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Teaching Lexical Phrases and

Lexical Patterns

Dave Willis: TESOL France: Paris November 2006

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….Communicative competence is not a matter of

knowing rules for the composition of sentences...

It is much more a matter of knowing a stock of

partially pre-assembled patterns, formulaic

frameworks, and a kit of rules, so to speak, and

being able to apply the rules to make whatever

adjustments are necessary according to

contextual demands. Communicative competence

in this view is essentially a matter of adaptation,

and rules are not generative but regulative and

subservient.

(Widdowson 1989: 135)

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...(Communicative competence) ( is not a matter of

knowing) (rules for) (the composition of)

sentences... (It is much more a matter of knowing)

(a stock of) partially pre-assembled patterns,

formulaic frameworks, and (a kit of) rules, (so to

speak), and (being able to) (apply the rules) to (make

(whatever adjustments) are necessary) (according

to) contextual demands. (Communicative

competence) (in this view) (is essentially a matter of)

adaptation, and (rules) are not (generative) but

(regulative) and subservient.(Widdowson 1989: 135)

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WHAT ARE THEY?

Polywords: so to speak; according to; as a matter of fact; once upon a time.

Frames: not a matter of … (more/rather) a matter of; whatever … BE necessary; BE not … but …; from … to…

Sentences and Sentence Stems: How do you do? Would you like? That’s wonderful! We will then go on to… What I mean is…

Patterns : a kit/stock/selection/group/collection of …

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WHAT IS A PATTERN?

It + BE + adjective + to …

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1. It’s nice to meet you.2. It'd be very difficult to go through your working life ...

living up to the image that you gave at your interview, if it isn't you.

3. It’s easy to say ‘Have confidence in yourself’, but not so easy to achieve.

4. It’s polite to knock before you enter an office if the door is closed.

5. It’s important to create a good impression at the interview.

6. He said it's very unusual to find a well at the top of a hill.

7. Although it is possible for certain individuals to live to unexpectedly great ages, most crocodiles and alligators live for about 30 years.

8. This would the twofold effect of getting the job done cheaply and making it safe for the local people to cross the river.

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Group 1: GOOD/BAD: better; polite.Group 2: EASY/DIFFICULT: easy; difficult;

possibleGroup 3: USUAL/UNUSUAL: common; unusual.Group 4: WISE/FOOLISH: important; safe.

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Think of the meanings of these words:

nice, interesting, fashionable, impossible, simple, rare, usual, necessary, silly, dangerous, rude, risky, essential.

Can you put these words into the groups:

GOOD/BAD: nice; interesting; rude; (fashionable)

EASY/DIFFICULT: impossible; simple

USUAL/UNUSUAL: rare; usual; (fashionable)

WISE/FOOLISH: necessary; silly; dangerous; risky; essential

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Look at these nouns. Can you divide them into four groups according to meaning:

a kick a look

a talk a punch

a cry some information

some advice a slap

a smile a groan

a shout a glance

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1. a kick a slap a punch

2. a talk some information some advice

3. a cry a shout a groan

4. a smile a glance a look

What verb is often found with all of these words?

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GIVE + a/some + noun

An action: kick, slap, kiss, hug etc.

Help or information

A non verbal sound: cry, shout etc.

A facial expression: look, smile etc.

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LEARNING PROCESSES

1 Recognition.

a)Recognising the general phenomenon.

b) Recognising individual phrases and patterns.

2 System building.

Organising phrases and patterns to make them learnable.

3 Extension and exploration.

Encouraging learners to extend their knowledge and enabling them to be independent.

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RECOGNISING THE GENERAL PHENOMENON

1 Draw attention to phrases as well as individual words. When a word is learned draw attention to the associated pattern(s). (E.g. associate with; argue with/about.)

2 Explain and illustrate by comparison with L1.

3 Enter phrases and patterns in vocabulary books.

4 When practising pronunciation focus on phrases and patterns, not just individual words.

(Note: 2, 3 and 4 also contribute to learning of specific items.)

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RECOGNISING INDIVIDUAL PHRASES

AND PATTERNS.

1 When working with texts start from:

a) Frequent words. (prepositions; modals; BE; HAVE; TAKE; MAKE; THING; GOOD; BAD etc.)

b)Time, space, quantity, vague language, discourse organisers.

c)Concepts relating to the themes of the text.

d)Parts of words.

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The boy who came out from the cold.A schoolboy who spent the night trapped in a butcher's cold store after being locked in accidentally, ran on the spot for ten hours to stay alive.

Peter Emerson, aged 15, was locked in the store in a Stratford-upon Avon butcher's shop for 14 hours with the temperature around freezing point.

Staff arriving for work at the Wood Street shop found him yesterday morning with his teeth chattering and his face purple with cold. Still freezing, Peter immediately telephoned his parents, who had reported him missing to the police.

