Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-century Historical Perspectives 9789048552405

Table of contents :
Table of Contents
I INTRODUCTION
1 Valorizing Practice in Twentiethcentury Language Learning and Teaching
II CONTENT
2 Ovid’s Metamorphoses Are Read Everywhere!? Historical Remarks on a Classical Text in Latin Teaching in Germany
3 Teaching Schiller: Philological Discourse and Educational Practice at Schools of Higher Education in the German Kaiserreich—The Example of Wallenstein
4 Writing about German Literature: Examination and Text Forms in the French Occupation Zone, 1945–1949
III METHOD
5 Practice Escaping an Ideological Grip: How the CLT Agenda Slipped through the Cracks of Error Taxonomies
6 “Teachers May Feel that They Should …” Attempts to Align the Intended and the Taught Curriculum in 1980s Bremen Manuals for Communicative Language Teaching
7 The Quest for Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Learning in English Schools, 1968–2010
8 Teaching English Writing in the Twentieth Century Seen through Handbooks for Mother-tongue and Foreign Speakers
IV AIMS
9 ‘Too Much Workload in Technical Schools!’ Luigi Pavia and the Teaching of English in Italian Technical Schools on the Threshold of the Twentieth Century
10 Yoshisaburô Okakura and the Practical Value of the Study of English in Secondary Schools in Early Twentieth-century Japan
11 The British Juggernaut: ESP Practice and Purpose in the 1970s
V CONTEXT
12 Sociocultural, Political, and Educational Aspects of Teaching English in Polish Schools in the Interwar Period (1918–1939)
13 English as a Foreign Language in Georgia: From Past to Present
14 Language Teacher Education Improvements Would Valorize Practice: A Recent History of Intercultural Language Teaching in Aotearoa/New Zealand
15 Social Attitudes toward ‘School English’ in Classroom Practice in South Korea from 1970 to the Present
Index

Citation preview

Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching

Languages and Culture in History This series studies the role foreign languages have played in the creation of the linguistic and cultural heritage of Europe, both western and eastern, and at the individual, community, national or transnational level. At the heart of this series is the historical evolution of linguistic and cultural policies, internal as well as external, and their relationship with linguistic and cultural identities. The series takes an interdisciplinary approach to a variety of historical issues: the diffusion, the supply and the demand for foreign languages, the history of pedagogical practices, the historical relationship between languages in a given cultural context, the public and private use of foreign languages – in short, every way foreign languages intersect with local languages in the cultural realm. Series Editors Willem Frijhoff, Erasmus University Rotterdam Karène Sanchez-Summerer, Leiden University Editorial Board Members Gerda Hassler, University of Potsdam Douglas A. Kibbee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Marie-Christine Kok Escalle, Utrecht University Joep Leerssen, University of Amsterdam Nicola McLelland, The University of Nottingham Despina Provata, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Konrad Schröder, University of Augsburg Valérie Spaëth, University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle Javier Suso López, University of Granada Pierre Swiggers, KU Leuven

Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching 20th-Century Historical Perspectives

Edited by Sabine Doff and Richard Smith

Amsterdam University Press

Cover illustration: Photo by Artem Maltzev on Unsplash Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout isbn 978 94 6372 204 9 e-isbn 978 90 4855 240 5 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789463722049 nur 694 © All authors / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2022 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher.



Table of Contents

I INTRODUCTION 1 Valorizing Practice in Twentieth-century Language Learning and Teaching Sabine Doff and Richard Smith

11

II CONTENT 2 Ovid’s Metamorphoses Are Read Everywhere!?

25

3 Teaching Schiller

45

4 Writing about German Literature

71

Historical Remarks on a Classical Text in Latin Teaching in Germany Stefan Kipf

Philological Discourse and Educational Practice at Schools of Higher Education in the German Kaiserreich—The Example of Wallenstein Norman Ächtler

Examination and Text Forms in the French Occupation Zone, 1945–1949 Sabine Reh

III METHOD 5 Practice Escaping an Ideological Grip

How the CLT Agenda Slipped through the Cracks of Error Taxonomies Joanna Pfingsthorn

6 “Teachers May Feel that They Should …”

Attempts to Align the Intended and the Taught Curriculum in 1980s Bremen Manuals for Communicative Language Teaching Tim Giesler

97

121

7 The Quest for Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Learning in English Schools, 1968–2010

143

8 Teaching English Writing in the Twentieth Century Seen through Handbooks for Mother-tongue and Foreign Speakers

163

John Daniels

Laura Pinnavaia and Annalisa Zanola

IV AIMS 9 ‘Too Much Workload in Technical Schools!’

191

10 Yoshisaburô Okakura and the Practical Value of the Study of English in Secondary Schools in Early Twentieth-century Japan

213

11 The British Juggernaut

237

Luigi Pavia and the Teaching of English in Italian Technical Schools on the Threshold of the Twentieth Century Silvia Pireddu

Kohei Uchimaru

ESP Practice and Purpose in the 1970s Shona Whyte

V CONTEXT 12 Sociocultural, Political, and Educational Aspects of Teaching English in Polish Schools in the Interwar Period (1918–1939)

263

13 English as a Foreign Language in Georgia

289

14 Language Teacher Education Improvements Would Valorize Practice

317

Irmina Kotlarska

From Past to Present Ekaterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze

A Recent History of Intercultural Language Teaching in Aotearoa/ New Zealand Sharon Harvey

15 Social Attitudes toward ‘School English’ in Classroom Practice in South Korea from 1970 to the Present Robert J. Fouser

341

I INTRODUCTION

1

Valorizing Practice in Twentiethcentury Language Learning and Teaching Sabine Doff and Richard Smith

Building on exchanges among scholars in different countries which have been developing in recent years in the field of History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT),1 this book brings together studies from Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, and the UK which explore links between policy and practice in language teaching in the twentieth century. The book sets out to expand the remit of ‘grounded history’ within the field of HoLLT by focusing on twentieth-century language teaching policies and linking these to practices and to contexts, situating policy formulation in particular contexts on the one hand, and exploring the relationship between policy and practice on the other. In this sense, it shows how the theories, policy pronouncements, curricula, textbooks, and overall teaching approaches which tend to feature in most histories of language teaching always emerge from particular, researchable contexts, and, in the other direction, are interpreted and responded to in practice, again, in particular contexts.2 In this way, we hope to contribute a context-based perspective that highlights diversity of practices, in opposition to received views that language teaching methodology is ‘universal’ and context-free.

Reconsidering the Value Given to Theory and Policy in the History of Language Education In editing this volume, we have therefore had four main goals in mind: 1 HoLLT.net, AILA Research Network for History of Language Learning and Teaching. 2 Cf. Smith, ‘Building “Applied Linguistic Historiography”’, 82.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch01

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Firstly, we would like to continue to help build international, interlingual, intercultural and interdisciplinary perspectives in developing the field of HoLLT by bringing together specialists from a range of different countries, languages, and disciplines. A second aim is to develop an enhanced appreciation of the role that context has played in the formulation of policy in the twentieth century history of language learning and teaching, and in the success or otherwise of policy implementation. By doing so, we hope, thirdly, to help bring about a shift towards greater valorization of the great diversity of practices in the history of language learning and teaching, as a complement to prevailing universalist accounts of the history of ideas on language learning and teaching. Last, but not least, we hope to pave the way for systematic comparative research that takes account of various dimensions of practice in the history of language education. Why, though, this focus on context and on pursuing histories of practice as opposed to top-down, ‘methods-based’ or ‘programmatic’ history? Theories of learning and teaching, and of syllabus and curriculum, as well as the question of how these relate to one other, have been investigated rather thoroughly to date, with works devoted to such aspects tending to dominate in the fields of applied linguistics and language education. Historical work, especially, perhaps, that published in English and/or in relation to the teaching of English as a second/foreign language, has tended, accordingly, to be based primarily on charting the development of theories of how languages should (ideally) be learned and, especially, taught, under the rubric of ‘methods’.3 However, the limitations of universal proposals for language teaching have, at least since the 1990s, been continuously exposed. 4 The importance of contextually appropriate methodology5 and post-method pedagogy 6 is correspondingly well-established, at least in theory. In reality, nevertheless, teachers and learners continue to be exhorted to teach and learn, respectively, along lines set down by theorists and policymakers. Recent decades, in particular, have seemed, in some ways, to witness a growth in prescriptivism with regard to language learning and teaching as governments and other agencies (for example, the Council of Europe and the British Council), not to mention ‘global’ publishers (for example, Pearson, OUP, Macmillan) and testing agencies (for example, Cambridge Assessment) 3 For example, Howatt with Widdowson, A history of English language teaching, or Hüllen, Kleine Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens. 4 For example, by Phillipson, Linguistic imperialism, Holliday, Appropriate methodology and social context and Pennycook, The cultural politics of English as an international language. 5 Holliday, Appropriate methodology and social context. 6 Kumaravadivelu, Understanding language teaching: From method to postmethod.

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have become more active and have extended their reach. Academic research into language learning and teaching has become widespread and continually seeks new outlets for impact, while, with the development of mass education during the twentieth century, government policy on language teaching became more and more far-reaching (see PIREDDU and DANIELS7). Thus, even though, as is nowadays quite clear, top-down impositions of theory via policy tend to have limited effect and a more plausible approach to improvement is to develop teachers’ agency to understand and to innovate appropriately in their own contexts, theory and abstract policy still tend to gain more concentrated attention than practice-based insights or contextual considerations within teacher education and reform interventions. Partly, we feel, this is because the stories that are told and that we tell ourselves about our profession mainly concern past theories which have been proposed as universally relevant, and not past practices in particular contexts. As an antidote, and as a source of possible cases for integration into teacher education in different contexts, we propose the notions of ‘grounded histories’—that is, histories based on analysis of particular contexts—and of ‘valorizing practice’—that is, taking the position that it is worth attempting to uncover past practices within those contexts, indeed, that equal value should be attached to the work of practitioners as to decontextualized theories or policies of language learning and teaching.

Four Curricular Layers: Cuban’s Model as a Reference Point across Book Chapters To help authors consider practice independently of or interdependently with theory and policy, and to enable comparisons to be made across contexts, we have suggested that they refer to the multi-layered curriculum model developed by the American educationalist Larry Cuban.8 This views learning and teaching on four layers closely connected with each other. While authors have tended to consider several layers at once in their chapters, we note here authors’ names in cases where there has been a particular focus on one level. The first, ‘top’ layer, or ‘intended curriculum’, consists of official documents that describe learning and teaching as these should be and/or are designed in guidelines, curricula, and other sources with official character. As Cuban says: “In the real world […] the official [that is, ‘intended’] 7 8

Names in capitals refer to chapters by authors in this volume. Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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curriculum too often sails above the clouds loosely tethered to what happens in classrooms. How can that be? The answer is in the other layers of the curriculum structure”.9 These are the layers which have been neglected in past historical work and which we set out to valorize with the contributions in this volume: The ‘taught’ layer (teaching procedures) includes, for example, teacher knowledge, beliefs, decisions, and reasons for them with regard to language classrooms (what?, how?, why?). This layer also takes into account the contexts within which teacher decisions are made and language teaching occurs (see DANIELS, KIPF, KOTLARSKA, UCHIMARU and WHYTE): “[T]he intended curriculum and what teachers teach may overlap in the title of the course, key topics, and the same textbook, but can differ substantially in actual subject matter and daily lessons”.10 The ‘learned’ layer (learning procedures) includes, for example, ideas learners have acquired in language classrooms and what they do with them, as well as learner interactions with teachers and other learners, and the contexts of learner decisions and language learning (see PFINGSTHORN and PIREDDU): “[T]he taught curriculum overlaps with but differs significantly from what students take away from class [i.e. the learned layer]”.11 The ‘tested’ layer (test formats, test procedures) consists of, for example, test formats, results,and consequences; information and ideas contained in language tests and skills assessed by them, as well as contexts of language testing (see FOUSER, GIESLER and REH). As Cuban says, “[W]hat students learn does not exactly mirror what is in the tested curriculum”, and thus it is an additional area of practice to consider.12 As the chapters in this volume show, Cuban’s model has provided a good basis for identification and valorization of various contextual factors and practices, thus helping to fulfil our second and third aims above. Thus, while many historical studies to date have primarily been concerned with theoretical foundations of language learning and teaching along with textbooks, curricula, and other official historical sources, the contributions in this volume have a different focus: investigating the history of language learning and teaching with a focus on practice, they shed new light on how language learning and teaching have been carried out rather than how these should or could have been. In referring to Cuban’s model more or less explicitly, several of the 9 10 11 12

Ibidem. Ibidem. Ibidem. Ibidem.

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chapters trace processes of ‘recontextualization’13 of the rather well researched ‘top’ or ‘intended’ curriculum layer’ into the other three curricular layers. Thus, the different chapters are united in valorizing practices of language learning and teaching by taking into account a layer or layers other than the intended curriculum. Indeed, Cuban’s model constitutes one way in which systematic comparison can be effected, with views from different contexts complementing each other. As the field of HoLLT seeks ways to effect comparison across languages and contexts, this model can serve as one useful framework. Aside from exploring diverse ‘layers’ of language teaching and learning, the chapters focus on—and the book is structured according to—different aspects of policy and practice in the history of language education, specifically those of the well-known ‘didactic triangle’ of ‘content’ (What?), ‘method’ (How?) and ‘aims’ (Why?), with the addition of a separate section on ‘context’.

Focus on Content Chapters in the first section of the book are focused mainly on the what, that is, the content of language education, here represented by various examples of literary content. In the first chapter, Stefan KIPF shows that Ovid’s Metamorphoses are not only an important part of world literature, but have also been the subject of long-lasting and intensive pedagogical efforts in European schools. To this day, this text is an indispensable part of teaching Latin in Germany, a canonical text and a true school classic. Surprisingly, we are poorly informed about how Metamorphoses were able to achieve this position. This chapter aims to provide a historical overview of the conditions under which this Latin text became canonical from the eighteenth century onwards, then lost this position briefly in the first half of the twentieth century. Norman ÄCHTLER, in his chapter on Schiller’s Wallenstein, clearly demonstrates the importance of a history of practice in German classes. His chapter deals with the question of how—with which methods, means and media—the German classics were taught in secondary schools of the German-speaking world during the nineteenth century. Using the example of the philological and didactical treatment of Friedrich Schiller’s drama trilogy Wallenstein, this is discussed from a discourse analytical perspective. Following Foucault and others, the German class is described as a ‘dispositive’, an intentional arrangement of specific discourses, discursive practices, and media. 13 Fend, Geschichte des Bildungswesens.

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A third focus on content is provided by Sabine REH who takes a close look at teaching German literature in the French zone of occupation after World War II, using examination tasks for and papers written by learners: a type of source that has so far been neglected. In her chapter “Writing about Literature”, she shows what new insights into mother-tongue teaching and its history can be gained by looking at practices, specifically the practice of testing and the artifacts analysed here, that is, student papers and teacher evaluations. Using student essays written as part of a competition and judged by teachers, the author is able to trace how ideas about individual-authentic writing on literature in Germany came to the fore anew, despite the adoption of certain practices from France; that is, the chapter examines how practices change in their transnational migration.

Focus on Method The chapters arranged in the next section of our volume are centred around questions of how learning and teaching in language classrooms have been arranged. In her chapter “Practice Escaping an Ideological Grip”, Joanna PFINGSTHORN shows how the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) agenda slipped through the cracks of error taxonomies. Although it is widely assumed that learner errors are an integral part of the language learning experience, their exact conceptualization as a phenomenon and, by extension, the understanding of their role in relation to constructs such as language proficiency or communicative competence remained unclear in the course of the twentieth century. The chapter examines the degree to which error taxonomies that were developed in various foreign language education settings by practitioners in the heyday of the CLT approach accounted for and reflected the basic rationale of the CLT agenda, that is, the fostering of communicative skills that allow learners to express their intentions in a correct and appropriate way. Tim GIESLER’s chapter suggests a supplementary approach to normative sources by investigating attempts to align the intended and the taught curriculum in 1980s Bremen manuals for CLT. In the absence of sources that provide direct documentation of past teaching practice, he approaches 1980s English language teaching manuals from the northern German city state of Bremen by applying them as indirect sources that serve as windows into past practices. This can be done since the manuals’ authors—English experts hired to modernize language teaching in Bremen—not only propose how the new language teaching curricula should be put to practice but also

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scrutinize the teaching practice they observed and, at the same time, try to refute criticisms they expected from in-service teachers. A first-hand account of CLT is offered by John DANIELS, who, in his chapter, looks to identify the role of communicative competence as an objective for language teaching through the different periods and methodologies that have marked language learning in England over the thirty-five year period in which the author was personally involved, as a middle school language teacher and researcher. The development of intensive language programmes to supplement classroom language learning, a central theme for this chapter, demonstrates how teachers can respond to an identified problem, here the difficulty of developing productive language skills that are essential for communicative competence. A complementary focus on receptive skills is provided by Laura PINNAVIA and Annalisa ZANOLA, who reconstruct how English writing was taught in the twentieth century, as seen through handbooks for mother-tongue speakers (MTS) and foreign speakers (FS). After providing a brief historical description of the rise of handbooks for MTS and FS, this work features analysis of the prefaces and contents of six handbooks—three addressed to MTS and three to FS—covering the periods 1880–1920, 1920–1960, 1960–1990—to see whether, despite their different theoretical and historical origins, similarities between the two text-types exist.

Focus on Aims The chapters in this section focus on why or to what ends languages have been taught and learned. Silvia PIREDDU investigates the changing aims of English language teaching in Italian technical schools on the threshold of the twentieth century. This chapter illustrates the work of Luigi Pavia, who discussed the role and mission of the state school teacher and, in particular, the difficult task of matching the official requirements of the curricula and everyday classroom practice. He questioned the organization of these curricula and the methodology used to teach foreign languages, advocating a more flexible approach, and discussed the diff iculty of educating prior to preparing the technicalities of grammar. Pavia had a holistic view of education and testified to the difficulties experienced by a teacher facing teenagers at the beginning of the new century. Kohei UCHIMARU focuses on Yoshisaburô Okakura and the practical value of the study of English in secondary schools in early twentieth-century

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Japan. Okakura was more concerned than his predecessors and successors with teaching English as a form of education. He is also well known for valuing reading for its practical value in the study of English. By closely examining his policies and teaching practice, this chapter reveals that underlying his approach were contextual considerations on the purpose of general education in secondary schools. In the next chapter, Shona WHYTE takes a critical look at “English for Special Purposes” in the 1970s. This work examines the debate between advocates of general and specific purpose English language teaching from the early days of British ESP onwards. Drawing on contemporary sources including memoirs and biographical notes as well as journal articles, book chapters, and ESP textbooks, this chapter traces the influence of key figures who together had an impact on the development of the field of ESP in the UK in the 1970s. The author argues that their work is an example of a useful cross-fertilization of academic research and teaching practice and benefited from both unusually propitious circumstances and some quite remarkable individuals.

Focus on Context This final section acknowledges the salient role that context plays for all three dimensions of the didactic triangle represented by previous sections. The contributions in this section show how the language learning and teaching present is very much defined by contexts shaped in the past. Irmina KOTLARSKA investigates sociocultural, political, and educational aspects of teaching English in Polish schools in the interwar period (1918–1939), when the country regained its independence. This is the period when English first came into the curriculum in the developing school system. The main phenomena investigated are the links between teaching and learning procedures of English language teaching at state schools and the social, cultural, intellectual, and political context of foreign language teaching in interwar Poland. The analysis aims to ascertain how the purposes of English language education given in curricula are reflected in textbooks by means of a comparison between curricula and textbook content. To analyse the materials as comprehensively as possible, professional journal articles from the period are also considered. The next chapter by Sharon HARVEY critically examines the introduction, reception, and practices relating to intercultural language teaching policy in New Zealand between 2006 to 2018. Focusing the lens on practice,

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a critical review of the history and context of the policy introduction of intercultural language teaching is presented, alongside findings of evaluative studies. These show, among other things, the degree to which intercultural competence was or was not integrated into in-service language teacher education programmes aimed at upskilling New Zealand teachers. A profound disconnect is evident between the top-down globalized language and culture policy emanating from the Council of Europe and the ‘taught’ layer of the New Zealand curriculum’s Learning Languages area, and the suggestion is made that a new layer may need to be added to Cuban’s curriculum model: that of teacher education. The chapter by Ekaterine SHAVERDASHVILI and Nino CHKHIKVDZE about English as a foreign language in Georgia also illustrates the importance of historical context for present-day language education. The authors explore the establishment of English as a foreign language in Georgia in the 1930s and its development to the present day. Their work analyses the factors influencing English language teaching at different times in Georgia before, during, and after the Soviet period, and examines English language curricula and teaching materials. The chapter also offers the results of empirical research on the current state of English teaching and the impact of the Soviet period, based on focus group interviews conducted throughout Georgia. Robert J. FOUSER’s closing chapter provides a different focus on context by investigating social attitudes toward ‘school English’ in South Korea from 1970 to 1999. As the South Korean economy developed rapidly in the 1970s, the perceived importance of English grew. This trend accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s with continued growth and the transition to democracy. The chapter analyses a corpus of forty-nine selected articles on English education from four major South Korean daily newspapers. Results show that pushes to reform ‘school English’ originated from policy-makers intent on linking English proficiency to economic and social development. Rather than reflecting popular attitudes, policy-makers acted as drivers of public opinion.

New Perspectives for a ‘History of the Present’ in Language Education The importance of some of these chapters’ relatively recent contextual focus is signaled by Cuban, who states that

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previous reforms create the historical context for the multi-layered curriculum and influence the direction of contemporary reforms. This historical context is like a coral, a mass of skeletons from millions of animals built up that, over time, accumulates into reefs above and below the sea line. Its presence cannot be ignored neither by ships nor by inhabitants. Yet many eager reformers in science education do ignore the coral reefs, pay little attention to the historical context for the new science teaching and learning that they champion.14

Compared to studies of the history of language learning and teaching which focus on earlier periods, the twentieth-century history represented in this book seems, in many cases, to be relatively close to us and may have relatively direct implications—as implied by Cuban in the above extract with regard to science education—for language education policy-makers, but also for practitioners. The relative recency of some of the periods focused on may enable teacher trainees to find value in historical work in relation to current concerns like, for example, aspects of communicative language teaching (DANIELS, PFINGSTHORN) or intercultural language teaching (HARVEY). A focus on the relatively recent past may have implications, too, for the kind of historical sources which can be consulted, with new kinds of source becoming available, for example, via video- and audio-recordings. Serendipitous discoveries of relevant source material can occur, as well, as the chapters by GIESLER and REH show. Yet at the same time, with a focus on this fairly recent past it might be more difficult to keep a distance, especially in cases where the present (of language learning and teaching) still seems to be very much defined by the recent past, as the chapters in the final section of the book illustrate. Overall, the volume offers a global view on language education that sees language learning and teaching theory and practice as complementing each other. The contributions in this book show how the rather well-researched history of theory and programmatic ideas in the twentieth century can be complemented by histories of practice which provide a fuller picture of language learning and teaching in the past, including the recent past and the past-in-the-present. We hope that the book shows what can be gained from a view of language education that complements theory with considerations of context and practice, and that this approach can inform further research into the history of language learning and teaching, also with benefits for teacher education in the present day. 14 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the authors for bearing with us during the publication process, Amsterdam University Press—in particular, Louise Visser, Jasmijn Zondervan and the series editors of Language and Culture in History—the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ (DFG), and the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies (HWK Delmenhorst) for supporting our endeavour to promote grounded histories, and to Tim Giesler for his input into the conceptualization of the overall initiative. Sabine Doff & Richard Smith Bremen and Coventry, January 2022

Bibliography Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi‐layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/why-change-is-oftenconfused-with-reform-the-multi-layered-curriculum/ (accessed 05/10/21). Fend, Helmut, Geschichte des Bildungswesens: Der Sonderweg im europäischen Kulturraum (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2006). Holliday, Adrian, Appropriate methodology and social context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). HoLLT.net, AILA Research Network for History of Language Learning and Teaching, http://hollt/net (accessed 05/10/2021). Howatt, A.P.R. with Widdowson, Henry G., A history of English language teaching, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Hüllen, Werner, Kleine Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens (Berlin: Schmitt, 2005). Kumaravadivelu, B., Understanding language teaching: From method to postmethod (Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum, 2006). Pennycook, Alastair. The cultural politics of English as an international language (London: Longman, 1994). Phillipson, Robert, Linguistic imperialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). Smith, Richard, ‘Building “Applied Linguistic Historiography”: Rationale, scope and methods’, Applied Linguistics 37(1) (2016), 71–87.

