Teaching lexis Teaching chunks & collocations Teaching chunks and collocations. Aims

Teaching lexis

Teaching chunks & collocations

Teaching chunks and collocations. Aims

• noticing
• formation of strong memory traces 
• revision
• free use

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What is a collocation?

Collocations are wonderful chunks of language that native speakers of English use naturally and frequently.
This is a collection of two or more words that are normally seen together because that is the way they are used.

Types of collocations

• noun phrases - heavy rain; weak coffee
• phrasal verbs - to put down; to give up
• common phrases - the rich and famous
• set phrases – to run a business

What is a chunk?

Chunks are groups of words that can be found together in language. They can be words that always go together, such as fixed collocations, or that commonly do, such as certain grammatical structures that follow rules.

Types of chunks

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 

Lexical Chunks (that are collocations)

• totally convinced
• strong accent 
• terrible accident
• sense of humour
• sounds exciting 
• brings good luck

Chunks and collocations

• Very nicely put
• Fancy a coffee
• To get to the point
• The thing is…
• Make yourself at home
• Pay attention

 

• Verb+Noun: achieve a goal 
• Adj+Noun: reckless driving
• Noun+Noun: a chance encounter
• Verb+Adv: talk freely
• Adv+Adj: ridiculously expensive
• Noun+Verb: the bomb went off

How to teach chunks and collocations. Procedure:

• Introduction of chunks
• Practice of chunks
• Accumulation of chunks
• Use of chunks and collocations

How to teach chunks and collocations. Roles :

The teacher’s role

• To create an operative environment(where students operate effectively)
• To help the learners manage their own learning after operation
• “…abandon the idea of the teacher as a knower ”

The student’s role

• The analyzer of real life language samples based on his or her own explanations
• To observe, and classify
• Make generalizations

Words are the only things that last forever William Hazlitt (1778-1830), English critic & essayist.

• Allow learners process and produce language at a faster rate
• Help learners move from receptive to productive vocabulary knowledge

Results