hot off the press...
english elements trainer Lucy Clegg introduces the Powerfile to an employee from the FestungsBahn.
2005
In March 2005 we had the great pleasure of welcoming Michael Lewis to the english elements centre. It was also a great honour to be able to show him some examples of our filing systems which we have developed using the original concept of "The Lexical Approach". He was most interested in the work we have accomplished with our e-filing projects at Salzburg Airport, Grundfos Pumpen, Salzburg AG and Cosmopolitan Cosmetics. In picture left to right Lucy Clegg, Michael Lewis, Helen Macfarlane, Robert Gisshammer, and Thomas Bickle.
More info concerning the lexical approach
Michael Lewis (1993), who coined the term lexical approach, suggests the following:
Lexis is the basis of language.
Lexis is misunderstood in language teaching because of the assumption that grammar is the basis of language and that mastery of the grammatical system is a prerequisite for effective communication.
The key principle of a lexical approach is that "language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar."
One of the central organizing principles of any meaning-centered syllabus should be lexis.
Within the lexical approach, special attention is directed to collocations and expressions that include institutionalized utterances and sentence frames and heads. As Lewis maintains, "instead of words, we consciously try to think of collocations, and to present these in expressions. Rather than trying to break things into ever smaller pieces, there is a conscious effort to see things in larger, more holistic, ways" (1997a, p. 204).
