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1 1. INTRODUCTION. 2. LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE. - Lexical field. - Semantic field. - Sense Relationships: systematic and paradigmatic relationships. o Synonymy, hyponymy & antonymy. - Creation of words: conversion, compounding & affixation. 3. NECESSARY LEXICON FOR SOCIALISATION, INFORMATION AND EXPRESSING ATTITUDES. 4. TYPOLOGY OF ACTIVITIES REFERRED TO TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY IN THE CLASSROOM. Principles for vocabulary selection. Acting sequence: techniques and activities. 5. CONCLUSION. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 2 1. INTRODUCTION. Now that we have introduced the topic, we are going to start analysing the English lexical and semantic fields. 2.
LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Lexical and semantic fields SEMANTICS is the branch of linguistics that studies meaning, changes in meaning and the rules that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their meanings. On the other hand, LEXICON is the grouping of words that form a language. Within it we identify two main groups: lexical field and semantic field. Following D.M. Brinton, SEMANTIC FIELD refers to the meaning of words. It is a grouping of words of the same grammatical category (all nouns, all verbs…) that share, far away from their differences, a common part of meaning. For instance: blackboard, pen, book… are nouns referred to school.
On the other hand, LEXICAL FIELD refers to the formation of words (D.M. Brinton). It is a grouping of words of different grammatical categories referred to the same topic (e.g.: book, study, teacher, reading… are nouns and verbs referred to school). Within the concept of lexical field we find the Lexical Family that is a group of words of different grammatical categories that have a common lexeme (the smallest unit of meaning in language), e.g.: happy, unhappy, happiness, happily… 3 Sense relationships The internal organising principles that create semantic fields are the SENSE RELATIONSHIPS: Syntagmatic relationships. It refers to the sequential characteristics of language.
When we construct words and sentences, we follow a certain order in arranging the individual items. Any other order would make the sequence unacceptable or entirely different in meaning. E.g. cat – tac. Paradigmatic relationships. It refers to the way in which lexemes can be substituted for each other. Several types of paradigmatic relationships have been recognised, including: o Synonymy is the relationship of "sameness" of meaning (The search of synonyms is a traditional pedagogical exercise). E.g. Fast-quick. o Hyponymy refers to the notion of inclusion, whereby we can say that something is a kind of something else. E.g. Hyponymy: Fruits. Words: Apple, orange…
o Antonymy is the relationship of opposition to meaning. Usually are thought in the same way as synonyms, but they are very different, due to there is a variety of different forms of oppositeness, such as: Complementarity. The existence of pairs that the denial of one implies the assertion of the other. E.g. male/female. Converseness. It expresses two-way contrasts that are interdependent, one presupposes the other. E.g. Buy/sell. Gradability. It permits the expression of degrees. E.g. Big/small. 4 In the case of English as a foreign language there is a further type of sense relation: translation, which is the relationship between a lexical item in English and Spanish.
Word formation Considering the fact that our main task is based on offering the student a series of resources to improve their Communicative Competence, we must make them aware that there exists the same possibility of WORD FORMATION in the foreign language as in their mother tongue by means of: Conversion. A word changes its category but not its form. E.g.: o From VERB to NOUN. E.g. to love/love. o From ADJECTIVE to NOUN. E.g. daily (newspaper). o From ADJECTIVES to VERBS. E.g. clean/ to clean. Compounding. It is putting two lexemes together. E.g.: o NOUN + VERB. E.g. headache. o NOUN + NOUN: E.g. teapot. o NOUN + ADJECTIVE. E.g. homesick. Affixation.
It is adding prefixes and/or suffixes to a lexeme. The prefixes are set before of the lexeme (dis-agree, super-market, anti-social, sub-way, pre-listening) and the suffixes behind (Farm-er, mean-ing, full-ness, sugar-less, simpl-ify) . As the examples of the prefixes and suffixes creation is almost infinite, we are going to make a selection: Reduplication. Words composed with two or more constituents which are identical or slightly different. (Ping-pong/ See-saw) Clipping. It denotes the subtraction of one or more syllables of a word. (Telephone- phone) Acronyms. Words formed from the initial letters or larger parts of words.
(USA/ UFO) Now, we will analyse the vocabulary our pupils will need in order to express themselves communicatively in common situations. 5 3. NECESSARY LEXICON FOR SOCIALISATION, INFORMATION AND EXPRESSING ATTITUDES. Throughout the history of the teaching of foreign language there have been 2 basic trends trying to select the most adequate vocabulary: - The frequency of use. - The fact that there are some words that are more necessary than others due to their direct relationship with learning aims. Besides, we should look for the context of general interest for our students in order to select the necessary vocabulary where the foreign language will be used in a real way.
