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The Teacher Development Series
Uncovering Grammar
Como profesores a menudo hablamos de “cubrir” puntos gramaticales. Esta obra analiza por qué es más útil pensar en cómo los podemos “descubrir” para revelar su funcionamiento a los alumnos y motivarlos a entenderlos.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2001
8 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Scott Thornbury
56 books123 followersMy name is Scott Thornbury. I'm a teacher and teacher educator, with over 30 years' experience in English language teaching, and an MA from the University of Reading. I am currently Associate Professor of English Language Studies at the New School in New York, where I teach on an on-line MA TESOL program. My previous experience includes teaching and teacher training in Egypt, UK, Spain (where I live), and in my native New Zealand. My writing credits include several award-winning books for teachers on language and methodology. I am series editor for the Cambridge Handbooks for Teachers (CUP). I was also the co-founder of the dogme ELT group.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 1, 2011
An interesting and insightful book for ESL teachers, presenting grammar as a 'process' rather than something that should be 'taught'. This is essential reading for any DELTA candidate and includes some very useful photocopiable activies in Part 2.
August 11, 2011
A must for any teacher hoping to be inductive. This book has some great ideas for making grammar learning more accessible for students and more fun for teachers.
June 7, 2017
I absolutely loved that book. I found answers to some questions that puzzled me (for example, why my students are misuing "simple" constructions like Present Simple even after getting a lot of practice, while simultaneously producing quite complex chunks of language correctly). It has fantastic activities (I basically want to try them all... well, eighty percent, I'm not a big fan of discourse analysis, but, come on... eighty percent!). Also, I loved the way Thornbury showed how delicate the balance is between maintaining the flow of conversation and still doing error correction, getting SS to notice language features, etc (I enjoyed reading transcribed parts of teacher-student interactions - could picture them easily).
There was a highly practical chapter on "grammaring up" (how to create the need for more complex grammar, how to aid interest, how to give them more processing time, etc.) So, there is a lot of practical information, and there are is also quite a lot of SLA research quoted, innovative ideas expressed, and yes, this book did "trigger a little turbulence" in my state of mind, as the author intended.
In short, this book is brilliant. I liked it so much more than "How to teach grammar", which is an overview of, well, different ways to teach grammar (you can do it this way, and you can do it that way, this road takes you in this direction, and that one in that, now choose :)). "Uncovering grammar" is where Scott Thornbury gives his opinion on how grammar should be taught, and he makes a persuasive case.
PS. Read it in 5 days (with note-taking on the margins and everything, I'd say 90 minutes a day or less), plus two or three days leafing through the book to see if I remember what I've read. Out of the books I've read so far as part of my pre-DELTA preparation, this one was the most enjoyable. Highly recommend.
There was a highly practical chapter on "grammaring up" (how to create the need for more complex grammar, how to aid interest, how to give them more processing time, etc.) So, there is a lot of practical information, and there are is also quite a lot of SLA research quoted, innovative ideas expressed, and yes, this book did "trigger a little turbulence" in my state of mind, as the author intended.
In short, this book is brilliant. I liked it so much more than "How to teach grammar", which is an overview of, well, different ways to teach grammar (you can do it this way, and you can do it that way, this road takes you in this direction, and that one in that, now choose :)). "Uncovering grammar" is where Scott Thornbury gives his opinion on how grammar should be taught, and he makes a persuasive case.
PS. Read it in 5 days (with note-taking on the margins and everything, I'd say 90 minutes a day or less), plus two or three days leafing through the book to see if I remember what I've read. Out of the books I've read so far as part of my pre-DELTA preparation, this one was the most enjoyable. Highly recommend.
September 13, 2020
First off, the book' title is so accurate. Scott stays on-task throughout. Secondly, the Introduction is far and away the most well-written Intro to any ELT book I've read. The premise for grammaring is well articulated and grounded in SLA data.
Those of you engaged in teacher training courses will find the concepts here essential to moving beyond the empty vessel approach to teaching and learning. I mean, come on, PPP keeps teachers employed. It does in fact require more than a modest shift in mindset to allow grammar to emerge.
It's not easy to let grammar emerge, especially in traditional classrooms where learners even expect that mode of transmission. And all the "ifs" is Unit 5 are not practical. They are indeed fairly sweeping assumptions. Unfortunately all those Unit 5 ifs are ideal situations unlikely to appear in my lifetime.
Nevertheless, the big but here is that there are plenty of opportunities to sneak in noticing activities, CR tasks, and other ways to sabotage a structural syllabus, in favor of grammaring.
Very motivating resource for me. Really enjoyed the brief talk on complex systems.
Those of you engaged in teacher training courses will find the concepts here essential to moving beyond the empty vessel approach to teaching and learning. I mean, come on, PPP keeps teachers employed. It does in fact require more than a modest shift in mindset to allow grammar to emerge.
It's not easy to let grammar emerge, especially in traditional classrooms where learners even expect that mode of transmission. And all the "ifs" is Unit 5 are not practical. They are indeed fairly sweeping assumptions. Unfortunately all those Unit 5 ifs are ideal situations unlikely to appear in my lifetime.
Nevertheless, the big but here is that there are plenty of opportunities to sneak in noticing activities, CR tasks, and other ways to sabotage a structural syllabus, in favor of grammaring.
Very motivating resource for me. Really enjoyed the brief talk on complex systems.
July 5, 2019
Though thin, an extremely useful book. Would recommend it to anyone who teaches ESL/EFL.
April 14, 2015
Thought-provoking.
Interesting approach to viewing 'grammar' not so much as a product that learners need to master but more as a process through which grammatical structures emerge in the course of a learner's language acquisition. Sits well with me and my thinking around productive, input-rich language learning environments that allow language to emerge naturally and in a scaffolded, guided way.
Embedding these ideas into teaching and learning practice is, of course, the much tougher call, and something for me to mull over.
Interesting approach to viewing 'grammar' not so much as a product that learners need to master but more as a process through which grammatical structures emerge in the course of a learner's language acquisition. Sits well with me and my thinking around productive, input-rich language learning environments that allow language to emerge naturally and in a scaffolded, guided way.
Embedding these ideas into teaching and learning practice is, of course, the much tougher call, and something for me to mull over.
December 11, 2015
This was the second time I read this awesome book. It sure caused a little turbulence in my state of mind when I read it for the first time. I would give it more stars if I could. A must read for any language teacher, and not only. I will definitely read it again and again.
November 19, 2012
Essential read for every TEFL teacher
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews