Job Discussion Forums

[william wallace]

nil

[fluffyhamster]

Jeez, you've been in this profession how long, but you still aren't aware of Howatt's A History of ELT (now in a second edition expanded/padded out somewhat by Widdowson). Howatt then wrote a potted account of the development of more theoretical linguistics for Malmkjaer's The Linguistics Encyclopedia (Second Edition). Then there's Richards & Rodgers' Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (Second Edition).

Books that concentrate mainly on the "communicative" period onwards are Brumfit and Johnson's The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching and Lewis's The Lexical Approach (but you've probably heard of these). And what about Dogme (Thornbury) LOL.

That's all I can recall off the top of my head; there are bound to be more.

Might be of interest:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2756

[william wallace]

nil

[wildchild]

Linguistic Imperialism by Robert Phillipson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_imperialism

[eslstudies]

http://www.englishdroid.com/?q=node/368

[fluffyhamster]

A lot depends on what we mean by "modern". Writers such as those I've mentioned are sceptical about the degree of real innovation in supposedly newer methods (we've all heard of cycles, pendulums etc); most teaching ultimately boils down to some spin on the Direct Method, whilst ignoring quite a few of the potentially beneficial tenets of the Communicative Approach - see esp. Lewis:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=13141#13141

It would probably be better to look at principled teaching, applied linguistics. In the case of Japan, from the early 1920s (when Harold Palmer set up shop there) would be a good starting date, but that rather downplays the work of Japanese (bilingual) linguists and lexicographers prior to Palmer's arrival, and also the impact of Palmer(&Hornby)'s research on worldwide ELT.

Tom McArthur's books, particularly the Oxford Companion to the English Language that he edited, have a fair bit of information in them about the status, and role in education, of English in various countries around the world.

Anyway, if it's a guide to "the" industry rather than the teaching itself that you ultimately want, then how about books like Susan Griffith's Teaching English Abroad (190th edition)? (It's a start at least...)
http://www.google.co.uk/books?q=English+Teaching+World&lr=

I'm not sure that I'd want to wade through the Phillipson (the comments made in Seidlhofer's Controversies in Applied Linguistics rather put one off). You can read snippets (e.g. pages 35 and 46) by following the links in Google Book Search until you reach the 'Popular Passages' in Seidlhofer.
http://www.google.co.uk/books?lr=&q=Seidlhofer

Come to think of it, you can also get a peek via Google at the Phillipson, too!

[william wallace]

yada yada

[fluffyhamster]

I guess the ending of the war LOL, then the Tokyo Olympics helped; that, and Zen, martial arts, Kurosawa, manga, anime, the pre-Bubble economy etc etc explains the steady increase in teachers here over the years. The trend will surely reverse somewhat faster now though, what with NOVA going down, progressively shoddier dispatch AET contracts etc.

[rusmeister]

This is a very good question. I also think it unlikely that any decent works are out there.

There is a great piece by Chesterton called 'History vs the Historians', which basically suggests that as historians interpret facts through their own philosophical lenses, the best way to learn true history is not by reading historians, but by reading contemporary first-hand accounts. So the guy you worked with would be a better source than, say, Philipson, who, it looks like, is full of his own theory and is interpreting history through it.

So just read your sources with a mega-critical eye.

[sheeba]

Hey Wildchild. I have Linguistic Imperialism. I find it an interesting read but not sure how much I believe. Have you read the stuff about the British council. The book almost suggests that the BC did nothing to prevent English promotion in the years of the second world war when other European countries were pushing their languages. I never quite understood the argument. I mean how could the BC stop other countries pushing language anyway, especially in Nazi Germany. Maybe I missed the point completely and if you've really digested the book you could point me in the right direction?

Interesting read anyway.

[fluffyhamster]

Of potential interest (mainly for the link to a BC publication by David Graddol):
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=7768

[eslstudies]

I've forgotten much of my Asian history, but when 19th century Japan decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, wouldn't that have created a need for a widely understood Western language to be spoken and read by Nippon's brightest, which may have created some sort of demand for ELT?

Also, English ironically became the language of unity and independence in India, whereas it was first taught to the middle classes for the express purpose of making the country more governable for its British masters.

Not forgetting missionaries of course. Read Adeline Yen Ma's "Chinese Cinderella" for descriptions of convent education in early 20th century China. Depending on the nuns' nationalities, English and French were the lingua franca of the school.

Just a few totally unresearched and incidental thoughts!

[Stephen Jones]

[fluffyhamster]

[Sgt Killjoy]

William, I assume you are talking about the cowboy TEFL industry, when people first starting pitching it and hitting the road to teach English. My guess is that the industry had its roots in the mid to late 1960's, starting to put down roots in the 1970's, started to boom in the 1980's and by the late 1990's, the cowboys were being pushed out in favor of 4 week wonders.