Who: ELT teacher educator and methodology writer (NZ-born, based in Spain). Author of An A–Z of ELT (2006) / The New A–Z of ELT (2017), About Language, Big Questions in ELT; co-author of Teaching Unplugged (with Luke Meddings, 2009); series editor of Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. The blog is independent: no publisher or institutional funding.
What: A numbered glossary (001–200), each entry a short essay on an ELT/SLA concept with references and long comment threads (Krashen, Jordan and others argue in them). Most posts are from 2010–2011.
Stance: Emergentist / usage-based (N. Ellis, Christiansen & Chater, Halliday), with a cognitivist line on attention and noticing. Sceptical of PPP and the grammar syllabus; sympathetic to Dogme and TBLT but candid about their practicality; argues regularly with Krashen’s input-only position.
Why it matters for me: The single best terminology source for DELTA Module 1. Each entry is a compact, referenced definition plus the counter-arguments in the comments.
Processed notes
- Creative automatization - five criteria for fluency activities
- Dogme ELT - materials-light, conversation-driven teaching
- Dogme and TBLT share a philosophy, not a methodology
- Errors are often developmental, not L1 transfer
- Fluency rests on memorised word-groups
- Focus on form vs focus on formS
- Grammar McNuggets - discrete items vs corpus reality
- Grammar emerges from usage (emergentism)
- PPP - a novice scaffold, not a production line
- Scaffolding must be withdrawn - transfer of control
- Teaching is the management of attention
- The 5 Rs of reactive teaching
- The Lexical Approach - grammaticalised lexis, read critically
- The ZPD is created in interaction, not a level
Next to process
- Deeper pass done (Nov 2026): S, Z, P, G, A. Still open: “I is for Interlanguage”, “N is for Noticing”, “F is for Fluency”.
Already in vault: About Language - Scott Thornbury