Lexical Approach

What is the meaning of Lexical Approach?

 An Approach to teaching languages that has a lot in common with the communicative approach, but also examines how lexical phrases, prefabricated chunks of language, play an important role in producing fluent speech. The lexical approach was first coined by Michael Lewis,  who observed that "language consists of grammaticalised lexis not lexicalised grammar " (The Lexical Approach, 1993). 

PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE LEXICAL APPROACH

v  The acquisition of lexis is not a purely intellectual process, but an experiential one.

v  The acquisition of vocabulary is not a linear but branching process (words are not learnt mechanically but associativily; good language learners recognize and use collocations, polyword contractions, fixed and semi-fixed expressions, etc.

v  Task and process, rather than exercise and product are emphasised.

v  Receptive skills, particularly listening, are recognized as deserving primary importance.

v  Succesful language is a wider concept than accurate language.

v  It is also a social process: we expand our apprehension of word meanings by interchanging and sharing them with others.

Check this material for your final exam:

http://kenlackman.com/files/LexicalActivitiesBook102.pdf