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Lionel Billows’ The Techniques of Language Teaching was published in 1961, and this arguably marks the beginning of the remarkable, and rapid, development of ELT as a profession and a business. Teacher training is now a major, and increasingly regulated, enterprise with sophisticated schemes of certification. A far cry from the 1960s. Billows was virtually all there was to guide novice teachers at that time. Now we are spoiled for choice. Apart from Penny Ur’s well-established title, there are the familiar titles from Brown (2000), Harmer (2007), Hedge (2000), and Scrivener (2011), most of them in new editions. So the appearance of Penny Ur’s updated edition is a welcome addition to the genre of ELT teacher handbooks. The Introduction states that the book ‘provides the basis for professional learning both before and during classroom experience’ (p. viii) by offering essential information, inviting reflection, and giving practical guidelines.
Alan Maley (Sat,) studied this question.
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