Kształcenie świadomości językowej w gimnazjum — rozwijanie kompetencji leksykalnej i leksykologicznej
Teaching Language Awareness in Middle School — Developing Lexical and Lexicological Competence

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the results of studies aimed at evaluating the level of lexicological and lexical competence of middle school students, and the results of a study of school determinants of this competence assessed through surveys, interviews and in‑class observation. The level of lexicological competence was evaluated as good, whereas the textual examination revealed lexical competence to be lower and more varied. The most important shortcomings were: insufficiently retained comprehension of lexical categories introduced during Polish language classes, inability to draw the line between what is part of jargon and a general language register, better acquisition of receptively passive than active competence, evident shortcomings in passive and active vocabulary, particularly the vocabulary beyond commonly used range, and inability to understand metaphors from the textual context. The conclusions based on the in‑class observation were consistent with the results of the textual examination — students had more opportunities to deepen their lexicological competence. On the other hand, working on lexical competence was not systematic, too few lexical‑phraseological tasks were asigned and no tasks aimed to enhance lexical skill — expressive and receptive — were observed. The results of surveys and interviews point to the problem that many middle school teachers are not aware of the importance of developing and enhancing lexical competence. Therefore, they do not give it due attention in the educational process. Also, teachers are unable to determine the level of passive and active knowledge of vocabulary in their pupils whereby they are not fully aware of their students’ educational needs.

• Details
• Contents