ABSTRACT
There has been very little discussion in the past of the role of the English department in promoting good language learning conditions, yet those who visit schools frequently can immediately tell when there is a well-organised department because of the feeling of commitment and excitement which is generated by the members of the department, and this usually communicates itself to the students as well. The role of the department is to enable all English teachers to operate as effectively as possible by providing all necessary support and encouragement, and the role of the head of department is simply to cause this to happen. In the rest of this chapter, a large number of suggestions are made of ways in which a department can be organised most effectively. Each situation has its own problems, and no list will exhaust the possibilities, but it is fair to say that any institution which does not provide the following support for all its English staff is making life unnecessarily hard for them:
a nominated person who will be responsible for running the department;
a range of as many as possible appropriate textbooks for consultation by staff, and machinery for easy access;
access regularly to duplicating facilities, and support for co-operative development of materials for all aspects of language work;
a range of basic books suitable for reference by students (like the Advanced Learner's Dictionary, which may be too expensive for individual students to buy);
materials suitable and in sufficient quantity for extensive reading work by students;
a reference library for teachers;
basic audio-visual equipment (according to the facilities available), with a minimum in most institutions of one large taperecorder and a number of portable cassette recorders, plus spare tapes and cassettes;
a place to use as a base for the department's possessions, at least a few shelves and a cupboard, and ideally somewhere where members of the department can meet as well;
access to a range of simple visual materials, like wall charts, flashcards, portable blackboards and pieces of softboard, realia, etc.
