Teacher Discussion Forums

Grammaticalized lexis is easier to teach that lexicalized grammar.

You've been reading your Lewis again, haven't you M56!

Larry Latham

I have started reading The Lexical Approach and need to fess up, I feel lost

I still haven't grasped the grammaticalised lexis affair; Hey Metal why don't you kick off telling what you think on the matter?

José

LarryLatham wrote: You've been reading your Lewis again, haven't you M56!

Larry Latham

I can't even find it. I was reading this though:
http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/W/W98/W98-1203.pdf

Now I've got a headache.

I find "the Lexical Approach" pretty easy to understand, but that's becauise I've been teaching for over 30 years so I know most of the trends referred to.

I think we are simply seeing the pendulum swing back here.

Stephen Jones wrote:I find "the Lexical Approach" pretty easy to understand, but that's becauise I've been teaching for over 30 years so I know most of the trends referred to.

I think we are simply seeing the pendulum swing back here.

But I didn't ask about the value of The Lexical Approach itself, I asked if grammaticalized lexis is easier to teach.

Metamorfose wrote:I have started reading The Lexical Approach and need to fess up, I feel lost.

Don't worry, Jose. I read it at least four or five times before I could understand it. Just keep reading, then go back to page 1 and start again. Lewis, for all his brilliance, is incredibly compact. His writings take a lot of thinking about to fill in what he left out. I happen to think he left it out purposely in order to force serious readers to do a lot of thinking, precisely because many readers will just whistle through it and then declare it unremarkable. (That's because they didn't understand it, but you'd better not say that aloud in polite company).

Larry Latham

Thanks for the link, M56. I've printed it out and will peruse it tonight.

Metamorfose wrote:I have started reading The Lexical Approach and need to fess up, I feel lost

I still haven't grasped the grammaticalised lexis affair; Hey Metal why don't you kick off telling what you think on the matter?

José

Paradoxically, it is probably easier to begin with Implementing the Lexical Approach (the second book and much more pragmatic) and then work back to The Lexical Approach.

Or if you feel real lazy, go for these pages:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think ... ach1.shtml

M56 wrote:I can't even find it. I was reading this though:
http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/W/W98/W98-1203.pdf

Now I've got a headache.

Now I've got one too Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut! I think I'll like your other link better.

Larry Latham

Or if you feel real lazy, go for these pages:

Surely it'll be a better start for me Thanks for both links.

Just keep reading, then go back to page 1 and start again

Yep Larry, that's what I've been doing with The English Verb. As Lewis himself writes "Take time... this takes time, and can only be done effectively by combining example, explanation, guessing, etc."

José

That's right, Jose. The same goes for The English Verb, as you say. And in that case too, many people "read" it and decide that there's nothing much there. I say, "Baloney!" There is much too much in The English Verb to absorb in a single reading. I read it eight times while I was actively teaching, and was informed anew every time, even on the eighth go through. Of course, maybe I'm denser or stoopider [sic] than the average teacher, but then you do what you have to do.

Larry Latham

Clear thought always results in clear writing, in my opinion. Perhaps Mr.Lewis needs some lessons in how to communicate effectively?

Perhaps. Wanna chat him up?

Larry Latham

I find most of The English Verb clear. Lewis is particularly clear when he is attacking common misconceptions.

There are places were Lewis is muddied. It is not his expressive powers but his thinking that is at fault in those places, though.

Stephen Jones wrote:I find most of The English Verb clear...There are places were Lewis is muddied. It is not his expressive powers but his thinking that is at fault in those places, though.

OK, so you say, Stephen. Perhaps you are right, and if so, I'd also like to know where Mr. Lewis' thinking is muddy. Would you be so good as to point out some of those places and explain why he is wrong?

Larry Latham