As the demand for languages increases and evolves, there is an urgent need to increase the supply of language teachers and to facilitate the further professional development of practising teachers. Distance courses, which permit more teachers and would-be teachers to take advantage of educational opportunities under more flexible circumstances, are a practical way of responding to this need. This topical collection of papers is based on a symposium held at the University of Edinburgh in May 1993. The 15 papers by leading practitioners from UK institutions concerned with distance education cover a wide range of issues relating to course design, materials production, modes of delivery, learner support, administration and quality control. The volume will be of interest to all those concerned with language teacher education and to those intending to establish distance learning courses for language teachers.