These contexts might be, for instance: Instructions for the functioning and organisation of the classroom, describing objects, people or animals, informal conversation with the classmates, telephones calls, children's stories, exchanging letters with a pen friend, etc. We must consider that the classroom is the place where most of the student's interaction in the FL takes place, which allows using the language in meaningful situations, regarding the Learning Situations proposed by LOMLOE.
Thus, offering the students opportunities to acquire and use vocabulary with communicative purposes, that are the basis of the methodological principles of the Decree 209/2022, will allow them to develop their Communicative Competence. In SOCIALISATION we will study the necessary language to express different communicative functions. In this kind of interactions, some examples of the basic vocabulary, would be: 6 Beginning and ending a conversation: Greetings and introductions. Hello, how are you? I´m fine, thank you / Jim, this is Ann. Nice to meet you! Complimenting and congratulating. Congratulations for the gig. I´m glad you enjoyed it. Offering and thanking. Would you like some water?
Yes, please. Apologising and regretting. I´m really sorry. Never mind. Expressing good wishes, season greetings and toasts. Good luck! / Merry Christmas/ Cheers! Expressing condolences. I am extremely sorry for your loss. Now, we are going to study the expressions of INFORMATION as, probably, giving information is one of the most important reasons why we use the language. Opinions: asking for an opinion (what do you think about…?) Or giving an opinion (From my point of view…) Expressing agreement or disagreement (I agree/ I don't agree…) Clarification (Pardon? Could you repeat it, please?) Finally, we will now consider language as means for EXPRESSING EMOTIONS AND ATTITUDES of the speaker.
Likes and dislikes (I enjoy, I like/ I detest, I don´t like) Preferences or indifference (I´d prefer/ I don´t mind) Approval or disapproval (What a great…!/ I'm opposed) Emotive emphasis: Interjections (Gosh!), exclamations (Oh my god!), repetitions (He´s very, very silly) and emphasizers (she is an absolute…) 7 As this vocabulary is so important, the foreign language curriculum established by the Decree 209/2022 refers to them in the contents every block pointing: "Elemental lexicon related to the interest of the students…". Now that we have exposed the aforesaid, we shall concentrate on certain important factors to consider when teaching vocabulary and offering a series of techniques. 4.
TECHNIQUES AND ACTIVITIES USED IN LEARNING AND TEACHING VOCABULARY. A big range of activities in Primary Education refers to the acquisition of new vocabulary. For this main reason, teachers must be aware of the importance of selecting the most appropriate contents for his/her lessons. With this aim, we can follow the next PRINCIPLES FOR VOCABULARY SELECTION: It must be meaningful, allowing as much comprehensible input as possible (Krashen). That means it will be referred to the students' needs and interests. It must be real situational. The linguistic contents must make the deduction of meaning and context. It will be introduced orally. It will be used frequently, by different activities.
When working vocabulary there is an ACTING SEQUENCE that allows us to introduce and work it in every stage, within we can work different techniques and activities: 1. Introducing vocabulary. Vocabulary is introduced orally, in order to avoid the student get his/her own conclusions about pronunciation. Bearing in mind these factors we can present a word by means of: Verbal techniques. o Linguistic resources: as synonyms or antonyms. o By describing the word. o Using illustrative situations. o Guessing meaning from the context. 8 Visual techniques. o Using extra linguistic strategies like: showing objects, photos, mime, drawings… Kinetic techniques.
The Total Physical Response Method developed by James Asher is a good method in this aspect. Translation. It is effective sometimes, but should be carried out with care as literary translation forgets the cultural aspect of the language. 2. Practising vocabulary. Once we have introduced the vocabulary, the next step is to facilitate the students the possibility of practising it in appropriate real contexts within the classroom so that we can check they have understood. Activities: ordering words and pictures, guessing games, ordering and classifying, Telephone play, ordering a text step by step, association game… 3. Consolidation of vocabulary newly acquired.
Finally, in order to avoid forgetting the vocabulary with the same speed as it is learnt, teachers should design activities to revise and reinforce the vocabulary over and over again in different contexts. Thus, we will help the students to find and design the necessary techniques for themselves when revising and consolidating the vocabulary. Activities: building my own dictionary, collages, murals, oral expositions of their works, etc. 5. CONCLUSION. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Brinton, L.J. & Brinton D.M. (2010). The Linguistic Structure Of Modern English. John Benjamin Publishing Company *Dibujos por Jokin Gutiérrez 9