\
to spendtime on lexis,asthis might clashwith the reading,listeningor other aimr
During such stages,you are likely only to:
. dealwith an item when a student specificallyasksabout it;
. give brief, to-the-point explanationsor translalions,rather than detailed
presemauons;
. offer help quietly to the one or two students who asls rather than to the whole
class;
. sometimesrefusehelp and tell studentsto do their bestwithout knowine some
rtems.

196
 5 Lexisandskillswork

After the first phase oflistening or reading work

Once the learnershavebecomecomfortable with the text, you can focus attention
on lexicalitems in the text and how they are used.Here are somethings that you
could ask:
. Can you guessthe meaningof this word from the meaningof the text around it?
. Find somewords in the text that mean . . .
. Find somewords in the text connectedwitl.rthe subiectof . . .
. In line X. what does . . . mean?
. Find words and sort them into three separategroups under theseheadings:. ..
. Sflhydoesthe writer usethe word . . . here?
. Find words in the text that match this list of synonyms.
. lfhat words come before/ after the word . .. .Vhat other words collocatewith
this word?
. Can you remember any other phrasesyou know with this word in them?
. Can you find any multiword items (ie groups of words that go together/
chunks)?
. rff/hat'sthe oppositeofthis word?
. How many different words doesthe writer useto describethe . .. ?

Lexis work after the rnain stages ofreading or listening work

Coursebooksfrequently offer follou-up tasksand exercisesthat focus on the use
oflexis in the text and encouragelearnersto try using the items themselves. These
are often similar to the practiceactivitieswe looked at in Section4 of this chapter.

Lesson procedures
Here is a brieflesson procedurefor a reading and speakinglessonincluding lexis
work at Elementarylevel for a multinational group ofyoung adultswho have
recentlytravelledto the UK.
l Pre-teach lexis
Use board picturesto draw an airport. Elicit the following items (and clarify
thosethey don't kn ow):pl,zne,check-in,takeoff,dplalted,
Passengel',
custolns,lirst
aid, bureaudechange.Practisepronunciation.Focus on gettingthe stress
correct.Make sure studentsget oral practice.
2 Written practice of lexis
Give eachstudent a handout showingphotos of an airport, with a list oflexical
items around tie edges.Studentsmatch the lexicalitems to objectsin the
picture by drawing lines.
3 Oral practice oflexis
Put studentsin pairs.Ask them to think about the last time they used an airport
and describeto eachother the procedure from arrival to the moment they took
off.\Xrhatdid they like or not like about it?
4 Reading to frnd specific inforrnation
Use a Heathrow Airport information leafletfor a fast-readingexercrse.
Studentshaveto find the answersto ten questionsas quickly aspossible,eg
timedoesthebureaudechangec/ose?(The questionsshould involveusing
lY,/ltat
the lexis taught in Stagei.)

197
 Chapter8 Teaching
lexis

5 Further lexis work

IThen they've firushed, ask questions to focus them on aniuals, d.epartures,
du.tgfree,immigratioq baggageclaim,plus any useful lexical items the students
asKabout.
6 Cornrnunicative activity (an opportunity to use lexis learned)
Role play in smallgroups: one studentin ea;h group is at the information
desk
the other studentshavevariousproblemsand come to get advice.

Selecting an ordel fol a skills and lexis lesson

Hereis a procedure of a reading,speakingand rexisressonfor Advancedstudents_
Putthe stagesin a likelyworkingorder.
a Setthetask:readthe articleandfindtwoarguments forbanningallcarsandtwo
against.
b Simulation: aformalmeetingof thetwoopposing sidesis heldattheUnitedNatioBs.
c Elicit/ teachlexisthat studentshaveseenin the text: scaremongering,pressure
gtoup, target, manifesto.
Showpictureofthe Earth.The globehas a cartoonface and is sweatingano
its brow. Elicit what jt means (globq,lwarming) andfind ouistudent opinions.
e Elicit / teach ozone layer, iceberg, extinct, exhaust fumes, ultra_violet.
f Dividestudentsintotwo opposinggroupsand havethem use the article
to helD
preparea detailedargumenteitherfor or agajnst.Helpwith
lexisproblemswhilethql
are workinA.
g Studentsreadthe articleanddothetask.Discussthe answers
together.

