The Lexical Approach: A Complete Guide
The lexical approach could be one of the most overlooked methods for learning languages. It’s a method designed to rapidly improve your ability to communicate and engage in conversations in your target language.
But a lot of people don’t know about it – because it’s not “mainstream”.
There are no hidden secrets or shortcuts when it comes to language learning. But the lexical approach is close to being one.
The lexical approach
The lexical approach is based on the idea that a key part of learning a language involves understanding and producing lexical phrases and chunks.
When you learned your first language, you didn’t learn grammar rules first and then slot in vocabulary. Instead, you likely learned set phrases and chunks of language, which you then broke down into their constituent parts.
The lexical approach aims to mimic that exact process.
The idea and term “lexical approach” come from Michael Lewis’s 1993 book The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and Way Forward.
In his book, he writes: “Language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar.”
In other words, he suggests that language is primarily made up of meaningful words and phrases (lexis) that have a grammar to them, rather than grammar rules that are filled in with vocabulary.
The idea is then, that the best way to learn a new language is by primarily studying meaningful chunks, not traditional grammar.
But it’s not about repeating words in isolation. In fact, Michael Lewis himself was somewhat opposed to “lists”. Instead, he argues that we should expose ourselves to texts – natural sentences.
He explains that learning collocations is far more useful than learning individual words in isolation. It gives you a real and natural context since language is most often expressed through combinations of phrases rather than just a single word.
The lexical approach encourages you to learn your target language’s most common words and sentences. The idea is that understanding and producing language relies heavily on knowing words and fixed expressions, rather than grammar, an idea that several recent studies support.
Understanding the words
You might be confused by words like lexis, collocations, and chunks – so let’s define those before we go any further.
Lexis: This term refers to a language’s vocabulary or words. In the lexical approach, it is often used to describe multi-word phrases and chunks as well as single words. Simply put, lexis is the words and phrases of a language.
Chunks: In the lexical approach, chunks refer to groups of words that are often combined. It’s a unit of words, either two or more. It can, for example, be collocations, fixed phrases, or idioms.
Examples: “by the way”, “at the end of the day”, “piece of cake” and “could you please..”
Collocation: Collocations are specific combinations of words that frequently occur together. Because they are often used together, these combinations sound natural and “right” to native speakers.
Examples: “strong coffee”, “heavy rain”, “give a speech” and “loud music”.
Key principles
Here is a breakdown of the core principles of the lexical approach.
- Language consists of meaningful chunks, not individual words in isolation
- Learn lexical chunks (phrases and collocations) rather than isolated grammar rules
- Fluency comes from acquiring a large store of chunks
- Grammar is learned through chunks and natural pattern recognition
- Authentic language exposure is essential for learning chunks
Practical application for self-study
You can apply the lexical approach both for self-studies and in a classroom setting. Here are some examples of activities and exercises that you can use.
Keeping a notebook
This is a great technique to build up your vocabulary and slowly lean into writing and speaking yourself.
1. Identify chunks. When you read books, articles, or listen to podcasts or videos in your target language, pay attention to words that often go together. These could be collocations, fixed phrases, or semi-fixed phrases.
2. Keep a lexical notebook. Write down the chunks you identify in a notebook. Include the chunk, its meaning, and one or two example sentences. Memorize these chunks through repetition.
3. Continue getting input. Never stop consuming authentic materials in your target language, such as news articles, movies, podcasts, books, and TV shows. By doing so, you will be exposed to the natural chunks and word combinations that natives use. You will recognize the ones you have already started learning, as well as taking notes of new chunks.
4. Create chunk-based exercises. You can create your own exercises based on the chunks you’ve written down. For example, you could fill in the blanks in sentences with appropriate chunks, or match chunks to their meanings.
Since you have created the exercises, you will also know their answers, at least for the moment. To counter this, you can write down the exercises (for example, “fill in the blanks”) but do the exercise a couple of days later.
Another idea is to use AI to help you. You can give it your chunks and phrases and tell it to create word games out of them.
High-frequency lists
No matter how rich and nuanced a language is, there are always words and phrases that are used more often than others.
In fact, some studies suggest that English speakers use around 16,000 words per day, but only 1,000 to 3,000 unique words.
The idea behind the lexical approach is to learn words and phrases that are commonly used together, rather than grammar and words in isolation.
In other words, you could build a vocabulary set of the most used words and phrases and practice those.
Use the chunks you have learned
There are a boatload of ways you can use the chunks you’ve learned.
You can engage with native speakers in real life or connect with people online through games and forums.
The important thing is that you:
- Actively use the chunks by constructing your own sentences
- Practice with native speakers
You should practice both in written form and orally.
Benefits of the lexical approach
The lexical approach is great in many ways, especially if your main goal is to communicate in your target language as soon as possible.
Fluency: By focusing on chunks rather than isolated words and grammar, you can quickly produce more fluent and natural speech. This also helps in developing a more native-like command of the language.
More native-like language: Native speakers often use prefabricated chunks when speaking and writing. By learning these chunks, you can start to sound more natural and native-like in your language use than if you had focused on grammar or words in isolation.
Efficient learning: The lexical approach aligns with our current understanding of how the brain stores and retrieves language. Studies suggest that your brain stores language not just as individual words but also as larger chunks. By using the lexical approach, you align your training with how your brain is wired, making your learning process more efficient.
Motivation: The chunks you learn can often be directly used in real-life situations. Being able to use the language early on can make the process much more rewarding and constructive. As a result, you get motivated and inspired to continue studying.
Challenges of the lexical approach
As with any learning process and method, there are some potential drawbacks and challenges with the lexical approach.
It is not widely used: Integrating the lexical approach into existing curricula can be challenging. Traditional textbooks are often structured around learning grammar and words in isolation. If you want to have formal lessons using the lexical approach, you might have to hire a private tutor.
Selection of chunks: There are many potential chunks to learn, and it can be difficult to know which ones to prioritize. Selecting the most useful and frequent chunks could be time-consuming, requiring careful planning and consideration.
Less structured: Unlike other methods, like the grammar-translation method, the lexical approach is less clear-cut. The pathway forward might not always be obvious, and increasing complexity in a constructive manner can be a challenge.
Finding suitable material: The lexical approach relies heavily on authentic material. While it’s easy to find materials online today, searching and selecting appropriate materials can take a lot of time.