Lexical Approach Essay

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Introduction

Michael Lewis formulated an approach which has changed the conventional perspective of both teacher and student towards language. This revolutionary approach created some intense and controversial debates about its validity. Lewis (1993) was a naturalist who argued that any effective method in teaching must be based on the fact of learning prefabricated chunks of language rather than the individual words. He based his argument on the corpora data, which indicate that language consists of a large quantity of prefabricated chunks. The lexical approach can be described as a developed method rose from previous linguistic concepts. The techniques that underlie the approach include noticing the nature of the language rather than analysing it, and also raising the awareness of language chunks and phrases (Batstone, 1996). Moreover, the lexical approach suggest that grammar’s rules must be watered down, but not by any mean abandon, for giving learner opportunity to discover them through noticing the grammatical patterns of chunks and phrases of language. Surprisingly, the lexical approach has no satisfactory integration in the classroom with claims that lexical approach cannot be applied in the classroom (Rogers, 2000).Therefore; the argument of this essay will be how to implement the lexical approach and its importance in illustrating how lexis-based learning facilitates language’s receiving for learners and provides them with natural and accurate language. This essay will give a brief account about the main concept of the lexical approach, after that it will highlight the lexical categorization by the lexical approach. In addition, this essay will discuss the main problems that lexical approach faces in order to be implem...

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...described by T1, nor will the students be given chance to see the structure of the grammatical formula. It is this distinct difference that sets the lexical approach apart. This chunk of language is simply not referred to as a piece of grammar; it is considered as a part of speech only. Therefore, this follows Lewis’ theory that language should not be viewed as individual words; in fact it must be presented in prefabricated chunks, as demonstrated in this hypothetical lesson.

The other stages of the two lessons may have some other similarities. When the students are asked to give examples of the language, the teacher should pay close attention to each sentence. Error correction, once again, plays a crucial role but crucially, when errors occur, T2 would only correct by saying the correct version and never referring to the grammar structure, as done by T1.

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