Lexis and ESL

When I was attending my TESOL certification course, I heard the word "lexis" in a different context. This word was used to represent the list of words that the ESL or EFL learner must be taught in order to fully understand significant parts of the lesson.

For example, in doing a reading lesson, the teacher has to pick out the words that are essential to understanding the story and review these words before the student reads the reading passage.

The ESL teacher's experience should help to guide him or her in deciding which words to pick out. The decision will be made based upon the level of the students, the teacher's knowledge about the students, and (here's the one where you'll always get it right) the words that the ESL/EFL teacher can see are necessary to understand the story. Don't worry if you find that the students already know the vocabulary. This makes it even easier. Just be sure to have your "lexis list" before the lesson and make sure that you can easily explain the definitions.
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