Vol. 4 Issue 43 – Video: Seven Ways of Looking at Grammar

ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#43 | October 22, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036

What is grammar, and how is it internalized in the mind? Is it made up of symbolic code or of neural connections? Is it a sedimented trace left by previous conversations or an innate human capacity? Our answers to these questions obviously shape the way we go about teaching second languages.

In this talk, Scott Thornbury reviews some of the main models of grammar—often couched as metaphors—and looks at their implications for classroom practice. Thornbury is a faculty member in The New School MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program and an author whose work has been published by Oxford University Press.

Sponsored by the English Language Studies department School of Languages at The New School for Public Engagement |http://www.newschool.edu/ce/englishlanguagestudies and Oxford University Press.