Scott Thornbury - What's the latest teaching method?

Watch Scott Thornbury's talk from our Better Learning Conference, where he discusses what he believes constitutes a 'good teaching method'.
The talk mentions various teaching tips which include authenticating language teaching by keeping it relevant, using the communicative approach and getting your students to 'experience' the language through immersion and more.
Explore more content like this over on our blog: www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/ca...

[@CambridgeUPELT]

Thank you for watching this video! From 25th April 2022, we won’t be sharing any new content on this channel. We’d love for you to join us over at kzbin.info for lots more English teaching and learning content.

[@MarcosGazzana]

This is an essential video for every EFL teacher. A complete historical overview of methods, methodologies and views on how languages are learned. What a great video! Well done!

[@user-lg1oj5kb4w]

Immensely grateful for the opportunity to acquire some knowledge from such a committed and passionate educator.

[@YuliaKostyuk]

I had a chance to listen to this in Kyiv in person! It is an amazing experience!

[@Chapali9a]

A great seminar by a great educator. I wish I could attend that conference. Always a pleasure to see such figures pushing for the development of the field of education.

[@anabellademarchi4325]

Witty and brilliant as usual. Thanks, Scott.

[@anasbenhaddou7827]

I just love this man. Knowledgeable, funny, simplifier. Thank you

[@teacherdaviacioli]

It was a pleasure to sit and learn from Scott's lecture, a big fat thank you!

[@anasbenhaddou7827]

Wow, you can't imagine how much work this professor have summarized for me when he showed the "Dimensions of Methodology" in the shape of those spectrums or arrows. Thanks alot ❤

[@GisleineTFF]

Relevant, fun, refreshing. A great talk.

[@janakicavalcante]

It's a privilege listen to and learn from him! Thank you for sharing it!

[@CambridgeUPELT]

No problem at all, Bella :) Glad you enjoyed it

[@ejalal33]

Amazing and really fruitful talk by one of the greatest ELT gurus ! thank you

[@ruquiakhanrashanakhan4348]

I truly appreciate you and your time you spent helping us in many occasions. Thank you very much for the such an excellent conference. I enjoyed every minute of your lecture as well as your marvelous sense of humor. Thank you for bringing your research to us and for your interest in helping us to improve our work.

[@sugarfree1894]

Methods and approaches come and go, but in the end, teaching is a matter of talent. A great teacher can use any materials/method to bring the language to life. On balance, I have come to believe that effective language acquisition is dependent on the confidence the student feels in themselves, and that this can be instilled with the help of the teacher. There are very confident L2 speakers who are all over the place in terms of accuracy and very limited in vocabulary, and yet their communication hits the mark. It's all about confidence. A great teacher can help the student forget that they are learning. That's when they really take it in. I'd be interested in learning about neuroplasticity and language learning. Any research you could point me towards? Great topic and talk, thank you.

[@CambridgeUPELT]

Hi, thank you for your comment. We have many articles on our World of Better Learning blog page, which discuss a whole range of topics to do with language learning. Do let us know if you find it of use!

[@dianejackson4649]

Great input, @SugarFree. If you are not yet familiar with Neurolanguage Coaching, (not to be confused with NLP) I believe you'd be blown away by the method devised by Rachel Paling of Efficient Language Coaching. She conducts free webinars so you'll get a very clear idea what it's all about. :-) www.languagecoachingcertification.com/free-webinar/

[@hassanabdullahi6343]

That's great.

[@sophieca6906]

If you want to do more research about it, use the term "self efficacy". You will find something.

[@mesiarum4409]

Thank you for the comments. I've been doing some research on the same topic, neuroplasticity in teaching English to adults learners. I also need to look for more theories that support it. It's not easy to find English teachers where I am from (Indonesia) who study neurolinguistics in-depth.

[@HavarNamar]

It was so great to listen to his talk! Thanks for the video upload.

[@shamou1988]

Very informative.Thanks for sharing.

