The position this paper assumes views vocabulary not as single words but as phrases, sentences, and sometimes entire segments of discourse that act as single words. This view of vocabulary would be helpful in: (1) bringing the vocabulary aspect of instruction in English as a second language (ESL) closer to current research in language performance, (2) connecting communicative language teaching and notional functional grammar, and (3) learning the grammatical system of a language. Segments of language of varying length are called formulaic or prefabricated speech. Like individual words, they are stored in memory as units. First language acquisition research that views them as early units of language acquisition suggests that they may be used in second language learning to make storage and retrieval more efficient. Methods for teaching lexical phrases include analysis and creation of variations after a segment is learned, much as a first language is learned; and designing lessons that treat a single, predictable situation focusing on some communicative need and offering a few simple lexical phrases for dealing with that interaction, providing a routinized lexical framework for discourse. Further research into the timing of introduction of controlled variation is needed. (MSE)