A possibleorder woutd be: d, e, a, g, c, f, b.

You can find more_aboutfocusing on language when working on reading
or
listeningtexts in Chapter 10.

Planninga procedurefol a lexicallesson

Preparea similarprocedure
for a lessonfocusedaroundlexisto do withthe
countryside.

Remernbering lexical items

There is no point in studying new lexicalitems if they are not remembered.
M,
studentsrecord newly learnedlexicalitems in long lists in their files or exercise
books.In many cases,theselists are disorganisedand are often neverlooked at
againafter they havebeenwritten. If we can train studentsto record t}Ieir new
lexis in a more useful manner,we can do a lot to help their progress.

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 6 RememberinE
lexicalitems

Studentwordlists
Hereis part of a wordlist from an Intermediate-level Xanadusian student'sexercise
b o o k .F i n ds o m er e a s o n sw h yi t i s n o ta s u s e f u al s i t m i g h tb e .

Word Tlanslations
express atcito
oprour organokotornganinot
megumba stron
(ff skulo,firmo)
star galactio
interview tuo bairemedjurma
shun bacawao inaterusco
Krnsman megrobaro
foyer auditorio primecxt
piss kchir
poftery oborosto
o'er tubea
hotchpotch senicokotoremioinatulmulenco
semr-conductor semikonductto
prosecuted epallisna magistralo

JOmereasons:
. The items on the list seemto haveno connectionwith eachother.They appear
to be a random list (possiblywritten down in order ofappearancein a text).
. There are no other words that might be useful in situationswhere one needsto
use one of these words (eg Joyer:dresscircle,stalk, stage,aisle, etc).
. Somewords are very low frequency- ie tley are rarely used- and therefore,
not very useful for most students.
. How aredrey pronounced?!7hereis the stressQtrosecuted)?
. There are no examplesofthe words in use,in sentences.
. Are the words usableasnouns,adjectives,verbs,etc (interaieq express)?
. How many different meaningsdoeseachword have (star)?
. lvhat other words are connectedin form to any ofthese words (interoiewer,
interaiewee,inter x i ewroom)?
. There is nothing to help the studentsrememberthe lexicalitems.
. Where might one typically come acrosstheselexicalircms (Trespassers will be
prosecuted, Weprosecute all shoplifters)?
. !7ho usesthem?
. Some ofthe lexicalitems are very specialisedand would only be usedin very
specificcontexts;not necessarilyvery useful to learn for activeuse (opt out).
. Somewords may be archaicor literary, not usedin contemporary speech.
There is no indication of this restricion. (o'er,kinsruan).
. \fhat collocationsare common (7bbinteraiew)?
. There are not alwaysdirect translations;perhapsa complex cultural idea is
being conveyedthat four or five words cannot really explain (opt out).
. No indication or warning of taboos (p?ir).

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 Chapter8 Teaching
lexis

Alternative ways of recording lexis

The action of noting down a list of lexical items is no guaranteethat remembering
will takeplace.Rememberinginvolvesfour things:

u"*ut',
(u*^'
'!u
A --

'n"o
""orunu
'"o uoo9
"*'-Jarr

Figure 8.4 The four things involved in remembering

The following are alternative methods of recording items.

Lexical items lists

Figure8.5 shows an alternativelexical item list that providesmore information

t h a n t h e o n e i n T a s k8 . 1 1 . F i l li t i n f o r t w o o r t h r e e E n g l i s hl e x i c a li t e m s o f y o u r
c h o i c e .D e c i d ey o u r s e l fh o wy o u w a n t t o i n t e r p r e t h e c o l u m nt i e s ; t h e l a s t
c o l u m ni s i n t e n d e df o r t h e s t u d e n tt o t h i n k o f s o m e , b r i g h ti d e a ' t o h e t pt h e m
r e m e m b e rt h e w o r d .

motorcycE 'meute(r) pikipiki

/ sark(e)l/ nde a -, She's/ust
get on my -, boughta
- maintenance, 60Occ
* race, Suzuki
- couner motorcycle.