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Peter, who lives in Banbury Road, Stratford, said: "I help out at the shop after school and I had gone into the cold store just before closing time. I was behind a big food shelf when the door locked behind me.

"At first I thought it was someone playing a joke but when I realised it wasn't and began shouting all the staff had gone home. I tried to kick the door open and to pick the lock but it was no good.

"I was wearing only a shirt, trousers, a thin pullover and a white butcher's smock. It was bitterly cold and I realised that I might die, so I ran on the spot for about ten of the 14 hours".

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1 Frequent word:

with the temperature around freezing pointwith his teeth chatteringpurple with cold

2 Time:

after being locked infor ten hoursaged 15for 14 hoursyesterday morningStill freezingimmediatelyEtc.

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3 Cold:

cold storetemperature around freezing pointteeth chatteringpurple with coldstill freezingbitterly cold

4 –ing:

after being locked infreezing pointstaff arriving for workwith his teeth chatteringStill freezingEtc.

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System building.

1 Build on patterns.

2 Organise patterns structurally. E.g:- delexical verbs.- verbs with prepositions.- quantifiers: a ___ of ____- positionals: the ____ of

3 Organise phrases and patterns functionally:- time/place/quantity/vague language/ text markers- speaker/writer comments- evaluations

4 Look carefully at the use of ‘pivot words’ in patterns.

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What does for mean?

1 I used to work for The British Council.

2 You should stick up for your friends.

3 I’ve searched for it everywhere.

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A: 1 Doing something as part of a group: play for, work for.

2 Supporting or helping a person or group: stick up for, fight for.

B: Trying to find something or get something: apply for, look for, listen for, send (away) for, try for.

Which groups do you think these phrases belong to:

1.We are collecting for the Society for the Blind.2.I’ve hunted everywhere for it.3.She’s aiming for a job in television.4. He edits programmes for the BBC.5.I’m going to vote for Peter Jackson.6. Look out for Michelle when you’re at school.7.The church should speak for the poor.

Can you translate these sentences into your ownlanguage?

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EXTENSION AND EXPLORATION

Encourage learners to list patterns and phrases in their vocab books.

Work on dictionary skills.

Encourage learners to chunk text for themselves.

Look in detail at texts that are familiar to learners, examples they have come across in previous texts.

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1 In the real world, a lot of news is __________ news: disasters, wars, crashes and crises.

2 If there is a well at the top of the hill there is a(n) ________ chance that there is water at the bottom too.

3 BB: That actually looks like you, doesn't it?

RS: Yes it does actually. Yeah, it's not _________.

4 Work together and try to come up with one ________ reason why a normal leopard should turn into a man-eating leopard.

5 A ________ deal of mystery surrounds this disappearance.

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6 It's perhaps not a very good er basis for friendship between parents and er son-in-law, but er I think I would try and make the best of a_______ job there.

7 BB: Offer to provide any more information if they so wish.

EL: That’s a ________ point, yeah.

8 ... being cautious and taking more time is not always such a ________ thing.

9 I tried to pick the lock and kick the door open, but it was no ________.

10 I was no ________ at games.

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Rote learning and memorisation are central to language learing.

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Recall exercises oblige learners to ‘chunk’ language for themselves.

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If there is a well at the top of a hill, there is a good chance that there is a well at the bottom too.

If - - - - - is a well - - the - - - of a hill there is a - - - - chance - - - - there is a well at the - - - - - - too.

If - - - - - is a well - - the - - - of a hill - - - - - is a - - - - chance - - - - - - - - - is a well - - the - - - - - - too.If - - - - - is a - - - - - - the - - - - - a - - - - - - - - - is a - - - - chance - - - - - - - - - is a well - - the - - - - - - too.I- t- - - - i- a w- - - a- t- - t- - o - a h- - -, t- - - - i- a g - - - c- - - - - - t - - - t - - - - i- a w- - - - a- t- - b - - - - - t- -.

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Staff arriving for work at the Wood Street shop found him yesterday morning with his teeth chattering and his face purple with cold

Staff / arrive / work / Wood Street shop / find him / [TIME] / teeth chatter / face / purple / cold

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1 In the real world, a lot of news is __________ news: disasters, wars, crashes and crises.

2 If there is a well at the top of the hill there is a(n) ________ chance that there is water at the bottom too.

3 BB: That actually looks like you, doesn't it?

RS: Yes it does actually. Yeah, it's not _________.

4 Work together and try to come up with one ________ reason why a normal leopard should turn into a man-eating leopard.

5 A ________ deal of mystery surrounds this disappearance.

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6 It's perhaps not a very good er basis for friendship between parents and er son-in-law, but er I think I would try and make the best of a_______ job there.

7 BB: Offer to provide any more information if they so wish.

EL: That’s a ________ point, yeah.

8 ... being cautious and taking more time is not always such a ________ thing.

9 I tried to pick the lock and kick the door open, but it was no ________.

10 I was no ________ at games.