Lexical Approach: Revisiting English Language teaching by Putting Theories into Practice

Abstract

We could not talk about vocabulary teaching nowadays without mentioning Michael Lewis (1993), whose controversial, thought-provoking ideas have been shaking the ELT world since the publication of his book “The Lexical Approach”. The lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages . The basic concept on which this approach rests is the idea that an important part of learning a language consists of being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students are thought to be able to perceive patterns of language (grammar) as well as have meaningful set uses of words at their disposal when they are taught in this way. The most important highlight is the importance of vocabulary as being basic to communication. Lewis himself insists that his lexical approach is not simply a shift of emphasis from grammar to vocabulary teaching. The Chunks that he refers include collocations, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and idioms, which according to him, occupy a crucial role in facilitating language production and act as the key to fluency.

The principles of the Lexical Approach have been around since Michael Lewis published 'The Lexical Approach' 20 years ago. It seems, however, that many teachers and researchers do not have a clear idea of what the Lexical Approach actually looks like in practice. In creating the pedagogical materials for Français interactif, the developers decided to move away from the traditional grammatical syllabus and adopt features of the Lexical Approach instead.