ABSTRACT
From the beginnings of English as a school subject, teachers and teacher — educators in English-speaking countries have confronted similar issues regarding its teaching. Contextualised by the present time and our local and national settings, a surprising number of the issues are nonetheless both common across contexts, and perennial. They bothered us in the past and, looking ahead, we are certain they will continue to vex us. Through international conferences and essay collections, we realise the similarities of the problems we face, allowing us to interact in larger networks of colleagues and enlarge our understanding of both the problems and the possibilities for addressing them (Hawthorne et al., 2012; Peel et al., 2000; Goodwyn, 2010; Ellis et al., 2007; Doecke et al., 2003). Several key issues indicate the changes and challenges for the traditional school subject of ‘English’ in an international context. The following list of topics is not meant to be comprehensive but it serves to illustrate some of the key, common issues.
