2. 'Lexical chunk'
'Lexical chunk' is an umbrella term which
includes all the other terms. We define a
lexical chunk as any pair or group of words
which is commonly found together, or in close
proximity.
3. 'Collocation'
'Collocation' is also included in the term 'lexical
chunk', but we refer to it separately from time to
time, so we define it as a pair of lexical content
words commonly found together. Following this
definition, 'basic' + 'principles' is a collocation, but
'look' + 'at' is not because it combines a lexical
content word and a grammar function word.
Identifying chunks and collocations is often a
question of intuition, unless you have access to a
corpus.
4. Lexical Chunks (that are not collocations)
by the way
up to now
upside down
If I were you
a long way off
out of my mind
5. Lexical Chunks (that are collocations)
totally convinced
strong accent
terrible accident
sense of humour
sounds exciting
brings good luck
6. A theory of learning
According to Lewis (1997, 2000) native
speakers carry a pool of hundreds of
thousands, and possibly millions, of lexical
chunks in their heads ready to draw upon in
order to produce fluent, accurate and
meaningful language.
How then are the learners going to learn the
lexical items they need?
7. Criticism :
One of the criticisms levelled at the Lexical
Approach is its lack of a detailed learning
theory. It is worth noting, however, that Lewis
(1993) argues the Lexical Approach is not a
break with the Communicative Approach, but
a development of it.
8. According to Lewis:
Language is not learnt by learning individual sounds
and structures and then combining them, but by an
increasing ability to break down wholes into parts.
Grammar is acquired by a process of observation,
hypothesis and experiment.
We can use whole phrases without understanding
their constituent parts.
Acquisition is accelerated by contact with a
sympathetic interlocutor with a higher level of
competence in the target language.
