Lecture 1: General problems of Foreign Language teaching

Lexical elements include:

1. 
   Fixed expressions, consisting of several words, which are used and learned wholes.
   

Fixed expressions include:

• 
  Sentential formulae including:
  

Direct exponents of language functions such as greeting, e.g.
How do you do? Good morning! etc.
Proverbs, etc.
Relict archaisms, e.g. Be off with you!

• 
  Phrasal idioms, often:
  

semantically opaque, frozen metaphors, e.g.:
He kicked the bucket(i.e. he died)
It is a long shot (=unlikely succeed).

• 
  Fixed frames, learned and used as unanalyzed wholes, into which word or phrases are inserted to form meaningful sentences, e.g.: ‘Please may I have…
  
• 
  Other fixed phrases such as:
  

Phrasal verbs, e.g. to put up with, to make do (with);
Compound prepositions e.g. in front of.

• 
  Fixed collocations, consisting of words regularly used together, e.g. to make a speech/mistake
  

Morphology deals with a internal organization of words. Words may be analyzed into morphemes, classed as:

• 
  Roots, or stems:
  
• 
  Affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes), including:
  

Word-forming affixes (e.g. re-, un-, -ly, -ness,);
Inflectional affixes (e.g. s, -ed, -ing,).
Word-formation:
Words may be classified into:

• 
  Simple words (root only, e.g. six, tree, break);
  
• 
  Complex words (root+affixes e.g. unbrokenly, sixes);
  
• 
  Compound words (containing more than one root, e.g. sixpence, breakdown, oak-tree, evening dress).
  

Morphology also deals with other ways of modifying word forms, e.g.:

• 
  Vowel alteration (sing/sang/sung, mouse/mise)
  
• 
  Consonant medication (lend/lent)
  
• 
  Irregular forms (bring/brought, catch/caught)