SUBJECT 11. CAMPOS LÉXICOS Y SEMÁNTICOS EN
LENGUA INGLESA. LÉXICO NECESARIO PARA
SOCIALIZACIÓN, LA INFORMACIÓN Y LA EXPRESIÓN
ACTITUDES. TIPOLOGÍA DE ACTIVIDADES LIGADAS A
ENSEÑANZA Y EL APRENDIZAJE DEL LÉXICO EN
CLASE DE LENGUA EXTRANJERA.
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INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, the teaching of a foreign language has focused on the
teaching and learning of grammar as well as of vocabulary. The first thing
children do in their mother tongue, once they are able to, is to say words.
These words will be isolated, they won’t say sentences, but they are words
which come from their surrounding and which have meaning anyway. At the
same time that the children are more aware of reality, they learn more and
more words.
In the process of learning a foreign language, the teacher must take into
account the natural process of language learning. The 4 skills are naturally
acquired in the following order: LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING and
WRITING . Therefore it seems to be quite logical to learn a foreign
language in the same way.
However, as it was mentioned above, the teaching of a foreign language has
been always based on both grammar and vocabulary aspects. The reason for
this is that a child that can already read and write in his/her own language
would feel frustrated if he/she could only produce isolated words.
LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELDS
Choosing which vocabulary of the foreign language should be taught is not
easy. Throughout the history of the teaching of foreign language there
have been 2 basic trends trying to select the most adequate vocabulary:

The first of them was based on the frequency of use . This means there
are
words which are used more frequently than others due to
determined circumstances. Some works have been published, trying in an
attempt to show the most frequently used words in written English.

The second trend is based on the fact that there are some words that
are more necessary than others due to their direct relationship with
learning aims. It is very difficult to establish which words are necessary
and which words are not because many different factors and realities
can vary the criteria. That is why the teacher has to take into account
the students’ world and interests. As well as this , the vocabulary cannot
be presented in isolation but within real situations or linguistic contexts.
This will facilitate both comprehension and production. The important
factor is that they are useful words for communication. Thus teachers
should look for these ‘interesting’ contexts, for instance:
a) informal conversations with classroom mates
b) phone calls
c) children stories
d) instructions for the functioning and organisation of the
classroom, house , work... .
e) descriptions of objects, people or animals
f) jokes and games
g) interviews
h) penfriends
It is easier to learn vocabulary when it is possible to associate it in some
way. There are 2 important ways of relating words:
1. On the one hand, when they are related by means of semantic
associations, that is, with their meaning, we say that they are
related through semantic fields. E.g.: Sports, fruits, clothes,... .
2. On the other hand, when the link is through formal relations, we
say that they are related through lexical fields.E.g.:
photography, photographer, photocopy, photographic... .
The classroom is the place where interaction in the foreign language mainly
takes place. Often, the language used in the classroom does not have a real
application outside but there are many other sentences that are also used
in normal social situations, such as: Could you open the door, please?, Sit
down, please.
Students should be provided from the beginning with simple linguistic tools
that allow them to express their necessities and problems, such as :
a) asking and giving information: Excuse me!, Could you repeat that?,
...
b) expressing attitudes and actions: I don’t like it at all, I hate it,...
c) using social formulae: Happy birthday!, How old are you?, Good
morning!,...
d) asking questions in class for information: How do you spell it?,... .
Our main task as teachers is offering the students a series of resources
that allow them to communicate in a foreign language. That is why, apart
from the teaching the above-mentioned vocabulary and structures, we must
make them aware of the fact that a great deal of new words can be
formed, as in their mother tongue, by means of:
WORD FORMATION
There are different processes of word formation, such as:
1. AFFIXATION: There are two processes:
 Prefixation: It consists in adding a prefix to the base o without a
change of word-class ( normally class-maintaining ). For instance : We
have some words as: man , market,... if we add a prefix: super-, we
have another word. E.g.: superman, supermarket, ... .
 Suffixation: It consists in adding a suffix to the base normally
changing he word-class ( class-changing ). For instance : we have
some nouns and if we add a suffixes it is become in a adjective . E.g.:
Help
helpless
black
blackish
2. CONVERSION
A word changes its cathegory but it doesn´t change its form. E.g.: A
verb can be changed into noun . There are different types:
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
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Verb... Noun: To love- love, to answer- answer
Adjective... Noun: Daily newspaper-daily, comic actor- comic
Noun... Verb: Bottle- to bottle, nurse- to nurse
Adjective... Verb: Calm- to calm, dry- to dry
There are other types of conversion:
MINOR CATEGORIES OF CONVERSION

Conversion from closed-system words to nouns. E.g.: this book is a must
for them
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Conversion of phrases to nouns.E.g.: My house is one of the also-rans (
from my horse also ran)
Conversion of phrases to adjectives.E.g.: an under-the-weather feeling
Conversion fron affixes to nouns.E.g.: Patriotism and any other isms
you’d like to name.
Conversion of secondary word-class. E.g.: I am running ( intransitive
vb.)// I am running a mile ( monotransitive vb. )
Shakespeare was a writer. ( proper noun). There are many Shakespeares
in t he world ( common one )
APPROXIMATE CONVERSION: Voicing and stress shift . In some cases
conversion is approximate rather than complete, that is a word, in he
course of changing its grammatical function may undergo a slight change
of pronunciation or spelling. He most important kinds of alteration are:
 Voicing of final consonants: advice (noun)- advise ( verb ), house (
noun)- house ( verb)
 Shift of stress: When disyllabic verbs become nouns the stress
sometimes change from the second to the first syllable. This
happens with words like conduct, contrast,conflict,convert,....
3. COMPOUNDING
This process consists in putting two bases together forming a syntactic
unit. There are different types:

