Lexis - the new grammar?
How new materials are finally challenging
established course book conventions
by Paul Meehan
Course materials are, at long last, showing
signs of moving away from the prescriptions of the traditional
course book. A sea change has taken place in recent years
in the way language teaching and learning is viewed, and course
book writers are beginning to reflect this. The 'natural English'
syllabus (Oxford University Press, 2003), compiled by Ruth
Gairns and Stuart Redman, is a good example of this, for it
chimes in with more contemporary theoretical perspectives,
which view the acquisition of lexis as the driving force behind
language learning. This represents a challenge to the traditional
assumptions behind generations of course books underpinned,
as they have been, by inherited and highly durable grammar-centric
notions of language learning (arising from a written model
of the language based on the grammar of written English).
This grammar bias is clearly misplaced if one
considers that most language learners need, primarily, to
communicate through spoken English. What is more, the notion
that improved communicative skills are to be achieved through
gradual exposure to increasingly complex grammar structures,
item by item, as the structure of the traditional course book
requires, creates a distorted perception of language learning;
and the consequent measure, that this perception gives rise
to, for assessing linguistic competence and progress made
i.e. the extent of the student's mastery over these structures,
is a false yardstick.
Research findings, as Scott Thornbury points
out (1), endorse this view, for they highlight the fact that
syllabuses based on written models do not match the frequency
and distribution of grammar as it is used to talk. For example,
in conversation the present tense outnumbers past tenses by
around four to one; simple forms outnumber the continuous
forms by twenty to one and the past perfect features highly
infrequently. Thus, by adhering to the canons derived from
a written standard of English, course book designers have,
until quite recently, tended to perpetuate a skewed set of
language study priorities - resulting in disproportionate
emphasis being placed on comparatively marginal grammar items,
to the detriment of those elements that yield much higher
returns in terms of the learners' communicative needs.
The natural English syllabus provides a counterweight
to these engrained course book traditions, by shifting the
balance away from the priorities of a written model of the
language, with its overemphasis on structures, towards lexis
and the needs of the L2 speaker. The syllabus currently focuses
on intermediate and upper-intermediate learners, and the framework
was established by analysing the performance of a cross-section
of intermediate learners, over a range of communicative tasks,
in comparison to low advanced/advanced learners. The aim was
to expose the kind of language required to push through the
intermediate barrier to the levels beyond. The findings confirmed
the need for more critical evaluation of grammar input; suggesting
a focus shift, away from peripheral areas of grammar (tense
shift in reported speech, for example)(2) towards a more systematic
study of vocabulary as used in spoken discourse - featuring
a broad spectrum of language , not fully represented in course
books, and made up mainly of long or short phrases, collocations,
lexical phrases and idioms, vague language and spoken linkers.
The findings that inform the natural English
syllabus, and its accompanying study materials, do not really
represent new knowledge, just that course book writers are
finally catching up. The Lexical Approach theorists have long
been aware of the limitations of following a written model-based
syllabus and advocated the primacy of lexis over grammar structures
as far back as the early 1990s (3). The principal tenet of
this approach is that the language native speakers use, whether
in a formal or informal situation, is not original (i.e. it
is not uniquely created for that context); but is built up
in readymade, prefabricated chunks - which the speaker/writer
selects from his/her lexical store (featuring, in the case
of an adult native speaker, tens of thousands of chunks) and
assembles together to construct what he/she wants to say.
And it is precisely these chunks, in their multiple forms,
that are the constituent elements of the range of language
natural English has pinpointed as the key to developing the
student's communicative capabilities.
Now that these realities of language use
and linguistic behaviour are finally having a significant
influence on the output of mainstream course book writers,
it will not be long before we see the widespread effect of
these materials in EFL/ESOL classrooms across the world. The
shift in study priorities will mean that greater emphasis
will be placed on providing language learners with the range
of tools need to build up their own effective lexical store
and communicative repertoire. In practical terms, this will
entail developing greater awareness of lexis, and enhancing
acquisition and usage skills through receptive skills work,
text analysis, gap fills, communicative tasks, classifying
and matching exercises, etc. The recently updated and expanded
Innovations series (Thomson Heinle 2003-4) constitutes one
of the standard-bearers of the new wave of study materials.
Written by Hugh Dellar, Andrew Walkley and Darryl Hocking
this range of course books is conceived primarily from a lexical
perspective. Credit for innovation must also be given to the
Cutting Edge series (S.Cunnigham/P.Moor, Pearson Education/Longman)
which first emerged in 1998 and features a strong lexical
strand running through it.
With course materials now in the process of freeing themselves
from inherited blueprints and conventions and embracing new
outlooks on language learning that downgrade the traditional
importance given to the study of grammar, the nature of classroom
culture and practice will, inevitably, be called upon to adapt.
The challenge will be to wean those teachers, and students,
schooled in the traditions that have evolved from a grammar-centric
view of the language off excessive dependence on grammar structures
and rules - and encourage them to reappraise their expectations
and understanding of language learning and teaching.
Notes:
1 From: Syllabus Design:
What's wrong with grammar, 2002 - OUP website
2 was found to be largely redundant since native speakers
and high level learners report speech in a number of acceptable
ways, not involving tense shift
3 Principally, Michael Lewis, for further details see The
Lexical Approach, the State of ELT and a Way Forward, LTP
1993.
Biodata
Paul Meehan
is a London-based EFL/ESOL teacher and freelance writer
uleepa@aol.com |
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