Lexis refers to all the words in a language that have
meaning. For example: heart, wake up, etc. In addition, the meaning of a word
depends on its context
(situation) and its form
(prefixes, suffixes,
compounds). In this way, when we add a prefix or suffix to a base word we can change
the meaning of it. For instance:
·
Opposite
meaning: legal- illegal
·
Comparative:
tall-taller
On the other hand, compounds are two or more words that are
mixed to form a new word. Example:
book+shoop: bookshop; milk+shake: milkshake
Additionally, there are more words that occur together,
they are collocations,
fixed expressions and idioms.
Collocations are words that go together (e.g. have a bath). Fixed expressions
are phrases with particular meaning that can't be modified (e.g. come into
mind). Idioms are phrases with figurative meaning (e.g. Sick as a dog - means a person is unhealthy).
Furthermore, words can be related between
each other:
- · Synonyms: words with exactly meaning.
- · Antonyms: opposite meaning.
- · Lexical set: words that come from a similar topic area. Example: pen, pencil, eraser, ruler.
- · Word family: words that come from the same root. Example: decide, decision, decisive.
- · False friends: same form in two languages but distinct definition. Example: library means biblioteca not librería in Spanish.
- · Homophones: similar pronunciation but distinct ortography. Example: know-no
- · Homonyms: word with different meanings. Example: book (verb), book (noun).
- · Varieties of English: kinds of English. Example: Nigerian English.
Finally, to teach my students lexis I
would apply extension
activities that according to Braddock (2016) these activities provide more practice for
students in order to reinforce the knowledge of a topic. In this way, for
teaching suffixes and prefixes to a group of students I would make them brainstorm about the different affixation a word can have.
Then, I would make them use the words in a sentence that they have to say
orally. To finish, I would apply a mingle activity in which students have to describe themselves
by using words with prefixes and suffixes. Furthermore, another activity to
explain my students lexis could be to teach some vocabulary in context rather than in
isolation being that according to Kroocall (1998) it is an efficient learning
strategy because a word can have a variety of meanings and in this way students
can understand better the definition of a word. For this, I would use stories,
tales, etc.
Additional information to teach lexis:
References:
Braddock , P. (2016). Extension activities. Teachingenglish.org.uk.
Retrieved 15 April 2017, from
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/teaching-kids-shakespeare-extension-activities.pdf
Oxford, R., and D. Crookall. 1988. Learning strategies. In You can
take it with you: Helping students maintain foreign language skills beyond the
classroom, ed. J.
B. Gleason. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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