Below is the front page of our newsletter review of 2024 Warwick ELT Archive activities –click here for the full version
Richard Smith
31 Dec 2024 11:31
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Writing about web page https://italy-elt-archive.unimi.it/
Here at the Warwick ELT Archive, we have a developing commitment to supporting collections of historical ELT / English Language Education material elsewhere, in the contexts closest to the practices they relate to. So, for example, in February this year, Prof. Richard Smith helped launch the Dr Michael West Study Centre at the Government Teacher Trainers' College in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where West was Principal from 1920 to 1932:
(more photos here: here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1111269466447827/posts/1132919054282868/)
Aside from compiling a bibliography with links to digitised versions of some of West's publications (see also warwick.ac.uk/elt_archive/halloffame/west/works/) – which those looking after the Study Centre were then able to download and print for consultation on site – Richard also donated a set of his books compiled in 2003 for Routledge, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 1912–1936: Pioneers of ELT, which contain original works by Percival Wren, Horace Wyatt, Harold Palmer and Lawrence Faucett as well as West; the Introduction to Volume III (on West) and the Volume V Introduction (on the 1934–35 Carnegie Conference which West organized) are also now available online.
Later in the year, in July, we welcomed Emanuela Tenca from the University of Milan, where she is working as a research assistant with Profs. Luciana Pedrazzini and Andrea Nava on the development of the Italy ELT Archive, a collection of materials for Italian learners of English in the 20th century. Emanuela gave a well-received talk on the development of the Italy archive, with Luciana also participating online. The talk was also open to members of our Friends of the ELT Archive Facebook group, which all are welcome to join.
Via these discussions, the Italy ELT Archive project is providing us with new ideas about online presentation of digital and digitalised material, just as we may ourselves have provided some initial inspiration for the Italy project. Now we are looking forward to the official opening of the Italy ELT Archive in September, and looking forward also to ongoing collaboration with researchers there as well as in Bangladesh and elsewhere.
Richard Smith
27 Aug 2024 16:58
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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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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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Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/women/
A group provisionally called 'Women in ELT History' (WELTH) held its first meeting at the IATEFL conference in Brighton on 17th April. We agreed to meet monthly online from now on to carry out research into the history of women in TEFL, beginning with a focus on oral history of recent times (1980s-1990s). Group members are Julie Norton, Richard Smith, Alessia Cogo, Miriam Schwiening, Carol Waites (all pictured, L to R below), Heather Buchanan, Sandy Millin, Xi Li (not pictured). This builds on a suggestion for collaboration with Warwick ELT Archive at last year's IATEFL conference - download ppt here. We hope to share our findings, in particular about the c. 1985–c. 1995 'Women in TEFL' / 'Women in EFL Materials' initiative at next year's IATEFL conference in Edinburgh. Some insights into the history of women in EFL are already on this web-page.
Richard Smith
18 Apr 2024 19:30
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Some interesting donations received into the ELT Archive the last few days - two pamphlets with prescriptions for English teaching in Iraq from 1955, from Martin Wedell, and the report of a 1966 conference on ELT in Bangladesh, received from Henry Widdowson. This kind of donation of rare material is very welcome. Thanks Martin and Henry - you are now enrolled in our list of donors here!: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/!
Richard Smith
17 Apr 2024 12:34
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Writing about web page https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/decentring-elt
The A.S. Hornby Educational Trust has awarded a grant of £12,000 to the ELT Archive for 20023/24. This is supporting further cataloguing of the collection, with a focus on books published in the 1980s, selective purchasing of materials, processing of donations and digitisation of some items, liaison with researchers in Europe and South and East Asia, oral history work, and initiation of a Friends of the ELT Archive network.
Previous recent grants from the Hornby Trust have enabled the bulk of the collection to be catalogued (see latest catalogue here). Work connected with the ELT Archive has increasingly been aligning with the Hornby Trust's 'Decentring ELT' initiative, with recently embarked-upon projects involving support for research into English language education history in Bangladesh, China and India, initiatives to incorporate history into teacher education, and histories of marginalized groups and practices, including work by women in TEFL generally.
Richard Smith
18 Feb 2024 12:31
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Writing about web page https://doi.org/10.1515/eduling-2023-0009
On the afternoon of January 24, 2024, the weekly meeting of the HoLLT Research Circle in the Warwick ELT Archive featured Dr. Jason Anderson presenting his recently published research article (available via the link below), titled ‘Reimagining educational linguistics: A post-competence perspective’.
Jason critically delved into the historical foundations of educational linguistics, contending that its inception within a Chomskyan ‘competence model’ has contributed to a noticeable gap between applied linguists and language teachers. His article advocates a transformative framework that acknowledges literacy and pluralist orientations, underscores the importance of flexibility, and puts forth a diverse research agenda, aiming to enhance the relevance of educational linguistics in global educational contexts.
Following Jason’s compelling presentation, members engaged in a dynamic discussion, exploring topics such as the historical evolution of educational linguistics, the historical trajectory of competence in applied linguistics, and the ensuing impact on language teaching methodologies.
Jason Anderson’s article is available from Educational Linguistics, open access through the following doi link:
Anderson, J. (2023). ‘Reimagining educational linguistics: A post-competence perspective’. Educational Linguistics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1515/eduling-2023-0009
Xi Li
29 Jan 2024 18:48
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By Xi Li
In December 2023, Warwick ELT Archive received a generous gift of eight English textbooks published in China in the 1980s from a friend of the ELT Archive, Simon Smith, including six textbooks for junior high school pupils (初级中学课本 英语 English Textbook for junior high school) and two textbooks for senior high school pupils (全日制十年制学校高中英语课本 Senior High School Textbook-English), which were published by People’s Education Press and used nationwide. We are very appreciative of this contribution, which supports a current Warwick ELT Archive initiative to systematically collect, and catalogue English textbooks used in China from 1949 to the early 2000s.
