Mtra. Martha Lorena Obermeier Pérez Marzo del 2014.

P RESENTATION These materials have been designed as a tool for the students of the academic unit Didactic of grammar and lexical elements.. These materials offer important information about concepts related to teaching vocabulary in an English class.

J USTIFICATION Grammar and vocabulary are two concepts related when teaching English. International exams are integrated with several parts, such as grammar and use of English. Besides vocabulary is evaluated. In this material, students from the online bachelor degree will find how to teach these two concepts.

Guessing from context Kind of clues:  Your knowledge of the world Often you can guess the meaning of a word just by using your own knowledge of the world and how things work.  Punctuation clues With punctuation clues, the meaning of a word is explained immediately after the word between brackets, commas or dashes.  Definition clues The definition is linked to the word with a linking word, usually a verb.

 Example clues Examples are usually introduced by expressions like these: such as, for instance, including, for example, and like.  Comparison clues Comparison clues show that two or more things are like. Words like similar, as well as, both and likewise show that comparison is possible.  Contrast clues With contrast clues, you use the opposite of known information to figure out the meaning of an unknown word. Connecting words like however, yet, on the other hand, instead of, but, while and although are used to show that meanings are opposite.

 Referent clues Referent clues is when an unknown word is referred to (mentioned) again using a synonym or explanation of the word. Synonyms often follow words like this, that, these, those, or the. Sometimes, however, there is no obvious clue word. The reader just sees that the meanings are probably similar from the ideas in the sentence.

Multi Word Verbs …are multi--word combinations that comprise relatively idiomatic units and function like single verbs. Three main types: Phrasal verbs: verb + adverb particle Prepositional verbs: verb + preposition Phrasal--prepositional verbs: verb + particle + preposition

*One way of using texts in the classroom. A possible approach is to underline in a text all the phrasal verbs you as teacher wish students notice. Then, in groups, ask them to try to guess their meanings. The students will thus be able to use the context to help them.

Idioms ♠ Idioms have traditionally been defined as expressions whose meanings are non-compositional, that is, their meanings are not the functions of the meanings of their individual parts (Chomsky, 1980 & Fraser, 1970).

Connotation and Denotation Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary.

Practice Exercise 1 Read the following sets of words, and then write each word in the appropriate column according to the connotation, or association, it has for you and your friends. The words are: thin, plump, fat, slim, chatty, quiet, talkative, moody snooty, friendly, vain, proud, shack, residence, apartment. Connotation and Denotation Positive connotation Negative connotations Neutral connotations.

McIntosh et al. define collocation as 'the way words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing' (2009:v). In line with Fontenelle, 'there does not seem to be any clear-cut, non-controversial definition of the term "collocation" (1998:191).

Sense Relation The different types of sense relations can be described with the help of the logical operations of implication and contradiction. A logical implication is a metalinguistic relation between two propositions.

Different types of sense relations Words which are symbols retain their relationship with objects or attributive objects. For instance, 'desk' reminds us of a wooden object or other objects which are attributed to the desk. Words which are related to nonphysical affairs and abstract concepts are considerably broader. For example, 'religion' can remind a person of the following chain: Religion → symbol → concept → { morality – society – faith – language – family} (Ekhtiyar, 1992, p. 104). We can examine the sense relations between words.

Hyponym ♠ The term hyponym indicates "a relationship whereby one word includes others within a hierarchy, so that we have superordinate words and subordinate words" (Hedge 2000: 116). ♠ “Specific examples of a general concept; [thus,] dog, lion, mouse are hyponyms of animal", and "co-hyponyms or co-ordinates [are] other items that are the 'same kind of thing'; red, blue, green and brown are co-ordinates.”

Synonyms and Antonyms Synonyms and antonyms represent two main categories by means of which lexis is introduced, recycled and tested in language classes, since by presenting similar or opposite meanings of a word.

Translation equivalents An expression from a language which has the same meaning as, or can be used in a similar context to, one from another language, and can therefore be used to translate it: for example, English I don't understand, French Je ne comprends pas, Italian Non capisco, Modern Greek Dhen katalaveno, Japanese Wakarimasen.

References PETTIGREW J.(1995). Guessing from context. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 11 february 2014]. STEELE Vanessa (2005). Multi Word Verbs. [ONLINE] Available at: word-verbs-methods-approaches. [Last Accessed 11 february 2014]. VAHID Hossein Dastjerdi (2010). Teaching Idiomatic Expressions in Context through Focus on Form Techniques. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 07 february 2014] Connotation and Denotation. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last accessed 10 february 2014]. Denotation and Connotation. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last accessed 10 february 2014].

(2009). Collocations. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 10 february 2014]. (April 2013 edition vol.9, No.11). Sense Relation. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 11 February 2014]. Oxford Companion (). Translation Equivalent. [ONLINE] Available at: equivalent. [Last Accessed 12 February 2014] National Capital Language Resource Center (2007). Developing Grammar Activities. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 18 Febrero 2014]. Douglas college (n.d.). Guessing from context. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed April ].