II CONTENT

2 Ovid’s Metamorphoses Are Read Everywhere!? Historical Remarks on a Classical Text in Latin Teaching in Germany 1 Stefan Kipf

Abstract Ovid’s Metamorphoses are not only part of world literature, but have also been the subject of long and intensive pedagogical efforts in European schools. To this day, this text is an indispensable part of teaching Latin in Germany. It is a canonical text, a true school classic. Surprisingly, we are poorly informed about how Metamorphoses were able to achieve this position. The aim of this study is to provide a historical overview of the conditions under which this Latin text was able to become canonical from the eighteenth century onwards and to lose this position briefly in the first half of the twentieth century. Keywords: canon; general education; ‘Gymnasium’; Humanism; Latin teaching; Metamorphoses; mythology; Neo-humanism; Ovid; Prussia

1

Ovid and Latin Instruction in Germany and Europe

Ovid and Latin instruction in Germany and Europe have been closely intertwined since the Middle Ages. Since the Middle Ages, most of Ovid’s works have been the subject of many scientific, artistic, and educational efforts in schools. Metamorphoses played a very special role here. This epic poem can justifiably be called the “Grundbuch der Mythen”2 (basic book 1 This text is a revised and expanded version of the presentation given at the Valorizing Practice conference and of the handbook article ‘Ovid im Schulunterricht’ published by the author in 2021. 2 Fuhrmann, ‘Das Grundbuch der Mythen’, 54.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch02

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of myths), an epic in which the Roman poet Ovid made transformation myths the central theme in approximately 12,000 verses and approximately 250 individual stories. Ovid created a literary treasure with figures such as Daedalus and Icarus, Orpheus and Eurydice, or Pygmalion, from which creative work is still generated today. This applies not only to literature, music, or the visual arts, but also to schools: Ovid’s Metamorphoses represent an indispensable and exemplarily significant part of Latin teaching in Germany in the twenty-first century, so that Metamorphoses can be described as a classic of school practice that is unquestioned in Germany. This is in stark contrast to the controversial me too debates at American universities, in which Metamorphoses were classified as inappropriate reading, especially for female students, because of its depictions of violence against women.3 How and under what historical conditions could this text achieve such a central position in the teaching of Latin in German schools? Is it a teleological selection process that almost inevitably made Metamorphoses a school classic because of its special humanistic, that is, linguistic and pedagogical qualities?4 How stable is such a canonization? Under what conditions can it be revised? What role do the different curricular layers (intended, taught, learned, tested) play in this process?5 This study contributes to fundamental insights into the development of Metamorphoses as part of the historical practice of Latin teaching.

2

Metamorphoses of Small Significance for School Education in Humanism

Since its rediscovery in the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries, Ovid’s work has become an important part of medieval Latin education. In addition to the popular Ars amatoria,6 Metamorphoses formed the central source of mythological knowledge and soon played an important role as a moralized educational object legitimized by Christianity, for example, in the form of Ovidius moralizatus (Petrus Berchorius, 1340). Ovid became a “moral teacher whose poems […] were admired, interpreted and imitated”.7 In early modern Humanism, the public presence of Metamorphoses increased. For example, the commentary submitted by Raphael Regius in 1493 3 Wesselmann, ‘Metamorphosen’. 4 Kipf, Altsprachlicher Unterricht, 40. 5 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 6 Volk, Ovid, 136–141. 7 Fuhrmann, Latein und Europa, 24.

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was available twenty years after its publication in a print run of 50,000 copies.8 This is hardly surprising, since a special educational potential was attributed to Metamorphoses: Georg Sabinus, a Melanchthon pupil, described the text in his commentary as “thesaurus eruditionis”, as a treasure house of education, in which, in addition to scientific instruction (for example, in geography and natural history), images of the entirety of human life and the circumstances of his human existence (“imagines totius vitae et conditionis humanae”)9 are contained. Its reading thus served moral education (“ad formandos vitae mores”), encouraged the formation of virtue and deterred from immorality.10 Surprisingly, however, Metamorphoses played only a minor role in the practice of humanistic education. In De ratione studii ac legendi interpretandique auctores, published by Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1511, which Paulsen described as the sum of the “Gymnasialpädagogik”11 of German humanism, they are mentioned only as an object of study for the teacher, but not as a subject of instruction. Also, in most Protestant school orders of the sixteenth century, Metamorphoses is sought in vain; instead, the Tristia, the Epistulae ex Ponto, the Fasti, and the Heroides are found,12 namely for the practice of grammatical knowledge and the formation of poetic taste.13 Metamorphoses is rarely school reading, for example, alongside Justinus and Florus as “historiarum compendia”,14 that is, as a source of historical knowledge. The Brandenburg school regulations of 1564 point out that poetic reading, apart from the comedies of Terence, may only be done in exceptional cases from morally sound (“ex castioribus libris Ovidii”) works of Ovid. And then it is said carefully: “Saepe etiam ex Metamorphosis quaedam sumere licebit.”15 One could then—if the morals are right and here one believes to hear Quintilian—“often even” (“saepe etiam”) take something from the Metamorphoses. Quintilian’s well-known criticism from the first century AD (Inst. X 1, 88, “lascivos in herois”)16 of Ovid’s playful, unintentional handling of epic material, which was now interpreted as a moral malum and ruled out any use at school, may have been responsible for this lack of attention paid to Metamorphoses. In any case, it is remarkable that a text in which there was 8 Schmitzer, ‘Ovids Verwandlungen verteutscht’, 129. 9 Sabinus, Metamorphosis seu Fabula Poeticae, 15. 10 Ibidem, 16. 11 Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, 68. 12 Eckstein, Lateinischer und griechischer Unterricht, 274. 13 Vormbaum, Evangelische Schulordnungen, Bd. 1, 197. 14 Ibidem, 536. 15 Ibidem, 536. 16 Quintilian, Die Ausbildung des Redners, 466.

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great interest among the educated public was not noticeably transformed into the intended curriculum layer. Even in the seventeenth century there was no change. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, reading Metamorphoses was rejected by Pietist pedagogues, not least because of the erotic content,17 unless it could be interpreted as Christian,18 for example, in Joachim Lange’s reading book “Flores e Vergilio, Horatio et Ovidio collecti” of 1724. Here, texts are represented which could be used as models of ethical exemplary or negative human behaviour, not as complete units, yet as individual quotations with phraseological or moralizing aims.19 The actual core of Metamorphoses as mythological epics, the rich tradition of Greek and Roman mythology, is, for Lange, not relevant to education.20

3

Neo-humanism as a Turning Point on the Way to a School Classic

The career of Metamorphoses as a school text is decisively connected with so-called Neo-humanism, which became a formative educational movement in Germany in the course of the eightteenth century. Through the study of the language and literary texts of the classical Greeks and Romans, students were not to be educated for practical-professional usefulness. It was no longer a matter of learning Latin for use as a means of communication; rather, the focus was on so-called “general human education” (‘allgemeine Menschenbildung’), the harmonious development of an independent, responsible individual.21 Johann Matthias Gesner (1691–1761), an important representative of early Neo-Humanism and, after his appointment to the University of Göttingen (1734), founder of the ‘Seminarium philologicum’ there, stated that the reading of ancient literature should no longer “lead to Latin and Greek imitations [i.e. to active speaking and communicating], but should form judgment and taste, mind and understanding”.22 Gesner regarded ancient literature as the most beautiful and free development of the human spirit. […] Whoever therefore reads and understands their writings, enjoys the company of 17 Beims, Antike Texte an christlichen Schulen, 231. 18 Ibidem, 231. 19 Ibidem, 278–280. 20 Ibidem, 278–280. 21 Fuhrmann, Latein und Europa, 113–128. 22 Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, 17.

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the greatest and noblest souls that ever were, and thereby also adopts […] beautiful thoughts and emphatic words himself.23

These objectives of Neo-humanist education then also played a decisive role in the implementation of Metamorphoses as a school text. It is due to Gesner that Metamorphoses, now under decidedly Neo-humanist auspices, were anchored in the curriculum for the first time, namely in the BraunschweigLüneburg school regulations of 1737. While the Tristia and the Epistulae ex ponto served to teach Latin metrics, Metamorphoses were to be studied for the sake of mythology.24 There were three reasons for this: their comprehensive literary reception, their historical educational potential, and their contribution to understanding the present: [B]ecause at the courts of great lords and otherwise many hundreds and thousands of medals, paintings, wallpapers, statues, and other pieces like that occur, which the one who does not understand mythology is not able to interpret, nor to judge what is hidden underneath.25

Knowledge of Metamorphoses thus became a distinguishing feature of society through the provision of cultural knowledge of orientation. With its help, even the national reputation improved when youth no longer showed the usual ignorance during their trips abroad in the “picture galleries, art chambers, medal cabinets, gardens, theatres”,26 knowledge gained “when young people are […] instructed to read the […] Ovidian Metamorphoses”.27 This reorientation towards socially-relevant reading obviously had farreaching consequences, since Metamorphoses now became the subject of intensive didactic reflection. Thus August Friedrich Pauli (1756–1818), father of the famous lexicographer of the same name, recommends in the third volume (1799) of his Versuch(s) einer vollständigen Methodologie für den gesammten Kursus der öffentlichen Unterweisung in der lateinischen Sprache und Literatur (‘Attempt to develop a complete methodology for the entire course of public instruction in Latin language and literature’), published in three volumes since 1785 (and probably the first ever German methodology for Latin), recommends the reading of Metamorphoses with great emphasis.28 The epic is presented 23 Ibidem, 21. 24 Vormbaum, Evangelische Schulordnungen, Bd. 3, 390. 25 Ibidem, 391. 26 Ibidem, 391. 27 Ibidem, 391. 28 Pauli, Versuch einer vollständigen Methodologie, 224f.

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as a literary top performance; as with Gesner, the mediation of mythological knowledge also plays a central role. In addition, Pauli emphasizes the age appropriateness of the text and its propaedeutic function in preparing for reading of the Aeneid. The aim is to develop a sense of taste and judgement that addresses typical neo-humanistic educational goals. Thus, Pauli paints the picture of a text that is completely balanced, classical in its form, which expresses the true, beautiful, and good in the neo-humanistic sense: The tone that prevails in it? Gentle, touching grace. […] everything is so appropriate to produce gentle pleasure, gentle emotion. The poet has remained so faithful to this tone throughout his life that he has never deviated from it. Here and there he could be tempted to put on shining jewellery […]. But even here he maintained himself in the harmonic simplicity of expression and tone. […] the expression, for all its simplicity, is elevated above the commonplace, and nowhere does it sink into the low and platitudes.29

Nevertheless, Pauli cannot unreservedly recommend the reading, since one must remove indecent parts of the poem. Here, too, as mentioned above, the negative judgment of the Roman rhetoric teacher Quintilian is evident. Despite all enthusiasm for the artist Ovid, moral reservations against him could not be dispelled, for example, because of sexually-charged scenes.30

4

Three Main Principles of Teaching Metamorphoses

On this basis, Metamorphoses in the nineteenth century found its way into didactic literature, into curricula, and also into schools, as can be seen in annual reports (‘Jahresberichte’) at the beginning of the nineteenth century. For example, at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin, since its foundation in 1797, “in the third Latin class […] in six hours exquisite fables from Ovid’s Metamorphoses”31 have been featured. Even the most important pedagogies and didactics no longer do without Metamorphoses, although one gets the impression that the decision in favour of the epic is never completely unconditional. The 1880s32 saw the development of a didactic 29 Ibidem, 241. 30 Ibidem, 225. 31 Herzberg, Materialien zur Geschichte, 25. 32 Pürschel, Zur Ovidlektüre, 2.

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pattern of argumentation, the ambitious goals of which created friction with teaching practice. Metamorphoses found its curricular place in Prussia as poetic elementary reading and the Aeneid as propaedeutics in the eighth and ninth grades (“Unter-/Obertertia”) of the Gymnasium and in the tenth and eleventh grades (“Unter-/Obersekunda”) of the Realgymnasium. Thus, they required mastery by pupils who had little experience with poetic texts, which was very challenging for the students: in 1884, for example, Georg Ihm noticed significant problems in the reading of Ovid, both for pupils and teachers. He observes that the students of Tertia prefer Caesar to Ovid and are happy when the poetic reading is f inished and they return to Caesar.33 This phenomenon is explained not only by the Caesar’s greater attraction, but also by overburdening the Tertians, who could not quite appreciate Ovid’s literary qualities, his “formality, his skill in inventing and spinning out situations”. Moreover, Ovid’s moral quality was again called into doubt.34 But not only the pupils had problems with Ovid; teachers behaved in unexpected ways, as well. Apart from the fact […] that not all teachers can be predisposed to a tasteful treatment of a poet, many teachers are distant about reading poetry, because they say about this subject pretty much the same thing that the student often thinks, namely that reading poets in comparison to prose reading, around which grammatical teaching is grouped, achieves little tangible results and cannot give a deciding yardstick for the achievements of a class. The consequence of a point of view of this kind is usually boredom based on reciprocity.35

In addition, a widespread academic contempt promotes Ovid’s pedagogical misconduct: The consequence of this now is that, in the realization that great scholarship is not in the right place here, one easily refrains from making more detailed […] studies that sharpen the mental eye […].36

33 34 35 36

Ihm, ‘Die Ovidlektüre’, 335. Ibidem, 337. Ibidem, 336f. Ibidem, 337.

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Ihm therefore demands that the reading goals must be adapted to the pupils’ abilities on the basis of careful lesson planning.37 In order to read at least 3000 verses (in two years), morally offensive parts should be avoided, unusual texts should be ignored.38 By the way, the number 3000 may be classified as highly unrealistic: other calculations come to a maximum of 660 verses, in order to avoid overburdening the pupils.39 Therefore, the reading of Metamorphoses must have the character of a poetic elementary reading: “1. Learning the laws of the hexameter. 2. Introduction to the poetic language. 3. Formation of taste. 4. Deepening and broadening the knowledge of mythology”. 40 The teaching of mythological knowledge continues to be assigned an important role, namely for its treasure trove of material. 41 Metamorphoses are a useful addition to history lessons, since mythology expresses humanhistorical relationships in a way that is understandable for students. 42 Additionally, Metamorphoses offer great potential for cultural education, knowledge that could enrich visits to a museum, for example.43 However, a restriction must be observed: reading Ovid is not primarily for the acquisition of mythological knowledge; translations and literature for young people could also be used for this purpose. 44 The sophisticated humanistic educational goals can only be achieved if Metamorphoses are read in the original and translated from Latin into German. Metamorphoses are understood as a core piece of general human education. Only if this human content is the focus of the lessons, will the students find interest in the material: According to this, the consideration of the poetic and moral content of the pieces to be selected and their ability to arouse the participation and interest of the students is decisive; this will especially be the case if the pieces are sympathetic to them according to their purely human content and possibly have a homely feel to them. At the same time, they should contain a cultural-historical element, and the stages of development of mankind should be presented. 45 37 Ibidem, 337. 38 Ibidem, 341. 39 Pürschel, Zur Ovidlektüre, 1. 40 Ihm, ‘Die Ovidlektüre’, 338. 41 Egen, ‘Zur Lektüre Ovids’, 817. 42 Dettweiler, Didaktik und Methodik, 128–129. 43 Ibidem, 129. 44 Ibidem, 129. 45 Ibidem, 129.

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This is remarkable: in modern Latin didactics, it would be called “existential transfer”46, when students understand their own world better by comparing it with the ancient world. However, the problems of this focus quickly become clear: All too easily, a distanced view of the historicity of the work is obscured; at the same time, the reference to the present places the ancient text in the service of politically-determined educational goals. Thus, for example, the romantic rescue and love story of Perseus and Andromeda is to be understood as a politically-correct example of heroism, sacrifice for the good of the whole nation, and the use of life to relieve the distress of others. 47 The presentation and use of Metamorphoses in the classroom is determined by overriding political considerations. The literary text as such is not the focus here; the current scientific reception is also largely ignored. The main focus should be on the emotionally-effective pictures of daily life: mother and her child, father and son, a loving couple.48 Incidentally, attempts to establish Metamorphoses as age-appropriate, light food for the child’s spirit49 in initial Latin instruction remained unsuccessful. In summary, these are the 1896 objectives for study of Metamorphoses: The passages to be read are intended to provide the pupil with a certain yield and gain of new, meaningful views and ideas, the value of which is attested to by their survival in our modern education, especially in the fields of mythology and cultural history, and to have a moral and educational effect on him, in a manner appropriate to the Tertian’s intellectual and moral point of view and captivating his interest.50

On this basis, a text canon was formed which remains stable today—with a short interruption, to be discussed later. The partition of this gigantic epic was facilitated by the fact that Metamorphoses were always understood as a didactically advantageous chain of epic poems.51 The following subjects formed the core of the canon: the apotheosis of Caesar, Daedalus and Icarus, Deukalion and Pyrrha, Lycian peasants, Kadmos, Midas, Niobe, Orpheus and Eurydice, Perseus and Andromeda, Phaeton, Philemon and Baucis, Creation and Chaos, Flood, and Four Ages of the World.52 This reading 46 Kipf, Altsprachlicher Unterricht, 339–343. 47 Ibidem, 130. 48 Frick, ‘Mitteilungen aus der Praxis’, 263. 49 Döhring, Ovid im lateinischen Anfangsunterricht, 1. 50 Pürschel, Zur Ovidlektüre, 4. 51 Naegelsbach, Gymnasialpädagogik, 131. 52 Dettweiler, Didaktik und Methodik, 129.

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strategy proved so successful that Dettweiler was able to announce in 1906: “Ovids Metamorphosen werden überall gelesen” (‘Ovid’s Metamorphoses are read everywhere’).53 They belonged to the “ehernen Bestandteil” (‘iron component’) of Latin texts,54 while Ovid’s Tristia and his elegies were proposed only as a supplement to Metamorphoses,55 and no longer mentioned in the Prussian curricula of 1892 and 1901.

5

Politics and School: How to Decanonize a Classical Text

While social needs originally led to Metamorphoses being established as a canonical text in the curricula and school practice, this image was to change so fundamentally in the 1920s and 1930s that the importance of reading was not only diminished, but the text was completely decanonized. Political decisions were of decisive importance here, going hand-in-hand with a fundamental turning-away-from curricula influenced by Neo-humanism. Thus, in the Weimar Republic, against the background of the political turmoil after the end of the World War, all school instruction was to take place under changed political guidelines in order to promote a new civic mentality after the demise of the old system. The focus of all instruction should therefore be German culture with the so-called German or cultural subjects ‘Deutsch-/Kulturkunde’56 (German, geography, history, religion), according to which the content and methods of the other subjects should also be oriented. Subjects not related to German (for example, ancient languages) thus had no special value of their own; only through a political reorientation could they become a meaningful part of the canon of subjects. For Latin instruction, this meant having to constantly prove its connection to German culture. According to the intention of the new curriculum, civic education was to play a special role in this process, for example, by having heroes of early Roman times provide a “shining example” for the students with their “patriotism”.57 What effects did these educational policy guidelines have on the reading of Metamorphoses? Paul Hohen summarizes the situation succinctly: “Ovid now comes off badly in the curriculum revision of the twenties”.58 It is true 53 Ibidem, 128. 54 Döhring, Ovid im lateinischen Anfangsunterricht, 4. 55 Dettweiler, Didaktik und Methodik, 131. 56 Preuße, Humanismus, 104–127. 57 Richert, Richtlinien, Bd.1, 211. 58 Hohen, ‘Ovidlektüre’, 55.

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that Metamorphoses appear in the reform plans of 1925 instead of in the customary grade O III in the next higher grade, U II; however, it is only provided “for a change” from the reading of the historian Livius. In addition, one looks in vain for a concretization of the passages to be read; it is only vaguely mentioned that “one or the other narratives of Metamorphoses” could be read.59 Behind these brief remarks, a fundamental skepticism towards the reading of Metamorphoses may be suspected: Thus, the shift to a higher grade level is justified by the fact that the rich vocabulary of Metamorphoses overtaxes the Tertians; on top of that, the reading is also not suitable in terms of content, since the text does not offer many “truly youthful stories”60, an argument voiced as early as the nineteenth century, again referring to Ovid’s lack of moral suitability. Thus, the important Latinist Eduard Fraenkel, in a programmatic contribution, expressed himself cautiously about the role of Metamorphoses: “Only rarely, and only with wise selection, will Ovid’s delightful Metamorphoses appeal to an age that is not yet inclined to the frivolously graceful play, but feels it has outgrown the fairy tale”.61 This downgrading may also be related to the fact that the text could meet the lofty goals of civic education and thus serve only as an appendix to the more politically valuable reading of the Augustan historian Livius as a herald of exemplary Roman ideals. In this context, it is noteworthy that Metamorphoses were intended as a particularly suitable yet critically evaluated62 reading for the newly established Latin classes at girls’ schools, which was, however, critically evaluated. However, this modified curriculum specification seems to have met with little approval in practice. The renowned methodologist Max Krüger, for example, noted that he had repeatedly found that “tertians like to read stories such as the Lycian peasants, Pyramus and Thisbe, Phaeton, Icarus, and the like”,63 and that he therefore recommended reading them after all. Ewald Bruhn expressed himself in a similar way in his methodology; his students had always enjoyed reading Metamorphoses.64 It is doubtful whether the new curriculum requirements brought about a radical change in traditional reading habits: On the one hand, numerous 59 Richert, Richtlinien, Bd, 2, 423. 60 Kranz, Die neuen Richtlinien, 103. 61 Fraenkel, ‘Die Stellung’, 87–88. 62 Bruhn, Altsprachlicher Unterricht, 84. 63 Krüger, Methodik, 146. 64 Bruhn, Altsprachlicher Unterricht, 84–85.

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school text editions of Metamorphoses continued to be offered by textbook publishers;65 on the other there are also recommendations for reading Metamorphoses under German or cultural studies specifications. Since Metamorphoses contains above all “Indo-Germanic saga and fairy tale motifs”, readers are advised to “take a look at the similar and related domestic sagas and fairy tales, but also beyond them to the sagas of the nearer and more distant Orient”.66 Thus, it is suggested to compare the metamorphosis of Philemon and Baucis (met. VIII 617–724), which belongs to the school canon, with the fairy tale Der Arme und der Reiche (‘The Poor and the Rich’) from the Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen (‘Children’s and Household Tales’).67 These governmental interventions in the curricula then intensif ied dramatically during the National Socialist era. Instruction was now to be completely reorganized according to the principles of National Socialist ideology. The consequence for Latin instruction was that its actual goal was no longer defined in terms of humanistic, but rather in terms of racial aspects. Ancient literature, culture, and history were now to be interpreted in terms of National Socialist racial doctrine: The goal of Latin instruction is a recognition and understanding of the attitude of the Romans, through which this Nordic-determined people asserted itself in a threatening environment by creating its state.68

On this basis, it was intended to educate race-conscious German people who are ready for action and sacrifice, that is, heroic struggle for the preservation of the elemental force of our national life and for the completion of the national community fatefully entrusted to us.69

It is absolutely clear that under these premises the only texts suitable for teaching were those in which could be proven the theory of the Nordic race’s superiority. On the basis of the reading of historians such as Caesar, Tacitus, and Livius, the focus was to be on the Roman man as “the kindred man of action”.70 Roman leadership and typical Roman virtues were to be 65 Fritsch, Die altsprachlichen Schullektüre, passim. 66 Schuster, Altertum, 92. 67 Ibidem, 98–99. 68 Erziehung und Unterricht, 233. 69 Eichhorn, ‘Das Reichssachgebiet’, 6. 70 Sachse, ‘Vorschläge’, 61.

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recognized as bearers of the Nordic nature and, in particular, the racial characteristics of the Germanic peoples were to be appreciated, in order thereby to arrive at a deeper understanding of one’s own racial superiority. It was thus a matter of “engaging with antiquity in order to recognize and shape one’s own race”.71 The ancient texts were transformed in such a way that they had to appear as the first historical source for the superiority of the Nordic race. In the process, the humanistic ideal was replaced by a racially-determined educational ideal destined to ensure the desired fulfillment of the texts’ meaning. Didactical reflection presented itself as politically compliant subject apologetics, which attempted to cope with the complete abandonment of humanistic educational tradition on the basis of extreme actualization. As a consequence, however, all texts that could not be made useful for the achievement of these objectives were consistently decanonized: No longer purely literary or generally cultural-historical insights are the goal, but the knowledge specifically of the political life and thought of the […] ancient Romans. […] This change in the goal of reading results as a natural consequence in a change in the subject matter of reading, namely in such a way […] that a number of previously widely and gladly read works (e.g. Ovid’s Metamorphoses) are completely eliminated.72

Therefore, Metamorphoses were deleted without replacement from the curriculum published in 1938, which now had a pure National Socialist orientation.73 Ovid was not counted among those poets, such as Virgil and Horace,on whose basis the Augustan restoration policy could be interpreted in a National Socialist way, since it was distinguished by “respect for the past of one’s own people; […] respect for the naturally given Volkstum” and aimed at “preservation and multiplication of the racially valuable classes”.74 The hitherto strongly-favored literary, aesthetic, and cultural points of view are no longer sufficient to justify the reading of Ovid. In the extensive didactic literature published after 1933, one can get the impression that this until then classic text of Latin school reading was hushed up: that it virtually suffered a damnatio memoriae. 71 Ibidem, 61. 72 Forstner, ‘Zur Frage’, 236. 73 Kranzdorf, Ausleseinstrument, 196. 74 Oppermann, ‘Der erzieherische Wert’, 55.

