In this study, the author sets out to answer three fundamental questions: what is language? how do people learn languages? and how can we help them to learn languages? The implications of these questions are considered for the teachers' present needs as syllabus designers and language teachers. Then the history of language teaching over the last 100 years is examined including traditional grammar, early modern linguistics, formalism and structuralism in linguistics, and transformational-generative linguistics. It also discusses the sociolinguistic and philosophical inputs to language training needs thus identifying and clarifying the key issues underlying the enterprise. Finally there are four appendices: on job analysis and English for special purposes (a case study); on contrastive analysis and error analysis; on language testing; and an evaluation of selected language teaching materials. Dr Bell is also the author of Sociolinguistics: goals, approaches and problems.