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| Scott Thornbury | ||||||||||||
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Responding to a changing world: Dialogue and agency Plenary talk for The 16th Annual KOTESOL International Conference, 2008. Click here for a copy of the bibliography in Word. Seven ways of looking at grammar What is grammar and how is it internalised in the mind? Is it symbolic code or is it neural connection strengths? Is it the sedimented trace of previous conversations or is it an innate human capacity? However we answer these questions obviously has an impact on the way we go about teaching second languages. In this talk I will review some of the key models of grammar – often couched as metaphors – and look at their implications in terms of classroom practice. In so doing, I will suggest that models grounded in both sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics offer a more valid basis for teaching than do purely linguistic descriptions. Click here for an edited powerpoint version Click here for a copy of the bibliography in Word. Click here for the handout: 10 things to do with emergent language Ten things you thought you knew about English grammar The way English grammar is described for teaching purposes has not changed a lot in a hundred years, despite advances in functional and corpus linguistics. We just keep adding more rules - and more exceptions. In this (relaxed) workshop, I attempt to show that there are NO exceptions, and in so doing I challenge some of the myths about English grammar, particularly the division into three (or is it sixteen?) tenses, the rules for future forms, and even the notion of grammar itself! Click here for a copy of the handout in Word.
The dialogue has been a core activity for language teaching since the 16th century! Traditionally dialogues have been used as a context for language presentation, and as a means of providing speaking practice. We will look at activities that target both these purposes, but I will also look at dialogue as a means of 'framing' learning opportunities - what is sometimes called 'dialogic teaching'. Click here to see an abridged powerpoint version of this talk.
There are at least three senses in which the term "discourse" is used: I show how each sense applies to a corpus of short texts, and I outline ten ways in which such a corpus could be exploited in the classroom. Click here to see an abridged powerpoint version of this talk
This short, illustrated talk was part of the entertaining Pecha Kucha event at the IATEFL conference, Exeter, in 2008, and takes the form of a potted history of how food is represented and talked about in ELT coursebooks. I go so far as to actually prepare a meal based on coursebook recipes! Click
here to see an abridged powerpoint version of this talk | ||||||||||||