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Permanent Return of Metamorphoses to Latin Classes after 1945

The decanonization of Metamorphoses in the 1930s under the influence of the National Socialist educational ideology did not last long, however. In the fifties and sixties, the text regained its traditional place as a text for Latin instruction in the intermediate level, as in the Federal Republic of Germany the Neo-humanist tradition was again specifically taken up.75 While the text was sometimes still classified as “secondary reading” behind authors such as Caesar, Cicero, Horace, and Tacitus, since the 1970s, Metamorphoses have become one of the most highly regarded Latin school texts of all. There is hardly any other Latin text for which there is a comparably-sized body of didactic literature and numerous school text editions.76 In the period from 1978 to 2018, for example, nineteen school texts on Metamorphoses were published, either with overview selections from the complete work or only with a single Metamorphosis, oriented to the canon of the nineteenth century. As in the eighteenth century, the reading becomes didactically significant in that it is related to the present and serves to (supposedly) satisfy socially accepted expectations of Latin teaching. In the case of Metamorphoses, this remains cultural orientation knowledge that is overlaid by general human moral educational goals under the influence of humanist educational ideology.77

Thus, school texts devoted to topics such as “Principle of Change”78, “Stories of Young Love”79 and “Parent-Child Narratives”80 can be found. However, it seems that even today we are not safe from Neo-humanist exaggerations: If we have to read in a school text edition from 2007 that one can gain “allgemeine Einsichten über Mensch, Welt und Gott” (‘general insights about man, world and God’)81 on the basis of the Metamorphoses, then we are made aware that even the modern reading of this text is not 75 Kipf, Der altsprachliche Unterricht, 144–147. In the greatly reduced Latin lessons in the GDR, Metamorphoses played no significant role. 76 Müller & Schauer, Bibliographie für den Lateinunterricht, 224–229; Kipf & Schauer, Biblio‑ graphie für den Lateinunterricht 2, 258–262. 77 Kipf, ‘Ovid im Schulunterricht’, 295. 78 Zitzl, Das Prinzip Wandel. 79 Scholz, Beziehung und Bezauberung. 80 Scholz, Zwischen Nähe und Distanz. 81 Henneböhl, Ovid, 3.

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protected from continuing didactically suspect traditions. Therefore, it is all the more important that a careful analysis of the teaching history forms the basis for the development of modern didactic concepts.

7

A Classical School Text and the Different Curricular Layers

To the initial question of how to make an ancient literary text a school classic, the historical analysis now provides the following answers, where the curricular layers have different influences: A text must in itself offer exemplary form and content, that is, a comprehensive literary and artistic reception. For Metamorphoses, mythology was identified as the central topic; at the same time, the exemplary artistic use of language was appreciated, which also serves as an Aeneid propaedeutic. These contents only acquire didactic relevance for teaching practice when they can be related to the contemporary world and can be used to satisfy socially accepted or educationally required goals. In the case of Metamorphoses, this means fundamental cultural knowledge which, under the influence of humanistic educational ideology, was increasingly overlaid by politically correct and morally charged educational goals without taking into account the historical context of the ancient text. In order to implement these purposes, a place must be found in the curriculum that allows an optimal fit between content and addressees. In the case of Metamorphoses, this place became the intermediate level of Latin teaching, because of the propaedeutic character of the text. To lend these goals long-term stability, a canon of precisely defined passages of text was formed, which serves as a guideline for the acquisition of knowledge. These developments were thus not triggered by already implemented curricula, but were imposed from the outside through an existing social discourse, for which the enthusiasm for ancient literature and culture, as well as the objective of transferring one’s own ideals and convictions into a larger pedagogical context, namely higher education, were characteristic. It was only in the second step that a politically sanctioned curriculum was implemented, which was intended to improve a pedagogical practice that was previously seen as deficient, and thus also the learning success of the students. On this basis, further didactic specifications were made and a binding canon was developed. In the process, another curricular level also becomes apparent, namely the question of the extent to which the intended goals could actually be achieved, although direct effects on the implemented curricula could not be detected.

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However, historical analysis also shows that a text thought to be curricularly secure could be decanonized without further ado when curricula were fundamentally changed under altered political guidelines, deliberately turning away from existing Neo-humanist traditions. In the Weimar period, this break could still be partially compensated for by teachers’ traditional convictions. In the dictatorial National Socialist system, the radical curriculum changes did not allow for further reading. Other discourses also played no role, as they could not or were not allowed to have broad social impact. The moment that Neo-humanist traditions were resumed after 1945, the traditional canon unfolded an astonishing longevity.

Bibliography Primary Sources Bruhn, Ewald, Altsprachlicher Unterricht (Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer, 1930). Dettweiler, Peter, Didaktik und Methodik des lateinischen Unterrichts (München: C.H. Beck, 21906). Döhring, A., Ovid im lateinischen Anfangsunterricht (Königsberg i. Pr.: Hartung, 1909). Eckstein, Friedrich August, Lateinischer und griechischer Unterricht (Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag, 1887). Egen, Alfons, ‘Zur Lektüre Ovids’, Gymnasium XII, 23 (1894), 815–818. Eichhorn, Friedrich, ‘Das Reichssachgebiet „Alte Sprachen“ im NSLB und der altsprachliche Unterricht im Dritten Reich’, in: ders., Ziele und Wege des altsprachlichen Unterrichts im Dritten Reich (Stuttgart, Kohlhammer 1937), 1–23. Erasmus von Rotterdam, ‘De ratione studii ac legendi interpretandique auctores’, 1511, in: Opera omnia, ed. Jean-Claude Margolin (Amsterdam: North Holland, 1971), Vol. I 2, 79–151. Erziehung und Unterricht in der Höheren Schule: Amtliche Ausgabe des Reichs- und Preußischen Ministeriums für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung (Berlin: o. V., 1938). Forstner, M., ‘Zur Frage der antiken, besonders der lateinischen Schulausgaben’, Die Alten Sprachen (1939), 235–241. Fraenkel, Eduard, ‘Die Stellung des Römertums in der humanistischen Bildung’, in: Morgenstern, Otto (ed.): Das Gymnasium (Leipzig: o.V., 1926), 85–109. Frick, Otto, ‘Mitteilungen aus der Praxis des seminarium praeceptorum an den Franckeschen Stiftungen zu Halle IV. Die Ovid-Lektüre in Tertia’, Zeitschrift für Gymnasialwesen XXXVIII (N.F. 18) (1884), 257–268.

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Herzberg, Friedrich, Materialien zur Geschichte des Königlichen Friedrich-WilhelmsGymnasiums während der 5 Jahre von Michaelis 1806–1811 (Berlin, 1811). Ihm, Georg, ‘Die Ovidlektüre auf dem Gymnasium’, Gymnasium III, 10, (1885), 335–344. Kranz, Walter, Die Neuen Richtlinien für den lateinisch-griechischen Unterricht am Gymnasium (Berlin: Weidmann, 1926). Krüger, Max, Methodik des altsprachlichen Unterrichts (Frankfurt/M.: Diesterweg, 1930). Naegelsbach, Karl Friedrich von, Gymnasialpädagogik (Erlangen: Deichert, 1862). Oppermann, Hans, ‘Der erzieherische Wert des lateinischen Unterrichts’, Neue Wege zur Antike I, Heft 9 (1933), 50–58. Pauli, August Friedrich, Versuch einer vollständigen Methodologie für den gesammten Kursus der öffentlichen Unterweisung in der lateinischen Sprache und Litteratur. Bd. 3: Ausführung der Methode des lateinischen Unterrichts in den oberen Schulclassen bis an die Grenzen der Akademie (Tübingen: Heerbrandt, 1799). Pürschel, Karl, Zur Ovidlektüre in der Obertertia der Gymnasien (Strehlen in Schlesien: Erler, 1896). Quintilianus, Marcus Fabius, Ausbildung des Redners (Institutionis oratoriae libri XII), hrsg. und übersetzt von Helmut Rahn, Zweiter Teil, Buch VII–XII (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1975). Richert, Hans (ed.), Richtlinien für die Lehrpläne der höheren Schulen Preußens. Neue Ausgabe (Berlin: Weidmann 6,71927, Bd. 1. 81931, Bd. 2). Sabinus, Georgius, Metamorphosis seu Fabula Poeticae. Earumque Interpretatio Ethica, Physica et Historica (Wittenberg, 1555). Sachse, Kurt, ‘Vorschläge zum altsprachlichen Lehrplan eines deutschen Gymnasiums’, in: Herman Gieselbusch, Humanistische Bildung im nationalsozialistischen Staate, Neue Wege zur Antike 9 (Leipzig, Teubner, 1933), 59–80. Schuster, Mauriz, Altertum und deutsche Kultur (Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1926). Vormbaum, Reinhold (ed.), Evangelische Schulordnungen (Gütersloh, Bertelsmann, 1860, Bd. 1, 16. Jh.; 1863, Bd. 2, 17. Jh.; 1864, Bd. 3, 18. Jh.).

Secondary Sources Beims, Klaus Dieter, Antike Texte an christlichen Schulen. Die römischen Autoren im Lateinunterricht des Halleschen Pietismus (Halle: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen, 2015). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/the-​multi-layered-curriculum-whychange-is-often-confused-with-reform/, 2012 (accessed 02.07.2021).

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Fritsch, Andreas (ed.), Die altsprachliche Schullektüre in Deutschland von 1918 bis 1945. Ein Verzeichnis der Textausgaben, der Herausgeber, Autoren und Themen. Zusammengestellt von Stefan Kipf (Berlin: Freie Universität, 1990). Fuhrmann, Manfred, ‘Das Grundbuch der Mythen. Gerhard Fink hat die “Metamorphosen” neu übersetzt’, in: Fuhrmann, Manfred (ed.), Europa fremd gewordene Fundamente (Zürich: Artemis, 1995), 54–63. Fuhrmann, Manfred, Latein und Europa. Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts in Deutschland von Karl dem Großen bis Wilhelm II (Köln: DuMont, 2001). Henneböhl, Rudolf, Ovid, Metamorphosen (Bad Driburg: Ovid-Verlag, 2007). Hohen, Paul, ‘Ovidlektüre in den zwanziger Jahren’, Der Altsprachliche Unterricht XXVII/4 (1984), 53–70. Kipf, Stefan, Altsprachlicher Unterricht in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Historische Entwicklung, didaktische Konzepte und methodische Grundfragen von der Nachkriegszeit bis zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts (Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2020). Kipf, Stefan, ‘Ovid im Schulunterricht’, in: Möller, Melanie (ed.), Ovid Handbuch. Leben—Werk—Wirkung (Berlin: Metzler, 2021), 289–295. Kipf, Stefan & Schauer, Markus, Bibliographie für den Lateinunterricht 2 (Bamberg: Buchner, 2011). Kranzdorf, Anna, Ausleseinstrument, Denkschule und Muttersprache des Abendlandes (Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter, 2018). Müller, Andreas & Schauer, Markus, Bibliographie für den Lateinunterricht (Bamberg: Buchner, 1994). Paulsen, Friedrich, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts (Leipzig: Verlag von Veit & Comp., 31919, Bd. 1). Preuße, Ute, Humanismus und Gesellschaft. Zur Geschichte des altsprachlichen Unterrichts in Deutschland von 1890–1933 (Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang, 1988). Schmitzer, Ulrich, ‘Ovids Verwandlungen verteutscht: Übersetzungen der Metamorphosen seit dem Mittelalter und der Frühen Neuzeit bis zum Ende des 20.Jahrhunderts’, in: Kitzbichler, Josefine & Stephan, Ulrike C.A. (eds.), Studien zur Praxis der Übersetzung antiker Literatur. Geschichte—Analysen—Kritik, (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), 113–145. Schneider, Barbara, Die Höhere Schule im Nationalsozialismus (Köln, Weimar & Wien: Böhlau, 2000). Scholz, Ingvelde, Zwischen Nähe und Distanz. Eltern-Kind-Erzählungen in Ovids Metamorphosen (Bamberg: Buchner, 2012). Scholz, Ingvelde, Beziehung und Bezauberung. Geschichten junger Liebe in Ovids Metamorphosen (Bamberg: Buchner, 2015). Volk, Katharina, Ovid. Dichter des Exils (Darmstadt: WGB, 2012). Wesselmann, Katharina, ‘Metamorphosen der sexuellen Gewalt’, in: Die Zeit vom 19.09.2019, https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2019-09/latein​unter​richt-​sex-

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uelle-gewalt-antike-texte-metoo-10nach8?utm_referrer=h​ ttps%3A%2F%2Fwww. google.com%2F (accessed 23.08.2022). Zitzl, Christian, Das Prinzip Wandel. Ovids Metamorphosen (Bamberg: Buchner, 2014).

About the Author Stefan Kipf Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Institut für Klassische Philologie [email protected] Stefan Kipf (born 1964) studied classical philology in Berlin (Freie Universität) and Austin, TX, USA (1983–1990), and received his doctorate at the FU with a thesis on Herodotus as a school author. In 2005, he habilitated there with a study on the history of teaching classical languages in West Germany from 1945 to 2000. Since 2006, he has served as professor of Didactics of Greek and Latin at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU); among other things, he was chairman of the German Association of Classical Philologists (2007–2011) and founding director of the Professional School of Education of the HU (2011–2016). He is currently dean of the faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies.

3

Teaching Schiller Philological Discourse and Educational Practice at Schools of Higher Education in the German Kaiserreich—The Example of Wallenstein Norman Ächtler Abstract The essay analyses how German Classics were taught in German secondary schools during the nineteenth century. Using the example of Friedrich Schiller’s drama Wallenstein, this will be discussed from a discourse analytical perspective. The first section explains the underlying concept of ‘dispositive’ as both a theoretical approach to a more grounded history of subject teaching and an analysis grid for evaluating school-specific media sources. The second section presents some results and conclusions of a three-step analysis of the underlying source corpus on Wallenstein. After all, the results of this article may contribute to valorizing a more practice-oriented history of the German class. Keywords: Friedrich Schiller; German classics; canon; German class; didactics; drama; discourse analysis; dispositive analysis; Curriculum Studies; history of German Studies

1

Teaching Modern Languages in the Nineteenth Century: A Discourse Analytical Approach

In the context of a volume focusing on the history of foreign language teaching, it is interesting to recall that German—at least as a literary language—has only been firmly anchored in the curricula of secondary schools and institutions of higher education in the German states since the second half of the nineteenth century. Up to the end of the German Kaiserreich, the teaching of German remained a minor subject along with the modern foreign

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch03

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languages that were gradually introduced over the same period. Until well into the Weimar Republic, literature lessons, calculated in weekly hours, consisted mainly of reading the Greek and Latin classics. The subordinate role of modern languages and literatures was the reason why teachers of German, French, and English long acted as a joint interest group, which shared similar questions, conceptual approaches, and methodical solutions for imparting literary knowledge in class. Although—or rather precisely because—these teachers were usually classical philologists from their university education, an extensive practice-oriented discourse developed from the middle of the century. This discourse found its most prominent institutionalization in the journal Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen that was founded in 1846 as an interdisciplinary journal for the didactics of language teaching and still exists today as one of the leading journals of comparative literature. Regarding German, this discourse not only laid the foundations for today’s didactics of German, but also provided important methodological impulses, especially in connection with hermeneutic-interpretive approaches. The official demand for teaching German literature in class, which was laid down in the curricula of the last third of the century, made it necessary to consider concepts and methods of interpretation and teaching. For this purpose, a discursive system developed, which, following Foucault and Link, I heuristically call the ‘dispositive of the German class’, that is, an intentional interplay of discourses and discursive practices that aims at the cultural socialization of students. Using the concept of ‘dispositive’ as an analysis grid, it is possible to work out from the specific media of the teachers’ discourse—Schulprogramme (annual school reports) and philological-pedagogical journals such as the Archiv—how those levels of the ‘multi-layered curriculum’ worked together, which Cuban differentiates as ‘intended’ (official curricula, special discourses), ‘taught’ (teaching procedures, discursive practices), and ‘tested’ (test formats/procedures) curriculum.1 In the following I would like to explain this in more detail using the example of the philological and didactical treatment of Friedrich Schiller’s Wallenstein trilogy around 1900. First, I will briefly explain the underlying concept of ‘dispositive’ as both a theoretical approach to a more grounded history of subject teaching and an analysis grid for evaluating school-specific media sources. From this concept derives an analytical three-step approach that can describe the above-mentioned levels of the ‘multi-layered 1

Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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curriculum’ more precisely. In a second step, I will present some results and conclusions of an empirically sound analysis of the underlying exemplary text corpus. These results may contribute to valorizing a more practiceoriented history of the Deutschunterricht, which is not limited to the top layer of general framework conditions, as has mostly been the case in the history of the subject up to now.

2

German Class as ‘Dispositive’: Theoretical and Methodological Concept

To describe subject teaching as ‘dispositive’, I am guided by a definition of the term that is derived from the interdisciplinary research on dispositives that originates from Michel Foucault and is mainly carried out in sociology;2 from a Cultural Studies perspective, Jürgen Link has taken Foucault’s theory further:3 The ‘dispositive’ is used in the present context as a category for analyzing communicative action within organized knowledge systems. Following systems theory, the education system, for example, can be described as a communication and action system, insofar as each system is constituted, stabilized, and developed from communications and the resulting actions. 4 Dispositive research is interested in the interdependencies between communications or communicative actions and their effects (for example, follow-up communications, common ideas of reality, social change). A dispositive is generally understood to be an institutionalized coupling of specific inter- and trans-discursive components for the strategic processing and implementation of a certain field of knowledge, including the media, the specific forms of communicative action, and the objectifications used for this purpose. Researchers assume that power effects result from the disposal of a dispositive, namely through a prerogative to statements, interpretations, decisions, and actions within the given field of knowledge. This opens a hierarchical gap between ‘disposing experts’ and ‘disposed non-experts’. Furthermore, Link strengthens the socializing influence of dispositives. Dispositives spread ideas and suggested solutions to the wider public through institutions such as the education and media system (which he calls institutionalized 2 Cf. Jäger, ‘Diskurs und Wissen’; Bührmann & Schneider, Vom Diskurs zum Dispositiv. 3 Cf. Link, ‘Diskursanalyse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Interdiskurs und Kollektivsymbolik’; ‘Dispositiv und Interdiskurs’; ‘Dispositiv’. 4 Cf. Luhmann, Erziehungssystem.

48 Norman Ächtler Fig. 1:  German Class: Subject Teaching as a ‘Dispositive’

‘inter-discourses’) by means of a generally understandable, but extremely selective transfer of knowledge. In this way, they affect common knowledge and everyday routines and thus the perception and shaping of reality by the majority of non-experts. In this way, dispositives have an effect on society as a whole in the medium term. So much in brief about some key concepts and terms of a very complex research model.5 These key concepts and terms can now be specified using the example of German class. In the sense of the dispositive model, subject teaching in the ‘communication and action system school’ can be modelled in the basic structure of a dispositive: 1. Subject teaching (re-)integrates cultural ‘basic knowledge’ and specialized academic discourses (= [inter-]discursive linkage / linkage of discourses): With regard to the teaching of the German classics during the imperial era, this means not only the inclusion of concepts and methods of German Studies and Classical Philology, but also from History and Art, Philosophy and Theology and, last but not least, Pedagogy. 2. In subject teaching, existing knowledge systems are conveyed through specific discursive practices and media (= methodological-didactical linkage / methodology): As is well known, subject didactics only began to emerge towards the end of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, 5 The model has already been applied in another context; cf. Ächtler, ‘“Entstörung” und Dispositiv’, for further reading.

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elaborated methodologies such as those of Robert Heinrich Hiecke or Philipp Wackernagel were in circulation since the 1830–1840s.6 In addition, coming from the tradition of classical language teaching, there was a continuity of rhetorical presentation and testing procedures, which teachers used to instruct their students in Aesthetics, Literary History, and Hermeneutics.7 Common teaching media of the time were textbooks, annotated school editions, commentaries or study guides, as well as so-called ‘Dispositionen’, that is, annotated collections of exercises for interpretation essays. 3. Subject teaching compels the students to objectify the conveyed knowledge systems in forms of material or symbolic reification that evaluate learning progress (= reificatory linkage / reification): This means confirming, deepening, and testing knowledge through reading workloads and test formats (essays, exams, etc.) on the one hand, as well as activity-oriented procedures such as declamations during ceremonial acts or theatre productions. To the extent that these communicative factors, strategically bundled into a dispositive, “support and are supported by certain types of knowledge”,8 subject teaching not only has a socializing, subject-forming effect. According to Wolfgang Hegele, it should also be considered as an “intermediary institution” that intervenes in the processes of socio-cultural semiosis.9 From what has been said so far, it follows that a perspective limited to evidence from the macro-level of educational policy does not lead very far to reconstruct the way in which knowledge of the German literary canon was imparted in secondary schools of the nineteenth century. On the basis of the dispositive model, a three-step analytical approach can be taken instead. Before explaining this approach in more detail, a few explanatory words should be said about the school-specific medium of the Schulprogramm, which is its main source type: Since the 1820s it was compulsory for schools in the German states to publish annual reports. These consisted of two parts: a) the annual school report itself and b) a scientific supplement. The annual school report (Schulnachrichten) had to provide information in a standardized form on the teaching staff, the school graduates, and on the 6 Frank, Dichtung, Sprache, Menschenbildung, 669–741; Weimar, Geschichte der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft, 391–395. 7 Jakob, Der Diskurs über Deklamation; Eversberg, Theodor Storms literarische Sozialisation. 8 Foucault, ‘Das Spiel des Michel Foucault’, 393. 9 Cf. Hegele, Literaturunterricht und literarisches Leben, 183.

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social structure of the student body (regional, social, religious origin), as well as on teaching content, reading workload, textbooks in use, and exam topics. The Schulnachrichten concluded with an annual chronicle with further information on foundations, donations, ceremonial acts, etc. The scientific supplement (Programmabhandlung) was written by selected teachers. A scholarly essay on a self-chosen topic, the Programmabhandlung served to highlight the academic level of the school. Therefore, during the nineteenth century, Programmabhandlungen were one of the recognized academic text types, made available in university libraries throughout Central Europe and cited by scholars like journal articles. Along with philological-pedagogical journals, they were the main medium of the discourse of secondary school teachers (academic ranks: Professor, Oberlehrer) during that time.10 Evaluating these source types, the three-step approach proceeds as follows: 1. A first step examines the contemporary discourse of teachers of German, i.e. the meso-level of (inter-)discursive linkage, using journal essays and Programmabhandlungen. On this level, as will be seen below using the example of Schiller’s Wallenstein, the ‘dispositive of the German class’ received its discursive structure; its space-, time- and subject-specific communicative character. Connected in a dense ‘formal network’,11 the teachers of German—as the ‘disposing subjects’ of the dispositive—generated and negotiated academic and educational trends and controversies—e.g. from the research on Schiller—and their societal and ideological implications. Speaking with Cuban, this discourse developed the ‘intended curriculum’ for the German class, far more precisely than could be done at the macro-level of political framework. 2. In addition, the teachers discussed the “problem […] of the teachability of scientific knowledge”, as Niklas Luhmann has put it.12 This was discussed on the one hand with regard to the propaedeutic function within the scientific culture (Fachkultur) and on the other hand against the background of societal performance requirements of the secondary schools within the bourgeois knowledge culture (Wissenskultur). From the point of view of philological experts (Schulphilologen/school philologists in relation to university philologists), this discourse also negotiates aspects of the methodological-didactical linkage and thus the micro-level of the dispositive of the German class. Additional information on the micro-level of methodological-didactical linkage (the ‘taught curriculum’ 10 Cf. Ächtler, Schulprogramme Höherer Lehranstalten. 11 Cf. Fangerau, ‘Der Austausch von Wissen’, 215–246. 12 Luhmann, Erziehungssystem, 133.

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in Cuban’s terms) is provided by the statistical information given in the Schulprogramme on teaching media, instruction, and test formats. 3. The statistical section of the Schulprogramme also provides information on common forms of the reificatory linkage (micro-level), that is, on the intended procedures for confirming, reproducing, and testing the imparted knowledge by the ‘disposed subjects’ of the dispositive, the students. Reading workloads, essay and exam topics, and other test formats are listed there that give an insight into the ‘tested curriculum’. Therefore, Schulprogramme are a rich source for valorizing a more practice-oriented history of subject teaching in Central Europe during the nineteenth century. With regard to the micro-level of the methodological-didactical linkage and the reificatory linkage, a critical look at the sources is, however, necessary. As Sabine Doff emphasizes, following the premises of Curriculum Studies, the Schulprogramme and the didactic reflections of the teachers essentially fix what should be taught and learned from the perspective of principals and faculty. Information on the course of class is therefore more of an idealizing character than of reflecting what was ‘really’ going on during the lessons.13 With this limitation in mind, the analytical three-step of dispositive analyses allows a very precise reconstruction of the Schiller reception at secondary schools and the propaedeutic-pedagogical strategies for cultural socialization or subject formation of students that were combined with the teaching of literature in German class.

