时间：2022-08-19 07:57:13
Abstract. Lexical chunks （Lewis， 1993） were firstly put forward by Lewis in 1993. Besides lexical chunks， there are many other similar terms， such as semi fixed patterns and lexicalized sentence stems （Pawley & Syder， 1983） lexicalized sentence stems formulaic frames （Peters， 1983） and so on. Based on these terms and theories， many researchers begin to apply it to language teaching. And the data collected commonly suggest lexical chunks teaching has an effective influence on language production. The text consists of four parts， introduction， and organization of the text， conclusion， and reference.
Key words： Lexical chunks， English teaching
1. Introduction
Bloomfield and Fries， even Chomsky claim the structural linguistics play a leading role in English teaching process. They all consider language learning is to learn a kind of structure but not vocabulary which is used just for exercise the structure and grammar. But learners’ language ability to use the target language hasn’t reached to a high level； instead the problems on their fluency curacy， cohesive ability are intending to be serious. （Nattinger and Decarrico1992） the research on second language acquisition becomes more and more concerning about the process of the development of langrage acquisition， that is to say， how is the language rule learnt. Furthermore， in the latest 20 years， the data from the research suggest 70% of the communication is realized by chunks which are in the middle between words and fixed phrase.
2. Theory of Lexical Chunks
According to the study of linguists， lots of prefabricated language units retaining in learners’ memory， which are formed by several items of words and also contain more information than a single word， in other words， they are prefabricated chunks. Different researchers define these chunks in different ways. Through summarizing up theses definitions， we briefly refer to the definition given by Pu Jianzhong. Pu says chunks are abstract and frequently-used prefabricated multiple units with a certain structure to express meaningful content. Lewis specifically classifies chunks are classified into four types： words， polywords， collocation， institutionalized utterance and sentence frames and heads. Other applied linguists have given their own categories. Some representatives are shown as follows：
3. Lexical Chunks Compared with
Other Related Theories
3.1 Lexical Chunks and Rule-based System
The rule-based system has the feature of being analyzed， learners can create infinite sentence with limited rules， and it only takes a little space of memory. However， learners cannot make the current communication fluently or correctly with it， that is to say， they cannot make whole correct sentences immediately. Nattinger and De Carrico believe the fluency extent depends on how many prefabricated chunks stored in learners’ brain but not the grammar rules.
Because the prefabricated chunks are routine language formed in the process of langue studying. The user does not need to know the inside their structure when using them. They just need to recognize them as a whole. For example， “that is to say”， “generally/specifically/normally speaking”， “exchange opinions”， “delivery milk” and so on. Therefore， learners can save a lot of time when using them during the communication； on the other hand， it also helps language learners to improve the curacy of outputting.
3.2 Lexical Chunks and Memory based System
Memory-based system is to help learners find out the needed information quickly and correctly. However， learners need to remember the formulaic language for several times due to the overlapping. Bollinger believes the timely conversation usually is observed， predicated but not creatively. That is why the second language learner can talk with the native speaker freely with the usage of lexical chunks.
Nattinger and Decarrico believe polywords is a fixed word formation and it is divvied into canonical and non-canonical. The former is of typical English feature， such as “hold you horse （v. +n.）， at any rate （prep. +n.）， a piece of cake （n. + prep. Phrase）”， etc. but the latter is contrary， for example， “by and large”， “once and for all”， etc. they can be used as an independent word with a certain form. The second type is institutionalized expressions； the linguists consider them into sentence-level expressions， including proverbs， sayings， utterance formulaic language and so on. Most of them have fixed forms. For example： long time no see”， “a watched dog never boils”， etc. the third one is phrasal constraints. For example： we can fill in the blank “a__ ago” with day/week/month/very bring time/ a long time， etc. and fill with adjectives in the blank “the ___er the ___”， such as “sooner…better” and “busier and happier”， etc. the last type is sentence builder， it usually presents a sentence frame， the learners can put the accordingly words or clause， for example “I think that…” “I’m a great believer in …”
4. Lexical Chunks Teaching in English
4.1 Awareness-raising
Recognizing chunks is very important in learning process. Firstly， it is better to give students a fresh insight of lexis by starting with different expressions， Form example， “exchange ideas” or” communicate ideas”； “come to no harm” or “come to no danger”， the comparison could sharpen the student’s intuitions of differences between the target language and the mother-tongue language. Secondly， an instruction should be given to identify the phrases in the text， including identifies the type and meaning of phrases， especially the fixed parts and variable parts in the phrases. For example， in the phrase “as far as I know”， “as far as” is invariable， but the latter is changeable， both “I am concerned” and “I can tell” can take place of “I know”. The author once carried out an experiment on some college student. The students were asked to translate several sentences from Chinese into English. It was not commonly to see that about over ninety percent of the students gave rigid English sentences. For instance， Sample One which reads， “It sounds too good to be true” was written by many students as “It is heard/ listened to be good， but it is not true”； Sample Two， “The world won’t end， if you don’t pass one single test” was translated into “If you don’t pass one test， the sky won’t fall down”. The experiment exposed the students to the importance of natural language use and inspired their interest in learning lexical chunks.
