In Episode 76 of The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast, co-hosts Shé and Anna sit down with teacher trainer and host of Everything EFL, Erin O’Byrne, to explore how the Lexical Approach can transform both teaching and learning in the English language classroom.
Erin shares how her journey—from pandemic boredom to professional epiphany—led her to embrace the Lexical Approach as a practical, empowering methodology that just makes sense. She explains how shifting from teaching individual words to teaching chunks of language helps students process meaning faster, use real-world English, and become more confident, autonomous speakers.
“ You are giving them real-world language. The lexical approach is very much conversation driven. They recognize things. They notice things faster.” — Erin O’Byrn
From corpus linguistics to classroom spontaneity, this episode explores how teachers can “learn it loose,” noticing and recycling meaningful phrases that actually appear in authentic communication. Erin also unpacks emergent language and how creating space for student-led noticing can reduce prep time, prevent burnout, and spark creativity for both learners and teachers.
Whether you’re new to the Lexical Approach or looking to refresh your teaching, this conversation is packed with ready-to-use ideas and reflective insights on how to move from rules to real language.
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