SEMANTIC FIELDS AND EFL/ESL TEACHING

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Published: Apr 11, 2018

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Gültekin Boran
Gazi University Gazi Education Faculty Department of Foreign Language Teaching Program for English Language Teaching

Abstract

The vocabulary of a language is a system of interrelated lexical networks but not a collection of independent items. Vocabulary of a language is organised into fields within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways. Sense relations are not enough to explain the relation between some lexical items. For example, we cannot explain the relation between patient and hospital through synonymy, antonym, hyponymy, polysemy or homonymy, but we can say that they belong to the same semantic field which we can label as ‘health’.  In this paper, semantic field also known as word field, lexical field, field of meaning, and semantic system is explained by giving supporting examples. Besides, some implications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Teaching English as a Second Language (TEFL/TESL) are suggested.

Key words: Semantic fields, structural semantics, lexical network, lexical field, semantic system

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 5 No. 2 (2018)
Section
Articles

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Author Biography

Gültekin Boran, Gazi University Gazi Education Faculty Department of Foreign Language Teaching Program for English Language Teaching

Gültekin Boran received his bachelor’s degree from the ELT program of Gazi Education Faculty of Gazi University, master’s degree from MA TEFL program of Bilkent University and Ph D diploma from the ELT program of the Institute of Social Sciences of Gazi University. He worked as an EFL teacher in secondary schools and as an EFL instructor in various faculties of Gazi University. Gültekin Boran is currently an assistant professor in the ELT program of Gazi Education Faculty of Gazi University. His research interests are micro teaching in EFL teacher training, teaching pronunciation, pragmatics, language learners’ motivation and error analysis in language teaching. 

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