TEMA 11:

- CAMPOS LÉXICOS Y SEMÁNTICOS EN LA LENGUA INGLESA.

- LÉXICO NECESARIO PARA LA SOCIALIZACIÓN, LA INFORMACIÓN Y LA EXPRESIÓN
DE ACTITUDES.
- TIPOLOGÍA DE ACTIVIDADES LIGADAS A LA ENSEÑANZA Y APRENDIZAJE DE
LÉXICO EN LA CLASE DE LENGUA EXTRANJERA.

If language structures make up the skeleton of a language, vocabulary provides the vital organs.
Grammar allows us to generate sentences, but at the same time words are needed to express meanings.
Thus, the acquisition of the vocabulary of a language is as important as the acquisition of grammar since
the words a person chooses when conveying a message are of crucial importance for the appropriate
understanding of the message.

Based on this view, the present essay aims to study the concept of Semantics and the lexical items
that students need in the process of socialising and communicating. In order to do so, I will divide this
topic into three main sections. In the first part, I will develop the concept of semantics. To do so, I will
first explain the difference between lexical and semantic fields in English. Then I will concentrate on the
semantic field theory and later on the sense relationships of words. In the second part, I will focus on the
selection of the vocabulary items to teach in the FL classroom, suggesting the lexicon that our students
need to learn in order to socialise, deal with information and express attitudes. Finally, in the third part
of the essay I will consider the different techniques and activities used in learning and teaching
vocabulary, taking into account the introduction of new vocabulary as well as the different ways to
practice it and some learner-centred techniques.

We deal with an essential topic since the main goal of FLT established by LOE 2/2006 in Primary
Education is the acquisition of CC, and this involves communicating appropriately. Therefore, students
need to learn not only what words mean, but also how they are used. In addition to that, the FL
Curriculum for Primary Education emphasizes the significance of this topic by including in its
objectives, 3rd block of contents and assessment criteria the identification and use of lexical aspects of
the FL.

FIRST
After this brief introduction, I will start to develop the first part of this topic by explaining the concept
of Semantics. We understand Semantics as the branch of Linguistics that studies meaning in language.
As we know, the meaning of a word is also inextricably linked to its contexts.

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 The unit of Semantics is the lexeme. Lexemes can be grouped into semantic fields, which are
concerned with communicative functions, or lexical fields, which are concerned with sense
relationships.

On the one hand, we understand semantic field as an area of meaning containing words with related
senses. For example, the various lexemes for parts of the body (leg, head...) form a semantic field. In
this sense and from the structuralist point of view, rooted in Ferdinand de Saussure´s work, language
can be understood as a network of systematic relationships between units.
This view of meaning is the starting point of the semantic field theory whose main ideas are:
Firstly, words define themselves against each other. E.g. in the semantic field of fruit, apple is not an
orange or a banana.
Secondly, words can belong to more than one field. Orange can belong to the field of fruit or colours.
Thirdly, fields are constantly expanding and contracting.

On the other hand, we understand lexical fields as the ways in which the words of a language relate
among themselves in a logical way concerning meaning. The internal organizing principles that create
these lexical fields are known as sense relationships and these relationships (between lexemes) can be
analysed under two main headings: syntagmatic relationships and paradigmatic relationships. This is
illustrated in Saussure´s example of the game of chess in which the value of individual pieces depends
completely on the relation to other pieces. In what follows, I will explain what these sense relationships
consist of:

On the one hand, syntagmatic relationships can be understood as the relationships between lexemes
which collocate. We speak of collocation when two or more lexical items can co-occur or are often used
together, for example rural life, green area...

On the other hand, paradigmatic relationships can be understood as the relationships between
lexemes which can replace each other. There are several types of paradigmatic relationships:
Firstly, synonymy is the relationship of “sameness” of meaning, for example the words “mad” and
“insane”. English is particularly rich in synonyms because of the influence of words from a variety of
languages. However, most linguists agree that total synonymy is very rare: there are usually stylistic,
emotional or other differences to consider.
Secondly, antonymy is the relationship of “oppositeness” of meaning. There are different types of
antonyms such as: gradable antonyms, which allow the expression of degree, for example “big” /
“small”; ungradable antonyms, which are mutually exclusive and do not allow degree, such as “alive” /
“dead”; converse antonyms, which denote a reciprocal relationship, such as “husband” / “wife”.

