All entries for May 2024
May 21, 2024
English as a Barbarian Language: Prof. Bob Adamson’s talk about Chinese textbooks
by Xi Li
On May 8th, 2024, the HoLLT Research Circle had the honor of hosting Prof. Bob Adamson, author of China’s English: A History of English in Chinese Education and Visiting Professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, for a public talk at the University of Warwick titled "English as a Barbarian Language". The lecture provided a historical overview of changes in English textbooks in China.
In his talk, Prof. Adamson shared his experiences teaching English in China, using them as a springboard to discuss the evolution of English education, especially the English textbooks, in the country. He explored the impact of different ideologies on English education in China, focusing particularly on characteristics and trends in the compilation of English textbooks since the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Prof. Adamson's talk sparked enthusiastic responses from attending students, leading to extensive discussions on topics such as the history of English education, English textbooks, and teacher-research. Following the public talk, Prof. Adamson visited the ELT Archive, where he engaged in deeper discussions with HoLLT Research Circle members on these subjects, greatly enriching their understanding. He also donated some books for our developing historical collection of Chinese school and college English.
Richard Smith
21 May 2024 23:57
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May 09, 2024
Louis Alexander (1932–2002) – an EFL syllabus and materials master craftsman
Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/louis_alexander/biography/
There are many practical insights about EFL syllabus and materials design in this recorded lecture / memoir by L.G. ('Louis') Alexander, recorded in 1981 and digitised for the Warwick ELT Archive.
Probably the only author of language learning materials to have had a bust erected in his memory (above is a photo of it taken recently for us by Zhang Ao* in the garden of the Beijing publisher FLTRP), Louis Alexander entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1977 for having sold the greatest number of copies of any book by an individual author in one year (The Guardian, 9 July 2002). The popularity of his New Concept English (Longman, 1967) series in China seems to have been the main reason for this entry, though his subsequent series Look, Listen and Learn (1968–1971), Target (1972–74) and Mainline (1973–81) all additionally enjoyed great worldwide success. Alexander also co-authored the influential 'communicative' Council of Europe syllabuses The Threshold Level(1975) and Waystage (1977). A full account of his career can be found in the Warwick ELT pages dedicated to his achievements.
* Thanks, Zhang Ao, and Zhang Yi for arranging this!
Richard Smith
09 May 2024 21:42
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