21st Century English Teacher as Course Designer

This paper investigates the new role of the21 st century English teacher as course designer from the perspective of the new trends in English language teaching.The21 st century English teacher needs to be multi-skilled.He /she will not only be skilled in the language itself and in its transmission to the students via the textbook to pass the exams,but also skilled in understanding stu dents’needs,in designing syllabus,in adapting teaching materials,in producing teaching materials,and in evaluating the course being taught.The paper studies some definitions and frameworks on course design by foreign specialists,as well as analyses the course ESP Course Design offered by the Sino-British Adult Education ELT Project and the important role it plays in training multi-skilled English teachers for the new century.It finally concludes that teacher training is an effective means in developing professionalism and in facilitating innovation in language teaching.