Applied Linguistics

 THE NEW FEASIBLE LEXICALLY-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

Whenever we talk about the language, our mind will be directly connected to the real use of the language. English as a lingua franca means that we can use it for our purpose. To use English as the language does not simply mean that we know the words are, otherwise we know how the word is perceived, stored, and re-produced. It is obvious that the use of the language is not only deals with its usage but also in what way we communicate our thought by using that language to convey our meaning. In communicating our thought in the second language, we often lose whether in translation or in lexical-choosing. It is due to the fact that we have been taught English as it is a segmental subject consists of some elements that each is learnt individually. For example when we study grammar, we focus only on the formula and the structure of grammar itself without really concerning on the words choices, combination of words, and the most frequent words uses. It also happens in the vocabulary aspect that we normally understand it as a word itself not as a chunk. For example we may be naming the word as a ‘belt’ but how we perceived the word is that the matters. Belt is not only something we use in our tummy but also it can be used to save our life by fasten our seat-belt. The clusters of words are appeared in the real language that we use in everyday conversation. We do not talk bookish language however we talk with human in which we have to be concern on how it is acquired by the speaker of the language.

The idea of lexically based language teaching arises from the real problem faced by the English second language learners that shows insignificant result of learning English by using traditional method.  It is stated that English Department students and English language teachers only had about 15% of native words size (Kweldju). It is kind of ironical that the students of English departments whose assume that they have more featured ability in speaking English rather than students from the other departments are in fact only master a little of their specialty itself. English has to be taught differently as the impact of the approach has shown that it needs improvement in the language-learning setting. We have been familiarized to the idea of the flesh and bone at the former time. The further action needs to be done in coherence with the prospected view on more successful learning English is by applying a novel method in learning English as a lingua franca.

As Thornbury in 2002 stated that words are the building blocks that uses to convey our meaning aided by naming objects, actions, or even ideas, however vocabulary remains the important since it gives great significance to language learners and it handles a critical stand point in language-learning setting. It can be seen that the former idea of learning language as a second language is so much woven on the concept of flesh and bone. We may also have some thinking in our mind that vocabulary is needed to be learn firstly since it is not there in our native tongue or it is there yet it slightly; greatly different. As an Indonesian whose the native of Bahasa Indonesia, our critical point of view was formerly formulated the idea of grammar first. It directed our mind that when we master grammar the vocabulary of English would came as follow. However what we found out the next is surprisingly challenged our previous idea. The approach of learning English as a communication device has shown us the great difference of learning English as communicative devices. We might have known about the concept of linguistic competence and performance. Language, is cannot be avoided, that its structure is the intuitiveness of the owner of that language. Later the idea of language + social base elements would come as follow. We cannot enhance only to the one aspect of language whether it is an intuitive ability or it is socially constructed through the process of acquiring language. The two elements are working together to shape our understanding to language itself. In parallel with those view, let us try to figure out what the significant of understanding English as a lingua franca by using a new insightful approach in learning-language setting.

Lexically-based language teaching is an approach of teaching method that taught English Second Learners to understand English as building blocks. It does not adhere with the idea of former building blocks which were giving emphasize only on vocabulary comprehension. We now all know that to build a block means that the materials are inseparable one to another. The materials are let us says that we understand it as vocabulary and grammar in the notion of learning English. All time it has been said that the bone of the language is grammar and the flesh is the lexicon (kweldju). The lexically-based teaching model does not contain the idea of one language aspect should be taught firstly of another aspect. Language as building blocks nowadays give some significant ideas in understanding language as a building made from the blocks layering one onto another. It means that when we learn the language we cannot only emphasize on vocabulary first, or grammar first.