[@kristoeko7505]

Great explanation with fun and very well organised.

[@explainedinenglish]

Thank you. It was a very fascinating talk and gave me a lot of food for thought.

[@hassanabdullahi6343]

I really thank my great mentor.

[@TaisiaDanilova]

My favourite trainer!

[@olgalingvo5428]

Fun, genious, fun, informative, fun, love Scott!

[@EasyFinnish]

I can't agree more with you...I am chuffed to bits after watching this!

[@sfatani3]

Very wise. I watched and took notes.

[@DrKhaleeqAhmad]

He's a brilliant and "awesome" writer..

[@hafedhsaif2276]

Thank you

[@FatenRomdhani]

Brilliant and outstanding

[@emmawaters6772]

Loved it

[@shaymaasayhood5218]

thanks a lot

[@laylash.r4668]

I always teach with passion, love, and respect. My students have always been happy with what they learn and the ways they are practising with. However, when I came to the Czech Republic for my Doctoral studies, I found it hard to find a job as a teacher in a school. I mean schools want the teacher to teach based on their own methods and do not let any changes, mostly. They are not open to changes!

[@markholbrook7181]

Delightful!

[@mojtabakazemi7606]

Constructive.

[@Olia_inspiration]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 03:37 📚 The history of language teaching methods shows how far we've come, but we may be going in circles. 08:23 🔄 The concept of a single "best method" in language teaching has evolved into a more flexible "post-method" era. 15:09 💡 Good methodology in language teaching has consistent principles that remain relevant over time. 19:51 🗣 Encouraging students to speak before they have learned through imitation of the teacher may be a more effective approach. 22:57 📖 Language should not remain confined to the pages of a book but should be experienced and used in real-life contexts. 24:07 📚 Language teaching methods have a history of evolution and recycling, with basic parameters being reconfigured for each generation. 25:32 📖 Methods in language teaching encompass six dimensions, including views on language, language learning, goals, syllabus, roles of teachers and learners, activities, and procedures. 26:26 🔄 The history of language teaching methods has seen a pendulum swing between focusing on form (structure) and function (communication). 28:01 🎯 Goals in second language learning have fluctuated between accuracy-focused approaches and communication-focused approaches. 30:55 📜 Language teaching procedures can be categorized into deductive (teaching rules) and inductive (discovering rules) approaches, and the role of the first language in instruction varies between bilingual and monolingual approaches. Made with HARPA AI

[@maratibragimov3726]

I agree with the previous comment. It's not reality only, it is a difficulty.

[@alesandroalbert]

41:09 BEST PART

[@leisanshavalieva]

I'm curious about the other page he shows which we can't see :D at 3:06

[@nata_profe]

The reality is that if you work in a language school, most of the times they do want you to stick to only one method, the one sold by the school. Unfortunately.

[@leisanshavalieva]

That's why I think it's a good idea to choose to work for schools that welcome a variety of approaches, where teachers can experiment and grow. Of course, students who attend "narrow-minded" schools may not be aware of such differences in schools.

[@okhunjonjumanazarov4046]

awesome

[@mariamkinen8036]

💕

[@chonamacabodbod4519]

great

[@insider_english1594]

Could someone please direct me to the linguistic logic behind the (pretty recent) increased occurrence stressing of prepositions: "And I'll return TO it." @6.20 which seems particular popular with new reporters, as well.

[@joesdi]

The funniest ever, I wish that after this pandemic, I could attend a conference where he'll be a speaker and get one of my books signed.

[@flordemariash.l2494]

I suppose that in 1964 they recommended not to allow (or force ) the learner to produce in the target language before having been exposed to it,in part because they , that is, the new teachers came from the strict and almost traumatic experience of the Prussian method ( Grammar-Translation metthod), or were very sensitive to the shy students or those ones educated for not making mistakes or for feeling like a failure or personal shameful spot on their part. I suppose that depending on the individual student, teachers could better avoid making shy students venture on uncharted territories ,at least until they know it is a safe enviroment to do mistakes ( there are cultural and particular psychological conditions to be considered).

