The ultimate goal of anyone who is learning a new language is to be able to express their own thoughts and ideas. Comprehending what you hear and read is essential, but not enough.
One needs words, expressions and, ultimately, sentences to communicate. We need vocabulary that we can access from our archive in the moment we need it. But how do we store enough vocabulary in our archive in a way that it is available to use whenever we need to?
Many language experts believe that grammar and vocabulary should not be seen as isolated parts of a language and some believe that grammar has less importance than vocabulary.
Sounds amazing to learn a new language only by acquiring vocabulary, right? But before we look into that, let’s talk a little bit about grammar.
Look at the following sentences below, this is a simple true or false drill. Try thinking about your own answer before reading them, to find out what you believe as a learner of the English language:
1. Studying grammar is a complete waste of time.
F - This one is entirely false. No, studying grammar is not a waste of time. It is valid. And yes, vocabulary is important, however, without knowing the correct structures you won’t know how to implement the vocabulary you’ve learnt.
2. Studying grammar helps you sound more sophisticated.
T – Absolutely true, we use the rules of grammar to edit and monitor our speech in order to make it more accurate.
3. Studying grammar is as important as exposure to the language.
F – Exposure to the language is far more important than studying grammar and never leaving the classroom. And this doesn’t mean you have to be an avid traveler or that you have to do an exchange program, exposure can come through reading books constantly, watching series and movies or listening to the news in English.
4. Studying too much grammar can be dangerous.
T – If you monitor too much what you say, you will end up not communicating at all. Constantly checking your speaking through your conscious knowledge of grammar will make you speak hesitantly, often self-correcting in a middle of a conversation, to the point of not being able to speak fluently.
5. Studying vocabulary without grammar could work entirely on its own.
F – Learning loads of vocabulary could work for simple communication and even boost your confidence in speaking. However, it would only work to a certain point, like in street communication, in simple tasks. It would never work in applying for a good job, or working in a big company where you would have to write emails and talk to clients or suppliers, once the risk of misunderstandings is too high.
If you agree with all the above you have everything you need to become completely fluent in any language. If you agree that grammar is the foundation of the acquisition of a language then we can now focus on noticing and learning chunks.
Some approaches to language learning, such as Michael Lewis’ Lexical Approach, focus on the importance of putting vocabulary in the center and believe that the largest bulk involved in learning a new language is the vocabulary and, more specifically, vocabulary chunks.
In language acquisition, the term chunk refers to several words that are normally used together in a fixed structure, such as “by the way” “in my opinion,” or “utter disaster.” Also, known as lexical chunks/ bundles, lexical phrases, and collocations.
Why learn chunks?
Neuroscience has found that our working memory has developed to remember short patterns of no more than four items at a time. According to research, our brains cannot remember isolated words. It doesn’t matter how many individual words you memorize, without fitting the words into patterns, your brain will have trouble retrieving them when you really need to remember. It’s like branding these patterns into your brain by associating them to a context, or an emotion. When we learn a chunk of language and we understand the context in which it was used in the first place, we will never wonder about that expression again and will be eager to use it whenever a similar situation arises.
What’s the best way of learning chunks?
Chunks of language might not make sense if you try to analyze the words separately, so the best way of learning chunks is through exposure to the language and memorizing the complete phrases or expressions. This includes learning phrasal verbs and collocations. Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and one or more particles, usually prepositions. Examples of phrasal verbs are: take off, wake up, get away with or look up.
A collocation is a grouping of words that simply sound natural to native speakers. Some examples of collocations are “do business”, “pay a visit” or “keep a promise”.
The trick is to condition yourself to spot chunks - the phrasal verbs, collocations or simple expressions that are commonly used - and understand their meaning within the situation. For example, if somebody says to you “Hurry up, we’re going to be late”, it becomes clear that ‘hurry up’ is being said to encourage someone to act quickly.
It is surprising at how much one can learn from context!
Whenever you see collocations while reading or listening to something, you should try to be aware of them, notice them, especially those that are used more often. So, the next time you read a book, underline phrases that make you think, “Oh, this is how they say that in English!”.
Keep a notepad around when you’re listening to podcasts or audiobooks and write down expressions you find interesting.
Write notes on your smartphone every time you think, “Wow, that’s a good adjective to use with this word” or “That’s the preposition they use in this situation!”
With a simple research you can also pull a list from the internet and study it, so your brain becomes aware that they exist, and triggers your memory if you see or hear them again in context.
Noticing chunks is the best and fastest way to learn a lot of vocabulary to help you put in practice the grammar your English teacher is teaching you. Instead of having the teacher telling you the importance and meaning of a certain expression, if you reach to that conclusion on your own, it is a lot easier to remember it in the future
Why are chunks so important?
Chunks are common phrases, patterns and expressions native speakers modify and manipulate when they want to express an idea. They are extremely important because:
1) They are very frequent – It is estimated that 30-50% of the language used in speaking, are chunks. Most non-native speakers sound unnatural because they don’t master chunks.
2) They are necessary – There are many concepts and ideas you simply will not be able to express by translating from your mother tongue. Imagine you know all the words, grammar rules, word order, etc, in English... if you think of “cometer um erro” in Portuguese, you would probably make a mistake by translating it and not paying attention to the patterns.
So embrace that your mother tongue and the language you are learning are different.
Learn how to notice chunks so you can master the speaking ability you desire so much and, if you don’t have one already, keep a journal of your English learning so you have everything written down when you need to remember or to use something you’ve seen before. The more meaningful a piece of language is to you, the more memorable it will be. Notice the chunks yourself!
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