SEMANTIC FIELDS AND EFL/ESL TEACHING

Abstract

The vocabulary of a language is a system of interrelated lexical networks but not acollection of independent items. Vocabulary of a language is organised into fields withinwhich words interrelate and define each other in various ways. Sense relations are notenough to explain the relation between some lexical items. For example, we cannotexplain the relation between patient and hospital through synonymy, antonym, hyponymy,polysemy or homonymy, but we can say that they belong to the same semantic field whichwe can label as ‘health’. In this paper, semantic field also known as word field, lexicalfield, field of meaning, and semantic system is explained by giving supporting examples.Besides, some implications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Teaching Englishas a Second Language (TEFL/TESL) are suggested.