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Since its foundation seventy-five years ago in 1934, the British Council has played an important role in the development of ELT, that is, the British tradition, industry and/or brand of English language teaching for speakers of other languages. This timeline records some milestones in that involvement, serving in particular to contextualize a number of important ELT books and films produced by or in association with the British Council.
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Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, the British Council had begun to take a serious interest in problems of EFL teaching in the regions it was mainly focused on, that is the Near East, the Balkans, the Baltic, Portugal and South America. It was primarily under its third Chairman, Lord Lloyd, from 1937 to 1941, that the Council expanded its activities in these regions, with Lloyd’s major preoccupation being ‘to increase British influence in areas vital to her interests in the event of war
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Ogden, C.K. (1941). Basic English for Dutch Students. London: Evans Brothers in association with the British Council. During World War II, the teaching of English as a foreign language began to receive increased attention in high places. In his famous ‘empires of the mind’ speech in acceptance of an honorary degree at Harvard University in 1943 (reported in the 7 September issue of The New York Times), Winston Churchill praised C.K. Ogden’s Basic English
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By 1940 the Council had established around twenty-five British Institutes in areas of strategic importance and was ‘continuously in touch with’ over 200 Anglophil Societies throughout the world, providing lecturers, books, newspapers, gramophone records and miscellaneous information and taking an active role in selecting or providing teachers of English for them (British Council 1940: 4). An overview of courses offered by the British Institute in Cairo for 1941-2 is viewable here.
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ELT Journal
The first issue of the journal English Language Teaching [later ELT Journal] founded by A.S. Hornby. Underlying and surrounding the instigation of the journal English Language Teaching in 1946 were events which indicated a new status for the teaching of English as a foreign language, and which further justify the identification of the end of World War II as a turning point. -
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A report on the British Council's summer conference held between 3rd-13th May 1950 at the Government House, Mahableshwar, India.
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Strevens, P. (1958). Aural Aids in Language Teaching. London:
Longmans Green & Co for the British Council. -
Wayment, H. G. etc. (ed.) (1961). English teaching abroad and the British universities. Extracts from the proceedings of the conference on university training and research in the teaching of English as a second/foreign language held at Nutford House, London on December 15, 16 and 17, 1960. London: Methuen
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Glyn Lewis, E. (1962). Foreign and Second Lanaguage Teaching in the USSR. ETIC Occassional Paper 1. London: The British Council. Perren, G.E. (1963). Linguistic Problems of Oversea Students in Britain. ETIC Occassional Paper 3. London: The British Council.
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Press, J. (ed.) (1963). The teaching of English literature overseas. Extracts from the proceedings of a conference held at King’s College, Cambridge, 16-18 July 1962, under the auspices of the British Council. London: Methuen.
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The volume is pre-‘World Englishes’ & Kachru’s model of the inner, outer & expanding circles of English but it is clear that the authors were aware of the diversity of English & practical needs of learners. Lester et al. debate what might constitute International English & its value globally, while Strevens & Norrish challenge attitudes to local varieties, arguing for their integration into ELT. -
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Byrne, D. and Rixon, S. (1979). ELT guide. Communication games. A teaching aid devised by the English Language Teaching Institute. Windsor: Nelson – National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) with the British Council.
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British Council (1979). Seminar on ELT course design. Beyond Munby and into the gap – further reflections on course design, 30 July – 10 August 1979 at Dunford House, Midhurst. London:
The British Council. -
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The book provides a snapshot of developments in ESP teaching at university level during the 1970s & early 1980s. In his Preface, Brumfit challenged a recent claim that ESP had ‘legitimised English teaching’, suggesting rather that it had made English teaching ‘more purposeful’. -
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PDFA guide to forecasting the popularity of the English language in the 21st century
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Coleman looks at questions such as the role of English in employability, in international mobility, in accessing information, and English as an impartial language. -
The second in a series of Directories of UK ELT Research (the first was published in 2010 and covered the period 2005-08) Directory of UK ELT Research
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