System 34 (2006) 299–300

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SYSTEM

Obituary: Professor Christopher Brumfit

It was with sadness that we learned, rather late in the day, of the death, on 18 March, ofProfessor Chris Brumfit, a valued and long-serving member of our editorial board who hasalso, over the years, reviewed a large number of submissions to our journal until his longfight against cancer forced him to radically curtail his commitments. His comments werealways incisive but fair and very helpful to the authors concerned (and of course, to youreditor).

I met Chris at many conferences in various parts of the world and used some of hisbooks in applied linguistics courses. He was a friendly and quiet-spoken person, modestin his persona, but not afraid to be outspoken and critical when the occasion demandedit. We are many indeed who will miss him. We have asked George Blue, a colleague ofhis later years in Southampton, who knew him very well, to write the obituary thatfollows.

The Editor

Professor Christopher Brumfit had a long and distinguished career in English LanguageTeaching and Applied Linguistics. On graduating from Oxford in 1963, he studied for ateaching qualification at the University of East Africa in Makerere, Uganda, and thenwent on to work in Tanzania from 1964 to 1971. These years in Africa helped to shapehis thinking about education, language and social justice. On his return to the UK he com-pleted an MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Essex. He then worked at Bir-mingham City College of Education from 1972, moving to the Institute of Education inthe University of London in 1974 and finally to the University of Southampton in 1984.I had the privilege of working closely with him in Southampton for nearly 22 years.

Chris’s rigorous but very inclusive approach to the discipline and his breadth of visionled him to pursue an exciting academic agenda. During his time in Southampton three suc-cessful MA programmes were developed and a large number of research students re-cruited, not to mention his role in drawing together a broad range of colleagues withinterests in language from across the University and making us into a cohesive group.

For most of the last 20 years Chris found himself serving in very demanding seniormanagement roles (Head of School, Dean of Faculty, . . .), and he brought an unusual levelof dedication and skill to these roles. He chaired the British Association for Applied Lin-guistics, the British Association of TESOL-Qualifying Institutions, the British Council

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English Teaching Advisory Committee, and was in constant demand as a speaker, adviserand member of editorial boards.

Chris’s publications, particularly his pioneering work on communicative languageteaching and his recent work on individual freedom in language teaching, are extremelythought-provoking and incisive and are well known internationally. Yet, despite his im-mense reputation and his remarkable intellectual breadth and depth, Chris was very mucha people person. He loved teaching, was superb at adapting his content to the needs of hisstudents and always had time to talk to individuals. He also took a real interest in the livesof his colleagues and had many friends among colleagues round the world. We shall misshim enormously.

Our thoughts are particularly with his wife, Professor Rosamond Mitchell, his sons, Si-mon and Francis, his parents and the rest of the family.

George BlueModern Languages,

University of Southampton,

Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ,

United Kingdom

Tel.: +44 23 8059 2222; fax: +44 23 8059 3849

E-mail address: G.M.Blue@soton.ac.uk