4.2 Lexical Chunks Input
There are three processes in lexical phrase teaching. Firstly， teaching lexical phrases as frozen wholes with no variation possible for total assimilation， e.g. “by the way” “on the other hand” etc.. The idiomatic nature of the wholes and the de-lexicalized nature of the components words is neglected in this list of archetypical utterances using： I’ll”， such as， I’ll give you a ring/I’ll be in touch/I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. /I’ll be back in ten minutes./I’ll be all right/It’ll take time./You’ll be the day！/That’ll happen to me./Nobody will even notice it. Secondly， teaching lexical phrases with variation for further substitution drills. Lewis gives special emphasis to institutionalized utterances， or highly conventionalized locations such as “If I were you， I’d___”. Because of their fixedness he considers such sentences to be lexical items and argues that they rather than framer should form the basis of language learning programs. Thirdly， teaching lexical phrases by segmentation for further analysis. There are two kinds of collocation identification： grammatical collocations and lexical collocations. Students should pay more attention to them. The former are mostly in the formula： n. /adj. / v. +prep. / to do / clause； such as account for； previous to； convince sb. of （that...）， etc. And they can be easily identified with the help of a dictionary and textbooks. The latter is characterized as a co-occurrence of two words： n. / v. / adj. +n.； n. +v.； adv. +adj.； v. +ad.， such as window shopping； hold water； minor illness； slam shut， etc. All these help familiarize students with the lexical phrases/chunks which make up a large section of language.
4.3 The Significance of Lexical Chunks Teaching
“Accuracy” and “fluency are generally used to describe two different kinds of exercise in language teaching （Lewis 1993：18）.Without words， students can not students can not make correct sentence and new conversations and neither make themselves understood when communication with others； without grammar and rules， they can not express their ideas freely either. “Lexical chunks” is a form combining words with structure. It is a special kind of grammar and rules because some of them are fixed items and phrases， and some of them are semi-fixed and variable with which students can make more new and correct sentences and utterances. Many theoretical researches have proved that lexical chunks have great advantages in language outputting， including reading， writing， speaking and even listening. A few researchers begin to study the function of lexical chunks in prevention of language fossilization.
5. Conclusion
Lexical Approach offers a promising new direction for language teaching. Though there may be disadvantages in lexical approach， we can definitely say that lexical phrases are helpful in improving English skills. Therefore it is more effective to teach or learn vocabulary in the form of lexical items or chunks then in isolation.
References
[1] Lewis， M. 1993.The Lexical Approach. Hove： Language Teaching Publications.
[2] Lewis， M. 1997.Implementing the Lexical Approach. Hove： Language Teaching Publications.
[3] Nattinger， J. R. & J. S. De Carrico. 1992. Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. Oxford： Oxford University Press
[4] Pawley& Syder. Two Puzzels for Linguistic Theory： Native like Selection and Native-like Fluency. Longman. 1983
[5] Peters， A.M. Units of language acquisition （M）. Cambridge University Press.1994.
[6] Jianzhong， Pu .Learner behavior of verbs： colligation， collocation and chunk [M]. Kaifeng： Henan University press， 2003. Longman.