Here is a practical guide to Thornbury’s core principles—and how to apply them tomorrow. Thornbury argues that the mental lexicon (your internal dictionary) is not an alphabetized list. It’s a network of associations . Words are stored by sound, meaning, collocation, and personal experience.
We’ve all been there. You spend 20 minutes presenting a set of beautifully illustrated vocabulary words. Students repeat them chorally. They copy them into notebooks. Then, the next day... nothing. It’s as if the words never entered their brains. how to teach vocabulary thornbury pdf
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The problem isn’t you—it’s the traditional "present-practice-produce" model. Here is a practical guide to Thornbury’s core
Enter . His seminal work, How to Teach Vocabulary (Pearson, 2002), is often called the "bible" of ELT vocabulary instruction. While the PDF is nearly two decades old, its principles are more relevant than ever in an age of AI-generated word lists and digital flashcards. Words are stored by sound, meaning, collocation, and
Present vocabulary in chunks . Instead of "take," teach "take a break," "take a photo," "take it easy." Use corpus-based tools like Google Ngram or just ask: "What other words live next to this one?" 3. The 7 Encounters Rule (The "Noticing" Hypothesis) One of Thornbury’s most cited takeaways: A learner needs to encounter a new word at least 7 times in different contexts before it moves from short-term to long-term memory.
Don’t present vocabulary alphabetically or thematically in a simple list. Instead, use mind maps , word webs , and semantic grids . Connect fast to quick , rapid , swift —but also to its opposites ( slow ) and common partners ( fast food, fast car ). 2. Don’t Teach Meaning – Teach Context (The "Lexical Approach" Light) Thornbury emphasizes that words rarely operate alone. A student might know the word run , but fail to understand run a company , run out of time , or runny nose . Meaning is derived from collocation (words that go together).