Although retrieval of lexical forms is a prerequisite for language production, research of L2 vocabulary learning has focused much more on meanings and form-meaning mappings than on development of detailed, accessible mental representations of forms. This is particularly true with respect to multi-word items (MWIs). We report an experimental study…

A strategy is presented for explaining (and discerning) subtle differences in two words that appear to be semantic twins in one context but are not interchangeable in another context. This strategy suggests the following: (1) list several phrases that contain one of the problem words, then swap the second word for the first; (2) examine the…

Outlines a new approach to teaching prepositions and directional adverbs based on work by Brugman (1981) and Lakoff (1987). The article aims to familiarize readers with the gist of prototype semantics as applied to prepositions, and to suggest pedagogical applications and benefits, with particular reference to the word "on." (15 references)…

Discusses the uses and advantages of pictorial schemata in teaching vocabulary to second language learners. The advantages are that the learner is encouraged not only to deal with lexical ordering but also to look for such ordering when learning the language outside the classroom. Describes how to design a schemata. (SED)