Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Péter Antonyi: Phrasal verbs: a study and its implications for teaching methods

examples such as turn up (= arrive), look sth up (in a dictionary), follow up (= investigate), and own up (= confess) seem like square pegs in round holes. At least we can say that such examples form only a small minority. This theory suggests that learning phrasal verbs would be much more effective if they were grouped according to the particle rather than the verb (e.g. for up: eat up, drink up, finish up...). Perhaps a more sophisticated grouping would form various sub-groups to match different meanings of the same particle, as derived in the quotation. However, I must admit that I have no experience about the real efficiency of this method. 2.2 Teaching aspect Contextualization is a keyword at presenting any kind of vocabulary, since it proves to be beneficial in many ways. On the one hand, it sets guessing to operate - a basic strategy we pursue in everyday language use (mostly in understanding) and also an excellent device of personalization. On the other hand, it carries information on structural features (e.g. word order, separability) and pragmatic (e. g. register) properties of a given combination, so it is a good way to fix the meaning in the minds of the students more effectively. To sum it up, its purpose is:

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9 To supply groups of words that regularly accompany particular phrasal verbs and that should be learnt in company with them. These groups of words help to limit and define the meaning of a verb. 2.2.1 The three Ps Practically, after a contextualized presentation, the teacher can make the students guess what the approximate meaning of a given phrasal verb is. This should always precede the drilling stage to avoid mechanical drilling in favour of meaningful drills. The practice stage may consist of choral drilling followed by group drilling, finally getting to drilling in pairs. Here the teacher might want to employ different sort of substitution drills that make the meaning even clearer by providing additional contexts. As for a possible production stage we might imagine a groupwork activity in which the students contrive situations employing the given phrasal verb to be acted out 1

9 Mortimer 1972 p. iii (intro.) 75