Figure 8.5 Alternativelexicalitemlist

A ftr1l,photocopiableversionof this is given in the word list resource on

thc DVD,
Encouragingstudentsto keepa useful lexicalitem list is one way to ensuretlar r
teachingoflexis has a valueafter the lessonis over.It is alsopos;ible to integmte
the teachingand the storing oflexis in a more direct way by introducing drelexis
into the lessonin a way that enablesthe studentsto rec;rd not only the word bur
alsothe way in which they learnedttre word.

200
 6 RememberinA
lexical
items

Labelling
Another way invoh'esgrouprngwords so that a set is learnedtogether.This is
often more effectivethan studying unrelatedindividual u'ords.For example,you
could presenta set ofwords connectedwith kitchensby using a picture ofa
kitchen (Figure 8.6); the studentseachhavea copy of the picture and write the
words on it asthey learn them.

/:\
@ :

Figure 8.6 Kitchenvocabulary

Word or topic webs

A similar idea is to build a word web (or memory map or mind map) where
connectionsin meaning or use betweendifferent words are visually indicatedin
the structure ofthe diagram (Figure 8.7). Obviously a completedword web
could be presentedto students,but it is probably more useful for the students
themselvesto think through the connectionsand to decidewhere eachnew
word fits; thus the learning ofnew words and the recording ofthem are part
of the sameactivitv.
cherub
inFanl
babe (in arms)

Ling
cuLe PUsh-CAat"
5weef, \ high chain
NAPPg

Figure 8.7 Word web

N7ord webs can be extended into topic webs. Learners write a topic in the centre
box and then add some useful sub-headings in the other boxes.Then tltey collect
and group words under these sub-headings, connecting each new word by a line
to the appropriate box.Thus, for example, the centre word might be srarron,some
sub-headings couldbe pl17ces,timetqble,people,things to &er1,etc. Lexical items
201
Chapter8 Teachinglexis

within these categories might lnclud e: places- bookingoffice,uaiting roorn;

imetable - departure,delaged,tenminuteslate;people - guard.,ticket ircpector,
things to buy - a singleto X,please;a rcturn to Xrplcase(seeFigure 8.8).
This way of recording lexicalitems may reflect more accuratelythe way that we
storelexical item networksin our brains - and may thereforebe more useful for
students than the rraditional lists.

re-turn to X,
return to X.

Figure 8.8 Topicweb

Word page: collocations and chunks

This page is for recording lexical items that qpically go together in patterns with e
single key word. The learner writes the key word in the centre box and then uses
the columns before and after the box to write in phrases, sentences)chunks, etc.

Therewas a terrible jam roundthe ringroad.

lights
trafflc warden
The is reallyheavytoday.
W h a t ' sh o l d i n gu p t h e 2

Lexical item page: lexical item collector

This pagecan be usedto record lexicalitems and then collect and relateitems,
classifiedasdifferent grammaticaltypes.For example,if the studenthas found
happy, rhey could then go on to find andrecotd. happinessand happily.There's no
need to fill in all columns. Different lexical items will let you to fill in different
columns.