As we remember all in elementary school we have been taught vocabulary all the time firstly. We began to memorize some words of parts of the body, fruits, things, numbers, and also kinship terms. When we decided to continue our study to the next level we started to confuse of the use of to be, subject and grammar; more specifically how to use that elements to the complete-appropriate-correct sentences. We perceived the words as it is, not as it is not. The language we use is actually the concencus of the users of the language itself. We do not speak the language as a paragraph, yet we speak it as we talk to others. Between the speak and the talk there is of course two different core points. We speak in a notion of formality, correctness, and purity. Hwever in the real world environment we talk to our neighbor, family, and also environment for the sake of communicating our thoughts. Since some distinguish sentences may contain some linguistics feature to convey, there raises an argument that lexically-based language learning is more possibly aiding the learners to learn key structure in language (Lewis : 1993). We may take a look as the example below.

i.e 1) I love cat à “I” positioned as the subject, “Love” positioned as the verb and “Cat” positioned as the object. When we taught this sentence as the individual word to our students let us just take example to add on their word list the word “I” and the meaning, our students may easily know correctly what is the meaning of that word. However, they may not know how to use it in order to convey their meaning and thought. They know the word “I”, yet they do not know how to say that “I” can be the media to express their thought to something they fond of, like as the use of “I Love”. “Cat” somehow is also can be positioned as a subject as well as an object. However students that do not know the correlation between the lexicon and the grammatical based notion may be strayed in comprehending the word as when it has been integrated to the sentences. We might be teaching the structure of each language by saying that the language structure is head-modifier or vice versa. However those students might come to the same question in which why the structure is different from their mother tongue. It is the result of not teaching English based on the lexically-based model. We tend to expose our students to the language only rather than to familiarize our students to the truly different languages. It makes us to do more efforts on the later steps of teaching English in order to enabling our students to perceive the language better.

i.e 2) I love singing à when we teach our student this distinguish vocabulary to our students as a word, it will also contribute some hardship to them. Right from the first time we introduce the different form of vocabulary asides with the grammar that being used. We all agree that when we intend to use the simple continuous sentence, we have to use verb in the form of verb+ing. However there is an exceptional in language that we usually name it as gerund. Our students will now encounter some questions in their mind. Why is there a gerund, and why is there an exceptional since the things that had been taught to them seems rigid and now something distract their mind and it is about exceptional thing in language use. In explaining gerund as itself not as a chunk of on what the paired word that usually used with it will also give some tricky question to the students and also bizarre answer from the teacher. The question of students will more likely to ask questions such above and all we do is answering it to the uses of the word ‘rules’. When it comes to the word rules, our students mind will be likely to think that it is a rigid, conservative, and unchangeable. However in fact, the language we use is always develops and changes.

i.e 3) I am studying à in this what all we know as simple continuous tense we all agree that we have to use verb as the form v+ing. However the students that we taught by using partially element explanation will directly compare it into the use of gerund. The students that know about gerund previously will not be misguided in comprehending the sentence and the structure. However the beginner learners will directly being confused in that two sentences. One called simple continuous sentence and the other one is something that seems like simple continuous tense but it is not. Regarding the fact of confusion experience by beginner language learners, the best method is that to apply the lexically-based language teaching model for very first time. The explanation about what grammar and distinguish language features that being involved may later be explained after the students know how language is being used not only what kind of language that they have to use in order to fulfill the “demands and rules” needs.

Communicative competence is a larger area of linguistics use. It does not only concern to the use of language based on the demands and rules needs; yet also it is tightly related to the real use of language. Conveying meaning when it is touched on communicative competence means that we relate two competences of using language which are language competence itself + social knowledge. In language teaching of linguistic competence includes phonological, syntactic, and semantic competence we can divide it into four domains wich are fluency, complexity, capacity, and appropriacy. The first domain is that fluency, it deals with the use of smooth, natural use of speaking the language. By using lexically-based teaching method we might be agreed to a point that the natural and smoothness can only be reached by habitual uses of the language. We have to try to figure out on the condition in which when we simulate to learn language in the real use of the language. We examine the co-occurrence data that based on the real use of the language by using concordance. The development of concordances and linguistics has gave some significant to the learner as we now are been able to manipulate the real use of the language data (Willis & Willis, 1990; Willis, 2006). We do not need to do a research in a literal means in which we, ourselves, do the field research. However, the development of technology had enabled us to do research without any burdening efforts; yet we still have to work in our own to find what we want to find. In concordance production where we can easily find the most frequent uses of language (Kweldju) may give significant in aiding language fluency. All we need to speak is that the collocation of the vocabulary that binding together with the appropriate grammar. In the real-language based data, it has been served to us what usually people say to convey their meaning without necessarily adding pausing here and there. Vocabulary takes a great deal in aiming the learners to speak fluently. Concordance seems like a bank of vocabulary for us. We do not need to retain our precious time to only seat and search while sitting in the bench to find and match our vocabulary with its pairing. When we have been habituated into lexically-based language teaching, our mind will be more sensitive since we also have been exposed to it before as we use lexically-based language teaching continuously.

