ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in this book. The book aims to tell the story of how English teachers have reached the point they are at and invite all those involved in the teaching of English to consider their own practice in the light of this and to see to what extent these practices are rooted in a coherent vision of the subject in the way that they would like to see it taught. In some ways, the book attempts to take up the invitation, albeit some years earlier than David Shayer implied a fact in part justified by the rapidity of change in the last 50 years and in part by a view that the current state of English teaching demands it. The book concludes with the comparison of key developments in curriculum and assessment in the subject in major English-speaking nations of the world and considers what the future might hold.