3

Valorizing Practice through Empirical Analysis

Before the dispositive model is used to reconstruct the Schiller reception at institutions of higher education, some information about the text corpus to be analysed must first be given: The Gießen project on the reception of Friedrich Schiller at institutions of higher education proved that Schiller has been the most treated author of the nineteenth century, well before Goethe. To date, a total of 466 Programmabhandlungen on Schiller from a period from 1821–1918 have been identified; these were published by secondary schools in the entire German-speaking area and East Central Europe. There are also 308 essays from relevant philological-pedagogical journals; among these journals, the Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 13 Cf. Doff, ‘Was können wir aus Schulprogrammschriften über den Fremdsprachenunterricht erfahren?’, 139–154.

52 Norman Ächtler Fig. 2 and 3:  Programmabhandlungen and Journal Articles on Friedrich Schiller 1821–1870 and 1871–1918

the Neue Jahrbücher für Philologie und Pädagogik, and the Zeitschrift für den deutschen Unterricht stand out in quantitative terms. Finally, around 200 textbooks such as annotated school editions, introductions, and reading guides were counted. The fact that Schiller’s drama Wallenstein is particularly suitable for illustrating specific aspects of the dispositive developed for the teaching of Schiller is due to the work’s popularity among school philologists: 112 of the 466 Programmabhandlungen—and thus the majority—refer to Schiller’s dramas. For comparison: Schiller’s poetry is only an issue in 82 texts. Of the

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112 Programmabhandlungen, a fifth is devoted to Wallenstein (22), closely followed by Die Braut von Messina (21), so that these two dramas together are the subject of over a quarter of all Programmabhandlungen related to Schiller’s dramas; Wilhelm Tell follows with a clear margin of eleven hits. The situation is similar with the journal contributions: Of the 307 articles found, 149, that is, almost half, are devoted to Schiller’s dramas. Here Wallenstein follows Wilhelm Tell in popularity with thirty-three to thirty-four hits. Die Braut von Messina is in fourth place with fifteen contributions after ‘Die Jungfrau von Orleans’ (twenty). It can already be seen here, a) that Schiller was primarily perceived as a playwright from the perspective of school philologists and b) that three dramas in particular became the subject of scientific debate, above all Wallenstein with a total of fifty-five to forty-five (Wilhelm Tell) or thirty-six (Die Braut von Messina) hits. Choosing Wallenstein as a significant example for the following analysis therefore seems entirely plausible. Based on this corpus, quantifying approximations to the dispositive of Schiller reception and Schiller teaching at institutions of higher education can now be formulated that might contribute to a more grounded history of the German class.

4

Teaching Schiller—Step 1: The Teachers’ Discourse on Wallenstein

How were Schiller’s dramas taught in German secondary schools around 1900? The approach to answering this question, which the dispositive model provides, begins with the analysis of the meso-level of the (inter) discursive linkage, that is, the discourse of the school philologists on the subject. The fact that the focus is on Programmabhandlungen and journal articles for this purpose is based on Ludwik Fleck’s observation that the conceptualization, self-reflection, and further development of a scientific discipline mainly takes place in its periodicals.14 In the history of Modern Philologies, Schulprogramme must be placed closely alongside the professional journals; both media formed a dense citation network, as school philologists used them for publishing to a similar extent. The example of Schiller indicates that research on modern German literature began much earlier in the medium of the Schulprogramm than in German philological journals, which only opened up later to the modern-language literatures (see figures 2 and 3). The first identified article on Schiller in a philological-pedagogical journal was not 14 Cf. Fleck, Entstehung, 156–157.

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published until 1846, twenty-five years after the first Programmabhandlung on the author. The trend also shows the importance of the medium for the philological-pedagogical discourse about Schiller. From 1849 onwards, not a year passes without at least one Programmabhandlung on Schiller being published. On the other side, there was no notable publication activity on the author in professional journals until the end of the 1860s, but this then increased continuously. The two extreme peaks in the Programmabhand­ lungen in the years 1859–1860 and 1905–1906—which can also be found in journal articles in trend, but not in scope—result from the speeches at Schiller centenary celebrations (100th birthday 1859/ 100th anniversary of the death 1905), that were attached to numerous Schulprogramme. First of all, what can be said about the authors who contributed to the Wallenstein discourse? This is important because in the person of the publishing teacher/school philologist, academic discourse and didactic practice were closely linked. The first known article on the drama was published in 1850 in the Archiv by Ernst Köpke, at that time professor at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium, Berlin. Köpke, now director of the Ritterakademie of Brandenburg, submitted a second contribution to the Archiv in 1853. He was one of the most renowned researchers of his time in the field of modern German literature with a whole series of publications. A far more influential Schiller expert was Ludwig Bellermann. He was director of the Königstädtisches Gymnasium from 1877 until 1893, when he became director of the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin. Bellermann became known as the Schiller-editor within the book series Meyers Klassiker-Ausgaben and through the two-volume monograph Schillers Dramen. Beiträge zu ihrem Verständnis, which was published in 1888 and quickly became a standard work.15 The other authors worked in school locations throughout the Germanspeaking world: in the German Reich from Münstereifel in the west to Ostrowo in the east, from Lübeck in the north to Villingen in the south. There are even contributions from the multilingual or non-German-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary: from today’s Slovenian capital Ljubjana; from Gorizia and Trieste in Istria, and from Suczawa in Bukovina. For the most part, the authors are teachers at humanistic secondary schools (Humanistische Gymnasien), where thirty-two texts were written, compared to fifteen texts by colleagues at various school types, including one for girls.16 Despite the focus on the classical languages, it was primarily the school philologists

15 Cf. Bellermann, Schillers Dramen. 16 Two magazine articles are not written by teachers.

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at Humanistische Gymnasien who saw themselves as responsible for the examination of the German classics. The titles of their papers already indicate the main focuses of their examinations of Wallenstein.17 First, it should be noted that eleven of the thirty-two journal articles are miscellanea of an edition-philological and text-critical nature, e.g. explanatory commentaries or conjectures. This can be explained on the one hand by the fact that modern philology as a ‘journal science’ (Fleck)18 was essentially committed to the great positivist project of editing the German classics, and on the other hand by the fact that this research paradigm was driven forward to a large extent by school philologists. On this field of research, however, the teachers published mainly in the university-based journals of German Studies. The Programmabhandlungen were not used for this purpose, as they were only supposed to deal with subjects that were relevant in the context of German class.19 With regard to Wallenstein, these included the following topics: – Eduard Rothert: Zur Entwicklung in Schiller’s Wallenstein (1870);20 – Franz Riedl: Schillers Wallenstein als tragischer Charakter (1894);21 – Karl Reuss: Die Stellung des Max Piccolomini in der Wallensteindichtung (1889);22 – Johann Hörtnagl: Die Figur des Oktavio Piccolomini in Schillers Wallenstein (1903);23 – Franz G. Hann: Die Schicksalsidee in Schillers Wallenstein. Eine aesthetische Abhandlung (1884);24 – Carl Weis: Die tragische Idee in Schillers Wallenstein und das Verhältnis des Max-Thekla-Dramas zur Gesamttragödie (1915);25 – Eugen A. Feldtmeyer: Schillers Wallenstein und Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1865);26

17 With Franco Moretti, I assume that the titles of the contributions are “coded messages” in the competition for professional prestige and public attention, which emphasize the scientific content of the contributions with regard to their “commodity character”; cf. Moretti, Distant Reading, 181–182. 18 Cf. Fleck, Entstehung, ch. 4.4. 19 Cf. Ächtler, ‘Schulprogramme Höherer Lehranstalten — Ein bislang unbeachtetes Quellenkorpus zur Schiller-Rezeption’, 298–346. 20 Programm der Realschule erster Ordnung zu Düsseldorf (1870), 1–15. 21 Jahresbericht der k.k. Staats-Oberrealschule in Laibach (1894), 1–64. 22 Reuss, ‘Die Stellung des Max Piccolomini’. 23 Hörtnagl, ‘Die Figur des Oktavio Piccolomini’, 3–35. 24 XXXIV. Programm des k.k. Staats-Gymnasiums zu Klagenfurt (1884), 3–17. 25 Weis, ‘Die tragische Idee’. 26 11. Programm des königlichen Wilhelms-Gymnasiums zu Krotoschin (1865), Supplement.

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– Erich Meyer: Benjamin Constant’s Wallstein. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Wechselbeziehungen der deutschen und französischen Litteratur (1898);27 – Gustav Heide: Schillers Wallenstein und die historische Forschung (1894);28 – Matthias Evers: Der Gegensatz des Realismus und Idealismus in Schillers Wallenstein (1905);29 – Wilhelm Winterstein: Schillers Wallenstein, für den Unterricht behandelt (1858);30 – Karl Haehnel: Schillers Wallenstein im Gymnasialunterrichte (1897).31 If the example titles are summarized into subject areas, the following results emerge with regard to main interests of the publishing teachers: 1. The main focus is on the protagonists of the trilogy and on questions about the tragic core of the drama: Eduard Rothert, Oberlehrer at the Realschule 1. Ordnung in Düsseldorf, gives a detailed characterization of Wallenstein with regard to his story of tragic transgression and transformation. Franz Riedl from the Staats-Oberrealschule in Laibach/ Ljubljana also discusses Schiller’s Duke as a “tragic character”. The two eponymous heroes of the middle part of the trilogy, Max and Octavio Piccolomini, are at the center of the essays by Karl Reuss of Gymnasium Pforzheim and Johann Hörtnagel of the Real- und Obergymnasium Feldkirch. 2. In relation to the dramatic figures and figure constellations, Franz Gustav Hann, who taught as a professor at the Gymnasium Klagenfurt, and Carl Weis from the Realgymnasium Villingen deal with the tragic content of the drama. Put very briefly, it is the central antagonism in Schiller’s philosophical anthropology between idealism and realism, which the three main characters Wallenstein, Octavio, and Max Piccolomini embody and which causes them to fail due to their one-sided positions and the resulting political and interpersonal actions. 3. Eugen Feldtmeyer presents an early example of a comparative study with his analysis of corresponding motifs in Wallenstein and Macbeth in the Schulprogramm of the Königliches Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Krotoschin (Prussian Province of Posen/Poznan). Another comparative study is 27 28 29 30 31

Jahresbericht des Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasiums in Weimar (1898), Supplement. ZfdU, 8 (1894), 497–517. Evers, ‘Der Gegensatz des Realismus und Idealismus’. Winterstein, ‘Schillers Wallenstein, für den Unterricht behandelt’. Haehnel, ‘Schillers Wallenstein im Gymnasialunterrichte’.

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Erich Meyer’s Programmabhandlung on the Wallenstein adaptation by French author Benjamin Constant (1809); Meyer taught French in the Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium in Weimar. 4. In the Zeitschrift für den Deutschen Unterricht (ZfDU), Gustav Heide of the Oberrealschule Ludwigshafen discussed Schiller’s subject in the context of the results of contemporary historical research on the Thirty Year’s War. 5. In contrast, the director of the Gymnasium Barmen/Westphalia, Matthias Evers, gives in the ZFDU an excerpt on the history of ideas in Wallenstein from his four-volume reading guide to the drama.32 6. Only the contributions of Wilhelm Winterstein and Karl Haehnel explicitly refer to the teaching of German: Winterstein discusses ways of opening up the hermeneutical content of the drama structure, in particular the functional meaning of every single act within the entire work. His methods include the analysis of figure constellations and scenic interpretation. He also provides information on the topics of the essays he had the students write in order to confirm and test the knowledge of the main issues of the teaching unit. Haehnel discusses to what extent reading only excerpts might also lead to an understanding of the drama. To this end, he presents a proposal on how the structure of the drama can be comprehended using a plot diagram and a tabular comparison of the storylines. He also advocates interdisciplinary learning in order to acquire knowledge of the historical background of the drama’s political conflicts. Taking a closer look at the teachers’ essays, it becomes clear why the treatment of Wallenstein was considered “one of the most important tasks of teaching German in senior classes”, as the Bohemian Gymnasialprofessor Karl Haehnel emphasizes.33 In the nineteenth century, Wallenstein was generally regarded—in the words of the Villingen principal Carl Weis and the Coburg Oberlehrer Friedrich Schindhelm—as Schiller’s “most powerful stage drama”34 and “masterpiece”.35 Moreover, Schiller’s dramas were considered to be thesis plays with supposedly clearly distinguishable philosophical and ideological intentions. According to Alexander Groth of the Pfeiffer’sche Lehr- und Erziehungsanstalt Jena, Schiller’s figures are read as carriers of a certain “content of ideas (Ideengehalt)”, as 32 33 34 35

Cf. Evers, Schillers Wallenstein. Haehnel, ‘Schillers Wallenstein im Gymnasialunterrichte’, 762. Weis, ‘Die tragische Idee’, 127. Schindhelm, ‘Über Schillers Wallenstein’, 1.

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embodiments of “abstract reflections”.36 They “approach the typical”, writes Prof. Johann Hörtnagl from Feldkirch, because they act “according to conscious principles, which they always pronounce themselves”.37 And because in contemporary reading the ideas that Schiller discusses are central to the idealistic-humanistic tradition of Bildung, his dramas were particularly suitable for supporting the socializing function of German class. Especially Wallenstein, with the central antagonism between idealism oriented towards the true, the good, and the beautiful, embodied by Max Piccolomini, and the cynical realism of the power politicians Wallenstein and Octavio, could become an occasion for discussion about the norms and values of the bourgeois society. There is also a didactic aspect: With the reading of the German Classics being firmly anchored in the curricula, the teachers were faced with the task of developing methods of ‘explanation’ (Erklärung) of the classical works, as it was called in the sections on lesson contents of the Schulnachrichten. The Prussian curriculum of 1892 took up this need: The “guiding basic ideas” and “the main sections and their arrangement” of a literary text are to be identified “with the cooperation of the students […] and thus the whole as such should be made accessible to the students’ understanding. Thereby, attention is to be paid to the artistic form”. Particularly with regard to dramatic texts, it is noted that these should be “brought to the full understanding in their overall composition and with regard to the characters of the acting figures”.38 And since Schiller’s figure constellations seemed so clear, content, form,and their interplay could be freely discussed: “[H]e is a Dichter and Denker and thus offers such fertile ground for explanation”, argued Gymnasium principal Hubert Beckhaus.39 For Schiller experts, it is obvious that this must have led to problematic interpretative reductions of the highly complex Wallenstein trilogy, which oscillates between historical drama and philosophical tragedy. However, at the end of the nineteenth century, the leitmotif mentioned above is pushed into the centre of the discourse, which is in fact closely linked to the central figure constellation and which is discussed in research to this day: the opposition of Idealism and Realism, which Schiller had discussed philosophically and aesthetically in his seminal essay ‘Über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung’ (1795) and later embodied in his protagonists Max, Wallenstein, and Octavio. Against the background of what has been said so far, this antagonism 36 37 38 39

Groth, ‘Das Grundmotiv’, 12. Hörtnagl, ‘Die Figur des Oktavio Piccolomini’, 5. Centralblatt, 217–218. Beckhaus, ‘Zu Schillers Wallenstein’, 3.

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must be of the highest importance for contemporary teachers of German: “In all of his classical dramas, Schiller concerned us with considering the human ability to gain moral freedom, and this is the idea he has also carried out in the Wallenstein drama”, as Carl Weis sums up this interpretation.40 From this approach emerge characteristic correspondences in the interpretation of the constellation Max—Wallenstein, which can still be considered research consensus today: Max—the only fictional character among the otherwise historically documented dramatis personae—is interpreted as an idealistic figure that embodies the values of the beauty, the truth, and the good. Thus, this figure serves as a foil, in front of which the ideas and actions of Wallenstein and of Max’s father Octavio appear as outgrowths of a ruthless and power-obsessed realpolitik without higher moral principles. Seen in this way, Max can be understood as a poetic counter-draft against which this realpolitik is to be judged. 41 The school philologists also recognized that Max’s idealism was a deliberate exaggeration. This then leads to conclusions that assume the author’s synthetic intention, which, as the Barmen principal Matthias Evers puts it, points to a “healthy fusion of the opposites”, to a “Realidealismus” as a “task and goal for the education of man into a harmonious personality.”42 Evers says: Only if the realist is capable of idealistic standards and instincts when it comes to questions of worldview and conscience and, conversely, when the idealist is also able to realistically observe and calculate when it comes to questions of practical life; if each of the two, depending on the areas and demands here of sensual experience, there of spiritual and moral freedom, is able to use and obey both instances and is willing to do so: only then will a correct, normal balance of both directions come about.43

5

Teaching Schiller—Step 2: Common Discursive Practices

Without going deeper into the history of ideas behind the academic Wallenstein discourse and its impact on the ‘intended curriculum’, we now take

40 Weis, ‘Die tragische Idee’, 134. 41 Cf. Darsow, Friedrich Schiller, ch. VIII.2; Luserke-Jaqui, Schiller-Handbuch. Leben — Werk — Wirkung, 113–152. 42 Evers, ‘Der Gegensatz des Realismus und Idealismus’, 168. 43 Ibidem, 167.

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the second step of the dispositive analysis: the analysis of the micro-level of the methodological-didactical linkage. In other words, the question is what discursive practices—as key aspect of the ‘taught curriculum’—were common to impart the literary knowledge generated by the Wallenstein discourse: Information on this can be found in the sections on lesson administration and lesson contents within the Schulnachrichten. The evaluation clearly shows that 1) Wallenstein is just as much an integral subject of senior classes as Schiller’s theoretical and aesthetic writings and that 2) all the authors of the collected essays on Wallenstein taught German on the upper level, mostly alongside Latin and/or Greek. 44 This means that the reading of Wallenstein was framed on the one hand by those texts in which Schiller developed his central aesthetic and ideological concepts and terms, and on the other by the ancient Classics, namely by the parallel reading of Sophocles, the most popular school author of the time. 45 This intertextual connection to the theoretical writings of Schiller and to classical Greek drama has certainly been reflected in the classroom discussions of Wallenstein. In particular, the Programmabhandlungen are pervaded by a second discourse, which discusses the question of whether Wallenstein is a ‘tragedy of fate’ (Schicksalstragödie) or a ‘tragedy of guilt’ (Schuldtragödie), as well as the question of how the composition of the drama steers the interpretation in one direction or the other. The discussion about the affiliation of Wallenstein with a sub-genre of tragedy, supported by the data on school reading from the Schulnachrichten, shows that classical Greek drama was the poetological standard by which a modern German play was evaluated in the classroom.46 The teaching/learning media used by the teachers confirm this finding: In addition to tabular figure constellations, schematic progression models of the conventional plot structure of classical drama based on Freytag’s pertinent pyramid scheme were used as templates to capture plots and interpret them accordingly: It should also be taken into account that the historical dimensions of Wallenstein also had to be discussed in class. Schiller’s Geschichte des dreißigjährigen Krieges (1793) was also part of the school reading. In addition, the historical background of the drama was known to the students, as the Thirty Years War was one of the obligatory subjects of history class in the tenth and eleventh grades. On the other hand, there was an interdisciplinary 44 For the role of a classic piece of literature in teaching Latin, see Kipf in this volume. 45 Cf. Kipf, ‘Von Arrian bis Xenophon’, 167–187. 46 Cf. Ächtler, ‘Ästhetische Prämissen’, 209–238.

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Fig. 4:  Progression Model of Wallenstein by Haehnel 1897

focus on poetry featuring ‘patriotic’, i.e. historical topics, which also included the Thirty Years’ War. This focus is clearly anchored in the textbooks for these grades, such as in the volumes from the most popular series Deutsches Lesebuch für höhere Lehranstalten by Jacob Hopf and Karl Paulsiek.47 Schiller’s drama could therefore also be placed in an intertextual context with authors such as Ernst Moritz Arndt and Theodor Körner. To sum up: The discursive practices teachers used to teach Wallenstein consisted on the one hand in the poetological contextualization of the drama with the classical Greek drama and on the other hand in the content-related embedding in the historical background and its literary reception by other authors. The methods, means, and media used for this purpose—the ‘taught curriculum’—were the concepts of classical drama theory, figure constellations, and progression models, as well as interdisciplinary teaching and learning on the basis of parallel reading, and textbooks that conformed to the intended curriculum.

6

Teaching Schiller—Step 3: Test Formats and the Reification of Literary Knowledge

Finally, the micro-level of discursive practices includes the question of forms of reificatory linkage, that is, of the possibilities of confirming and testing the knowledge imparted in German class (‘tested curriculum’). 47 Cf. Hopf & Paulsiek, Deutsches Lesebuch, 36.

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The listing of the essay topics for each grade in the Schulnachrichten gives some information about the strategies for the controlled consolidation and reproduction of acquired knowledge by the students. The analysed Schulprogramme contain numerous essay and exam topics on Wallenstein, especially from Prima (graduating class). Only two examples should be selected here where a direct connection between the teacher’s Wallenstein essay and his lessons in essay-writing is evident: the cases of Karl Reuss (Pforzheim) and Matthias Evers (Barmen). Both authors always taught the same grade levels and the same subjects: Reuss, Latin and History in Sekunda and Latin and German in Prima; Evers, German, Religion, and Greek in Prima. In the years before and after the publication of their papers on Wallenstein, they had their students write essays on the following subjects: Karl Reuss/Gymnasium Pforzheim (school years 1888–1889; 1893–1894): – Die Soldaten in Wallensteins Lager. [The soldiers in Wallenstein’s Lager. ( first part of the trilogy)] – Wallenstein in den Piccolomini. [second part of the trilogy] – Oktavio Piccolomini. – Wallenstein im 1. Aufzug von Wallensteins Tod. [Wallenstein in the 1st act of Wallensteins Tod. (third part of the trilogy)] – Wie versteht es der Dichter, uns Wallenstein menschlich näher zu bringen? (Abituraufsatz) [How does the poet manage to bring Wallenstein closer as a person? (exam essay)] – Der Konflikt, in den Max gestellt wird, und seine Lösung. [The conflict Max is placed in and its solution.] – Buttler. [A characterization of the officer who will assassinate Wallenstein.] – „Denn seine Macht ist’s, die sein Herz verführt, sein Lager nur erkläret sein Verbrechen.“ (Abituraufsatz) [“Because it’s his power that seduces his heart, his camp only explains his crime.” (Quote from Wallensteins Lager (exam essay)] – Wallensteins Lage am Anfang von Wallensteins Tod. [Wallenstein’s political situation at the beginning of Wallensteins Tod.] Matthias Evers/Gymnasium Barmen (school years 1899–1900;1904–1905): – Wie hat Schiller den Gegensatz des Realismus und des Idealismus im Wallenstein (oder in anderen Stücken) dichterisch verwertet? [How did Schiller poetically form the opposition between realism and idealism in Wallenstein (or in other plays)?]

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– Ist in Schillers Wallenstein die Nebenrolle des Max nur eine überflüssige Zuthat oder ein notwendiger Teil der Gesamthandlung? [Is the supporting role of Max in Schiller’s Wallenstein just a superfluous ingredient or a necessary part of the overall story?] – Wie hat Schiller im Wallenstein den Schicksalsglauben (Fatalismus) verwendet? [How did Schiller deal with fatalism in Wallenstein?] – Schillers Wallenstein und Shakespeares Macbeth verglichen. [A comparison of Schiller’s Wallenstein and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.] – Schillers Wallenstein eine unbewußte Weissagung auf Napoleon I. (vgl. Prolog Vers 61–118). [Schiller’s Wallenstein as an unconscious prophecy of Napoleon I (cf. Prologue verses 61–118).] – Wie ist der Selbstvergleich des Schillerschen Wallenstein mit Caesar in Wallensteins Tod II, 2, 172 ff. zu beurteilen? [How is Wallenstein’s self-comparison with Caesar in Wallensteins Tod II, 2, 172ff. to be assessed?] – Max Piccolomini in Schillers Wallenstein und Rüdiger von Bechlarn im Nibelungenlied, ein Vergleich. [Max Piccolomini in Schiller’s Wallenstein and Rüdiger von Bechlarn in the Nibelungenlied, a comparison.] – Die Maxhandlung in Schillers Wallenstein in ihrem Verhältnis zur Haupthandlung. [The Max-plot in its relation to the main plot of Schiller’s Wallenstein.] – Höhenpunkte tragischer Ironie in Schillers Wallenstein und anderen Dramen. [Highlights of tragic irony in Schiller’s Wallenstein and other dramas.] – Wodurch bringt Schiller in seinem Wallenstein den Helden „unserem Herzen menschlich näher“? [How does Schiller bring the hero in his Wallenstein “closer to our hearts”?] – Der Irrtum als Quelle tragischer Verwicklungen. (Abituraufsatz) [Fallacy as a source of tragic complications. (exam essay)] The questions are initially aimed at typical learning objectives in literary didactics that are still maintained today: characterization of the dramatis personae and the related interpretation of plots and motivations, analyses of text passages, and text comparisons. In addition, there are questions that demand the explanation of the leitmotif of the Max vs. Wallenstein/ Octavio antagonism, that is, Idealism versus Realism, as well as questions that establish a connection with classical tragedy and particularly refer to

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the philological discourse on the concepts of the tragic, of fate and guilt. It can therefore be concluded that the questions reflect the propaedeutic function of literature lessons. The aim was to encourage students to write down their opinions on the ongoing philological debates. This also applies to other institutionalized forms of reproducing knowledge, for example, the students’ oratory speeches as part of public final examinations. Evers’ contribution is also interesting in this respect because he—with reference to the corresponding Schulprogramm of the Barmen Gymnasium for the school year 1894–1895—reprints and comments on a graduate’s speech on Wallenstein. He uses this speech as „proof […] that and in what way in senior classes, of course only in Prima, the discussion of the play […] in interaction with Schiller’s theory […] can be made productive and stimulating,” and as an example of how a student “knows how to apply [this discussion] to practical life.”48 With these words, Evers introduces the speech of the Abiturient (graduate student) Emil Nase. Nase’s text begins as follows: [We will] not forget that we owe to school the foundation of that universal, all-encompassing Bildung, an education not only of the mind and knowledge, but also of the heart and spirit. On the one hand, she made us familiar with the essential and the true, the real, in nature, life and history, but on the other hand, at the same time sought to awaken the understanding, the enthusiasm for the high, the noble and the good, the ideal in us. Both should not be mutually exclusive, should not fight each other in conflict: no, the great contradiction between Realism and Idealism […] we should overcome it. 49

This is followed by the well-known phrases of a “harmonious integration” (‘harmonische Verbindung’) and a “holistic view of the world” (‘einheitliche Weltanschauung’). Then comes an explanation of Wallenstein based on Evers’ teaching model, which emphasizes the bias of the characters of Wallenstein and Max in a precise comparison. Nase concludes his analysis: So we got to know the double image of Idealism and Realism in the two characters of the great drama, Max and Wallenstein. Which of the two heroes and which worldview we, the students of a humanistic Gymnasium, by and large give preference to, needs no question. But in detail, the two 48 Evers, ‘Der Gegensatz des Realismus und Idealismus’, 176. 49 Ibidem, 177.

