The Warwick ELT Archive (bit.ly/eltarchive) is a stand-alone, browsable historical collection of published and unpublished materials relating to the teaching of English as a foreign language and the development of applied linguistics, c.1880–c.1980. This unique collection has been built up gradually by Dr Richard Smith since 2002, initially on the basis of donations of materials from members and former members of staff in the (then) Centre for English Language Teacher Education (now, Centre for Applied Linguistics), University of Warwick, and latterly on the basis of acquisitions from a wider variety of interested individuals and institutions/organizations (see below for a full list of donors). In March 2005 a substantial existing collection was incorporated, the Edinburgh Dakin Collection.

The ELT Archive now constitutes a unique resource for students, teachers, researchers and others interested in the history of ELT, and the history of language teaching and applied linguistics more broadly. We welcome enquiries from potential doctoral students and other researchers interested in using the Archive.

In the past the Archive has benefited from a grant by the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust. Over the last three years (2009-2011), we have also received financial support from The British Council, in connection with two specific research projects – one (completed in 2009) to establish both a physical archive and a database of UK-funded ELT projects worldwide, the other (2009-11) a research project on the history of the overall relationship between ELT and The British Council. In the course of both projects we have developed and are continuing to build significant special collections of evaluation reports related to ELT projects, past British Council publications and recorded reminiscences by Council staff. Both projects have also enabled us to catalogue and shelve a large number of previously uncatalogued items (see latest catalogue here). The 2009-11 project has additionally enabled us to digitalize some important resources, some of which - when permissions allow - we are gradually uploading to this website. For our part, we have been happy to support the British Council's 75th anniversary Milestones in ELT initiative (launched in November 2009) to place a number of its past publications online.

 Click on image for full publicity leaflet 

The Warwick ELT Archive consists primarily of:

• course books and associated printed materials
• graded readers
• audio- and audio-visual materials
• teacher resource books
• books on teaching methodology
• pedagogical grammars
• learner dictionaries
• journals
• newsletters
• official reports

There is also provision for storage and consultation of primary sources, including:

• correspondence
• photographs
• mimeographed reports
• recorded interviews

We continue to welcome all offers of donations to the collection in the above or other categories, within the broad field of ‘Development of ELT and Applied Linguistics, c.1900–c.1980’. Any donation which is accepted will be fully acknowledged on the material itself and in our catalogue.

To date we have received significant donations from the following institutions/organizations and individuals, to whom we are very grateful:

• Berlitz UK
• The British Council
• The Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
• Pearson Longman
• The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL)
• The School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, University of Reading
• Brian Abbs
• Palmer Acheson
• Julia Alexander
• Dick and Joan Allwright
• Victoria Angela
• Almut Billows
• Rod Bolitho
• Roger Bowers
• Christopher Brumfit
• Peter Collier
• Vivian Cook
• Janelle Cooper
• A.P. Cowie
• John Eckersley
• Sultan Erdoğan Smith
• Charles Forbes
• Ingrid Freebairn
• Peter Fries
• Adam Gadsby
• Andy Gillett
• Jan van Griethuysen
• Susan Holden
• A.P.R. Howatt
• Jim Hutton
• Bob and Jane Jordan
• Mustafa Kileci
• Masataka Kizuka
• Keith Mitchell
• Rosamond Mitchell
• André Moulin
• John Norrish
• Gareth Owen
• Robert Phillipson
• Randolph Quirk
• Hilary Rees-Parnall
• Richard Rossner
• Rafael Salguero
• John Spencer
• Frances Stacey
• Hugh Trappes-Lomax
• Mary Trimble
• Carolyn Walker
• Adam West
• Jan Whetstone
• Dave and Jane Willis
• Dede and Ken Wilson
• Edward Woods
• Present and former members of staff including Meriel Bloor, Richard Forsyth, Sheena Gardner, Tricia Hedge, Thelma Henderson, Tim Kelly, Judith Kennedy, Julia Khan, Hilary Nesi, Keith Richards, Shelagh Rixon, Rod Revell, Liza Sandell, Richard Smith

If you are interested in consulting items in the Archive or in donating material please write to:

The ELT Archive, Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL

or contact Dr Richard Smith, the founder and curator of the collection, at: R.C.Smith@warwick.ac.uk

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News (blog)

See links on the left for Catalogue, Hall of Fame, details of Projects and Publications, external links, etc.

Video interview with Richard Smith about the Archive and associated research (interviewer: Russell Stannard, May 2011)