NOUN COMPOUNDS: Are those which function as nouns. There
are several types.
-SUBJECT + VERB: sunrise ‘the sun rises’
-VERB + OBJECT: record-player ‘ X plays the record’
-VERB + ADVERBIAL: swimming-pool ‘X swims in the pool’
-VERBLESS COMPOUND: ashtray ‘ a tray (is) for the ash’

ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS: are those which function as
adjectives. Types:
-VERB+OBJECT: a man-eating giant ‘X eats a man’
-VERB+ ADVERBIAL: an ocean-going boat ‘ X goes across the
ocean’
-VERBLESS COMPOUND: class-conscious ‘X is conscious of
his/her class’

VERB COMPOUNDS: are those which function as verbs. The
problem with this kind of compounds is that they are normally
back-formations of noun compounds.E.g.:baby-sit,
4. BACK FORMATION
Formation of a new word by the removal of ( real or apparent ) affixes
from a existing word. The majority of back-formations in English are
verbs.E.g.:
-Burgle (from burglar) = to robe
-housekeep ( from housekeeping)
5. REDUPLICATION
Reduplicatives are compounds with two or more constituents which are
identical or slightly different. Most of reduplicatives are taken from the
language of nursery. E.g.: walkie-talkie, criss-cross, goody-goody (very good,
delicious), ping-pong, hocus-pocus ( abracadabra), wishy-washy ( when
someone uses a very academic language.). Uses of reduplicatives:
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to
to
to
to
imitate sounds: tick-tock
suggest alternating movements: see- saw ( balancín)
suggest vacillation or nonsense: wishy-washy
intensify: tip-top.
6. CLIPPING
It denotes he subtraction of one or more syllables of a word. Clippings
are normally familiar words which are often shortened to a single
syllable ( especially in informal language). The shortening may occur:
a) at the beginning of the word: telephone-phone
b) at the end of the word: photograph-photo
c) both at the beginning and end of the word: influenza-flu.
Another examples could be: ad ( advertisement), exam ( examination ),...
7.BLENDING ( blends or portmanteau words)
Especial type of compounds in which at least one of the elements is
fragmentary. E.g.:
smog( smoke + fog), heliport ( helicopter + airport), Eurovision ( Europe +
vision ) , transistor ( transfer + resistor )
8.ACRONYMS
Words formed from the initial letters or larger parts of words. There are
two types:
a) ALPHABETISM or ABREVIATIONS:
words which are
pronounced as sequence of letters: UFO, USA, EC, UK , ...
b) PROPER ACRONYMS: pronounced as a simple word: VAT, NATO,
RADAR ( radio detecting and ranging).
9.WORD-MANUFACTURE/ COINAGE
When a word is invented by someone and it can defining something. For
instance: GOOGOL ( a number that is equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros).
10.BORROWING
Linguistic forms can be taken by one language or dialect from another. E.g.:
restaurant, café, pizza, patio... .
TYPOLOGY OF ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE TEACHING AND
LEARNING OF LEXICON
So far we have referred to the formation of words and to which is the
necessary vocabulary, but the simple fact of telling our students which are
the expressions and mechanisms does not make them learn them. There are
certain factors that are very important to consider in the teaching of
vocabulary and we offer some helpful techniques:
A)PRESENTATION OF VOCABULARY
Whenever we elaborate an activity with the aim of acquiring vocabulary, we
have to bear in mind that lexicon must be presented in real situational or
linguistic context that facilitate deduction of meaning. On the other hand,
it must be presented orally for the student to internalise pronunciation
prior to orthography. Taking into account these factors we can present a
word by means of:
a) linguistic resources, in an indirect way using a synonym or
antonym.
b) Describing it ( with this technique we will use the lexicon
corresponding to descriptions)
c) Working out meaning through the context.
d) We can present vocabulary by means of realia ( for instance,
when the lexicon presented refers to classroom objects, clothes,
or physical characteristics)
B) PRACTICE
Once the vocabulary has been presented, the next step is to give the pupil
the possibility to put into practice in adequate real contexts inside the
classroom in order to check that the student has understood. For this step
there is a series of adequate activities:
a) arrange drawings and words
b) riddles ( object, people or animals)
c) Bingo. This game can be used in order to practise any type of
vocabulary ( number, fruits, colours) . We can use this activity and
revising the vocabulary.
d) Arrange and classify ( in different categories: colours, liquids,...)
e) Domino
f) Telephone
g) Picture dictation
h) Arrange a text step by step
i) Association game. E.g.: I went to the market and bought some
bread//I went to the market and bought some bread and some
fish // ... .
j) stories
C) CONSOLIDATION OF THE VOCABULARY ACQUIRED
It is the most difficult because for the vocabulary learnt not to be
forgotten, it must be used frequently. Making collages is an adequate
instrument to revise vocabulary. Students themselves can collect photos
about determined semantic field ( animals, clothing, sports, fruits , ....)
stick them onto a pasteboard and write their names in English. We can
hung it on the walls ( as vocabulary reminders)
CONCLUSION
We will decide which vocabulary and resources are the most appropriate
and useful setting out from the peculiarities of our classroom . None of
them excludes one another. The use of motivating varied resources will
make the English class effective as well as amusing.
José Luis Martin Rol.