This endeavor focuses on establishing a comprehensive China English textbook collection, a supportive resource for delving into the history of English language education in China. Once complete, this corpus will provide splendid primary source material for PhD and MA students in the Department of Applied Linguistics with a keen interest in researching the history of English language education. As we continue our efforts, the textbooks we acquire will be added to the Warwick ELT Archive catalogue.
This collaborative undertaking is spearheaded by a dynamic group of young researchers deeply passionate about the historical development of English language education in China. Within this HELE-China group at Warwick, we are actively engaged in research, exploring topics such as comparisons between English and Chinese language teaching and research in China prior to the 20th century, as well as research into the development of textbooks. Using the textbooks we collect, we aspire to develop diverse research avenues and methodologies for further exploration.
Xi Li
12 Jan 2024 00:45
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Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/hornby/archive
by Richard Smith
2023 marks the centenary of the Institute for Research in Language Teaching (語学教育研究所), which was originally established as the Institute for Research in English Teaching (IRET) in May 1923, with Harold E. Palmer (1877–1949) as its founding Director.
In the 1920s and 1930s, together with reform-minded Japanese academics and schoolteachers, Palmer – and, from 1936 onwards, A.S. Hornby (1898–1978), Palmer's successor both as head of research at IRET and editor of its Bulletin, engaged in an ambitious programme of materials production and practical inquiry directed at the improvement of English teaching in Japanese schools.
At that time, no such serious attention was being paid to issues of teaching English as a foreign language anywhere else in the world, including in the UK or USA. Following World War II, the importance of this pre-war work in Japan largely went unacknowledged, whether in Michigan, birthplace of the named discipline of applied linguistics (1946 or so onwards), or in the UK, where Hornby was instrumental in establishing 'ELT' as a recognized field of interest.
Nevertheless, pre-war IRET initiatives had been influential in establishing the value of research into the teaching of English for speakers of other languages– with a less theory-driven, less 'applicationist' orientation, though, than was to become dominant in post-war applied linguistics. Just two manifestations of post-war IRET influence internationally, both connected with Hornby's continuing work in the UK, were what later became the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English– originally conceived as an IRET project and first published in Japan in 1942, and the journal English Language Teaching(now, ELT Journal), set up by the British Council at Hornby's suggestion in 1946, explicitly on the model of the IRET Bulletin.
'English' changed to 'Language' in the title of the Institute in 1942, and its post-war activities have been less internationally inclined, as other research centres and initiatives became established post-war both in Japan and elsewhere. In fact, close-to-practice, localized research to benefit English teachers in Japanese schools has remained the Institute's top priority, and this can be seen as its main strength as imported applied linguistic fashions have come and gone elsewhere (JACET [the Japan Association of College English Teachers], originally an off-shoot of IRLT, has by contrast engaged strongly with worldwide applied linguistics to the extent of hosting the 1999 AILA [International Association of Applied Linguistics] World Congress. To coincide with the conference, IRLT brought out an international edition of Palmer's Selected Writings(in 10 volumes) but fashions have moved on, and these did not garner much interest outside Japan. (My book The writings of Harold E. Palmer: An overview was issued as a companion volume to that remarkable set of volumes (pictured below), which we have in the Warwick ELT Archive).
The most recent list (in Japanese) of IRLT's active research / discussion groups, which still bring together novice and experienced schoolteachers, research students and academics committed to the improvement of English teaching in Japanese schools, displays the following areas of practical focus:
In a recent talk ('Why history (of ELT)? Whose history?') for the Warwick Applied Linguistics seminar series, I acknowledged the value for me personally of participating in IRLT activities in Tokyo in the 1990s – the way this showed me the potential benefits of promoting 'historical sense' in the wider ELT profession and the way it led indirectly to construction of the Warwick ELT Archive; and in another recent talk, this time for IRLT itself, I highlighted the value of a tradition of experience-based, close-to-practice research characteristic of work by Palmer, Hornby, IRET and IRLT, viewing this as a counterbalance to prevalent top-down, 'linguistics applied' type conceptions of the relationship between research and teaching. The IRLT contribution to the development of my own thinking as a teacher educator and ELT researcher is, I think, clear, as is my continuing belief that the Institute's contributions and achievements should be more widely known.
Finally, then, as a kind of 100th birthday memento for IRLT, we've been making publicly accessible online some items in the Warwick ELT Archive collection which relate specifically to A.S. Hornby's work with IRET in Japan and his subsequent relations with Japan. Made widely accessible for the first time here are a variety of interesting items which have found their way to us, including photographs, a copy of the IRET Bulletin edited by Hornby, a 1942 catalogue with details of IRET publications (for those who read Japanese) and both a 1956 recorded talk in Tokyo and a 1969 NHK radio interview.
Fittingly, this – and other ongoing digitization work – has been made possible by a generous grant from the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust, itself set up more than 60 years ago with royalties from the dictionary Hornby compiled with two colleagues at other Japanese universities, E.V. Gatenby and H. Wakefield. The dictionary would not have been conceived or published without the inspiration and support of the Institute for Research in English Teaching, now 100 years old and still going strong.
Richard Smith
30 Dec 2023 15:10
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Tags: Hornby Iret Irlt Palmer
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