In producing complex sentences, we apparently need the use of more than knowledge in average. Complex sentences may deal also with various vocabulary and grammars. Supposed that we have teaching for years our students to grammar that is separated from vocabulary. We might be pre-assuming that it will cause some errors in comprehending the sentences correctly. Take for the example the use of different grammar in each type of conditional sentence. Our students will be more likely to have strategic on memorizing the rules rather than thinking it logically. In coherent with structuralist tenets which explain that language is to be thinking as the patterns of form and its function and not only about the idea of ‘core grammar’ and as the means to ignore the peripheral devices of it (Goldberg, 2003); then arises an argument that to learn a language means to learn the culture. We cannot be leninety depended upon only to a strategy in order to understand English, however we have to be creative in perceiving the language to our mind. Think English when we learn English and do not think Indonesian while we want to convey our messages by using English. The exploring of concordance software has made an easy way to English learner to see what  English actually is in the real use. We can be easily access in what way is the language being pared into one element to another. so the concordancing method is also very useful to aid learners to make their language sounds smoothly, not dully or choppily English.

The use of lexically-based language teaching is also generates some significant in learning English as it is stated that the lexical-codes strategy showed significant effect of condition which is F(2,46)=4.06, P<.04. (Kweldju). The ERP data has proven that the lexical codes in this case by using lexically-based teaching model is succeeded. The capacity of our memory to prefabricate the words has grown simultaneously because of the using of thsi strategy.

In appropriacy that sometimes has relation with the pragmatic aspects, we might be having some perspective in minds that in teaching language as a segmental subject contributes some failure of understanding this component. It cannot be avoided since when we write utterance as a sentence, without any following utterance that had been written, it leads our students to misunderstanding. Supposed that we encounter two sentences which seem has no relation one into another however when we master appropriacy we can directly know that those two sentences are logically connected. The example is when A asks B whether B likes ice cream or not and B simply answering A’s offers by saying “I am on my diet” on some students that do not know what is the relation between offering ice cream and in diet may causes some problematic language comprehension. Therefore, it is critical to maintain student’s ability in understanding the language in terms of perceiving, storing, and re-producing it not only correctly but appropriately by using lexically-based language teaching model.

Grammatical, communicative, and lingusitic competence are all aspects that responsible for explaining everything about the language. Grammatical competence deals with the ability of native speaker in speaking the language. Grammar and vocabulary are two important things to apply in the setting of learning the language. Both are responsible in making our language natural. Hence, lexico-grammatical approach is the best way to study the language. Vocabulary and grammar works together to make meaning. When study about vocabulary we study for fluency, not for parsing; but in lexico-grammatical unit. Since language has several aspects that the one needs most memorization is vocabulary, therefore in learning the language we need to pay attention and learn vocabulary as a chunk. In coherence with lexico-grammatical approach, we now process language as collocations.

REFERENCES

Goldberg. Adele. E. (2003). Constructions : a New Theoretical Approach to Language. Linguistics Department, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801-0168, USA.

Rahimi, Mehrak, Ghodrat Momeni and Reza Nejati (2012). The impact of lexically-based language teaching on students’ achievement in learning English as a foreign language. English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Lavizan, Tehran, 1678815811, Iran

Kweldju, Siusana. Lexically-based language Teaching: Empirical Data, Trend in Linguistics, and Computer Assisted Concordancing. Universitas Negeri Malang.

Kweldju, Siusana. Applied Linguistics : Linguistic Competence versus Communicative Competence.