Teaching Lexical Chunks

Corpus‐based studies have uncovered widespread formulaicity in both oral and written English. Our preferred way of using language is to rely on lexical chunks frequently and repeatedly, which allows us to achieve communicative functions efficiently and affords us time to express novel thoughts and complex ideas in real time. Linguistic competence includes proficient use of prefabricated units; therefore, teaching vocabulary should also include the systematic instruction of lexical phrases. The entry explores the typology of lexical chunks with rich examples and offers seven pedagogical practices to help English learners master them.