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should be both a role model (Vorbild) and a warning image (Warnbild) for us.50

Finally, in the closing part, Nase transfers his conclusions to the present time: In our century, the age of the real historical and natural sciences on the one hand, and the equally powerful political and social upheavals on the other, Idealism could appear to have disappeared more and more. […] But it is especially important for all of us […] to ennoble our real life with ideal goods, to make it thoroughly spiritual, to transfigure it.51

Unfortunately, testimonials from students such as Emil Nase, which could provide information about the effectiveness of the dispositive of the German class for the students, are rarely preserved. In the sense of a grounded history, the analytical three-step of the dispositive model nevertheless leads to quite precise conclusions about the means and practices that the dispositive has produced in order to convey its offered knowledge—that is, the central philological-didactic, aesthetic and ideological, literary and real-historical premises and findings of the discourse of school philologists produced on the meso-level of the (inter-)discursive linkage (‘intended curriculum’)—to the students. In the case of Wallenstein, it could be clearly demonstrated that the focus of interest is first on questions of the genre-historical classification and the contextualization with classical Greek drama, and second on Schiller’s philosophical-aesthetic antagonism between idealism and realism that is embodied in the protagonists. These two topic fields are conveyed with the help of relevant didactic methods (for example, tabular summaries, figure characterizations and constellations), means (technical terms, progression models) and media (parallel reading, textbooks) and grounded in interdisciplinary teaching/learning. This micro-level of methodological-didactic linkage partly coincides with what Cuban calls ‘taught curriculum’. Because of the lack of sources, the most difficult part to reconstruct is that of the micro-level of the dispositive model that was called the reificatory linkage. With regard to the ‘tested curriculum’, the reconstruction will in most cases be limited to the evaluation of topics for school and exam essays or student presentations as the most common test formats.

50 Ibidem, 182. 51 Ibidem, 183.

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The Abiturient Emil Nase went on to study theology. As a pastor in Halle/ Westphalia during National Socialism, he became a member of the oppositional clergy of the Bekennende Kirche.52 Perhaps this was due to the humanistic ideals taught at his Gymnasium. To what extent such testimonies of the reification of knowledge confirm the socializing function of school or only the outward adaptability of the students, however, can hardly be determined. After all, a qualitative-quantitative analysis brings us to the point in the dispositive of the German Class, where the Primaner had no choice but to take up their pencils and start writing.

Bibliography Primary Sources Beckhaus, Hubert, ‘Zu Schillers Wallenstein’, Schulnachrichten des Königlichen Gymnasiums zu Ostrowo (Ostrowo 1889), supplement, 3. Bellermann, Ludwig, Schillers Dramen. Beiträge zu ihrem Verständnis, 2 Vols. (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1888). Centralblatt für die gesammte Unterrichts-Verwaltung in Preußen 3/1892. Evers, M[atthias], ‘Der Gegensatz des Realismus und Idealismus in Schillers “Wallenstein”’, ZfdU, 19 (1905), 162–186. Evers, M[atthias], Schillers Wallenstein, 4 Vols. (Leipzig: Bredt, 1890–1905). Groth, Alexander, ‘Das Grundmotiv in Schillers “Wallenstein”. Ein Beitrag zum Verständnis der Trilogie’, Jahresbericht der Pfeiffer’schen Lehr- und ErziehungsAnstalt zu Jena (1907–1908), Supplement. Haehnel, Karl, ‘Schillers “Wallenstein” im Gymnasialunterrichte’, Gymnasium, 15 (1897), 762–776, 801–812, 845–854. Hopf, Jacob, & Paulsiek, Karl, Deutsches Lesebuch für höhere Lehranstalten. Abteilung für Tertia und Untersekunda in drei Bänden Bd. 3: Untersekunda, neu berabeitet von Willy Scheel, 36., vermehrte Aufl. (Berlin: Mittler, 1913). Hörtnagl, Johann, ‘Die Figur des Oktavio Piccolomini in Schillers Wallenstein’, 48. Jahresbericht des k.k. Real- und Obergymnasiums in Feldkirch (1903), 3–35. Reuss, K[arl], ‘Die Stellung des Max Piccolomini in der Wallensteindichtung’, Jahresbericht des Gymnasiums Pforzheim (1889), Supplement. Schindhelm, Friedrich, ‘Über Schiller’s “Wallenstein”’, Programm der Herzoglichen Realschule zu Coburg (1873), 1–13.

52 Cf. Murken, Die evangelischen Gemeinden in Westfalen Bd. 1, 835.

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Weis, Carl, ‘Die tragische Idee in Schillers “Wallenstein” und das Verhältnis des Max-Thekla-Dramas zur Gesamttragödie‘, ZfdU, 29 (1915), 126–140. Winterstein, W[ilhelm], ‘Schiller’s Wallenstein, für den Unterricht behandelt‘, Programm der Realschule zu Burg, Neuntes Heft (1858), 1–21.

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Foucault, Michel, ‘Das Spiel des Michel Foucault’, in: Ders., Dits et ecrits—Schriften in vier Bänden III (Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp, 2003), 391–429. Frank, Horst Joachim, Dichtung, Sprache, Menschenbildung. Geschichte des Deutschunterrichts von den Anfängen bis 1945 (München: dtv, 1976). Darsow, Götz-Lothar, Friedrich Schiller (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2000). Hegele, Wolfgang, Literaturunterricht und literarisches Leben in Deutschland (1850–1990). Historische Darstellung—Systematische Erklärung (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1996), 183. Jakob, Hans-Joachim, Der Diskurs über Deklamation und über die Praktiken auditiver Literaturvermittlung. Der Deutschunterricht des höheren Schulwesens in Preußen (1820–1900) (Frankfurt a.M.: Lang, 2017). Jäger, Siegfried, ‘Diskurs und Wissen. Theoretische und methodische Aspekte einer Kritischen Diskurs- und Dispositivanalyse’, in: Keller et al. (eds.), 2006, 82–114. Keller, Reiner et al. (eds.), Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Diskursanalyse Vol. 1: Theorien und Methoden, 2., akt. und erw. Aufl. (Wiesbaden: VS, 2006). Kipf, Stefan, ‘Von Arrian bis Xenophon. Der griechische Lektüreplan der Berliner Gymnasien unter dem Einfluss des Neuhumanismus’, in: Seidensticker, Bernd & Mundt, Felix (eds.), Altertumswissenschaften in Berlin um 1800 an Akademie, Schule und Universität (Wehrhahn: Hannover, 2006), 167–187. Kopp, Detlev, ‘(Deutsche) Philologie und Erziehungssystem’, in: Fohrmann, Jürgen & Voßkamp, Wilhelm (eds.), Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Germanistik im 19. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 1994), 669–741. Link, Jürgen, ‘Diskursanalyse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Interdiskurs und Kollektivsymbolik’, in: Keller et al. (eds.), 2006, 407–430. Link, Jürgen, ‘Dispositiv und Interdiskurs. Mit Überlegungen zum ‘Dreieck’ Foucault—Bourdieu—Luhmann’, in: Kammler, Clemens & Parr, Rolf (eds.), Foucault in den Kulturwissenschaften. Eine Bestandsaufnahme (Heidelberg: Synchron, 2007), 219–238. Link, Jürgen, ‘Dispositiv’, in: Kammler, Clemens et al. (eds.), Foucault-Handbuch. Leben—Werk—Wirkung (Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 2008), 237–242. Luhmann, Niklas, Das Erziehungssystem der Gesellschaft (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 2002), 133. Luserke-Jaqui, Matthias (ed.), Schiller-Handbuch. Leben—Werk—Wirkung (Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 2005), 113–152. Moretti, Franco, Distant Reading (London, New York: Verso, 2013). Murken, Jens, Die evangelischen Gemeinden in Westfalen Vol. 1 (Bielefeld: LutherVerlag/Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2008). Weimar, Klaus, Geschichte der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft bis zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts (München: Fink, 2003), 391–395.

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About the Author Norman Ächtler Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen FB05 Sprache, Literatur, Kultur Institut für Germanistik [email protected] Norman Ächtler works as lecturer (Akademischer Rat) at the Justus-LiebigUniversity in Gießen. He teaches Modern German Literature and Media Studies/Literature and Media Didactics. Recent publications include: Ächtler, Norman (ed.), Schulprogramme Höherer Lehranstalten—Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf eine wiederentdeckte bildungs- und kulturwissenschftliche Quellengattung (Hannover: Wehrhahn, 2020); Ächtler, Norman et al. (ed.), Generationalität—Gesellschaft—Geschichte: Schnittfelder in den deutschsprachigen Literatur- und Mediensystemen nach 1945. Festschrift für Carsten Gansel (Berlin: Verbrecher Verlag, 2021).

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Writing about German Literature Examination and Text Forms in the French Occupation Zone, 1945–1949 Sabine Reh Abstract This chapter shows what new insights into mother-tongue teaching and its history can be gained by looking at the practice of testing. A particular historical case is used, namely, the introduction of the Zentralabitur after World War II by the French occupation forces in southwestern Germany. The chapter outlines how the French implemented a form of directly competitive examination anchored in their country and how teachers of German literature classes reacted to the new examination system. Using student essays written as part of a competition and judged by teachers, the author traces how German literary culture and ideas about individual-authentic writing on literature come to the fore anew despite the adoption of testing practices from France. Keywords: History of German language teaching; literature teaching; student essays; examinations; Zentralabitur; school policy; occupation policy; transnational history of education; Franco-German relations; school history of Baden-Württemberg

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School, (Re-)education and Teaching German in post-World War II Germany On October 1, 1945, schools were reopened in the French occupation zone. The pupils came without books, without notebooks, without writing materials, with hungry stomachs. The windows in the classrooms were

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch04

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broken. Heating was not possible. There were no clothes to buy. There were no curricula or teaching instructions.1

The situation in German schools after the Second World War was difficult, especially in the immediate post-war period between 1945 and 1949. The population suffered from housing shortages and often from malnutrition. Not only were many school buildings destroyed, there was a lack of (politically unencumbered) teachers, there were no new curricula at f irst, and no new teaching materials for a long time.2 Mentally, the people in Germany suffered greatly as well: liberated and yet burdened after the long war, they were confronted with the crimes of National Socialism and had to deal with possible personal guilt. The efforts of the Allies, which—in different ways—aimed at a democratization of schools and teaching in Germany, were therefore faced with the great challenge of a necessary ‘rethinking’, a necessary change of mind.3 Because of its “mood-forming power”, teaching German in schools was attributed a special role in counteracting the “brutalization and flattening through education and life in the last decade and strengthening inwardness and reverence”. 4 In accordance with the anti-empirical and traditional Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik, which gained new prominence in universities after 1945, it was stated that education takes place through language, that language teaching is the centre of education, and that “genuine educational endeavours” focus not on foreign languages, but on the formation of linguistic sense in the mother tongue.5 Such a commitment to teaching German could be seen as surprising, since it was by no means innocuous: teaching German was already oriented towards German Nationalism during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic and had proved to be adaptable to the political ideology of National Socialism after 1933.6 The subject was based on traditional notions, such as the idea that education in the medium of 1 Ulshöfer, Mein Deutschunterricht, 65. Translations from the original are the author’s own. 2 On this and on the following see Furck, ‘Allgemeinbildende Schulen’, 245–260, here 247–248. 3 It is formulated like this in the “Lehrpläne für die höheren Schulen des Landes Groß-Hessen”, which were approved by the American military government in November 1945, in: Ickenstein, ‘Die hessischen Lehrpläne’, 48. See also Müller-Michaels, ‘Anfänge und Entwicklung’, 30. 4 Ickenstein, ‘Die hessischen Lehrpläne’, 70–71. 5 Ulshöfer, ‘Was kann der Aufsatzunterricht’, here 6–8. 6 Frank, Dichtung, Sprache, Menschenbildung, for example, on the struggle for ‘Deutschkunde’, a nationalistic kind of German studies in the Weimar Republic, 693–729 and on politicization in the Nazi era, 782–791.

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the native language and national literature is a holistic appropriation of the Geist (mind). After 1945, unsusceptible traditions were invoked against National Socialism in general and German lessons in particular, with recourse to humanism, the idea of the Abendland (Occident), and German classicism.7 With regard to teaching in the native language and the corresponding literature, 8 the changes after 1945 were grounded in curricula and didactic concepts from the 1920s and early 1930s. At least, that is what the curricula and programmatic statements say, as repeatedly described in the historical research on school policy in the western zones.9 Müller-Michaels, for example, states that German teaching underwent a renewal “largely in the form of a return to the didactic concepts of the Weimar Republic and an orientation towards the works of the German ‘classics’”.10 While Müller-Michaels examines the regulations for teaching German and its curricula in the American and English occupation zones, he does not mention teaching in the French occupation zone. This can certainly be explained by the extremely complicated geographical and administrative situation of the French occupation zone in the southwest of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), which in turn meant that school and cultural policy was implemented unevenly in different administrative units until, in 1952, the new state of Baden-Württemberg was founded.11 Nevertheless, the fact that the situation in what was to become the state of Baden-Württemberg has not yet been taken into consideration seems astonishing. It was precisley here, with the introduction of central leaving examinations, that the occupying power created a framework condition which was to remain important for the practice of teaching German as a school subject in the years to come. Not least the debates about the design of the central German Abitur essay gave rise to a network of German didactic actors centred around Robert Ulshöfer (1910–2009)12 and the journal Der 7 See the overall critical presentation in Zimmer, ‘Literaturunterricht und Systemkonkurrenz’; on the special significance of the concept of ‘Occident’ for the teaching of German, see Susteck, ‘Abendland’. 8 See the introduction of literature as a subject for native language teaching in multilingual Switzerland, Schneuwly, ‘Premières explorations’. 9 Furck, ‘Allgemeinbildende Schulen’, 248–251. 10 Müller-Michaels, ‘Anfänge und Entwicklung’, 28. 11 See Thies & Daak, Südwestdeutschland Stunde Null. 12 See his autobiography, Ulshöfer, Mein Deutschunterricht, 65–72. Towards the end of the 1960s, Ulshöfer was considered reactionary and became the ‘favourite enemy’ of a left-liberal school pedagogy; see Ivo, Kritischer Deutschunterricht; Ide, ‘Vorwort’. With his autobiography, Ulshöfer tried to fend off political accusations.

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Deutschunterricht, which he co-founded and which was first published in 1948–1949 by Ernst Klett Verlag in Stuttgart.13 In the following, I will examine how policy frameworks around the goal of language education and the reconstruction of an orienting cultural heritage in teaching German were translated into the classroom after the collapse of the Nazi regime in 1945 in the French occupation zone. Taking this perspective, the focus will therefore be on how factors, initially external to the classroom, influenced it and how they ‘arrived’ in practice. By these means, the chapter illuminates a way of valorizing practices by interpreting a new type of source, that is, learner essays and their corresponding assessments. In terms of Cuban’s curriculum theory, we are tracing ‘processes of translation’ from one layer, the layer of the ‘intended curriculum’, to the layer of ‘tested curriculum’.14 In the following sections I will argue in three steps: first, I will outline school policy in the French occupation zone. This should clarify the context of ideas about re-education and the creation of a democratic school. The intended reforms of secondary school education were finally initiated in 1947 with a modified school-leaving examination. Moreover, the first section also asks how these changes can be understood with reference to the French central examination practice and its historical roots, and which modifications can be identified that still exist today in Baden-Württemberg. In the second section, reactions to the introduction of this type of Abitur examination are presented, in particular the reactions from German teachers recorded in various journals, especially in Der Deutschunterricht (see footnote 12) and Schola.15 In a third section, I will show how the French idea of the Concours, the competition, would spread in the following years. In the records of the State Württemberg-Hohenzollern (Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen), there are some essays by eighteen and nineteen-yearold students written in 1949 in the context of a competition announced in the Goethe Year. These essays and the corresponding assessments by teachers show that, despite a superficial approximation in the practice of examination, there was no simple adoption of the type and form of French writing about literature. 13 It can be seen as the successor of the journal Deutschkunde, published by the Leipzig Teubner-Verlag; the editor of this journal was Dr. Gieselbusch, who had been employed by Ernst Klett Verlag after World War II; Ulshöfer, Mein Deutschunterricht, 77, see 72–87; see the second section of this chapter. 14 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 15 Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung was a magazine published in the French occupation zone (Offenburg and Mainz), first in September 1946, with the aim of being an organ of mutual debate; it was also meant to create a true democratic spirit. A number of articles in this journal are public pronouncements of the occupying power or authorities with no author byline. These are referenced below and in the bibliography by title.

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School Policy in the French Occupation Zone: Changes to the School-leaving Exams and New School Competitions

Initially, research on the French occupation period and occupation zone was almost taboo or at least severely hindered by the clichéd ideas of contemporary witnesses.16 These include the cliché of the “dark French period”17 and the occupation zone as an “exploitation colony”.18 However, after the opening of the French archives, for example, in Colmar in 1986,19 such simple and sweeping judgements have had to be questioned. Overall, the archives show evidence of a certain ambivalence in the French occupation policy. A sense of ‘responsabilité individuelle’ that was supposed to be conveyed to the Germans and the guiding principle of ‘Deprussianization’ could now be seen as problematic, contradictory concepts, but were nevertheless those of democratization: “The destruction of Prussia and what was considered Prussian seemed to be an essential starting point for the re-education of the German people and at the same time for the orientation of the western territories towards France”.20 This was a democratization which was to be carried out according to the French model.21 For a large part of the occupation, politicians assumed the superiority of the ‘civilisation française’ and initially did not recognize the particular circumstances in Germany: the great importance of religion and differences between the denominations of the Catholic and Protestant churches, for instance. In his study, Winkeler focuses on the disputes between the two churches on the one hand and the newly authorized political parties and teacher associations on the other. These disputes centred around the question of whether the Christian elementary school should be operated as a confessional school or a Christian school for pupils of all faiths, as well as whether elementary school teacher training should be confessionally-oriented.22 In comparison to Winkeler’s judgement from 1971, Hörner, in 1996, takes a much broader view of the priorities of educational policy in the French occupation zone. From his perspective, the dispute over the structure of the secondary school and assessments, that is, the introduction of new examination regulations for

16 Wolfrum, ‘Die französische Politik’. 17 Ibidem, 62. 18 As Theodor Eschenburg wrote in 1983, quoted after Wolfrum, ‘Die französische Politik’, 62. 19 Wolfrum, ‘Das französische Besatzungsarchiv’; Hudemann, ‘Deutsche Geschichte’. 20 Hudemann, ‘Kulturpolitik’, 21. 21 Ibidem, 24. 22 Winkeler, Schulpolitik.

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the Abitur, also played a central role.23 For this reason, conflicts with the Germans arose, particularly in the area of school policy.24 The French attempted to unify the types of secondary school education, to achieve complete alignment of boys’ and girls’ education, to shorten the length of secondary schooling, to introduce French as the first foreign language,25 and to reduce the weight of Latin and Greek,26 the classical languages. Some of the reforms were justified by the possibility of offering pupils more opportunities to choose subjects aligned with their dispositions. In Germany, such choices were usually made at a very early age. In the matter of foreign language learning, the decision to start with French—a living language—seemed to be more in accordance with children’s development. More visual learning was required and less abstraction; in dealing with a living language, creative power is set free. This would be in contrast to a rather passive and reflective role of the student learning Latin and Greek. It was about the students “absorbing the fullness and depth of classical antiquity, insofar as this was reflected in the literature”, not about formalistic artistic exercises in the classical languages.27 Raymond Schmittlein (1904–1974), one of the central French educational politicians in the occupation zone, a general and director of Public Education in the French military government, as well as a Germanist, accused German secondary schools of imparting rather dead knowledge: If the secondary school dedicates itself solely to humanistic education without any practical objective, then it must renounce the encyclopaedic spirit. The confused imparting of half-digested knowledge, as is practiced in Germany today in the secondary schools, prevents the development of cognitive ability […].28

23 Hörner, ‘Die Bildungspolitik’. 24 See Ruge-Schatz, ‘Grundprobleme der Kulturpolitik’, 110. On early cultural and school policy,see Honig, Die französischen Schulreformen; Willis, The French in Germany; Winkeler, Schulpolitik; Ruge-Schatz, Umerziehung und Schulpolitik; Heinemann, Umerziehung und Wie­ deraufbau; Vaillant, Französische Kulturpolitik; Knipping & LeRider, Frankreichs Kulturpolitik; Lacroix-Riz, ‘Politique scolaire’; Zauner, Erziehung und Kulturmission; Defrance, ‘Die Franzosen’; Hörner, ‘Die Bildungspolitik’; and Günther, Rayonnement culturel. 25 Cuer, ‘L’action culturelle’; for the role of foreign languages, especially French, in Germany, until 1945, see Reinfried, ‘Institutionalisation’. 26 H. A., ‘Die Reform der Höheren Schulen’. 27 Ibidem, 22. 28 Schmittlein 1946, quoted after Ruge-Schatz, ‘Besatzungsmacht’, 137.

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In the words of a contemporary commentary, “The schematic and superficial juxtaposition of knowledge prevents any true formation of the mind”.29 With the “enlightening pathos of the French Revolution”,30 a democratization of education was pursued, to be achieved with a school not influenced by the Church, as in the French traditions of an ‘école laïque’. With the changes in secondary education and examination regulations, the idea was to open access to social and professional positions on the basis of merit, not on the basis of religious and social origin. This was a clear commitment to a meritocratic model: According to which criteria should selection be based? Character, attitude, any party affiliation? Twelve years of National Socialism have sufficiently shown where such standards lead. Evaluation of performance is the only objective and fair standard. It’s all about finding the most objective and decent way to implement the principle of merit.31

The regulations for the Abitur examination had been radically changed in the direction of French examination practice, which is characterized by a strong element of Jesuit tradition, particularly its competitive character.32 Introduced in 1808, the French Baccalauréat was institutionally anchored differently from the Abitur, with examinations set by university faculties. All candidates were given the same tasks and were assessed not only using a different grading system, but, more importantly, they were assessed anonymously by markers appointed by the ‘academie’, the educational administration units.33 In 1947, the first centralized and anonymous Abitur examinations were taken in the French occupation zone.34 At the same time, the Direction de l’Education publique organized a general competition for schoolchildren, the concours general.35 In the introductory text, special emphasis was placed on free competition and the value of individual performance. A report on the concours points out that German pupils found this very competitive character strange, as they were previously 29 H. A., ‘Die Reform der Höheren Schulen’, 22. 30 Hörner, ‘Die Bildungspolitik’, 170. 31 Die Reform des Abiturs, 428. 32 On the Jesuit examination tradition, see Berdelmann, Reh & Scholz, ‘Wettbewerb’, 140–145. For a description of German teachers in the French Occupation zone, see Hepp, ‘Das höhere Schulwesen’, 127–128. 33 On the history of the Baccalauréat in general, see the contributions in Marchand, Le Baccalauréat. 34 Die Reform des Abiturs. 35 See the announcement of the concours général (the General School Competition) in 1947 and the report on it, Mitteilungen, Allgemeiner Schülerwettbewerb.

