A recent study of neologisms has restated the prominent position of the lexicon from a linguistic point of view. From the perspective of language teachers, it is evident that an adequate vocabulary plays a crucial role in the ability to communicate in a foreign language. The fact that the lexicon is a major component of a language has caused the demand that vocabulary teaching be restored to a more prominent position in language-teaching curricula. One focus, of interest to ESL teachers, is the area of word formation in English. Because word formation provides essential clues for word recognition, language teachers should be prepared to teach the basic rules of productive word-forming processes. According to a number of sources, the five most productive types of word formation in present day English are affixation, compounding, clipping, conversion, and blending. Studies suggest that different instructional strategies snould be placed in the foreground in teaching vocabulary at different proficiency levels. While basic students learn from selective listening, songs, rhymes, and drills, more advanced learners would be better served by synonym and antonym exercises and with clusters of contextualized vocabulary arranged according to situational or semantic categories. (AMH)