A comprehensive and extensively researched overview of key issues in language teaching today. This essential text for English language teachers surveys a broad range of core topics that are important in understanding contemporary approaches to teaching English as a second or international language, and which form the content of many professional development courses for language teachers. A wide range of issues is examined, including a consideration of the nature of English in the world, the way the English teaching profession works, the development of teaching methods, the nature of classroom teaching, teaching the four skills, teaching the language system, and elements of a language program.
Jack Croft Richards is an applied linguist from New Zealand, specializing in second and foreign language education, teacher training, and materials design. He has written numerous articles and books. Most of his books and articles are in the field of second language teaching and have been translated into many different languages. He was appointed full professor in the Department of English as a Second Language at the University of Hawaii in 1981.