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only used to sports competitions. In the following years, many school competitions would also be held—quite independently of the Abitur—that were supported by the state administration of education in Württemberg. As early as 1949, the Börsenverein der Buchhändler in the French Occupation Zone had organized a competition for the best essay on the subject of “My favourite book”. Subsequently, further competitions were held throughout the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was founded in 1949. The archives show that participation in these competitions was supported by the cultural administration in Baden-Württemberg. In 1954, for example, the Bundesgremium für Photographie an den Schulen (Federal Committee for Photography in Schools) announced a competition in association with the Photokina in Cologne.36 In 1951, an international children’s drawing competition was held by the Société des Amis de l’art, focusing on the significance of the Marshall Plan. It was a competition for young people in which vocational school students and others were involved.37 The Scheffel School Prize of the Volksbund für Dichtung (Scheffel-Bund) is also worth mentiong in this context. It was awarded by the directors of the Gymnasien (the grammar schools), following recommendations of German teachers, to those secondary school graduates who had shown themselves to have the best German language skills in their year. One prize-winner was to be named from each school, “even if his achievements are not exceptional”.38 Finally, the Zentralabitur (the central school-leaving certificate) was one of the few reforms from the occupation period that remained in place in the state of Baden-Württemberg. This may have been due to the fact that German pedagogical traditions were taken into account here.39 On the one hand, the Zentralabitur was evaluated positively by German teachers right from the start,40 because it fulfilled the requirements of “social justice” and corresponded to a “democratic tradition” of the old state of Baden. 41 It was said that all candidates were given as equal a chance as possible by enforcing joint examination papers and anonymous conditions for correction. On the other hand, it can also be seen how a practice introduced from France was adapted to German conditions. This will be made clear in the next section. 36 Official announcement, no author, Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen, Bestand Wü 82 T 1 Akte 149. 37 Official announcement, no author, Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen, Bestand Wü 80 T 1-2 Akte 360. 38 ‘Order of the president of the Oberschulamt’, Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen, Bestand Ho 339 A Akte No. 407. 39 Vaillant, Französische Kulturpolitik, 208. 40 See Löwenhaupt, ‘Gedanken zum zentralen Abitur’. 41 Härtig, ‘Reform der Reifeprüfung’.

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German Reactions: Writing about Literature

In the following section, I will examine how the traditions of the German essay and writing about literature were affected by the regulations introduced by the French occupying power. The aim is to understand how the German Abitur essay was evaluated. Discussions about that were held in various journals, especially in the journal Schola: Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung (Monthly Journal of Education) that was published in the French occupation zone, but also in the journal for teaching German, Der Deutschunterricht (German lessons), published by Robert Ulshöfer. Robert Ulshöfer (1910–2009) worked in Württemberg-Hohenzollern as a teacher in a teacher training seminar at a grammar school in Tübingen and can be considered an important protagonist of Schulgermanistik (a school representative of German studies) in the 1950s and 1960s.42 He repeatedly pointed out that, in his view, the school assessment system, run exclusively by anonymous evaluators, as practised in France and proposed by the French occupying power, should be modified. In Württemberg-Hohenzollern, he finally succeeded in involving the teacher in the assessment process in order to avoid gross misjudgements of students. Since the Weimar Republic, criticism had been leveled against essay evaluation that lacked objective and uniform criteria, and there have been occasional empirical studies to prove this.43 But while Ulshöfer, on the one hand, saw the French practice as a way to make the assessment of student work more just, to establish binding standards and guidelines, and to enforce instruction, on the other hand, his writings also revealed a recurring pattern of interpretation among German teachers: they insisted on an holistic view of the student, only achieved by a teacher who knows the student. An overall picture of the student’s performance must be gained: Not only the first and second, but above all the final evaluator, must have a psychological understanding of student individualities, a sure eye for authenticity, sincerity, and depth—they must have a balanced standard of values so that, if possible, no misjudgements are made. The danger of this is extremely high. There are essays whose value can be misjudged by a teacher who does not know the student and who has to evaluate a few dozen or even a hundred essays. 44 42 Hegele, Literaturunterricht, 108; for a reference to this, see Gass-Bolm, Das Gymnasium, 101–103. 43 Bobertag, Schülerauslese. 44 Ulshöfer, ‘Was kann der Aufsatzunterricht’, 23.

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A similar argument was made at the same time, for example, by teachers who had not been teaching a senior class for long. They feared problems in the assessment of student essays because they did not yet know them sufficiently, and were unable to form an impression of the student. 45 However, Robert Ulshöfer considered the change in the Abitur examination in the French zone to be extremely positive overall for another reason. He assumed that the change in the Abitur regulations could have positive practical effects on the teaching of literature. 46 The teaching of literature would become more important. Every student would have to account for his knowledge and understanding of German poetry in an oral examination. Certainly, there would be a danger that the teaching of literature would degenerate into a simple repetition of given judgements, into memorization, and would not encourage the students to read more and think about what they had read. He assumed, however, that in the end the positive effects would outweigh the negative. In the past, the students only had to write a “Besinnungsaufsatz allgemeiner Art” (‘reflective essay of a general nature’)47 and therefore their knowledge of German literature or literary history was very limited. The oral Abitur examinations in the summer of 1947 demonstrated this. All those teachers who believed in the special educational value of literature welcomed the new examination conditions. The student’s gaze had to be directed to the essential, to the literary value, the value of a text as a work of art. And this, in turn, was always a question of style. The pupils could be educated to read in a non-superficial way. At this point, Ulshöfer compared the German way of teaching literature with the French way: The teacher would have to concern himself again more with questions of style and poetic form, of linguistic composition. This is what we in Germany—it seems—are particularly lacking, and not just for a few years. In French schools, as far as we can see, far more emphasis is placed on this question of style than in Germany. The Frenchman is said to be a master of form, both linguistically and in terms of manners. He probably has a greater talent for this than the German. But this natural ability is developed according to plan in the school. And shouldn’t we try to ennoble the German’s search for depth by striving for form?48 45 46 47 48

Reh, ‘Die Ambivalenz’. Ulshöfer, ‘Vorschläge’. Ibidem, 48. Ibidem, 50.

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In this situation, old and well-known battles over for the essay were being fought anew: should the essay be free or in some way form-bound? In the journal Der Deutschunterricht, many articles on the question of the German essay and its evaluation appeared right at the beginning: Issues five and six in 1948 and 1949 were already dedicated to ‘essay education’. Issue five contained only two very comprehensive articles, one by Robert Ulshöfer49 on the question of what essay teaching could contribute to a new consciousness of the tasks of the secondary school, and one by Fritz Rahn. He had already been active during the Nazi era and after the Second World War was a teacher at the grammar school (Gymnasium) in Schorndorf.50 Ulshöfer expressly wrote in a footnote about the difficulties of objective and standardized evaluation of essays, which could not be completely eliminated: “They [the difficulties, S.R.] have again forced themselves upon the author in the review of about 1500 essays for the Abitur in the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern in the period from spring 1946 to spring 1948”. He defended his proposed correction procedure, in which the first corrector was the teacher of the students, and the second was a teacher who did not know them. The two evaluations were then brought together by a third reviewer at the Ministry of Education.51 In this issue of the journal, the assignments of the examination essay were also printed (“Landeseinheitlich gestellte Reifeprüfungsthemen deutscher Länder”), including those from the different parts of the French Occupation Zone. If the essay topics related to literature, they related almost exclusively to certain works of Goethe (Hermann und Dorothea, Iphigenie, Faust, Wilhelm Meister) and of Schiller (Wallenstein). Novalis, D’Annunzio, and Anatole France were also mentioned, but the quotes from their works cited in the assignment were each merely an occasion for general reflection. In some cases, the student was free to refer to appropriate literary works in his essay, treating a particular subject.52 In the following issue, Ulshöfer reported on an experiment at the Württemberg Academy for Education and Teaching in Calw, where teachers were given two Abitur examination essays to evaluate. They did this in markedly different ways. Ulshöfer then asked his readers to make sample corrections for an examination essay also printed in the journal.53 In the next double issue of the journal, he was able to report on these sample corrections.54 49 Ulshöfer, ‘Was kann der Aufsatzunterricht’. 50 Rahn, ‘Der Besinnungsaufsatz’. 51 Ulshöfer, ‘Was kann der Aufsatzunterricht’, 22–24. 52 See the essay topics from North Baden, South Baden, Rhineland-Palatinate, and WürttembergHohenzollern in ‘Landeseinheitlich gestellte Reifeprüfungsthemen deutscher Länder’, 101–103. 53 Ulshöfer, ‘Wie beurteilen Sie diesen Reifeprüfungsaufsatz?’. 54 Ulshöfer, ‘Zur Beurteilung von Reifeprüfungsaufsätzen’.

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However, the differences between the German and the French examination essays, id est, the French essay on French literature and between French and German literature lessons, were discussed in the following way: Although the importance of teaching in the native language is generally acknowledged, the paths taken in Germany and France for the same objective often differ considerably from one another. This is clearly evident in the way the Reifeprüfung is conducted in Germany and in France, and especially in the essay.55

This author, a French teacher in Germany, also writes an essay in Schola, the other magazine considered here. He emphasizes on the one hand that there were many differences in schools and teaching within Germany, but that a few things could be observed in general. On the other hand, the student has only rather vague ideas about German literature, which he owes most often to personal reading or to the stimulus given by a conscientious teacher in the course of explaining a Schiller text or an Eichendorff poem. The history of literature is not, as in France, one with national history. And finally, literature in Germany does not have the place unanimously attributed to it in France.56 The starting point for the author’s explanation of the differences is a list of typical French assignments on literature, which he compared with the above mentioned essays from the French occupation zone: On the German side, the well-known reflective essays appear, which force the student to draw all the material for his work from the depth of his emotional and intellectual world, and the topic, which is formulated in most cases in very general terms, does not make the work easy for him. What is required in such essays is this: the essay is intended to show that after nine years of secondary schooling the student is able to present in faultless German and in a reasonably skilful style some essential thoughts about any subject close to everyday life in a structured way. On the French side, on the other hand, all topics are distinctly literary. They presuppose not only a general knowledge of the great literary trends among the graduates, but also familiarity with the great poets, with their lives and works, from the sixteenth century to the present day.57 55 Latou, ‘Der Reifeprüfungsaufsatz’, 98. 56 Latou, ‘Französischer Lehrer in Deutschland’, 116–117. 57 Latou, ‘Der Reifeprüfungsaufsatz’, 100. For an overall view, see Ludwig, Der Schulaufsatz, 417–148.

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What is striking—the French teacher in Germany, Latou, does not explain this in great detail—is that in all cases the French assignments either formulated a direct, often precise question or gave instructions on what to do, that is, they used what are today called ‘operators’ such as explain, discuss, try to clarify the points of view, etc. This happened much less frequently in the German assignments. Sometimes no question was explicitly asked at all; rather, the students seemed to understand what to do. In this way, the French assignments—more varied in their references to different authors—also dealt more explicitly with French literary culture as such.58 Latou also explicitly responds to an accusation the Germans had repeatedly made against literature teaching in France. He concedes that memorization played a greater role in French instruction than in Germany. However, this was not a memory exercise, but a mental exercise; literary lessons should be a dialogue with the great French poets.59 The journal Schola documents different views on the problem of the German essay. An early article from 1947 notes that the ability to write an essay is not very well developed; the current students are neither confident nor fluent in writing.60 The essay on literature—this is how Bentmann summed up one of the common positions on essay education—was “clearly rejected”61 although it would still be practiced in schools.62 The arguments against the essay on literature had been repeated for a long time, that the “joy of poetry was being disguised by it”.63 The pupil would only repeat what the teacher said, not write out of inner motivation. He had no ‘inner relationship’ to the literary theme, which lay “outside his own world of experience and thought”.64 Another author even feared that the dependent pupil was no longer guided by state propaganda, but by the authority of the teacher. He came to a different conclusion than Bentmann, however; he called for the student’s subjective, authentic engagement with literature in the essay: “The essay is the best, which bears the clearest traces of one’s own experience when dealing with a work of art, which personally carries out a thought topic and shows the courage to think independently”.65 58 In a similar argument, Haußmann wrote that literary judgement is lacking among German teachers: ‘Erfahrungen mit Reifeprüfungsaufsätzen’, 114. 59 Latou, ‘Der Reifeprüfungsaufsatz’, 101; see also Chervel, La composition; Decomps, ‘La composition française’. 60 Bentmann, ‘Gedanken und Vorschläge’, 179. 61 Ibidem, 188. 62 Ludwig, Der Schulaufsatz, 301–352. 63 Bentmann, ‘Gedanken und Vorschläge’, 188. 64 Ibidem. 65 Vitali, ‘Der deutsche Aufsatz’, 228.

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Concours 1949: Student Essays on Goethe

Whether Ulshöfer’s expected change in literature and essay teaching actually found its way into schools, and how it was transformed there—as it ‘mixed’ with German traditions—is not easy to investigate. The Abitur examination rec­ords from a school in Sigmaringen from the early 1950s show that literature assignments were still being set in the style Ulshöfer criticized. Assignments from the eighth and ninth grades, that is the twelfth and thirteenth school years, corresponded to the conventional procedure: “How do you understand Goethe’s fourfold reverence?” Or another one: “Think of Faust’s tour of the small world as a battle of light and darkness”. However, there were other forms of assignment, as well. For example, the ‘interpretation’ of a poem is explicitly demanded, as became common practice later in the 1960s: “G. Keller: ‘Du milchjunger Knabe’ (Interpretation)”.66 The list of the Spezialthemen (‘special topics’) chosen by the students themselves for the oral exams could be read as an indication that the spectrum of authors read was widening, as Ulshöfer predicted.67 However, it also reveals a traditional understanding of what was literarily valuable and thus part of a literary canon. The ‘classics’ of the classroom, Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing, were not chosen because they might already be the subject of the written examination. Instead, what would eventually become the typical repertoire of poets in the 1950s emerged: Binding, Carossa, C.F. Meyer, Hölderlin, Keller, Eichendorff, Hebbel, Novalis, Stifter, Grillparzer, Kleist, Raabe, Gertrud von Le Fort, Bergengruen, Mörike, Wichert, and Hesse.68 In the following, we take a brief look at student essays and the corresponding teacher assessments. We ask whether and in what way there was an influence from French writing on literature, and the way examinations were conducted in France. This will be done on the basis of essays written in the context of a competition expressly designated as a concours. It is assumed that teachers were able to openly express their routines, views, and preferences in the assessment of these essays, which were less important than the Abitur essays, where students’ participation was voluntary. 66 Reh & Eiben-Zach, ‘Literarische Normen’. 67 See also Ulshöfer, ‘Die literarische Facharbeit’, his report on his experiences with this format in the French occupation zone in the first years after the Second World War. 68 Listing of authors chosen by students for oral examination prepared by teachers, State Archives Sigmaringen, Bestand Ho 339 A Akten nos. 405 and 407.

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In 1949, the Ministry of Culture in Tübingen held an essay competition for the Goethe Year, the 200th anniversary of Goethe’s birth.69 Students were completely free to choose a topic on Goethe that they wanted to write about. Altogether only five students participated in the competition and submitted essays (four from the Tübingen girls’ secondary school and another from the Schramberg secondary school). Nevertheless, prizes were awarded to all the students involved for their efforts. The four essays from the girls’ secondary school were—before they were sent to the Ministry of Culture in Tübingen—evaluated by the two subject teachers for the eighth and ninth grades of the girls’ secondary school and finally by its director. The Ministry of Culture awarded two first and two second prizes to the girls, while the young man received a consolation prize. The topics of the essays are as follows: “Goethe and the Problem of ‘Polarity and Balance’”, “The Position of Young Goethe on Christianity”, “Goethe’s Women in his Dramas”, “The Relationship of Modern Man to Faust and Mephisto”, and “Goethe in Swabia”. They each comprised between five and seventeen typewritten manuscript pages. In some cases, similar topics were also encountered in classroom work during the 1940s and 1950s—the question of Goethe’s female characters, for example. In other ways, too, they tie in with important contemporary questions of the time: the question of the relationship between being human and being German, the question of modern man and the relationship of Goethe to Christianity. The Greek concept of humanity and classical aesthetics, enlightenment and rationality, Goethe’s cosmopolitanism as well as his anti-nationalist attitude in the wars of liberation, had all been the objects of a ‘falsification’ of Goethe’s positions in the Nazi era. Goethe was seen as the representative of an occidental Christian tradition, the poet to whom humanism, Christianity, and a Germanicity referring to the Greeks could apparently be attached. After 1945, Goethe seemed able to reconcile Germanism and universalism.70 In addition to literary scholars such as Beutler, Trunz, Müller, Pyritz, Emrich, and Viëtor, representatives of German ‘Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik’, such as Eduard Spranger and Wilhelm Flitner, also played a central role in the propagation of a special kind of conservative image of Goethe.71 Although the students’ work show references to Goethe’s contemporary reception, they rarely or never refer to research literature. 69 All documents relating to this competition, the student essays, teacher evaluations, and final decisions can be found in the Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen, Bestand Wü 80 T 1–2 Akte 360. 70 Osterkamp, ‘Klassik-Konzepte’; Mandelkow, ‘Der Literaturwissenschaftler Ernst Beutler’. 71 Ibidem, 190. According to Mandelkow, this image signif icantly influenced Flitner in his work on Goethe.

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Although the teachers’ assessments adopted the French point system (0–20 points), they ultimately stuck to the traditional German gradings. The scores awarded varied between fourteen and eighteen points; however, in the report to the Ministry of Culture, the headmaster noted the old German grades before the official scores. In light of the fact that this was not at all about work evaluated for school purposes, this is remarkable. The scores given by the three evaluating teachers did not differ greatly from one another. However, the final judgement of the headmaster changed the ranking of the students from that compiled by the two evaluating teachers. An essay by one of the pupils, rated rather weaker by both teachers, was ranked first by the headmaster together with the essay by another of the pupils. Aspects of the evaluations reveal a certain style. They are not very systematic, although often something was written about the ‘Denkprozess’ (thought process) and always something about the style of writing. The ‘clarity of thought’ was important and positively rated, but also the ‘eye for the essential’; when the aim of an essay writer was not clear to the person making the assessment, it received negative comments. The teachers evaluated whether the student had set herself a manageable, ‘tangible’ task or whether she had chosen one that no professional teacher would advise because she was too young to cope with it. The idea of age appropriateness, therefore, played an important role in the assessment. However, if a student had set himself too difficult a task, the ‘Ringen’ (struggle) to master it could also have a positive effect on the assessment of the essay. It seemed to be an important part of the teacher’s assessment to consider whether the pupil’s work was original and idiosyncratic, and whether independence could be recognized. Evidence of being literate was also rated positively. Negative comments were made if quotations were not used correctly. Only in one case did a teacher argue that something the student had written about a text was wrong. It was in the case of the pupil whom the headmaster, in contrast to the other two teachers, had given a very positive evaluation. The stylistic form was always evaluated—for example, as fluent, cultivated, or awkward. In the end, what was decisive was the stimulating and interesting reading: that a teacher could read the student’s work with pleasure. If one were to add up all the points awarded by the two teachers and the headmaster, the student who received the most points had written about Goethe in Swabia. Here, the work was rated best which—following the judgement of the teachers—was distinguished by its pleasantly readable style. It was the essay of a student who had set herself a limited, but nevertheless original topic that allowed her to work on it in a natural way that made sense in terms of experience. It was viewed as a limited achievement: “The work is written briskly and

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stimulatingly. The topic is original and therefore appealing, the material is limited and therefore not boundless. The style is fluid. A fine achievement for the age group”, was the headmaster’s verdict. The first teacher wrote: The author has chosen a small and easy to master, but unusual and worthwhile topic from the almost overwhelming mass of material for a 19-year-old student: Goethe in Swabia! General reflections at the beginning and the beautiful words of the tower keeper Lynkeus at the end skilfully frame the special explanations about Goethe’s journey through Swabia in 1797.

The second teacher said: “A main advantage of the work is that the author does not want to climb to heights that are still unattainable for her age and ability to experience, nor does she work with value judgements and phrases, but treats her subject simply and naturally”. With the judgments expressed here, the teachers confirm what was said about the differences between the styles of German and French writing and their respective national literatures, and about the Abitur essay during the time of the French occupation: German teachers took into account the extent to which—and the ways in which—each pupil personally related to her chosen subject. It was a question of the inner relationship to the subject, not always to a specific literary text, and of the independence of an achievement, which could be shown as a choice of an original subject, a unique arrangement, or—as in the case of the work the headmaster so positively assessed—as a struggle over what was actually too difficult a subject. The assumption was always that literature was often too complex for pupils, that they were not able to cope with the demands placed on them by the literature. Converseley, this usually means that vagueness in dealing with the literary text, in the interpretation, seems excusable. This was the essay of a student who had set herself a limited, yet original topic. Contrary to what was known in France, no one—neither students nor teachers—referred to literary or philological ways of dealing with literature, or to a stock of interpretations guaranteed in the tradition of literary studies.

5 Conclusion In the historical case presented here, an interesting constellation can be observed. An occupying power endeavours to introduce to the occupied country a practice of schooling established in its own country. After 1945, the French transferred their competitively organized examination system to southwest

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Germany. It was changed first by its reception by the German administration and then again by that of school practitioners. The French style of writing about literature in essays, not least connected with the central examination practices, was not adopted by the German teachers, though they did tend to question their own practices more than before. The migration of practices to other spaces and geographical areas does not leave them untouched, and mutual interdependencies—entangled practices—arise.72 Obviously, we are not dealing with quasi-natural phenomena. The historical situation examined here shows the particular epistemological power of investigating educational practices and different layers of the curriculum. In this way we can discover ‘translation processes’ in different directions—not simply from the outside to the inside, from top to bottom, but also in each of the other directions.

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Hepp, E. Th., ‘Das höhere Schulwesen in Frankreich’, Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung, 2, 2/3 (1947), 120–139. ‘Landeseinheitlich gestellte Reifeprüfungsthemen deutscher Länder’, Der Deutschun­terricht, 1, 5 (1948–1949), 98–103. Latou, Henri, ‘Französischer Lehrer in Deutschland’, Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung, 2, 2/3 (1947), 111–119. Latou, Henri, ‘Der Reifeprüfungsaufsatz in Frankreich’, Der Deutschunterricht, 1, 6 (1948–49), 98–104. Löwenhaupt, Gedanken zum zentralen Abitur 1947, Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung, 2, 6 (1947), 756–761. ‘Mitteilungen, Allgemeiner Schülerwettbewerb (Concours général) für die höheren Schulen und die Lehrerbildungsschulen der französischen Zone’, Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung, 2, 2/3 (1947), 192–194. Rahn, Fritz, ‘Der Besinnungsaufsatz’, Der Deutschunterricht, 1, 5 (1948–1949), 45–97. Ulshöfer, Robert, ‘Vorschläge für die mündliche Reifeprüfung in Deutsch’, Schola. Monatsschrift für Erziehung und Bildung, 2, 1 (1947), 47–50. Ulshöfer, Robert, ‘Was kann der Aufsatzunterricht beitragen zur Neubesinnung über die Aufgaben der höheren Schule?’, Der Deutschunterricht, 1, 5 (1948–1949), 5–44. Ulshöfer, Robert, ‘Wie beurteilen Sie diesen Reifeprüfungsaufsatz?’ Der Deutschun­ terricht, 1, 6 (1948–1949), 95–98. Ulshöfer, Robert, ‘Zur Beurteilung von Reifeprüfungsaufsätzen. Auswertung eines gemeinsamen Versuchs der Deutschlehrer’, Der Deutschunterricht, 1, 8 (1948–1949), 84–102. Ulshöfer, Robert, ‘Die literarische Facharbeit. Erfahrungen und Leitsätze zur Themenstellung’, Der Deutschunter-richt, 6, 4 (1954), 100–108. Vitali, O., ‘Der deutsche Aufsatz im Abitur’, Schola 2, 4 (1947), 225–228.

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Wolfrum, Edgar, ‘Das französische Besatzungsarchiv in Colmar. Quelle neuer Einsichten in die deutsche Nachkriegsgeschichte 1945–1955’, Geschichte der Wissenschaft und Unterricht 40 (1989), 84–90. Wolfrum, Edgar, ‘Die französische Politik im besetzten Deutschland. Neue Forschungen, alte Klischees, vernachlässigte Fragen’, in: Hochstuhl, Kurt (ed.), Deutsche und Franzosen im zusammenwachsenden Europa 1945–2000 (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2003), 61–72. Zauner, Stefan, Erziehung und Kulturmission: Frankreichs Bildungspolitik in Deutschland 1945–1949 (München: Oldenbourg, 1994). Zimmer, Hasko (ed.), ‘Literaturunterricht und Systemkonkurrenz. Deutschlehrpläne der Bundesrepublik und der DDR im Kontext der fünfziger Jahre’, in: Czech, Gabriele, Geteilter deutscher Himmel? Zum Literaturunterricht in Deutschland in Ost und West von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart (Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, 2007), 95–116.