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 6 Remembering
lexicalitems

Noun Noun Adiective Verb Advelb Phrases

(thing) (person) (present past-
pastparticipie)

hap?iheo. hupPv happity Happybfih4ayl

| fi not na?Py

re?orL .ePorter reporled report,- re?orLea

re?oted

RecordinEwords in student notebooks

Figure8.9 showsfourexamplesof setsof wordsrecordedin students'notebooks, using
a numberof differentideas,In eachcase,theyrepresent
the endresultof a lesson
procedure usedinclass.Readthe lessondescriptionswrittenbystudents - (a)to(d)- and
matcheachoneto a diagram.Trythetasksyourselt.

frost,
\ snow

d)-'l"9bk/",".", (rW
/#u, qt ./ii

handsome

charming

From The Words YouNeed, Rudzka,Channe , putseys and Ostyn(Macmillan1981)

Figure 8.9 Waysof recording words (continued on next page)

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 ChapterSTeaching
lexis

From lhe Words YouNeed, Rudzka,Channell,putseys and Ostyn(lvlacmillan1981

Figure 8.9 Waysofrecording words (continued)

a Theteacherasked us to consjdereach word in turn, and we discussedthe ftne

differencesin meaningbetweenthem and tried to come to some agreement.We
didn't alwaysagree,but I think the discussionitselfwas very useful,as I became
more awareabout how subfle and precisemeaningcan be. I especiallylikedit whe-
realisedthat the teacherwasn't alwaysentirelycertatnherselfaboutwhat madeo.:
word differentfrom another.

201
 7 KnowinA
a lexicalitem

b The teacherwrote one word on the boardand then addeda few examples,then she
gavethe pens to us and we had to add other words. lf we got the spellingwrongor
put a word in the wrongplace,then she didn't correctus. She didn't needto,
becauseusuallyone ofthe other studentsnoticedit was wrongand we dtscussedit
and then changedit. At the end, when we'd filledthe board,the teacherpointedout
three wordsthat were still problems.Thenwe copiedit all down into our notebooks.
We used the words in our next activity,makinga story about a hike in the
coUntryside.
c We had to find our own wayto remembersome new words.As we learneoeacn
new word, we had to write it down in an appropriateplace,findinga strong reason
for puttingit there. The teachersaid we shouldtry to make a mental link or
associationwith that part ofthe picture;for example,one ofthe words was
spanner,so I wrote it here and tried to imaginean Australianbeachwith a surfer
comingin on a spannerinsteadof a surfboard.lt sounds a bit crazy,but I haven't
forgottenthe wordl
d We workedin pairstryingto decidewhichwordstypicallywent togetherwith other
words,and whichcombinationswere impossible.Ourteachertold us that this 'going
together'is calledcollocation.

Knowing a lexical item

ffiffiffi I knowthiswordatready
Y o u ' r ei n t h e m i d d l eo f t e a c h i n gs o m e ' n e w ' w o r d s i n a l e x i sl e s s o nw h e n o n e o f
y o u rs t u d e n t sp o l i t e l yi n t e r r u p t sa n d s a y st h a t h e k n o w sa l l t h e s e w o r d s a l r e a d y .
W h a t d o y o u t h i n k h e m e a n s b y ' k n o w i n ga w o r d ' ?

He probably means that he has seen it before and knows a meaning for it. Quite a
few students seem content \vith this; lexis learning involves matching a meaning in
their language with an English word. But this definition of 'knowing a word' is
fairly limited. Does he know more than this basic meaning? Can he actually use
the word appropriately to do things in a variety ofcontexts?
Many teachers assume that the real work ofteaching lexis is introducing students
to the meanings of new lexical items) and perhaps to the spelling and the
pronunciation. In fact, much of the difficulty oflexis isn't to do with learning
endless new words, it's learning how to successfully use words one already knows,
ie learning how 'old' words are used in 'new'ways. For example, the word table
might conceivably be first met on Day one of a Beginner's course. But it's unlikely
to be fully explored and used, even as the student reaches Advanced levels. From
'core'
the basic meaning of t,tble (a piece of furniture), we find there are various
other meanings that grow out ofthat: the food spread on it to make a meal, the
guests you meet at the meal, to table a motion, a table of data, a games surface,
football league lists, part ofa musical instrument, etc.It also feafltres in many
chunks and idioms, eg Do ltott haae afree table?,a round-table discussion,to setthe
table,m be unfur the table (.= drr11\) , gtc.To learn your way round all these takes
time and requires exposure to a lot of samples oflanguage in use.

