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LangLit
An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal
Vol. 1 Issue - 1
74
Aug, 2014
Saville-Troike, 1984; Swales, 1983; Swales and Feak, 1994/2004).
This paper provides some background theory on the role of lexis in language
acquisition, which gives the basis for the presentation of the exercises and tasks aiming at the
development of students’ vocabulary in the context of EMP courses.
Characteristics of a lexical approach to language learning
According to current views on language teaching/learning, vocabulary knowledge is
central to language acquisition whether the language is first, second, or foreign (DeCarrico,
2001). For the last twenty years or so a revival of attention to vocabulary learning on various
proficiency levels and in various contexts has been seen. The methods of vocabulary teaching
range from explicit instruction as it is propagated by Lewis (1993, 1997) in his Lexical
Approach to indirect, incidental exposure to lexical items. In the indirect method, the
acquisition of lexis is a by-product of communicative activities with the access to sufficient
comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982). However, as Nation (2001) claims, learning of
vocabulary from meaning-focused input is the most effective if learners are familiar with at
least 95% of words in the input they are focusing on. A lexical approach is based on the
assertion that language learning is a process of lexical item learning as opposed to
grammatical rule learning. Lewis (1997) says that “language consists not of traditional
grammar and vocabulary but often of multi-word prefabricated chunks”. These chunks are
lexical phrases, collocations, idioms, fixed and semi-fixed phrases which form an important
part of the language. Language structures make up the skeleton of language but vocabulary
provides “the vital organs and the flesh” (Harmer, 1991). There is growing evidence that
language learning is more effective if there is an appropriate amount of deliberate, explicit
teaching of language items (Long, 1988; Ellis, 1994). From an ESP perspective this means
that a course should involve an explicit teaching of vocabulary that occurs in an authentic
verbal communication and in authentic written texts. In universities in Poland, ESP courses
are compulsory for at least four semesters in the regular 2-hour-per-week instructional
schedule. Students starting an ESP course at a university level need help in the form of direct
instruction with the learning of specialist vocabulary which is completely new for them.
However, as Jordan (1997) says, while developing vocabulary in ESP and EAP, indirect
learning can also be used, with an explanation to students how to infer the meaning from its
context. In case of learning subject-specific vocabulary this may be supported by stressing
the need of the use of specialist dictionaries. The difficulties referred by the students of EMP
courses conducted by the authors of this paper include the problems with the correct use of
words in a particular context, the lack of particular vocabulary, and confusion between
similar sounding or looking words.
Learning is remembering, therefore learners need not only to learn a lot of words, but
to remember them. As memory plays a crucial role in any language learning, not just in ESP,
it is useful to know that there are two types of memory: short-term memory, which holds a
limited number of items of information for a few seconds, and long-term memory, which
stores unlimited number of items of information for an unlimited time. Their function in
vocabulary learning has been expressed by Nattinger (1988) in the following way:
“Research in memory suggests that words are stored and remembered in a network of
associations. These associations can be of many types and be linked in a number of
ways. Words in our mental lexicon, for example, are tight to each other not only by
meaning, form and sound, but also by sight”.
The implication for teaching is unequivocal: the more meaningful tasks the learners
are required to perform, and the deeper they analyze and process the language, the easier
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