1. TOPIC 11. THE LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELD
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. NECESSARY
VOCABULARY FOR SOCIALIZATION,
INFORMATION, AND THE EXPRESSION OF
ATTITUDE. ACTIVITIES RELATED TO
TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE FOREIGN
LANGUAGE CLASSROOM.

2. INTRODUCTION
Vocabulary has an important role in helping us to
create and understand new messages. The
meaning of words can provoke problems among
the speaker and listener for several reasons. For
example, a single word can have more than one
meaning. The listener has to select the word
meaning according to the context the conversation
is taken place. For this reason, context is really
important; it influences the interpretation of words.
So we have to bear in mind the meaning of words
and the way they are used.

3. THE LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELD
The lexicon refers to the vocabulary of any
language, the group of words it recognises. When
people travel, they don’t carry grammar books,
they carry dictionaries. The lexicon includes the
lexemes used to form words, what words are, how
the vocabulary in a language is structured, how
people use and store words, how they learn
words, the history and evolution of words (i.e.
etymology), types of relationships between words
as well as how words were created.

4. THE LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FIELD
• The Semantic field.
The Semantic field refers to words that being the
same have different meanings depending on the
context where we use them E.g. Bank. It also
includes words that have a common meaning
although some different characteristics e.g. an
armchair is a chair with arms. The semantic field
of a given word can shifts over the time e.g. man:
human being- adult male.
• The Lexical field.
The Lexical field refers to words that belong to the
same group according to lexemes. For example,
neighbour, neighbourhood, neighbourlike…

5. Words from a semantic point of view
a) Synonyms are different words that share meaning e.g.
student/ pupil.
b) Antonyms are words with opposite meaning e.g. tall/
short.
c) Hyponyms are words whose semantic range is included
within another word. For example: scarlet, vermilion,
carmine and crimson are all hyponyms of red which in turn
is a hyponym of colour.
d) Polysemy is when a word or lexeme has more than one
meaning. For example bank can be a place to save money,
the edge of a river, a place to sit, etc.
e) Homonymy, in turn can be divided in homographs when a
word shares the same spelling and, therefore, the same
pronunciation but have different meanings e.g. bear:
animal/ carry. Homophones are those that have the same
pronunciation but different written form, and of course
meaning e.g. to/ too/ two.

6. Sentences from a semantic point of view
a) Pragmatic meaning: depending on the context the
sentence is produced, it can have a different
meaning. For example: ”I have to iron the clothes”
can answer to a question to get information or an
order.
b) Social meaning: sentences can express social
meanings which affect the relationship between the
interlocutors depending on the intonation you give
the words. For example: “what are you doing?” can
convey politeness or rudeness.
c) Prosodic meaning: the emphasis of certain words
can modify the sentence. For example: “I am tall”
meaning not you, “I am tall” meaning not short.

7. VOCABULARY FOR SOCIALIZATION
1. Greetings of welcome and farewell,
seasonal greeting, etc. For example: hello,
goodbye, happy birthday and so on.
2. Asking feelings: how are you? I am fine.
3. Introducing and being introduced: nice to
meet you!
4. Inviting and offering: would you like…?
5. Congratulation, well done.
6. Permission: can I go to…?
7. Asking for things: can I borrow…?

8. Vocabulary for asking information
1. What’s your name? My name is…
2. How old are you? I’m… years old.
3. Where are you from? I’m from…
4. Where is the…?
5. What’s the weather like? It’s sunny.
6. What time is it? It’s half past three.
7. How much is it? It is (price) dollars, pounds,
euros…
8. What’s your (favourite, telephone number…)?
My… is…
9. Can you (actions)?

9. Vocabulary expressing attitude
1. Like/ dislikes: I like/ hate/ love…
2. Giving thanks: thank you very much, you
are welcome.
3. Apologising and granting forgiveness: I’m
sorry, don’t worry about it, never mind…
4. Expressing preferences and desires: I
prefer/ wish/ would like; my favourite…
5. Providing intentions: I am going to…; I will…

10. DIDACTIC GUIDELINES
• Learning vocabulary is very important in the acquisition of
languages. As much more we know, better will be our
communication.
• We must select the words that frequently appear in reading
and listening, the words that are commonly used in real
situations close to our students’ interests.
• The students have to learn it first in an oral way, since
difficult English sound- graphy relationships.
• To adapt all activities to the students’ interests and
characteristics.
• It should be presented in a meaningful context.
• It should be interesting and practical for the students.
• It should be shown in different ways to reach all students’
learning styles (visual, pronounced, etc.).
• It should be revised frequently so they do not forget it.

11. METHODOLOGY
1. First contact with the vocabulary.
New vocabulary must be presented orally; we can use some
contextual aids such as Realia, flashcards, pictures,
students can draw the vocabulary in cards and play with
them, mime the words or actions, make noises for example
of animals, identify the words in a song and raise their
hands when they hear a word they know, etc.
2. Vocabulary practice.
Exercises that allow students to work with the oral form: Simon
says, picture dictation, guessing the object, telephone…
and with the written form: matching pictures with words,
write the word on your partner’s back, and he or she has to
guess it, crossword, bingo, dominoes, puzzles, running
dictation…
3. Production of the vocabulary.
Students can create picture dictionaries, posters…

12. CONCLUSION
This topic has shown the importance of
vocabulary in second language learning;
without it, it is impossible to communicate
in the foreign language. Teachers should
select the most relevant words and
phrases, taking into account the students’
interests and the frequency of the words in
texts and listening activities. Vocabulary
should be taught in context to avoid
problems of understanding.