1. Phrasal Verbs Acquisition through the Analysis of its Particles
Instructional Technologies in Second Language Acquisition
Universidad de Sevilla
May 2009
Rafael Moreno Esteban

2. INTRODUCTION
A Phrasal Verb is a verb consisting of two (sometimes three) parts; a verb and an adverb or preposition. Most are formed from a small number of common verbs (such as get, go, come, put and set) and a small number of adverbs and prepositions (such as away, out, off, up and in).
Phrasal verbs sometimes have meanings that can easily be guessed (such as sit down or look for). But in most cases their meanings are quite different from the meaning of the verb they are formed from: for example hold up can mean 'to cause a delay' or 'to try to rob someone' and has no obvious connection with the idea of 'holding' something.
Rafael Moreno Esteban

3. Our intention is to trigger the productive skills of the English learner through the understanding of the meanings of the root verb and the preposition/adverb, which form an entirely new lexical entity. We will complete a series of exercises to learn the semantic role of the prepositions or adverbs, which will help us to unveil the meaning of the phrasal verbs thus formed.
Rafael Moreno Esteban

4. TASK
We are going to try and understand the meaning of a number of phrasal verbs through the analysis of the separate meanings of the root verb and the adverb or preposition. In order to do that we will follow the following steps:
We will first look at the common semantic roles of the particles that normally follow a root verb to form a phrasal verb.
Then we will establish the meanings of the root verbs.
Finally, you will have to complete an exercise to enhance the understanding of the meanings of the proposed phrasal verbs.
Rafael Moreno Esteban

5. PROCESS
You have already taken a pre-test on phrasal verbs. We are trying to learn the meaning of a group of phrasal verbs by analysing the separate meanings of their particles in order to guess their actual meaning.
We will first complete Exercise 1 to learn the usual meanings of the particles that make up phrasal verbs.
Secondly, we will check the meaning of the root verbs that we are going to study in step 3.
Finally, we will do a matching exercise. Here, we'll match 20 phrasal verbs with their meanings.
In the next slide, we have the exercises and we can also see these phrasal verbs in context, in order see their meaning even clearer.
Rafael Moreno Esteban

6. TRAINING EXERCISES Exercise 1: meaning of prepositions
Exercise 2: meaning of the root verbs
Exercise 3: meaning of phrasal verbs
Verbs in context
Rafael Moreno Esteban

7. CONCLUSION
We have tried to approach the learning of phrasal verbs through the understanding of the separate meanings of their particles. This way, we can make an educated guess of the aggregate meaning.
We can try and use this strategy with all the phrasal verbs we may come across.
Also, we will see whether the acquisition of such vocabulary is different in a classroom environment -with a PowerPoint presentation- and an autonomous learning environment -using this Web Quest-.
If you are interested in learning more about Phrasal Verbs, please visit the following links:
Rafael Moreno Esteban

8. THE END Thanks a lot for your undivided attention!
This PowerPoint presentation is available at
You can also visit the WebQuest by clicking here.
Now it is time for another test!!!
Rafael Moreno Esteban