Archive copy.
International Conference 2018
Plenary Session
Fluency and How to Achieve It
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Fluency is a slippery concept: we think we know it when we hear it, but we have a lot of trouble trying to define it. And even more trouble trying to teach it! Various contributing factors have been proposed, including speech rate, lack of pausing, accent, vocabulary range, idiomaticity and grammatical accuracy but it’s not always clear which of these factors are key, nor which are teachable. In this talk we will together assess a speaker’s fluency, and then address the difference between ‘productive fluency’ and ‘perceptive fluency’ ? that is, the impression speakers give that they are fluent even if there overall language competence is relatively low. Finally we will look at how these ideas might impact on classroom teaching.
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Invited Second Session
Seven Things Beginning with "A"
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The history of education, and language education not least, has been a history of contrasted metaphors, by means of which the often invisible processes of learning are conceptualized and modelled. Over time we have witnessed a shift from cognitive models to more socially embedded ㅡ even ecological ㅡ ones. Drawing on selected entries in The New A-Z of ELT (Macmillan 2017), I aim to track these changes and suggest their implications for ELT.
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Invited Session: Social Justice SIG
Gay Is a Global Issue
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Human rights are being eroded in every quarter, with the LGBTQ community is often the first to be targeted. How, as educators, can we counter discrimination and prejudice without being accused of promoting a "gay agenda"? There are no easy answers, and every context will require different strategies. Sharing our own stories is a start. Small acts of resistance may be another. Not to mention being great teachers and caring human beings! This session explores these themes, and welcomes your participation.
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Biographical Sketch
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Scott Thornbury has taught and trained in Egypt, UK, Spain, and in his native New Zealand. His writing credits include several award-winning books for teachers on language and methodology, including How to Teach Vocabulary and How to Teach Grammar (Pearson). The second editions of both About Language (Cambridge) and An A-Z of ELT (Macmillan) were published last year. His latest book is Scott Thornbury’s 30 Language Teaching Methods (Cambridge). He is also the series editor for the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. His website is www.scottthornbury.com
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Scott Thornbury Resources on the Web
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Video: The Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Hall of Fame
https://youtu.be/j31Bj-XIFSk
Website: Scott Thornbury
http://www.scottthornbury.com/
Biography: Scott Thornbury
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/scott-thornbury/scott-thornbury...
