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Keywords

second language writers, teaching English, Lexical approach, academic writing, recycling text

Submission Type

Research

Preview

Linguist, Michael Lewis suggests that a “recycling” strategy should be at the heart of an approach to teaching English (especially to speakers of second languages). He calls this specific approach the “Lexical Approach.” This approach focuses on ways in which students can use pre-fabricated linguistic units and/or formulaic expressions to form new language. In addition to the Lexical Approach, a “Template Approach” endorsed by Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein, also advocates the “recycling” of chunks of language to form new discourse. Their text, They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, contains formulaic language used to promote the use of academic language. The Graff/Birkenstein text advocates structures such as this: “In this summary, I will discuss ______” (allowing for an elaboration by the student). In the realm of “recycling” as it is apparent in the Lexical Approach and in the Template Approach, a teacher simply teaches a student to intentionally appropriate or “recycle” common patterns of usage and phrasing in order to create new constructions.

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