About the Author Sabine Reh Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften, Abteilung Historische Bildungsforschung Direktorin der Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung (BBF) des DIPF | Leibniz-Instituts für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation [email protected] Sabine Reh studied German literature and history, passed the state examinations for the teaching profession at grammar schools, and obtained her doctorate in Hamburg. After professorships in Freiburg, Münster, and Berlin, she is now Professor for the History of Education at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, heads the Research Library for the History of Education, and is Deputy Executive Director of the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Information. Her research focuses on the history of school and teaching practices, especially of German literature, and the history of pedagogical knowledge in Germany after 1945. Recent publications include: Sabine Reh et al. (eds) (2021): Schülerauslese, schulische Beurteilung und Schülertests 1880–1980 (Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 2021); Sabine Reh & Britta Eiben-Zach (2021): ‘Das Bewerten von Literatur. Literarische Normen im fachdidaktischen Diskurs und in Abituraufsätzen der 1960er Jahre’, in: Lydia Brenz et al. (eds.), Normativität und literarisches Verstehen (Berlin et al.: Peter Lang, 2021), 175–196.

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Practice Escaping an Ideological Grip How the CLT Agenda Slipped through the Cracks of Error Taxonomies Joanna Pfingsthorn Abstract Although it is assumed that learner errors are an integral part of the language learning experience, their exact conceptualization as a phenomenon and, by extension, the understanding of their role in relation to language proficiency or communicative competence remained unclear during the twentieth century. If the twentieth century truly marked an overarching, communicative revolution in the field of FL education, the basic assumptions of the CLT ‘paradigm shift’ should affect Cuban’s complete multi-layer curriculum. This contribution demonstrates how the analysis of past practices aids critical judgment as to whether Cuban’s taught and tested curricula are able to resist top-down attempts of the intended curriculum to reframe them, thereby escaping the ideological grip of educational teaching agendas or alleged paradigm shifts. Keywords: CLT approach; learner error taxonomies; paradigm shift; intended curriculum; tested curriculum

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Valorizing the Past Practice of Error Classification

It is hard to dispute that the following cliché is painfully apt: Teachers and mothers who have waged long and patient battles against their students’ or children’s language errors have come to realize that making errors is an inevitable part of learning. People cannot learn language without first systematically committing errors.1 1

Dulay, Burt & Krashen, Language Two, 138.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch05

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While it has been widely assumed that language errors are an integral part of the language learning experience, the historical trajectories within the f ield of language teaching in the twentieth century have brought about relatively little consensus on the conceptualization of learner errors as a phenomenon and, by extension, their specif ic role in relation to constructs such as language prof iciency or communicative competence. 2 In this chapter, I take a closer look at four different error categorization systems developed between 1980 and 2003, a time period often considered to be the heyday of the communicative language teaching (CLT) movement. It is my intention to examine the degree to which these error taxonomies—developed for use in various foreign language education settings by practitioners—accounted for and reflected the basic rationale of the CLT agenda, that is, the fostering of communicative skills that allow learners to express their intentions in a correct and appropriate way. This chapter valorizes documented past practices of foreign language teaching in that they serve as empirical evidence to validate the claim that innovative teaching approaches such as the CLT movement, by some believed to represent paradigm shifts,3 expand their seemingly overarching impact to cover all teaching aspects (such as dealing with errors), irrespectively of varying educational contexts. In other words, this essay shows how the analysis of past practices can aid critical judgment on whether what Larry Cuban refers to as the taught and tested curricula4 are able to resist top-down attempts of the intended curriculum to reframe them, thereby escaping the ideological grip of educational teaching agendas or alleged paradigm shifts. To establish the necessary context, the next section provides a brief outline of the changes in the linguistic consideration of errors since the Second World War. It is followed by the analysis of four detailed error taxonomies developed by practitioners in different educational contexts, which illustrate the extent to which the practice of error classification reflected the basic assumptions of the CLT approach. Finally, I summarize central claims and comments on the interplay of theory and practice of error categorization during the CLT era.

2 Canale & Swain, ‘Theoretical bases’, 1–47. 3 Jacobs & Farrell, ‘Understanding and implementing’; Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions, 54. 4 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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Varying Perspectives on Errors

In the era following World War II, the view on language errors was influenced by the developments within the fields of structural linguistics and behaviourist psychology. Structural linguistics represented an analytic approach to language as a hierarchically-structured system governed by rules.5 The subsystems studied extensively included phonology, morphology, and syntax, and were conceived as finite linguistic systems with a relatively low degree of ambiguity. Semantics, lexis, and discourse, in contrast, were imbued with fewer precise rules and tended to receive less attention. By extension, language errors were primarily associated with phonological, morphological, and grammatical problems. Behaviourism assumed that linguistic rules, patterns, and structures were learned through the process of habit formation.6 Correct forms were to be repeated and encouraged, while language errors were to be eradicated at all costs. The main cause of errors was associated with the negative influence of, or interference of the already formed set of habits belonging to, the mother tongue (L1). This belief led to the development of contrastive analysis, an approach which advocated identifying the areas of difficulty that a particular foreign language would cause for native speakers of another language. In hindsight, contrastive analysis adopted a narrow view of the nature of language errors, as it assumed that L1 interference was the sole perpetrator behind language errors and directed all its efforts at predicting them.7 In his seminal paper ‘The significance of learners’ errors’, Corder8 refocused the perspective on errors by incorporating a set of more elaborate psycholinguistic sources of learner errors. He reasoned that much like children acquiring their mother tongues, foreign language learners possess an inbuilt syllabus that influences how they acquire the language system. This, in turn, paved the way for the Interlanguage Hypothesis,9 which understood learner languages as dynamic linguistic systems independent of either L1 or L2, yet influenced by both, which had palpable consequences for the perception of errors: they were now believed to capture the differences between learner production and target norms and contribute to learner 5 Bloomfield, Language; Fries, Teaching and learning. 6 Lado, Linguistics across cultures; Skinner, Verbal behavior; Thorndike, The fundamentals of learning; Watson, Behaviorism. 7 James, Errors in language. 8 Corder, ‘The significance’. 9 Selinker, ‘Interlanguage’.

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language being simplified, both formally and functionally, as compared to those norms. As a phenomenon, errors were from then on understood as systematic, yet variable, dynamic and in flux, but at the same time relatively stable over time.10 In addition, Selinker contributed to yet another change in the perception of language errors, namely to the inclusion of new possible error causes that went beyond interlingual and intralingual transfer. Accordingly, interlanguage was theorized to rely on strategies of L2 learning and of L2 communication. While the latter were believed to help speakers get their meaning across, L2 learning strategies were assumed to include attempts to simplify the target language system in order to avoid cognitive overload. Corder ultimately suggested a procedure for an objective analysis of language errors, which comprised the following steps: selection of a corpus of language; identification of errors in the corpus; classification of the errors identified; explanation of the psycholinguistic causes of the errors; and, finally, evaluation (error gravity ranking) of the errors.11 Shortly before the communicative language teaching agenda began gaining momentum, Hymes12 contributed to a potential further expansion of the repertoire of error types. He suggested a departure from the rigid belief that the evaluation of utterances should solely be based on their grammaticality and acceptance, the former referring to competence and the latter to performance. Instead, Hymes suggested dimensions that describe the various ways in which utterances can deviate from norms. These include formality of utterances; their feasibility; appropriateness, as well as the question of whether they reflect what is in fact performed in practice; and what that performance entails. In this sense, Hymes expanded the definition of errors to include the pragmatic and sociolinguistic dimensions. These dimensions can also be identified in the seminal model of communicative competence13 by Canale and Swain, who argue that the ability to communicate requires four different sub-competences: grammatical (ability to produce formally correct utterances); sociolinguistic (ability to produce appropriate utterances); discourse (ability to produce coherent and cohesive utterances); and strategic (ability to solve communication problems as they arise). Most influential models of communicative competence that followed Canale and Swain’s contribution never questioned this assumption. Instead, 10 11 12 13

Corder, ‘Error analysis, interlanguage, and second language acquisition’. Ibidem, 23. Hymes, ‘On communicative competence’, 269–293. Canale & Swain, ‘Theoretical bases’, 1–47.

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they tried to deepen the understanding of pragmatic and sociolinguistic competence. Bachmann and Palmer,14 for example, define it as the ability to produce acceptable language in specific contexts. They also distinguish between two further components of pragmatic competence: illocutionary and sociolinguistic competences. Illocutionary competence concerns the knowledge and performance of language functions and speech acts and rests on Halliday’s linguistic definitions of these terms.15 Sociolinguistic competence is seen as: “[T]he sensitivity to, or control of the conventions of language use that are determined by the features of the specific language use context; it enables us to perform language functions in ways that are appropriate to that context”.16 The relevant components of sociolinguistic competence embrace sensitivity to dialect or language variety, to register differences, to naturalness, or what a native speaker would be expected to say in a given context, as well as to cultural references and figures of speech. Proponents of the communicative approach or communicative language teaching (CLT) tended to adopt these dimensions, at least on the theoretical level, and proclaimed in their teaching agendas that the development of communicative skill should be seen as the primary goal of foreign language education. In concrete terms, this meant, for example, that pupils should be “able to apply their knowledge of linguistic systems in an appropriate manner, in order to verbalize their intentions effectively and do justice to the situation and communication partners”.17 Scientific literature gave the CLT approach the label of an abrupt and an overarching departure from the limited tenets of behaviourist psychology and structural linguistics towards socio-cognitive, constructivist, and meaning-oriented views of language use.18 By placing a stronger focus on the ability to express meaning in an appropriate manner, CLT (indirectly) implied the need to redefine the construct of errors as evidence of learners’ in-built syllabus and their transitional competence.19 Thus, at least on a theoretical level, CLT also called for a more varied view of the categories of language errors. The extent to which practice actually managed to create better fitting categories of language errors that would depart from a strictly structuralist approach and systemic errors and embed pragmatic and sociolinguistic categories for error evaluation remained unclear. 14 Bachman & Palmer, ‘The construct validation’, 14–29. 15 Halliday, ‘Relevant models of language’, 26–37. 16 Bachman, Fundamental considerations in language testing, 94. 17 Hecht & Green, Fehleranalyse und Leistungsbewertung, 11. Translations are the author’s own. 18 Jacobs & Farrell, ‘Understanding and implementing’. 19 Corder, ‘The significance’.

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Error Taxonomies as a Reflection of the CLT Approach: Source Analysis

This chapter aims to examine the extent to which documented conceptualizations or learner errors (error taxonomies) reflect the basic premise of the CLT era that achieving communicative competence rests on the development and use of grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence under performance constraints, and by extension, is associated with the occurrence of language errors in these areas. To that end, the analysis focuses on four available sources from the 1980s and 1990s that offer detailed presentations of learner error taxonomies accompanied by some discussion of their role in the process of foreign language learning, as well as four different error taxonomies. To my knowledge, there exist only a handful of documented extensive error taxonomies developed in the early stages of the CLT movement by practitioners, which could serve as practical evidence to validate claims made on the level of intended curriculum. The sources are treated as case studies from four different educational settings and are not necessarily representative of similar educational contexts. The four case studies encompass different educational contexts in which error taxonomies were seemingly necessary: public secondary school systems in the German state of Bavaria and Great Britain; commercial language proficiency tests; university education within the field of second language acquisition in the United States; foreign language education at the tertiary level in France; and an international European research project intended for the wider public: 1. The documentation of an empirical study from 1983 conducted by Karlheinz Hecht and Peter S. Green in Germany (Bavaria) and in Great Britain (in York) with the support of British Council. The study was conducted among pupils in ninth grade and thereby provides insights into foreign language education in public school systems. 2. A description of the construct of errors and of an error taxonomy in Language Two, a 1983 course text on second language acquisition intended for university education. At the time of publication, its authors, Heidi Dulay, Marina Burt, and Stephen Krashen were lecturers and/or professors at a number of US universities. 3. A scientific paper outlining the development and nature of the error taxonomy used within the Cambridge Learner Corpus created in 1993 by Cambridge University Press in collaboration with the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate to evaluate commercial tests of language proficiency.

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4. Scientific publications documenting the learner error taxonomy developed by Estelle Dagneaux, Sharon Dennes, and Sylviane Granger at the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics at the University of Louvain from 1998, which was tied to written production of French-speaking university students, who were intermediate learners of English as a foreign language. The taxonomy was also applied in an international research project funded by the European Commission that aimed at developing computer assisted language learning tools for intermediate to advanced learners of French. The information that can be extracted from the sources provides insights into what Larry Cuban20 refers to as the tested curriculum: the case studies demonstrate what foreign language teachers, researchers, and agents involved in commercial language testing perceived as unwelcome deviations from various linguistic norms, which would be marked as problematic in a testing situation. As most of the taxonomies were partially derived from learner data, the sources indirectly touch upon the learned curriculum and demonstrate the language use patterns observed among the learners involved in the projects. The analysis of these documented practices that targeted the needs relevant in various educational settings allows for a more critical examination of theoretical and normative assumptions that have been made about the CLT era. In this sense, the practice of language education is valorized as a source of evidence that supports or questions both reckless and justified claims about the historical development of the field and contributes to a more responsible scientific practice. 3.1 Hecht and Green: Fehleranalyse und Leistungsbewertung The source provides a comprehensive documentation of an empirical study focusing on learner errors conducted by the authors among ninth graders in Germany (around Munich) and in Great Britain (in York). In addition, it offers a relatively detailed presentation on the authors’ theoretical understanding of the phenomenon in question, set in the context of their assumptions of how foreign language education should be shaped. The procedure of the study included recording written production of German learners of English as a foreign language in the form of letters to a pen-pal. The authors of the study decided to elicit similar written production from the same age groups of native speakers of English, attending a similar type of school in Great Britain to establish expected norms. The elicited 20 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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learner language was then analysed and marked for errors by nine German and five British language teachers. The main goal of the study was said to centre on defining errors, examining the process of their identification and categorization, and performing an appropriate diagnosis of their causes, as well as on appropriate measures to deal with learner errors.21 The rationale behind this choice was of a practical nature. On the one hand, the need for the project was tied to the assumed interest of researchers in the field of language learning to describe the ‘grammar of errors’ of a specific language group: “These are some of the issues that interest language teaching research in describing an error grammar of a particular learner group”.22 On the other hand, the project was viewed as a means to suggest concrete solutions for an appropriate error correction practice in the assessment of written language:23 In addition, the problems of correcting and grading communicative written language production are analyzed on the basis of the correction procedures of nine German and five English teachers, and solutions for appropriate correction and grading are offered.

The view on the significance of errors the authors explicitly expressed was in line with the CLT assumptions, and clearly based on theoretical notions put forward by Selinker and Corder. Hecht and Green underlined the informative value of errors as means to gain insights into learning difficulties and indicators of where learners were drawing false conclusions. Furthermore, they perceived them as signals for what language learning strategies learners used and what hypotheses they intended to test. Nevertheless, for teachers, the genesis of errors is an integral part of the task of error analysis, because errors are feedback for us, where there are difficulties in language acquisition, where wrong conclusions were drawn, or where a practice process was not intensive and contrastive. Errors give us an insight into how well the student has learned the foreign language (so-called learner language, or interlanguage), which strategies he uses, and which hypotheses he has made for the foreign language rule behavior.24 21 22 23 24

Hecht & Green, Fehleranalyse und Leistungsbewertung, 9–26. Ibidem, 9. Ibidem, 9. Ibidem, 45.

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Hecht and Green 25 differentiated between two dimensions of language errors: deviations from norms of correctness, and appropriateness. The former stood for deviations from the rules of language, systemic errors, or, following Hecht and Green’s use of Corder’s26 terminology, “breaches of the code”, whereas the latter included utterances that violate situational norms, or following Corder “failures to match the language to the situation”.27 Hecht and Green further subdivided errors of correctness into: – grammatical errors, which included breaches of syntactic, morphological, tense, or preposition rules; – vocabulary errors, which include problems with the grasping of concepts, with collocations, or the usage of non-existent word or phrase. Errors pertaining to appropriateness were described as deviations in style, and were further subdivided into: – Inappropriate language item/choice – Discourse organization, further subdivided into: (a) cohesive errors, encompassing problems with reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion; (b) pragmatic errors, including problems with intertextual relations, structuring of intentions, structure of speech acts, producing wrong illocutionary signals or misreading them. In addition, Hecht and Green point out that the assessment of appropriateness of language choice needs to take into consideration whether the utterance in question reflects what is actually done, which corresponds to Hymes’ dimension of appropriateness: It will not have escaped the attentive reader that we have actually been talking here about two criteria: linguistic appropriateness and the decision as to whether a phrase that is linguistically correct and situationally appropriate is still used at all today (= accepted usage / nativeness).28

Hecht and Green’s theoretical conceptualization of language errors is consistent with their perspective on what should be the main goal of foreign language teaching. The authors set their definition of learner errors against the backdrop of the need to foster communicative competence in 25 Ibidem, 9–33. 26 Corder, Introducing applied linguistics, 259. 27 Ibidem. 28 Ibidem, 22.

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the foreign language classroom. They give a nod to Piepho’s29 call to focus on communicative skills in the language classroom, going on to delineate these as consisting not only of the familiarity with language as system, but also of pragmatic and sociolinguistic competence: The acquisition of a so-called linguistic competence, the ability to form grammatically correct sentences, is a necessary, but no longer the only learning objective of foreign language teaching: the student should also be able, among other things, to apply his knowledge of the linguistic systems in order to express his concerns effectively and in a manner appropriate to the situation and partner. He must therefore also acquire a communicative competence. In our opinion, this competence is based on a competence of the language system (code or linguistic competence), on a competence of language action (pragmatic competence), and on a competence that enables us to bring language in line with the partner and the context (sociolinguistic competence).30

The authors also incorporated these notions into the design of the elicitation task used in the study, emphasizing the need to test language use in the context of interactive and partner-oriented communication. All this despite the fact that—according to the authors—teachers’ manuals for the state of Bavaria only propose language evaluation criteria that focus on correctness and linguistic range.31 Yet, when applied to student data, the proposed error taxonomy seems to struggle to pinpoint the concrete violations of discourse organization and appropriateness in the communicative task of writing a response to a letter. This is especially true for pragmatic errors: it is unclear how one could determine what a proper “structure of a speech act would be” and why and when some utterances would produce “wrong illocutionary signals”.32 Hecht and Green provide some examples of student utterances which illustrate that violations on the level of situational appropriateness could be best described using a handful of adjectives that vaguely suggest what is wrong with these instances of language use. These adjectives refer to the following aspects of students’ utterances: colloquial nature (for example, “You are lucky to earn that money”  zu umgangsprachlich); pomposity (for example, “in 29 Piepho, Kommunikative Kompetenz. 30 Hecht & Green, Fehleranalyse und Leistungsbewertung, 11. 31 Ibidem, 31. 32 Ibidem, 30–31.

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one of my coming letters”  zu pompös); harshness (for example, “I want to see Manchester United”  zu schroff ); emotional nature (for example, “Still in love”  zu emotional); and abruptness (for example, “Some lines from Germany and thanks”  zu abrupt).33 Just how elusive the nature of pragmatic and sociolinguistic violations can prove to be is further visible in the suggestions that Hecht and Green make for an appropriate approach to preventing the occurrence of such errors.34 They propose that relevant vocabulary should be associated with various registers. In practice, this means memorizing chunks and phrases that can be applied in the format of a letter, whilst distinguishing between those that are formal and those that are personal. Similar suggestions are made for rote learning of a proper structure of the “speech act letter”35 as well as for the structuring of intertextual relations within the letter. This implies that Hecht and Green associated pragmatic violations primarily with knowing what vocabulary resources and grammatical phrases would work in loosely defined communicative situations. If we follow Leech’s36 distinction between pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence, it becomes apparent that an approach based solely on memorization of phrases associated with a given task format is insufficient to address the full complexity of actual communicative situations. The missing element that leads to violations on the pragmatic, appropriateness, and discourse organization levels, which the taxonomy does not capture, are ways to document failures to vary speech act strategies (as in language functions) according to the situational or social variables entailed by a given communicative situation. 3.2 Dulay, Burt, and Krashen: Surface Structure and Communicative Effect Taxonomies The second source encompasses two error taxonomies. Its description is a part of a chapter devoted to learner errors in Language Two, a textbook on second language acquisition intended for university education from the year 1983, advertised as “one of the most comprehensive course texts on second language acquisition”.37 When it was published, authors Heidi 33 Ibidem, 106. 34 Ibidem, 55. 35 Ibidem, 55. 36 Leech, Principles of pragmatics, 11. 37 Dulay, Burt & Krashen, Language Two, cover page.

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Dulay, Marina Burt, and Stephen Krashen were lecturers and/or professors at a number of US universities. The authors perceive errors as “any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be”.38 They present this definition against the backdrop of selected past and contemporary developments in the field of second language acquisition: they mention the work by S. Pit Corder, draw on Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance, and offer a critical overview of contrastive and error analysis movements. At the same time, they suggest that each component of language should be studied separately and thoroughly before conclusions can be generally applied across components. Much psycholinguistic research has focused on syntax and morphology, permitting synthesis of empirical findings from which certain conclusions may be drawn with some confidence. To our knowledge, no such extensive work has focused on semantic or phonological error analysis, although scattered findings are available. We leave the reporting of these for future efforts.39

If this passage presents an overview of all language components, each of which should be studied, then according to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen, language consists of syntax, morphology, semantics, and phonology. Consequently, ‘language’ encompasses primarily systemic knowledge, as well as its use in communication. In a further part of the text, the authors add one more component: ‘discourse (style)’.40 All in all, this conceptualization of language components leaves almost no space for sociolinguistic and pragmatic norms of language use. The rationale behind the discussion of error taxonomies that the authors propose addresses the perspective of theoreticians and practitioners: Discussion of these descriptive taxonomies is guided by two main purposes: to present error categories which rely solely on observable (rather than inferred) characteristics for their definition; and to report the findings of research conducted to date with respect to error types

38 Ibidem, 139. 39 Ibidem, 146. 40 Ibidem, 146.

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observed. Such findings may assist teachers in their instructional efforts and theoreticians in their formulation of L2 theory. 41

In their presentation of error taxonomies, the authors refrain from a strong focus on the description of the linguistic items of language components or linguistic constituents within which an error occurs. The rationale behind this choice is as follows: A full presentation of language components and constituents would require a summary of descriptive linguistics, an undertaking much beyond the scope of this book. Here we simply assume that the reader has a basic understanding of them, and will later present two linguistic category taxonomies that are representative of others in the literature. 42

The Surface Structure Taxonomy that they propose is at least to some extent based on some empirical studies done by the authors that demonstrate the errors made by second language learners. The taxonomy “highlights the ways in which surface structures are altered”43 and encompasses the following categories:44 – Omission errors “are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance”. – Addition errors “are characterized by the presence of an item which must not appear in a well-formed utterance”. – Misformation errors, characterized by “the use of the wrong form of the morpheme or structure”. – Misordering errors, characterized by “the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance”. – Blends, which result from competing hypotheses, or two alternative forms, that learners have at their disposal, which are combined to form one ungrammatical combination. The authors further elaborate on the potential causes of errors, differentiating between three possible categories: interference from L1; intralingual errors (that could, but do not have to be, developmental) and ambiguous errors. This distinction reflects the authors’ acknowledgement of the main 41 42 43 44

Ibidem, 146. Ibidem, 147. Ibidem, 150. Ibidem, 154–161.

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limitation of contrastive analysis, namely that learners produce errors not only caused by interference from the mother tongue. The authors provide a relatively thorough overview of linguistic studies that devote themselves to the classification of learner errors. The strong focus on the various ways in which learners can falsely modify the surface structure of language is also visible in the Communicative Effect Taxonomy, which is claimed to “deal with errors from the perspective of their effect on the listener or reader”45 and tries to answer the question “which types of errors render a phrase or sentence incomprehensible to the listener or reader”. 46 It is apparent that the communicative effect of learner language does refer to more than comprehensibility, which is primarily associated with the degree to which errors are said to be global or local, that is, whether they affect relatively small pieces of learner language or extend to cover longer pieces. Here, the authors refer to research attempts showing that “errors that affect the overall organization of the sentence hinder successful communication, while errors that affect a single element of the sentence usually do not hinder communication”. 47 The examples of local and global errors emphasize the focus again on various problems related to language as a system, for example, “wrong order of major constituents” and “regularization of pervasive syntactic rules to exceptions”. 48 The system proposed by Dulay, Burt, and Krashen systematically places a strong focus on formal aspects of language. It is worth mentioning that Dulay, Burt, and Krashen’s work was among the precursors of linguistic studies devoted to the acquisition order of English morphemes to which second learners adhere, despite their different ages and language backgrounds; this may explain the work’s heavy and almost exclusive focus on linguistic competence. 49 The proposed taxonomies, in fact, reduce pragmatic or sociolinguistic perspective to the rather infrequent mentioning of “style”. Thus, the understanding of communication that can be extrapolated from the conceptualization of learner errors that the authors present clearly disregards these aspects to emphasize comprehensibility only. This influence is further visible in some of the details of the course book discourse: use of the roles of “listeners and readers” instead of interlocutors or interaction 45 Ibidem, 189. 46 Ibidem, 189. 47 Ibidem, 189. 48 Ibidem, 191. 49 Dulay & Burt, ‘Should we teach’, ‘Natural sequences’; Bailey, Madden & Krashen, ‘Is there a natural sequence’.