[@samgravell3180]

"My finger is on your nose" is essentially what duolingo teaches learners to say 😂

[@leonardoaraldi9509]

I'm a teacher in Brasil, and coming from a small town, it's difficult to get in contact with english speakers outside the classroom, they can only access input in the classroom and/or with music and movies, so my question is, what area of SLA deals with L2 learners who aren't "acculturated" with other english speakers? [being native or not]

[@ozzieenglelewis]

so interesting. I am a beginning teacher, so not expert at all, but I wonder about online groups?

[@lesleybyron5069]

The TEFL industry in more recent times did redeem itself for a while, with the aid of the digital revolution, by making some of its pedagogical wisdom and theoretical underpinnings freely available for impoverished TEFL teachers to access to improve their practice. However, it still remains an elitist club from which those who have been schooled in a particular methodology and graduated from it to other methodologies and beyond are still guarding the gates of their own communicative revolution.

[@inglestherightway]

So sad to think the book market in Kyiv that he mentions is no more...

[@melissabadaoui986]

Methods are not dead . Don't be blind to use one method. Try smth else (book). New teachers needs structure, then other time they can adapt it but the key is if the T blvd in it and commitment

[@nkenchington6575]

The student needs to work as hard as the teacher. That message seldom reaches students' ears. Didn't do the homework? You just made it harder to make progress. Didn't ask the teacher to further explain something complex? You just made it har....you get the idea.

[@souidisaiouad9469]

I wonder if Scott has taken the permission , ie copyright , from the authors or publishers of these books most of which he made fun of in public?

[@samuelrodrigues4615]

No one need taking permission from the author to cite a book. When a researcher writes a article, does he or she need to ask for permission to cite the work in question?

[@whhhattevveerr]

He ought to spend his time studying successful polyglots...those people that can speak 3, 4, 5 or more languages. Learn their various techniques and figure out ways to implement that in the classroom. Our students are real people that need to learn english and other languages in order to reach their dreams and goals in life. This is a serious undertaking. We owe to our students to be the best we can be. Study teaching methods that bring real results and dump the rest.

[@Benandkyoko]

No one speaks 4 languages at the same level.

[@nkenchington6575]

English

[@chahrazed4471]

I have a few old books for sale, Algerian course books.

[@comoenelviejooeste12]

More than 40 minutes to say that there’s no best method? I think that most speakers talk too much to say, in the end, the opposite from it was expected. I even attended talks in which the speaker dared to sing with a guitar or talk about their children 🤔

[@vivthefree]

He says a lot over the 50 minutes or so, expounding the main idea.

[@carlospretel4630]

Thanks, you just saved me 49 minutes 😂

[@loanaluengas3516]

Listen carefully: adaptive expertise

[@melissabadaoui986]

Academic, scholastic, intellectual vs natural accusations experiential Everything i a mus btwn these extremes

[@hullcityafc72]

"somebody will leave off the third person -s and it will go through the class like a virus..." rather prescient, isn't it? just a few months after this conference, we were hit with the virus of the century, and Scott's classrooms with permeable walls were boarded up..

[@masaca20]

"There's no theoretical basis for Audiolingualism" ... I think Scott Thornbury made a big mistake.

[@timothywillis8883]

Great video! Thanks!

[@mehmet.albyrk]

Maybe in 2050s the people trying to teach methods of enhlish will possibly thumbs down what is all being talked.😂

[@andreyrybachek7200]

I'm a drunk teacher ahahahah doing my master's homework in teaching english and don't understand a thing in this video, good luck guys! Don't drink like a fish, please, it's harmful for your health ahhahahah

[@Lycxv]

Ok ?

[@andreyrybachek7200]

@@Lycxvpardon me?

[@DinaStrange]

His accent? or whatever way of speaking is so....hard to understand.