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 Thirdly, hyponymy is the relationship that exists between two terms in which the meaning of one is
included in the other, for example “colour” and “blue”. The general term (colour) is called
superordinate and the specific term (blue) is the hyponym.
Fourthly, homonymy is the relationship between words that have the same form (either the same sound
or same spelling) but have unrelated meanings. For example, train (means of transport) and train
(teach).
Fifthly, polysemy is a sense relationship in which a lexeme can be used to express different meanings.
These meanings are somehow related, for example, branch of a tree and branch of a company.
Lastly, incompatibility, is the relationship between groups of lexemes that are mutually exclusive
members of the same superordinate category, for example apple and banana are incompatible lexemes
within the category of fruits because we cannot say “This fruit is an apple AND a banana”.
Lastly, it is important to note that for language learners, there is a further type of sense relation:
translation. Most learners find it useful to make a conscious effort to link words between a FL and their
mother tongue, for instance the words “television” and “televisión”. However, this link between the FL
words and the first language previous schemas may lead to problems, because different cultures organise
aspects of the world differently.

As we have seen, words and their meanings are connected in syntagmatic and paradigmatic patterns
that create associations in the mind (schemas). These schemas are usually being constructed throughout
childhood, within the first language culture. When foreign language words are learnt, they are likely to
be linked to first language words and to enter schemas that have already been built. This link between
the foreign language words and the first language schemas may lead to problems, because different
cultures organise aspects of the world differently.

SECOND
After having considered the concept of Semantics and the main sense relationships in a language, I
will go on to develop the second part of this topic, that is, the selection of the vocabulary our students
need in order to express themselves with a certain degree of C.C. in common situations.

As LOE 2/2006 passed on the 3rd May establishes, one of the main objectives in Primary Education is
that “students acquire basic C.C. in at least one FL to enable them to express and understand simple
messages and get by in everyday situations”. The term communicative competence was coined by
Hymes and can be defined as the ability to use a language in an appropriate way in a variety of
situations. The social dimension of language is also taken into consideration, because as John Rupert
Firth states “language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with
society”. Since words are the “building blocks” of a language, the mastery of vocabulary is essential to

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achieve this C.C. in any language. For this reason, the vocabulary learnt in Primary Education must be
useful from a communicative point of view: children must learn the vocabulary needed for greeting,
expressing feelings, giving information...When teaching vocabulary, as McKeown and Beck state, it is
important to use both formal and informal vocabulary instruction in order to give the learners plenty of
opportunities to actually use the words.
Considering this, it could be said that the main criteria for the selection of words are:
1. Frequency: In general, the words that are commonly used by speakers of the language
must be taught first. However, function words (articles, prepositions, pronouns) are the ones
more used. Content words carry lexical meaning even out of context. Children will pick up
function words through continued exposure and use in different contexts, while content words
must be explicitly taught. Therefore a syllabus for children must have a higher amount of content
words.
2. Usefulness: A word is more useful if it has more than one specific meaning and can be used in
different contexts.
3. Learnability: Some words are easier to learn because they are similar to the mother tongue
word, they are short, it is easy to transmit their meaning, they have a regular spelling or they
are interesting for the children.

In what follows, I will deal with the vocabulary related to the three main communicative functions of
human beings: socialization, information and expression of attitudes.

((SOCIALIZATION))

Firstly, there is socialization .This communicative function includes the vocabulary needed to
establish and maintain social relationships such as:

GREETINGS
Hello / Hi
Good morning / afternoon / evening
Nice to meet you
How are you?
I’m fine / very well / not too bad

SAYING GOODBYE
Goodbye / bye, bye / bye
See you tomorrow / on Monday

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 COMPLIMENTING AND CONGRATULATING
Well done!
That’s wonderful!
Congratulations!

ATTRACTING ATTENTION
Excuse me!, May I have your attention, please?, Ladies and gentlemen!

