Lexical Approach vs TBLT

A Reply to Dellar on the difference between his “Lexical Approach” and TBLT

Dellar’s video explains the difference between his Lexical Approach and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). He argues that language should be taught as patterns, collocations, and chunks rather than just grammar and single words. Dellar believes that CLT, TBLT, and Dogme syllabuses would benefit from his more sophisticated understanding of English, as it would allow teachers to predict the language needed for tasks. However, critics argue that Dellar fails to provide a coherent description of his unique view of the English language and has not offered clear criteria or principles for selecting and teaching lexical chunks. They question how teachers accurately predict the language students need without proper guidance.