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Building Lexical Awareness Through Sustained Authentic Text, Jeff Puccini

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes an experiment to implement a lexical approach in the context of a High-intermediate ESL classroom. The vehicle for building students’ lexical awareness was Sustained Authentic Text (SAT). SATs, a term I coined, refers to texts like newspapers, TV programs, etc. covered for a prolonged period—a month or more, as opposed to one-off lessons, or traditional textbooks. The students were young adults studying in a non-credit Intensive English Program (IEP) in San Francisco and the paper focuses on one two-month period during which time the SAT was the TV sitcom, Two and a Half Men. The paper …