Managing Change in English Language Teaching: Lessons from Experience

Abstract

The English language teaching profession, like many other professions, has amongst its ranks regrettably few who wish to record its past achievements. This is understandable as we are all under pressure in our work to respond to the here and now and would rather find something to help solve our future problems than spend time looking over our shoulders to the past. However, a description and evaluation of past experience, if presented convincingly and appropriately, can make us more aware of our present circumstances, prepare us for future scenarios, and may prevent us repeating mistakes and ‘reinventing the wheel’. The case studies presented in the collection Managing Change in English Language Teaching perform just such valuable functions. The cases cover 21 curriculum projects in ELT, carried out in 18 countries in Africa, Arabia, Asia, Europe, and South America and implemented mostly during the period 2000–2011, though a few took place in the late 1990s and one project, ‘English in Action’ in Bangladesh, is ongoing until 2019. They are retrospective accounts of successes and failures, mostly but not exclusively involving the British Council in some capacity, and the book would be valuable even if it contained just these accounts, but it does more than this.