vocabulary teaching

Teaching vocabulary

‘Without grammar very little can be conveyed 
without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.’

( David Wilkins, in Thornbury, 2002: 13)

What is lexis?

computer, water, stock market ,pass the exam,
swim against the tide, it is up to you

vocabulary - typically single words ( pen, house, 
roof) sometimes two - or three - word 
combinations denoting one item (e.g. stock 
market or go off) ;
lexis – a bigger concept, includes also ´ready-
made´ fixed / semi-fixed typical combinations of 
words; 

Lexis involves

a) traditional single-word vocabulary items
b) common ´going-together patterns´ = 

collocations (e.g. blond hair, traffic jam) 

c) longer combinations of words –
chunks´/multiword items (e.g. someone you can 
talk to, I’d rather not say)

Single words and fixed 

two/ three –word 

combinations

collocations

ready made chunks

Formation of new 

phrases and sentences

lexis

vocabulary

grammar

Scrivener , 2011: 187

Students should learn

Form - pronunciation and spelling  
Meaning - denotation
Grammar – to/ing, 
Collocation - co-occurance with other lexical items
Connotation – emotionally positive/negative
Appropriateness – what context

Receptive knowledge x productive knowledge

How is word knowledge organised?

Mental lexicon
Meaning relationshipsSynonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms, 
subordinates, translation
Word formationPrefixes, suffixes, word combinations