Lexical Approach
The Lexical Approach to second language as an alternative to grammar-based approaches was introduced in 1993 by Michael Lewis who put words at the center of language, and redefined their role in communication.
According to Lewis too much emphasis is based on grammar and not enough on words. Words are the basis of language therefore mastering the grammar of a language is not a prerequisite for effective communication.
The lexical approach is based on the idea that an important part of language acquisition is the ability to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks.
Through these "chunks" students are able to perceive patterns of language - traditionally thought of as grammar, and to improve their proficiency with words (lexis) and word combinations.
In the lexical approach instruction focuses on relatively fixed expressions that occur frequently in spoken language, such as:
and so on rather than on originally created sentences. These meaningful chunks, when combined, produce continuous coherent text, and only a minority of spoken sentences are entirely novel creations.
With the Lexical Approach receptive skills, such as listening, are given priority. At the same time the Present-Practise-Produce paradigm is rejected, in favour of a paradigm based on the Observe-Hypothesise-Experiment cycle.
Vocabulary and Lexis
The lexical approach makes a distinction between vocabulary - traditionally understood as a stock of individual words with fixed meanings, and lexis, which includes not only the single words but also the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons.
Lewis classifications of lexical items:
words (e.g., book, pen)
polywords (e.g., by the way, upside down)
collocations (e.g., community service, absolutely convinced)
institutionalized utterances (e.g., I'll get it; We'll see; That'll do; If I were you . . .; Would you like a cup of coffee?)
sentence frames and heads (e.g., That is not as . . . as you think; The fact/suggestion/problem/danger was . . .)
text frames (e.g., In this paper we explore . . .; Firstly . . .; Secondly . . .; Finally . . .)
The Lexical Approach makes a conscious effort to see things in a larger, more holistic way rather than trying to break things into ever smaller pieces. In Lewis words: instead of words, we consciously try to think of collocations, and to present these in expressions.
