English teaching abroad and the British universities

This 1961 publication consists of papers from a high-level conference on University Training and Research in the Teaching of English as a Second/Foreign Language organised by the British Council in London, 15–17 December 1960. The conference brought together heads of departments of English and experts in linguistics and phonetics, with experts in education being relatively under-represented.

Papers cover topics including Contemporary English language and general linguistics and Training in the teaching of English, but relatively little attention was given to English literature. Of particular interest, perhaps, are the papers by the linguist JR Frith, who died on the eve of the conference, and Arthur King of the British Council. Both of these papers provide overviews of the nature of the demand for English in the contemporary world, which was perceived to be rapidly increasing. The task of the conference was partly – perhaps mainly – to establish recommendations for areas that would require government funding in order to meet perceived demands, and these are set out at the end of the book. They cover training of British teachers and teacher-trainers for work overseas, preparing teachers in Britain for the teaching of English language, linguistics and literature, and support for research into all aspects of English teaching.

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