Summary of the Lexical Teaching and Practice Guidelines
1. Introduction to Lexical Items
Teaching beginners or elementary learners a short list of new words involves techniques like
presenting the words in context and associating them with real-life examples. This first
exposure to vocabulary is followed by practice activities to help students use the newly
learned words. However, learning a lexical item is a gradual process that requires multiple
encounters over time to fully understand its usage, nuances, and variations. For example, a
basic word like "book" can expand to advanced phrases (e.g., "to throw the book at
someone").
Teachers can extend initial exposure with activities such as:
● Creating word maps with collocations.
● Grouping connected words (e.g., swimming: pool, trunks, diving board).
● Exploring grammatical variations (e.g., swim, swam, swimmer).
2. Lexical Practice Activities and Games
After the introduction of vocabulary, students need practice to become familiar with
recognizing, manipulating, and using words. Common practice activities include:
● Discussions and role-playing to use words contextually.
● Written tasks, like matching lexical items with pictures, completing crosswords, and
gap-filling.
● Group games and competitions to encourage collaboration and recall.
Examples of task variations:
● Individual, pair, or group exercises.
● Writing original questions or creating quizzes.
● Focus on oral practice by using words in conversations and group discussions.
3. Lexis and Skills Work
Vocabulary learning often occurs in conjunction with reading and listening tasks, which
provide context and examples of how words fit into real communication. Key approaches
include:
● Pre-teaching lexis: Introducing key vocabulary needed for understanding texts or
recordings.
● Post-reading/listening tasks: Asking students to guess meanings from context,
identify collocations, or explore synonyms and opposites.
Benefits of this integrated approach include better understanding of co-text (surrounding
text) and opportunities for learners to use vocabulary in meaningful ways.
4. Designing Lexical Lessons
A structured procedure for teaching lexis can involve:
● Pre-teaching: Visual aids or discussions to introduce and clarify vocabulary.
● Practice tasks: Matching exercises or oral descriptions to reinforce learning.
● Communicative activities: Role-playing, debates, or group discussions to use
vocabulary actively.
For example, teaching airport vocabulary might involve:
1. Drawing an airport and eliciting key terms.
2. Matching words to pictures in a handout.
3. Discussing personal airport experiences.
4. Using real materials like airport leaflets for tasks.
5. Conducting role-play activities using the vocabulary.
5. Helping Students Remember Vocabulary
It’s essential to support students in recording and revisiting vocabulary effectively.
Suggestions include:
● Organizing vocabulary into themed or visual formats (e.g., mind maps, diagrams).
● Reviewing collocations or idiomatic phrases when errors occur.
● Encouraging students to record authentic examples instead of simplified forms.
6. Activities for Advanced Lexical Development
To deepen lexical understanding, students can:
● Identify common collocations and phrases from texts.
● Explore variations in usage (e.g., "table" as furniture, data, or in idiomatic
expressions).
● Reorganize their notes periodically to reinforce learning.
7. Enhancing Lexical Proficiency
Strategies to elevate students’ language include:
● Providing feedback to refine approximate language use.
● Teaching collocations and context-based word usage.
● Using games and challenges to practice lexical items in engaging ways, such as:
○ Quick Choices: Matching collocations to nouns.
○ Guess the Collocation: Teams guess a word based on its collocations.
○ Chunk Watching: Observing and analyzing natural word combinations during
conversations.
By focusing on repeated exposure, practical application, and contextual understanding,
students can progress from basic recognition of words to advanced and nuanced usage.