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Chapter8 Teachinglexis

What are somethings you can know about a lexicalitem?

Youcan know .. Notes

h o wi t ' s s p e l l e d
the numberof syllables
phonemes the soundsthat makeuo the word
whichsyllablesare stressed s h o r tw o r d su s u a l l yh a v eo n em a i n
stress;longerwordsmayhavea numb€t
of secondarystresses,too
whichstressesare strongeror weaker
whatpart(s)of speechit is
grammatically relatedforms eg the past-tense
form of a verb
'
thebasic, c o r e 'm e a n i n g
eg table= pieceof furniturewith a flat
surfaceand legs
othermeanings
t h e ' s e m a n t iscp a c e ' i to c c u o i e s where the meaningof one word ends and
another begins.eg fence/wall/ hedge

metaphorical
meanings eg the usesof 'water'wordsto tatK
aboutbusiness:drowningln debt, cash
flow, eIc
connotation t h e a s s o c i a t i o nasn d ' f e e l i n g st h' a t
seemto attachto wordsquiteapartfrom
their literalmeaning,egjunklesounds
moredisapproving Ihan drugusel
appropriacy for certainsocial eg it may not be appropriateto call a job
situations,contexts,etc interviewermate

restrictionson meaning things that the item cannot be used for

immediatecollocates words that typicallygo with the word

collocationalfield the rangeof wordsthat an item

collocateswith
colligation the grammatical position in a sentence
that the word typicallytakes, and the
grammaticalpatterns that typicallygo
w i t ht h i s i t e m

c o m m o nc h u n k sp, h r a s e si ,d i o m si t
appearsin

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 7 Knowinga lexicalitem

translation(s) wordsoftendo not havea precise

correlation
false friends w o r d sw h i c hi n t r a n s l a t i osnu g g e sat
w r o n gm e a n i n ge,g i n H a l i a nc a l d ol o o k s
s i m i l a tro t h e E n g l i s cho l d ,b u t i n f a c t
m e a n sh o t
t r u ef r i e n d s w o r d sw h i c hm e a n a l m o s t p r e c i s e l yt h e
s a m e i n t h e o t h e rl a n g u a g e

l e x i c a lf a m i l i e s otherwordsrelatedto the wordby its

topic,eg saucepan,can opener,Iadle,
erc
lexicalsets many words are related to other words
t h a t c o v e ra w i d e ro r s m a l l e rr a n g eo f
m e a n i n g ,e g s w e a t e r i si n c l u d e dw i t h i n
c/othes. Similarly,su/eateritself includes
polo-necksweater

synonyms w o r d sw i t hs i m i l a m
r eanings
homonyms w o r d st h a t h a v et h e s a m e s p e l l i n gb u t
have different meanings

n om o p n o
nes w o r d st h a ta r e p r o n o u n c et h
d e s a m eb u t
havea differentmeaning
opposites(antonyms)
suffixes that can be added to the word eg possess- possesslon
prefixesthat can be addedto the word eg flow - overflow
t h e v i s u a li m a g ep e o p l et y p i c a l l yh a v ef o r
this word

personalfeelingsaboutthis word

m n e m o n i c(st h i n g sh e l py o ur e m e m b e r
t h ew o r d )

Now this, of course,is a massivelist.There is no way that an initial classroom

meetingwith a lexicalitem could dealwith more than two or three of these.
Naturally, therefore,initial teachingtends to prioritise on core meaning,spelling
and pronunciation. However,problems ariservhenclassroomwork continually
focuseson introducing more and more new items in this way - and doesn't
explorein more depth. By Intermediatelevel,most studentswill havemet a large
percentageof the most useful English lexicalitems.It's arguablethat by this point
in a learner'sprogress,it becomesmore important to exploreusesoflexical items
they alreadyknow than to learn new things,ie what is new is not the words
themselvesbut the new combinationsand oatternstlev are usedin.This

