Prof. Littlewood is a scholar of international renown in the field of applied linguistics and language teaching. His scholarly work extends over the last 30 years, and covers many key aspects of applied linguistics and language teaching. Two of his books - Communicative Language Teaching and Foreign and Second Language Acquisition, have established themselves as basic texts in the field all over the world, and some of his articles have received prizes. He has been consistently productive over the years and a number of his articles have appeared in international journals and books. Apart from conducting his own research work, Prof. Littlewood has been a generous guiding influence for colleagues embarking on research. He has organized a series of seminars and workshops to stimulate interest in research and foster good research practice. Under his editorship, the Centre's journal has improved significantly in both quality and the diversity of subject areas.