Fossilization: Is It Terminal, Doctor? | The New School

The School of Languages at The New School () presents, “Fossilization: Is it Terminal, Doctor?” a lecture by Scott Thornbury discussing the methodology of moving language learners beyond the “plateau” of understanding to a higher plane of language comprehension. It’s a truism, perhaps, that many learners reach a ‘plateau’, beyond which no amount of instruction or use seems able to budge them. Are there any (psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic) grounds for believing that this so-called fossilization is terminal? What does it take to move a learner beyond the plateau? Based on his own experience of attempting to kick-start his fossilized Spanish, the speaker will look at the role of such factors as classroom instruction, extensive reading, vocabulary memorization and real language use as possible antidotes to ‘arrested development’ in a second language. Scott Thornbury (MATEFL, with distinction, University of Reading, UK, ), a native of New Zealand who now lives in Spain, is currently series editor of the Cambridge Handbooks for Teachers series. He has been a prolific writer of books and articles for teachers and students and a tireless presenter at international ELT conferences, sharing the knowledge gained from his more than 30 years of experience as a teacher, teacher trainer, writer and researcher. Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm The Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street