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Chapter8 Teaching
lexis

suggeststhat, rather than following a traditional teachingmodel such as'teach

new lexis,then practiseit, then later on recycleit', we might do better to plan
lessonsthat allow studentsto constandymeet the sameitems in use in different
texts,recordings,conversations,etc and notice them in new combinationswith
different surroundingswidr different uses,and then haverepeatedopportunities
to try using the items themselves.Theinitial 'teaching'is of relativelylittle
importance. Items needto be encounteredagainand again:many encounters,
many associations.Seeingreal examplesoflanguagebeing usedis often more
importantthanhearing'cold'definitions.
How can we do this?How can we worry lessabout the 'input' oflexis and spend
more time on going deeperwith language,lookingat how words are used,noticing
pafterns,encouragingstudentsto notice more in the texts they see,encouraging
long-term recognition and recall and getting our studentsto usethe language
themselves?Here are someideas.

Record lexical items in useful ways

We havealreadylooked at alternativesto the traditional 'word + translation'list
and discussedencouraginglearnersto keepword pagesthat Iet them collect
collocations,pronunciation,idioms, etc.Encouragethem to usethese.Help
learnersby giving out blank formats (eg rvord lists,collocationgrids, etc; and
teachinsthem how to usethem.

Revisit lexical itern pages

Traditionally,word listswere written in classthen neverlooked at again.
Encouragestudentsto revisit their word collectionsand keepamending and
adding new examples,collocations,etc.This is a good reasonto tell studentsto
make surethey leaveblank spaceswhen they f,rrstrecord items.Keep referring
back to and making use ofthese pagesin class,for homework,etc.Train studenrs
how to usethem.Integrate their use into your lesson.

Collect lexical items

!7hen students read a text or listen to a recording, encouragetllem to notice
interesting items and 'collect' them on their word pages.Youcan provide
specific'collecting'tasksthat focus awayfrom the typical searchfor'new'
items,eg'Find threewords in the text that you alreadyknow but seemto be
used in a different way.'

Sort and classiSr iterns

Get studentsto read specifictexts to collect and classifyitems together on singlc
word pages(eg from a cooking article:'things found in the kitchen'; from a
holiday story: 'travelwords'l from a love letter: 'happy words'; from a job
advertisement:'adjectives describingpeople';etc).

Chunk and collocation spotting

Teacherssometimesask'Are ttrereany words you don't understand?'after
studentshaveread a text. But this may be a problematic question,asstudents

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 7 Knowins
a lexical
item

could read a text and believethat they understandall the lexicalitems, but miss the
fact that they havenot registeredthat familiar words may be being usedin new
ways and combinations.
This leadsus to a variation on the third idea:collectingitems from a text but with
a focus on longer piecesoftext. For example,you could askstudentsto:
. frnd pairs ofwords that seemto go together:eg in the senlenceHe hqd zterltgood
communicatinnshilA,studentsmay not know that corxrzunicationskillsis a
common collocation(or that goodcommuniccttionshillsis alsovery common);
. find phrasesoftlree or more words long that seemto be a frequendyused
'fixed' chunk: eg 1r'swellworth aooidingGuildfordcity cenle if you possibljtcan
corfiains h's well worth aaoiding and if tou possiblycan (andprobably Guildford
city cente is alsoa chunk, but one in which you can substitutedifferent town
namesin the first position);
. underline ten nouns (or nords used asnouns) and then searchout which verb
is usedin connectionwiti eachone: eg in the sentenceIhhough thepotrtoes
uereftttherold, weboiledthemalongwith thecarrots,lhenoun potatoesE
connectedto the verb boiled.
'Chunk sponing'is a great classroom(or homework) learning activity.It often
astonishesstudentsand teachersto realisehow much ofauthentic texts are made
out of these'pre-fabricated'piecesoflanguage.

