Lexical Semantic Field as One of the Keys to Second Language Teaching

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the development of skills connected with the acquisition of foreign lexis (Lexis = all possible words or phrases in a language) on the basis of semantic fields (Semantic field = a lexical set of related items, e.g., colour, red, green, blue). This becomes possible due to grouping well-known and unknown to the students lexical units to systemized semantic groups—semantic fields. Semantic fields can be useful for the quantitative and qualitative enrichment of the vocabulary; they serve to choose a lexical unit correctly, to collocate lexical units according to existing norms, to use the lexis of various semantic fields in different contexts without mistakes, to guarantee conscious, automatic language skills of the students and to increase their active vocabulary.