Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching is the definitive reference volume for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of Applied Linguistics, ELT/TESOL, and Language Teacher Education, and for ELT professionals engaged in in-service teacher development and/or undertaking academic study. Progressing from ‘broader’ contextual issues to a ‘narrower’ focus on classrooms and classroom discourse, the volume’s inter-related themes focus on: ELT in the world: contexts and goals planning and organising ELT: curriculum, resources and settings methods and methodology: perspectives and practices second language learning and learners teaching language: knowledge, skills and pedagogy understanding the language classroom. The Handbook’s 39 chapters are written by leading figures in ELT from around the world. Mindful of the diverse pedagogical, institutional and social contexts for ELT, they convincingly present the key issues, areas of debate and dispute, and likely future developments in ELT from an applied linguistics perspective. Throughout the volume, readers are encouraged to develop their own thinking and practice in contextually appropriate ways, assisted by discussion questions and suggestions for further reading that accompany every chapter. Advisory board: Guy Cook, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Amy Tsui, and Steve Walsh