Redesign your pages

Encouragelearnersto sometimesreorganise,reclassifyand redesignsomeof their
word pages,writing them up nicely (ma.vbewith coloured pens,sketchesor
diagrams), perhapschangingformat, eg a list into a mind map,labelson a
picture, etc.The act of mentally sorting and rearrangingwill be a helpful learning
actrvrty.
'When
an error cornes up, review a range ofcollocations
In class,a student saysI mafu theexamlqstweek.Ralher than just srviftlygiving the
correct verb, havea look at a number of useful 'exam' collocationsand chunks:
toohtheexam,failedtheexam,passed theexant,examquestions,ex.uu resuhstetc.

Record real language

Studentsoften uy to record 'pure' versionsoflanguage,eg separatingconnected
items or writing verbsin the infinitive form. But to /razte cakeand eatitrs
someone's
much lessuseful tlran with the raw, original sampleoftext Youcan'thaueyour cake
and eatit. Many phrasesand sentencesonly exist in a singleform; there'sno point
in trying to generaliseuniversalmodels out of them.

Challenge students to upgrade language

Studentsand teachersare often satisfiedwith gettinglanguageonly
approximatelyright.This is fine in activitiesmainly intended to promote greater
fluency in speech)but at other times it's worth challengingstudentsto improve.
Point out to studentsthat aswell asmaking errors,they get language
'approximately'right, ie it communicatcs,but isn't the bestr,vayof saying

209
 lexis
Chapter8 Teaching

sometling. For exampleJif a studenl saysThefood hasa not interestingtaste'then

the meaning is clear,but the student doesn'tknow the bestfood collocations(dzil,
6/azd) to expressher meaning.Help studentsby not enthusiasticallycelebrating
inadequatelanguage;give feedbackthat helpsforce learnersto taketieir
up a grade.

Give collocations rather than definitions

IThen a student wants to know what the difference is b et\\/eer'lnte and.deWed.
often hard to give a cleardistinction of meaning.But there are clearlycertain
collocationsand chunksthat one is more likelv to fit into than dre other.rWhen
want to make a sentence,knowing the typical collocations- and learning them.
phrasebook-like- is probably going to be of more use than trying to select
betweentwo very similar meanings.
There are many gamesand activitiesspecificallyaiming to work on collocatiorC
understanding.Here arethree of my favourites.

Quick choices
Choose two or three nouns, eg/ood, coohing and.meal,that have a number of
(possibly confusable) collocations. In this case,the list might include baby'/ast.
slow, heahh, dog, home, eaening, delicious, hght, balanced, three-course, French,
vegetarian,frozen, cat. Tell the students that you will read out the List item by item
and they must indicatewhich of the two (or three) words is the best collocate.
the item soeswith more than one word. Decide on how studentswill indicate
choices.Youcould go for quiet ways,eg studentswrite their answersin a list;
ways,eg studentscall out their choiceofwords; physicalways,eg studentspoinr
the words written on wall noticeslaction ways,eg designatedifferent parts oftlr
room for different words and studentsrun to the right part of the room (or
betweenparts).

Guessthe collocation
Divide the classinto three or more teams.In eachteam,studentsare given a
common word (eg toun) ar.d}]'zvero preparea list of five common collocations
(egplanning,hall,horuqmarket,centre).Each team has a different starterword-
!7hen everyoneis ready,studentsread their lists out one item at a time and the
other teamstry to guessdre original word. If the word is guessedimmediatell o
t}Ie first clue,both teams (list-makersand word-guessers)get ten points; for
extra word, the points go down by one.This scoring schemeencourageslist-
makersto find the most likelv and distinctivecollocations.

Chunk watching
Students work in groups ofthree, two ofwhom face each other.The teacher
them a topic to talk about and they simply chat naturally for a few minutes .The
third person sitsout of their line of sight and takesno part in the conversation.
listenscarefully and takesnotesofas many'chunks'as shecan catch.At the
the time, the listenershowsher list to the speakersand they go through and
discusst}te items.

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