Expert 

Daniel Thornhill is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dan has been an advocate for sound foreign language teaching methodology in both governmental and academic contexts for over 25 years as a foreign language teacher (Spanish), an instructional designer, and a program manager.  

He has designed and developed curricula for more than 50 different courses (both face-to-face and online), varying in length from 20 to 700 instructional hours. He has also conducted research on training design and instructional methodology. His research interests include syntax, morphology, and pragmatics.

Description

In this workshop, participants will learn how to employ the processing instruction methodology to focus on form in the communicative classroom, particularly those forms that seem resistant to explicit instruction. Participants will learn how to structure input (what the learners hear, read, and see) and output (what the learners say, write, or sign) so that both form and meaning are in focus. They will then work through examples of activities featuring these principles. Participants will walk away with several examples and a checklist for activity development that will help them ensure that learners focus on both form and meaning during class time.