ANALYZE the MEANING of LEXICAL ITEMS Thee are three ways of doing it, looking at : 1.The components of meaning of lexical items, 2.The meaning of lexical items in context, 3.Meaning in relation to other words.

COMPONENTS of MEANING The definition : should use language that Ss understand or avoid using more complex grammar; Distinction between (1) the everyday meaning and (2) the much rarer second usage; Examples of how the word might be used Common everyday knowledge, feelings and reactions that we carry around in our head ( about the word ).

T HELPS Ss UNDERSTAND THE MEANING of LEXICAL ITEMS by : 1.Avoiding language more complex than the word he/she’s trying to explain (e.g. avoid complex grammar, keep sentences short ); 2.Focusing on the most important usages; 3.Using examples; 4.Using his/her own and the Ss’ knowledge and feelings to focus on what we understand by this word.

WAYS to HELP Ss UNDERSTAND COLLOCATIONS through MEANING in CONTEXT Pointing out collocations when they occur; Designing activities that focus attention on the collocations of particular lexical items ( eg finding a number of words that might come after ); Encouraging the use of dictionary research to check whether a collocation is typical or not; Setting text gap-fill exercises; Asking learners to guess meaning from clues in the context, rather than always relying on explanations or dictionaries; Getting learners to predict likely meanings or lexical items before seeing or hearing a text ( eg the story is about two people arriving in a strange town at night. What words do you think might be in the story ? ).

RELATION BETWEEN WORDS ANTONYMS or OPPOSITES : hot and cold UNGRADABLE ANTONYMS : on and off SYNONYMS : stroll and amble ONE WORD INCLUDES THE OTHER : drink and lemonade A GROUP of SUBJECT : gardening: flower, pot, spade, seeds FORMATION of ROOT WORD ( by adding prefixes or suffixes ) : nation – national – international – internationalist.