Scott Thornbury (born 1950 in New Zealand) is an internationally recognized academic and teacher trainer in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Along with Luke Meddings, Thornbury is credited with developing the Dogme language teaching approach, which emphasizes meaningful interaction and emergent language over prepared materials and following an explicit syllabus. Thornbury has written over a dozen books on ELT methodology.[1][2][3] Two of these, 'Natural Grammar' and 'Teaching Unplugged', have won the British Council's "ELTon" Award for Innovation,[4] the top award in the industry (in 2004 and 2010, respectively).
Thornbury is also the series editor for the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers,[5] and the author of many academic papers on language teaching. His 'A-Z of ELT' blog[6] is one of the most influential and well-visited blogs in the field of ELT.[citation needed] His approximately 15 textbooks for beginning and intermediate learners have been published by major academic presses, including both Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, although his recent stance regarding 'Teaching Unplugged'—also the title of one of his methodology books—is often described as being strongly anti-textbook.[citation needed]
Currently, Thornbury is Associate Professor of English Language Studies at the New School in New York, and Academic Director at the International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi).[7]
Publications
Academic books
Thornbury, S. (2019). Scott Thornbury's 101 Grammar Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. (2017). Scott Thornbury's 30 Language Teaching Methods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. (2013). Big Questions in ELT. The Round.
Corbett, J., and Scott Thornbury, S. (2010). Intercultural Language Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S., & Meddings, L. (2009). Teaching unplugged: Dogme in English Language Teaching. Surrey, England: Delta.
Thornbury, S., & Watkins, P. A. (2007). The CELTA course: Certificate in English language teaching to adults : trainee book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. (2006). Grammar. Resource books for teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[8] 97 locations in Worldcat
Thornbury, S., & Slade, D. (2006). Conversation: From description to pedagogy. Cambridge language teaching library. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press . 187 copies listed in WorldCat[9]
Review, Friedman, D. " Theory and Practice: Conversation: From Description to Pedagogy by Thornbury, Scott. . The Modern Language Journal. 93, no. 1: 124-125, 2009
Thornbury, S. (2005). Beyond the Sentence: Introducing Discourse Analysis.. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 2005.
Thornbury, S. (2005). How to teach speaking. Harlow, England: Longman.
Thornbury, S. (2004). Natural grammar: the keywords of English and how they work. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 97 listings in Worldcat[10]
Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. Harlow: Longman.
Translated into Chinese, as 如何教词汇 Beijing: World Knowledge Publishing Corporation, 2003. ISBN978-7-5012-2083-0[11]
Thornbury, S., and Underhill, A. (2001). Uncovering Grammar. The Teacher Development. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann English Language Teaching, 2001. ピアソン・エデュケーション, Tokyo : Piason edyukeshon, 2001 ISBN978-4-89471-854-8
新しい英文法の学び方・教え方 / Atarashii eibunpo no manabikata oshiekata (How to learn a new way of English teaching)
Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar. Harlow, England: Pearson Education. 282 holdings in WorldCat[12]
Thornbury, S. (1997). About language: Tasks for teachers of English. Cambridge teacher training and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 272 copies in WorldCat[13]
Under what circumstances do we apply the word "scientific" in language learning? A roundtable. (With Earl Stevick, Roslyn Young, and Robert Nusbaum). Prism: A learning Journal. Vol 5. Spring 2000, 7-138. *Reading and writing as arithmetic. Modern English Teacher, 9/4. October 2000, 12-15.
Walking while chewing gum: A review. IH Journal, Issue 9, October 2000, 5-7. Also: EA Journal, 18/1, 89-95.
Teaching unplugged (or: That's Dogme with an E). It's for Teachers, Issue 1. February 2001. 10-14. (re-printed in In English, Autumn, 2002 (British Council, Portugal)).
Dogme out in the open. IATEFL Issues, 161, June–July 2001, 6 (with Luke Meddings).
Coursebooks: The Roaring in the Chimney. Modern English Teacher, 10/3. July, 2001, 11-13 (with Luke Meddings).
Using the raw materials. Modern English Teacher, 10/4. October 2001, 40-43 (with Luke Meddings).
The unbearable lightness of EFL, and Lighten up: a reply to Angeles Clemente. English Language Teaching Journal, 55/4, 2001, 391-6, 403-4.
Using a coursebook the Dogme way. Modern English Teacher, 11/1. January 2002, 36 -40 (with Luke Meddings).
Don't mention the war! Taboo topics and the alternative textbook. It's for Teachers, Issue 3. February 2002. 35-37.
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Teacher, 2. 2002. (Poland), 12-13. *Becoming a teacher. Special edition IATEFL Teacher Development & Teacher Trainers & Educators Special Interest Groups Newsletter, Summer 2002, 8-9.
Teaching complexity. In Aspectos Didácticos de Inglés, 8. 2002, Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Zaragoza. 67-76. *Training in instructional conversation. In Trappes-Lomax, H., and Ferguson, G. (Eds.) 2002. Language in Language Teacher Education. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 95-106.
Catalan for beginners: A learner's account. IH Journal, Spring, 2003, 19-23.
Big words, small grammar. English Teaching Professional. Issue 31, March, 2004, 10-11
Grammar. English Teaching Professional. Issue 32, May, 2004. 40-41.
Dogme: Dancing in the dark? Folio. 9/2, January 2005, 3-5.Speaking to learn. In Foley, J.A. (Ed.) 2005 New Dimensions in the Teaching of Oral Communication (Anthology Series 47) Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 127-143
Awareness, Appropriation and Autonomy. English Teaching Professional. Issue 40, September 2005, 11-13.
Language Awareness: Discourse. In Macmillan English Dictionary (New edition), 2007
Language as an emergent system. In English. British Council: Spring/Summer 2008.
What good is SLA theory? English Teaching Professional. Issue 55, March, 2008.
Slow-release grammar. English Teaching Professional. Issue 61, March 2009
Why is English grammar so difficult (not)? Braz-Tesol Newsletter, December 2009
What can a corpus tell us about discourse? In O'Keeffe A., & McCarthy, M. 2010. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. London: Routledge.
The Grammar of Conversation. In Cook, G., & North, S. (eds.) 2010. Applied Linguistics in Action: A Reader. Milton Keynes: The Open University/Routledge.
Language Teaching Methodology. In Simpson, J. (ed.) 2011. The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics. London: Routledge.
Speaking Instruction. In Burns, A. & Richards, J. (eds.) 2011. The Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
School textbooks
He has also published many school textbooks (and their associated workbooks and teachers' guides), mostly for Pearson Longman.