SEASONAL GREETINGS
Merry / Happy Christmas
Happy New Year
Happy Birthday

EXPRESSIONS IN WRITTEN LANGUAGE (LETTERS)

Dear (name)
Please write soon
Yours
Best wishes

SPEAKING ON THE PHONE

Can I speak to John please?
I will phone him later

((INFORMATION))
Secondly, there is information vocabulary. Probably one of the most important reasons we use language
for is to give someone some piece of information which we think they do not know. This is typically
done by using questions and statements, which are very useful to ask, transmit or receive information
such as that concerning:

INFORMATION ABOUT ONESELF

Name (What’s your name? My name’s ...)
Origin (Where are you from? I’m from ...)
Nationalities (I’m English / Spanish ...)
Age (How old are you? I’m ...)
Address (What’s your address?)

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Marital status (Single, married, divorced)
Job (What do you do? I’m a...)
Family (Have you got any brothers or sisters?)
Telephone (What´s your phone number?)
INFORMATION ABOUT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
What do you look like?
I’m tall
I’ve got blond hair
My eyes are blue

PLACES
The house, the shops, buildings... (Where is the station? It´s opposite the supermarket)

THE TIME
O’clock / Quarter past / Half past / Quarter to/ What time is it?

THE WEATHER
What’s the weather like? It’s rainy / sunny / cloudy

PRICES
How much is it? It is...

((EXPRESSION OF ATTITUDES))

Finally, expression of attitudes includes the vocabulary used to express feelings, wishes and opinions:

LIKES AND DISLIKES

I love / I like / I don’t like / I hate
Do you like...?

EXPRESSING GRATITUDE
Thank you / Thanks / Thank you very much
Not at all / That’s all right

EXPRESSING APPRECIATION
Nice! / Good! / Excellent! / Great!

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 APOLOGIZING
I’m sorry

GRANTING FORGIVENESS
That’s all right
Never mind

HOPE
I hope to see you again
REGRET
I wish I were richer

SURPRISE
What a surprise!

THIRD
Now that we are aware of the most important lexical items our students need to express themselves
with a certain degree of C.C., I will go on to develop the last part of the topic, that is, the different
techniques and activities used in learning and teaching vocabulary. In order to do so, I will first focus
on the introduction of new vocabulary, then I will point out the different ways to practice and memorize
it as well as to consolidate and recycle it and finally, I will consider some learner-centred techniques.

In order to design, select or adapt activities to teach and learn vocabulary, we must bear in mind the
age, level, needs, experience and interests of our students, since the methodology used in Primary
Education is centred on the learners. In this way students will be motivated and we will ensure their
participation in the activities. We must also take into account the following principles:
1. The objective of the activity, the instructions and the resources needed must be clear.
2. An element of challenge must be introduced since children are naturally competitive.
3. Social interaction must be enhanced, even if pupils are working individually; they can ask
questions to their classmates, ask for help...
4. There must be a relationship and progression among the different activities planned, so that
pupils assimilate new vocabulary.

Next, I will concentrate on the stages that we need to follow when teaching vocabulary and the most
suitable activities for each one.

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 When introducing new vocabulary, it should ideally be presented in a context that is familiar to the
child. Visual support is also very important to help transmit meaning and to help pupils memorize new
vocabulary.
As words are often remembered in groups which have something in common, it is helpful to introduce
them in:

1. Lexical sets: shops, fruits, rooms in a house.

2. Rhyming sets: bat, rat, hat.
3. Colour sets: things that are green: lettuce, peas, grass…
4. Grammatical sets: adjectives, verbs, nouns…
5. Collocations: play the piano, loud noise…
6. Opposites: hot/cold, boy/girl.

Grouping words in that way helps pupils to associate new words with words they already know, which
favours meaningful learning and the development of Learning to Learn B.C. which is one of the 8 Basic
Competences established by The Royal Decree 1513/2006.

Let me now explain the main techniques to introduce vocabulary, which are visual and verbal
techniques and translation.
Firstly, there are Visual techniques, as flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall-charts,
mime, gestures and realia among others which have a great communicative power. As the saying goes
“One image is worth a thousand words”.
Secondly, there are Verbal techniques. We can explain the meaning of new words by giving a short
definition of them. We can also encourage the students to take risks and guess meanings from context as
often as possible. Another efficient technique is eliciting vocabulary items from pupils by asking
questions or using opposites since sense relationships between words like antonymy can be very
effective to teach vocabulary. We can present the meaning of tall by contrasting it with short. This
technique has two advantages: related words are learnt more easily and students learn two words instead
of one. Finally, Translating techniques can be used if visual and verbal techniques do not work.

