All articles by Scott Thornbury

Article

Grammar: have got

Scott Thornbury explains how 'have got' came to have its modern meaning and usage.

Article

Awareness, appropriation and autonomy

In this article from the archives of English Teaching professional magazine, Scott Thornbury says that learning how to speak is as important as learning what to say.

Article

Methodology: Coherence and cohesion

Can a cohesive text be incoherent? Is coherence subjective? Scott Thornbury takes a look at the difference between coherence and cohesion and suggests some practical ways that we can teach both in an EFL context.

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Vocabulary: pre-teaching vocabulary

A discussion about the value of pre-teaching vocabulary.

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Vocabulary: when to teach phrasal verbs

Advice and suggestions about when to start teaching phrasal verbs.

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Methodology: task-based learning

An article discussing task-based learning consciousness-raising activities.

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Methodology: individualizing in groups

An article offering suggestions and advice on how to individualize learning within a group.

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Grammar: 'unless' and 'if'

An article explaining the difference in meaning between if and unless in conditional sentences.

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Grammar: modal verbs may and might

An article explaining the difference between the modal verbs may and might.

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Grammar: the verb 'to be'

A discussion answer to the question "what is the verb 'to be'?"

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Grammar: practising the present and past simple tenses

Imaginative suggestions for teaching the present and past simple tenses to children.

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Grammar: reporting verb patterns

A discussion and teaching suggestions for reporting verb patterns.

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Grammar: the syntactic function of -ing forms

An article discussing the syntactic function of -ing forms.

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Grammar: -ing forms and post modification

An article discussing -ing forms and post modification.

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Methodology: fossilized errors

Suggestions to help students overcome fossilized errors.

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Minimal resources: The immediate environment

Scott Thornbury offers some valuable tips and ideas for using your immediate environment to make imaginative language lessons.

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Methodology: using video in English teaching

Advice and suggestions on how to use video in English teaching.

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Minimal resources: Role-plays and discussion

Scott Thornbury gives us some imaginative tips and ideas for using role-plays in lessons.

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Debate: The end of reading? - Part one: What are we teaching, reading or English?

Scott Thornbury questions the relevance of reading activities and whether they just teach us what we already know.

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Debate: The end of reading? - Part two: Evidence from personal experience and research

In the second part of this debate, Scott Thornbury shares his personal experience of learning Spanish and digs into the research of L2 reading skills.