INTERVIEW with S. Thornbury, English teacher educator

16/10/2013

1- Why is the level of English so low in Spain?
Well, the level is improving in comparison to a few years ago, but it's clear that there's still a long way to go. I think it's a sociological problem. People here do not consider it necessary to learn English, since Spanish is a universal language.

2- And at a linguistic level?
I do see a problem at linguistic level. Children are not exposed to English enough. For example, they see very little television in English, and all the films are dubbed. In Portugal, for example, the television is in English, and that helps them have a very good level. Well, there's lots of English on the internet and in songs, and that does help.
 
3- Where does the problem stem from? Does it have to do with the low level of English of school teachers?
I think the problem is not with the teachers, but with the hours English is taught in primary schools. An hour and a half a week is not enough. An hour and a half or two hours a week, for a 6 year old, is insufficient. All you are doing is wasting money and resources in a senseless way: the child will learn as much as when he or she is 12 years old. It is not enough hours in the week. And by the next week, the child doesn't remember a thing.

In fact, there are very effective methods in which 12-year-olds study a language during six months, very intensively, every day, four hours a day, and then they stop for another six months. And the results are very good. Its a proven method. It is better for the classes to be concentrated and intense than to study for years on end, but for only a few hours a week.
That has nothing to do with the level of the teachers, or with the methodology or way of teaching.
 
I think the problem is not with the teachers, but with the hours English is taught in primary schools.

4- What would you recommend to help improve the level of English of university students who already have at least an elementary level?
I would tell them to read, read, and read some more in English. To help them acquire and retain vocabulary. That needs to done by grabbing a notebook and jotting down all new words and unknown vocabulary.
What works very well is to use apps for phones or tablets to acquire new vocabulary. That works perfectly.  And those can be used on the bus or train. University students, above all, need to acquire more technical vocabulary. In this sense, the internet, information technologies, etc. are of great help.
 
5.- And what is needed to be a good English teacher?
My advice is to share experiences with other teachers. That is very enriching, by far. Creating teacher communities to debate professional teaching issues is very good to stay updated, solve any doubts, etc. The other day in one of my lectures to English teachers, they asked me to open a Facebook group so they could all share experiences. And that is where very enriching debates on how to improve their teaching skills or methods take place.
 
6.- Is it better for a person to be multilingual than monolingual?
Of course! Culturally, mentally, you acquire an open-mindedness at all levels and that is very important. The more languages you know, the better. We can even say that these people have different brains. Well, I'm not an expert in the matter, but the brain is more interconnected if you speak four languages, for example, than if you speak two.