After the set of words has been introduced, students must first listen to the word several times to
become familiar with it. To do so, we can do activities such as listen and point or listen and mime. Then,
they imitate the model and repeat individually or in groups.
Once students are familiar with the new set of words in their oral form, the written form must be
introduced. The ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ technique can be used. The first step is looking and the

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word and noticing the letter shapes and the number of letters. Next they say the word and then the letters
out loud. After that, they write the word in the air making it large and small. Then they cover the word
and try to write it correctly on paper. Finally they check if the spelling is correct.

Once I have considered the different ways of introducing new vocabulary, I will concentrate now on
the main ways of practising and memorising vocabulary.
This stage involves children in activities requiring them to do things with the words, in order to make
strong memory connections by learning them in groups. Some activities at this stage are:

- Classifying words into categories: red things, farm animals…

- Picture dictation: “Draw a green car”.
- What’s missing? The teacher asks the pupils to look at some pictures carefully and then tells
them to close their eyes. S/he removes an item. Pupils open their eyes and tell what’s missing.
- Word searches: Children enjoy searching for English spelling patterns.
- Sequencing: The teacher or a student gives instructions to sequence some pictures, such as “Put
the chocolate cake first”.
- Labelling: Students are given a picture and they have to write the name of the objects in the
picture.

Once I have considered the main techniques and activities to practise and memorise vocabulary, I will
concentrate on consolidation and recycling techniques, Children learn new words relatively quickly but
they also forget them quickly. In order for these words to enter their long term memory they need to
practise with them regularly, to consolidate and recycle words. In order to do so, they can make:

- Vocabulary books: They can be organized alphabetically, by topic or situation, by grammatical

group…
- Collages: Pupils collect pictures around a particular theme and stick these to a large sheet of paper
which can be used to decorate the classroom.
- Word networks: Pupils build word networks taking as the starting point a topic and then writing
down words they associate with this.
- Word banks: Pupils can make their own sets of vocabulary cards and store them. Then, they can
consult their word cards anytime they want.

After having considered consolidation techniques, I will examine some learner-centred techniques.
Recent studies have emphasised the importance of equipping our students with the necessary strategies
to deal with activities. In this sense, children need to develop strategies for vocabulary learning so they

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understand and memorize words more effectively, discover patterns with words and know how to make
guesses about the meaning of unknown words. This will help them to become more involved in their
vocabulary learning and to be more independent.

Among these strategies, we could point out asking and answering others in English because it fosters
co-operative learning; deducing meaning from context, which is a predictive skill that they must use in
listening and reading activities; trying to get the general idea of messages instead of trying to understand
every single word; and of course, using a dictionary which is one of the most important strategies we
must teach our students since it is reflected in the FL curriculum for Primary Education. As we know, a
dictionary is an infinite source of language and it will give them the pronunciation, grammar, spelling
and meaning of words.

Conclusion
To conclude, I would like to remark that, as I have proven in this topic, the teaching and learning of
vocabulary, although it is only one subgoal of the range of goals in FLL, it plays a key role among the
language components.
It is highly important for us as teachers to make the best selection of the types of vocabulary that we
want to teach, but it is even more important to choose the best ways to teach it, being aware of the
different semantic characteristics and the needs of our particular group of students. In addition, we must
bear in mind that vocabulary is a means to socialize and communicate with others, and that the different
techniques used in learning and teaching vocabulary should be aimed to this end.

In this topic I have focused on the difference between lexical and semantic fields in English. Then I
have given some guidelines to the selection of the vocabulary items to teach in Primary Education.
Finally, I have concentrated on the methodology to use when teaching vocabulary, explaining the
different steps to follow and their correspondent activities.

In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used:

BREWSTER, J. et al. (2003): The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Penguin English.
HARMER, J. (2003): The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.
LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. (2003): Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University
Press.
VARELA, R. et al. (2003): All About Teaching English. Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces.

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