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partners, who engage in communication and produce utterances rather than “sentences” could be interpreted as focus on a perspective diverging from the main assumptions of the CLT approach, if it was not a choice deliberately made for the purposes of publication with the needs of the audience in mind. 3.3 The Cambridge Learner Corpus Error Tagging System The third source comprises a paper by Diane Nicholls, aff iliated with Cambridge University Press, published in the Proceedings of the Corpus Linguistics 2003 conference in Lancaster,50 in which Nicholls presents the error coding system used within Cambridge Learner Corpus from 1993 to 2003. The Cambridge Learner Corpus is presented in the paper as a tool compiled by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (later Cambridge ESOL), in collaboration with Cambridge University Press, that “comprises English examination scripts, transcribed retaining all errors, written by learners of English with 86 different mother tongues. The scripts range across eight EFL examinations and cover both general and business English”.51 The examinations the author refers to encompass internationally recognized commercial language assessment formats, such as the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), launched in 1991 and now known as C1 Advanced, or the Certificate of Proficiency in English, operational since 1913, which became Cambridge English’s highest level qualification and is now known as C2 Proficiency. The written communication tasks in Cambridge ESOL instruments typically include a range of various formats, such as essays, letters/emails, proposals, reports, and reviews. Nicholls explains that the main reason behind the creation of the corpus and the development of the error taxonomy is the possibility to […] capture under one heading all errors (both of omission and commission) of a particular type so that they can easily be extracted and analyzed and the information gained passed on to examining bodies, teachers, lexicographers, researchers, and ELT authors for use in developing tools for learners of English.52

50 Nicholls, ‘The Cambridge Learner’. 51 Ibidem, 572. 52 Ibidem, 572.

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She argues that the anticipation of learners’ difficulties with English can aid all these groups in the tasks associated with their respective engagement in foreign language education. The error taxonomy used for these purposes consists of thirty-seven categories of errors. Annotating an error within the corpus requires combing through a number of codes, or tags. The first tag an error receives represents one of the general types of violations: – a wrong form used, – something missing, – a word or phrase that needs replacing, – an unnecessary word or phrase – a word that is wrongly derived. The second tag that most errors receive concerns the word class of the error: pronoun (anaphoric), conjunction, determiner, adjective, noun, quantifier, preposition, or verb (including modals).53 These tags demonstrate that errors are primarily described in terms of linguistic units such as words, phrases, or morphemes, and when possible sorted into word classes. Their surface behaviour is captured in that the system describes whether they are missing, unnecessary, wrong,or need to be replaced. Given that—as the author suggests—the insights into the patterns of errors that various learner groups make were meant to inform teachers and lexicographers, who from 1993 on should have operated within the CLT agenda, a strong disregard for the question of what it means to commit pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and discourse organization errors in various forms of written communication seems puzzling. 3.4 Error Taxonomy Developed by Estelle Dagneaux, Sharon Dennes, and Sylviane Granger in 1998, the Basis of the EU-funded Research Project FreeText In their 1998 System paper, Dagneaux, Dennes, and Granger54 describe the error taxonomy they developed in the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics at the University of Louvain as a tool for computer-assisted error analysis of learner language. For this they used a 150,000-word corpus of English written by French-speaking university students of intermediate and advanced 53 Ibidem, 573–575. 54 Dagneaux, Dennes & Granger, ‘Computer-aided error analysis,’ 163–174.

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level. The system was then applied within the framework of the EU-funded FreeText project, which aimed to produce a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) program for French as a Foreign Language. Within the project, a learner corpus, called French Interlanguage Database (FRIDA), containing 450,000 words, was created and two thirds were fully errortagged at the time of Granger’s 200355 publication in the CALICO Journal. The rationale provided for the development of the error taxonomy is, on the one hand, an attempt to remedy some of the weaknesses of the error analysis movement discussed in Anglophone scientif ic literature of the late 1990s, which Dagneaux et al. describe in their paper. Thus, the newly developed taxonomy was thought to respond to the needs of the research community by providing a methodologically sound tool that offered a more objective and controlled means to study learner language. In addition, an application of the tool to learner data produced by university students learning a foreign language allowed the authors to showcase how to monitor changes within learner production. The authors concluded that such results proved helpful: “For ELT purposes such results provide useful feedback”.56 On the other hand, the later application of the error taxonomy in the FreeText research project was motivated by a strictly practical purpose. The main goal of the endeavour was to produce an online computer-assisted language learning program for intermediate to advanced learners of French as a foreign language that was based on “natural language processing and communicative approaches to second language acquisition”.57 Granger describes the envisioned program as […] a variety of exercises, both traditional CALL exercises (e.g., multiple choice and cloze tests) and more open-ended exercises which rely on NLP tools, in particular an automatic error diagnosis system which checks learners’ answers and provides meaningful feedback.58

She goes on to emphasize the particular role errors play in the design of the teaching program:

55 56 57 58

Granger, ‘Error-tagged learner corpora’, 465–480. Dagneaux, Dennes & Granger, ‘Computer-aided error analysis’, 17. Granger, ‘Error-tagged learner corpora’, 473. Ibidem, 473.

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[E]rror statistics and analyses were used (a) to select the linguistic areas to focus on in the CALL program and to adapt the exercises as a function of the attested error types and (b) to turn an existing spellchecker of French and a parser of French into an integrated error diagnosis system capable of catering for the most frequently attested error types. The most error-prone categories have been given special attention in the CALL exercises. They include errors in tense and mood, agreement (number and gender), articles, complementation, and prepositions. The exercises have been designed to reflect the type of context in which learners proved to make mistakes.59

It is apparent that learner data, and more specifically, the exact types of errors that were recorded and identified in the corpus inform the design of teaching practice, which is envisioned as communicative. To that end, the authors rely on a taxonomy that first identifies the domain in which an error occurs and is divided into further categories. The options are:60 – form: agglutination, upper/lower case, diacritics, homonymy, other spelling errors; – grammar: class, auxiliary, gender, mode, number, person, tense, voice, euphony; – morphology: derivation-prefixation, derivation-suffixation, inflection, inflection-confusion, compounding; – lexis: meaning, adjective complementation, adverb complementation, verb complementation, noun complementation; – syntax: word order, word missing, word redundant, cohesion; – register: lexis, syntax; – punctuation: punctuation confusion, punctuation redundant, punctuation missing. The taxonomy also includes a list of eleven main categories of parts-of-speech or grammatical categories: adverb, adjective, article, conjunction, determiner, noun, preposition, pronoun, verb, punctuation, and sequence, each of which includes further subcategories that specify the nature of the error. Explanations of the error causes were deliberately left out of the error taxonomy on the grounds of the subjectivity and/or difficulty associated with their evaluation. Although the FreeText research project aims to deliver learning materials that can be used for the purpose of developing communicative skills, 59 Ibidem, 473. 60 Ibidem, 468.

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the error taxonomy that informs the shaping of these materials does not fully reflect the assumptions of the communicative approach to equip learners with the ability to express intentions appropriate to situational needs. The FreeText system almost completely omits the pragmatic and sociolinguistic levels of language. While the standard formal domains of language like morphosyntax and punctuation are well represented within the FreeText framework, all potential sociolinguistic errors fall into the register category, which distinguishes only between lexical and syntactic errors. It is unclear how sociolinguistically-inappropriate forms could be categorized. Also, discourse organization errors are virtually not classifiable within the FreeText framework. To that end, the closest possible domain is syntax, which includes a subcategory for cohesion. The aspect of coherence seems to be entirely omitted. This is somewhat surprising, as disruptions to logical sequencing of information could easily interfere with the success of communication. Much like the other sources, the FreeText framework demonstrates yet again that the conceptualization of learner errors in the heyday of the CLT era failed to reflect the full spectrum of language areas that communicative competence was believed to encompass.

4 Conclusion This chapter presented an analysis of four learner error taxonomies developed with different foreign language educational settings in mind in the period from 1983 until 2003, which is considered to be the heyday of the CLT movement. In this way, the investigation intended to test the extent to which CLT, which has often been likened to a revolution or even a paradigm shift,61 is in fact as powerful, penetrating, and overarching as it has been proclaimed to be. Given that a paradigm is a “universally recognized scientific achievement that for a time provides model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners”62 a paradigm shift is expected to alter the whole of techniques, methods, approaches, and values that members of a certain community have in common. The so-called paradigm shift for CLT would have needed to affect all essential aspects of language education, such as dealing with learner errors.63 61 Jacobs & Farrell, ‘Understanding and implementing’. 62 Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions, viii. 63 Ibidem.

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In this sense, the chapter attempted to assess whether the perception of the CLT movement as a revolution is an accurate and objective description of epistemological and practical developments within the field of foreign language education or more likely an example of an ideology spread within the community. In my understanding of the concept, I orient myself on the definition of ideologies put forward by James and Steger understood as “local patterned clusters of normatively-imbued ideas and concepts, including particular representations of power relations, carrying claims to social truth”.64 The sources presented here reveal that different error taxonomies developed during the heyday of the CLT movement independent of one another and for different reasons—focusing on research purposes, commercial testing needs, and teaching practice—ignored some of the more substantial new theoretical notions that the CLT movement introduced. This is especially clear with respect to sociolinguistic and pragmatic skills, which remained largely underrepresented in most of the error taxonomies. Given the strong emphasis of the CLT movement on the need to express and understand intentions in various social contexts and audiences, this finding is puzzling. One possible explanation is—in line with the basic assumption of Tyack and Tobin65—that established institutional forms of schooling are stable and resistant to change. New and seemingly innovative ideas presented on the level of the intended curriculum are thus likely rejected within the taught or tested curriculum in favour of known and established patterns. As seen in the error taxonomies, the traditional structuralist orientation both in teaching and research towards formal aspects of language led to the emphasis of morphosyntactic, lexical, and orthographic distortions. It is also plausible that appropriateness and discourse organization with their somewhat subjective and not well-defined norms proved to be too elusive to be implemented in the concrete realities of teaching practice, at least in comparison to strict and predictable rules of grammar. On some level, this could suggest that formal errors and difficulties associated with interpretation and expression of intentions and appropriateness of language were, in fact, not one and the same phenomenon. Thomas, for instance, illustrates the need for a separate concept, namely that of pragmatic failure, reserved for instances of “inability to understand what is meant by what is said”.66 While the exact reasons for the underrepresentation of pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and discourse organization violations within the four error 64 James & Steger, Globalization and culture, 12. 65 Tyack & Tobin, ‘The “grammar” of schooling’. 66 Thomas, ‘Cross-cultural pragmatic failure’, 91–112.

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taxonomies remain unclear, the fact that aspects of teaching practice seem to remain unaffected by the normative assumptions of communicative teaching raises the concern that we have been branding CLT with the wrong label all along. It seems that the theoretical assumptions underlying the CLT movement could be more accurately described as “patterned clusters of normatively-imbued ideas and concepts, […] carrying claims to social truth”67 which James and Steger equate to an ideology. Thus, we seem to have confused a paradigm shift with an ideology underlying the intended curriculum of the CLT approach that slipped through the cracks of error taxonomies.

Bibliography Bachman, Lyle. F., Fundamental considerations in language testing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). Bachman, Lyle F. & Palmer, Adrian S, ‘The construct validation of self-ratings of communicative language ability’, Language Testing 6 (1989), 14–29. Bailey, Nathalie, Madden, Carolyn & Krashen, Stephen D., ‘Is there a natural sequence in adult second language learning?’, Language Learning 24 (2), (1974), 235–243. Bloomfield, Leonard, Language (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1933). Canale, Michael & Swain, Meril, ‘Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing’, Applied Linguistics 1 (1), (1980), 1–47. Corder, S. Pit., ‘The significance of learners’ errors’, International Review of Applied Linguistics, 9 (2), (1967), 147–160. Corder, S. Pit, Introducing Applied Linguistics (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973). Corder, S. Pit, ‘Error analysis’, in: Allen, J. L. P. & Corder, S. Pit (eds.), Techniques in Applied Linguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974). Corder, S. Pit, ‘Error analysis, interlanguage and second language acquisition’, Language Teaching & Linguistics: Abstracts 8 (4) (1975), 201–218. Corder, S. Pit. Error analysis and interlanguage (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi‐layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/the‐multi‐layered‐­ curriculum‐why‐change‐is‐often‐confused‐with‐reform/ (accessed 02/12/2019). Dagneaux, Estelle, Denness, Sharon & Granger, Sylvianne, ‘Computer-aided error analysis’, System 26 (2) (1998), 163–174.

67 James & Steger, Globalization and Culture, xii.

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Dulay, Heidi C. & Burt, Marina K., ‘Should we teach children syntax?’, Language Learning, 23(2) (1973), 245–258. Dulay, Heidi C., & Burt, Marina K., ‘Natural sequences in child second language acquisition’, Language Learning 24 (1) (1974), 37–53. Dulay, Heidi C., Burt, Marina & Krashen, Stephen, Language Two (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982). Fries, Charles C. Teaching and learning English as a foreign language (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1945). Granger, Sylvianne, ‘Error-tagged learner corpora and CALL: A promising synergy’, CALICO Journal 20 (3) (2003), 465. Halliday, M.A.K., ‘Relevant models of language’, Educational Review 22 (1969), 26–37. Hecht, Karl-Heinz & Green, Peter S., Fehleranalyse und Leistungsbewertung im Englischunterricht der Sekundarstufe I (Donauwörth: Auer Verlag, 1983). Hymes, Dell H., ‘On communicative competence’, in: Pride, J. B. & Holmes, J. (eds.), Sociolinguistics: Selected readings (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972), 269–293. Jacobs, George M. & Farrell, Thomas S. C., ‘Understanding and implementing the CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) Paradigm’, RELC Journal 34 (1) (2003), 5. James, Carl, Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error analysis (Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited, 1998). James, Paul & Steger, Manfred, Globalization and culture. Vol. 4: Ideologies of globalism (Los Angeles: Sage, 2010). Kuhn, Thomas, The structure of scientific revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). Lado, Robert, Linguistics across cultures (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1957). Leech, Geoffrey N., Principles of pragmatics (Harlow, UK: Longman, 1983). Nicholls, Diane‚ ‘The Cambridge Learner Corpus—error coding and analysis for lexicography and ELT’, in: Archer, Dawn, Rayson, Paul, Wilson, Andrew & McEnery, Tonay (eds.), Proceedings of the Corpus Linguistics 2003 Conference, Volume 16, Part 2, 2003, 572–581. Piepho, Hans-Eberhard, Kommunikative Kompetenz als übergeordnetes Lernziel im Englischunterricht (Dornburg-Frickhofen: frankonius, 1974). Selinker, Larry, ‘Interlanguage’, IRAL—International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 10 (1–4) (1972), 209–232. Skinner, Burrhus F. Verbal behavior (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957). Thomas, Jenny, ‘Cross-cultural pragmatic failure’, Applied Linguistics 4 (2) (1983), 91–112. Thorndike, Edward L. The fundamentals of learning (New York: Columbia Teachers College, 1932).

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Tyack, David & Tobin, William, ‘The “grammar” of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change?’, American Educational Research Journal, 31(3) (1994), 453–479. Watson, John B. Behaviorism. (New York: Norton, 1924).

About the Author Joanna Pfingsthorn Universität Bremen Fachbereich 10: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften, Fremdsprachendidaktik Englisch [email protected] Joanna Pfingsthorn is a researcher in the department of Foreign Language Education at the University of Bremen. Her main research interest is the intersection of inclusive education and foreign language teaching. She holds a PhD in Foreign Language Education from the University of Oldenburg, a M.Sc. in Cognitive Science from the University of Amsterdam, and a BA in Psychology from Jacobs University Bremen.

6

“Teachers May Feel that They Should …” Attempts to Align the Intended and the Taught Curriculum in 1980s Bremen Manuals for Communicative Language Teaching Tim Giesler Abstract In the absence of sources that provide direct documentation of past teaching practice, historiographic studies of language education often rely on theoretical and normative sources such as curricula or scholarly treatises that propose how languages should have been taught, not how they were in fact taught. In contrast, this chapter approaches 1980s English language teaching manuals from a different angle by applying them as indirect sources that serve as windows into past practices. This can be done since the manuals’ authors not only propose how the new language teaching curricula should be put to practice, but also scrutinize the teaching practice they observed and, at the same time, try to refute criticism they expected from in-service teachers. Keywords: English language education, Communicative Language Teaching, Bremen, Germany, teacher manuals, language teaching curricula

1

A History of Language Teaching beyond Normative Sources

Studies of the history of foreign language teaching are frequently based (predominantly) on normative sources. Scholars rely on ideas that have been laid down in theoretical writings as well as guidelines in curricula, textbooks, or school programmes. They thus gain only incomplete insights—if any—into actual teaching practice because of a lack of valid sources that allow historiographic access into what has actually happened in classrooms. This might be seen as highly problematic, because these normative sources

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch06

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all have a common weakness, namely that they merely represent a desired state, that is, a norm of how something should (have) be(en). Conclusions drawn from these sources on actual practice should be reflected on very critically, because we know from other contexts how indirect and vague the connection tends to be between what should be and what actually is—especially in a complex system like school. Schools have therefore been described as “loosely coupled systems”,1 which prove to be very robust against top-down influences from normative sources—that is, reforms that are imposed (for example, politically) from outside the system. Tyack and Tobin call this stability of the central organizational structures the “grammar” of schooling.2 Cuban3 has come to a similar conclusion concerning the essential features of teaching practice. This chapter uses teacher manuals as a window into past practices. Previous research efforts4 concentrate on analyzing the suggestions found in similar normative sources; more specifically they assume that these suggestions exerted an impact on teaching practice and could therefore—in the absence of its direct documentation—be interpreted as reliable descriptors of classroom practice. Thus, it is conceivable that the form of source analysis presented in my contribution is original in the field. At the same time, I will explore the extent to which this methodological approach can contribute to ‘valorizing’ the practice of language teaching. The underlying question is which aspects of reality, which practices are fundamentally seen as in need of normative regulation. These dependencies can be demonstrated by the following analogy: Many legal texts constitute acts such as theft or murder as felonies. A short-circuited assumption would be that the mere prohibition of crime leads to its eradication. Indeed, a political body will logically be inclined to issue prohibitions and injunctions precisely when it sees a factual need for them. Thus, the very existence of such normative regulations is proof that aspects of reality that are regarded as problematic do (or did) in fact occur. In the context of language education this implies that when, for example, different reformers repeatedly and over the course of a century felt the need to implement more oral practice, one line of explanation could be that there had indeed been a lack of it in actual teaching to some degree. 1 Weick, ‘Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems’. 2 Tyack & Tobin, ‘The “grammar” of schooling’. 3 Cuban, How teachers taught. 4 For example, Giesler, Die Formation des institutionellen Englischunterrichts; more generally see Giesler, ‘Munich works’ or Doff & Giesler, ‘Historische Fremdsprachenforschung’, 85–87.

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In this essay, the suggested kind of analysis described will be applied to German foreign language curricula and especially to the corresponding teacher’s manuals of the early 1980s. The underlying question is to what extent these can give an indication of the status quo ante of foreign language teaching and of which aspects of language education—for example, transition to higher secondary level, assessment, focus on accuracy vs. fluency, or dealing with texts—the curriculum and manuals were intended to remedy. For this argumentation it seems helpful that the authors of the manuals, which were published together with the new curricula for English in the German state of Bremen in 1983 and 1984, explicitly address what teachers in Bremen typically did (or rather did wrong) in their view and also describe how teachers reacted when they were confronted with the teaching suggestions in the manuals. The sources mainly involve a perspective on teaching practice imposed from outside experts hired to improve teaching practice in Bremen. More so, the experts were English, employed by the Centre for British Teachers and commissioned by the Bremen Senator for Education. But at the same time, they were teachers of English working at Bremen schools and thus partly also taking on a view from within the system. Following Cuban’s “multilayered infrastructure of curriculum”,5 the normative sources taken into account reflect the ‘intended curriculum’ that policy experts wish to be implemented. But, by reading and analysing the sources against the grain (as explained above), they might give away quite a bit about the ‘taught curriculum’ as well, especially about (alleged) shortcomings on that layer that the manuals wished to address. To provide the necessary context, the chapter starts with a very brief account of the school reforms in 1970s Bremen and Germany that set the stage for a communication-oriented English language education in the 1980s. The curricular role of English language teaching in Bremen (lower) secondary schools will also be briefly summarized before the 1983 curriculum and two teacher’s manuals for communicative language teaching are analysed in detail. The chapter then concludes with some preliminary insights into what English language teaching practice in Bremen may have looked like in the early 1980s, and provide some reflections on the future methodological directions of source analysis in the historiography of foreign language education that indeed valorize practice, not just theory.

5 Cuban, Inside the black box of classroom practice, 50ff.

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The Context: English Language Education in 1970s and 1980s Germany

2.1 School Reforms in 1970s Bremen and Germany The 1970s were a time of far-reaching school reforms in Western Germany. After Georg Picht proclaimed an ‘education crisis’ (Bildungsnotstand) in 1964,6 all federal states tried (and eventually managed)7 to increase participation of various social groups in school education; keywords were the education of workers’ children and the better schooling of the almost proverbial “catholic working-class girl from the countryside”,8 which was seen as a symbol for three attributes that contributed to exclusion from education, namely denomination, rural origin, and gender. One reason for the educational crisis was identified in the traditional horizontal division of the (West) German school system, in the division of secondary schools into elementary schools (Volkschulen), secondary modern schools (Realschulen) and grammar schools (Gymnasien). Although in all three cases these were public schools and in almost every German state free of school fees, the appropriateness of this school system for the requirements of a modern (post-)industrial state was increasingly questioned, especially by left-wing politicians. On the one hand, school attendance was believed to determine the students’ specific professional careers: Volkschule pupils were to become craftsmen, Realschule pupils qualified for office work, and Gymnasium pupils prepared for university studies. On the other hand, the educational background of the parents influenced the pupils’ choice of school and career, thus hindering social mobility.9 Since the 1960s, Volksschulen in all German states had been transformed into Hauptschulen,10 and since the ‘Hamburg Agreement’ in 1965 (Hamburger Abkommen), foreign language teaching—usually English—had been introduced as a compulsory school subject there, so that English gained the status of a main subject for most pupils.11 This led to discussions within foreign language education about ‘English lessons appropriate to

6 Picht, Die deutsche Bildungskatastrophe. 7 Tenorth, Geschichte der Erziehung, 294ff. 8 The ‘katholische Arbeitertochter vom Land[e]’ as the ultimate problem case in education goes back to Dahrendorf’s Bildung ist Bürgerrecht. 9 Nitsch, ‘Gesellschaft 1970–1989’, 328. See also Picht, Die deutsche Bildungskatastrophe. 10 Rekus, Hintz & Ladenthin, Die Hauptschule. 11 Doff, Englischdidaktik in der BRD 1949–1989, 97.

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the Hauptschule (‘hauptschulgerechter Englischunterricht’),12 which were less oriented towards neo-humanist ideas of education, but instead had a more practical focus on, for example, speaking skills. At the other end of the spectrum, the Abitur was restructured throughout Germany by reforming the upper secondary school system after 1972 (‘Reformierte Oberstufe’). The aim was to enable freer and more independent learning by dissolving fixed class structures in favour of a course system with basic and advanced courses.13 In addition to these measures, which despite minimal variation on the state level received nationwide acceptance14 , a school structure debate about the introduction of comprehensive schools (Gesamtschule) flared up. Here two ideologically charged claims clashed, some of which have led to fierce political disputes that continue today. The focus is often the defence of the German Gymnasium by (upper) middle classes15, whose members are probably often shaped by their own grammar school education. In contrast to this is the old emancipatory approach that only the longest possible time spent together in school leads to educational (and eventually social) justice. Within German federalism, two camps thus formed—on one side, predominantly social democratic states (like, for example, the industrial North Rhine-Westphalia) that introduced and supported comprehensive schools, and on the other, Christian-democrat-dominated states (often rural and Catholic areas like Bavaria) that defended the tripartite school system.16 However, a fully comprehensive school system could not prevail in any state against the protests of bourgeois parties, and the Gymnasium retained its nimbus throughout Germany as the institution where ‘Bildung’17 was promoted. In the city-state of Bremen, the American occupying power had already attempted to end the tripartite school system after 1945, though without lasting success. Even in this federal state, which had been ruled by a Social Democratic senate since 1945, the grammar schools in particular proved to be robust against structural school reforms.18 Still, in the emancipatory climate of the 1970s, what was probably the most far-reaching 12 Gutschow, Englisch an Hauptschulen. 13 Staatsinstitut für Schulpädagogik, Einführung in die Kollegstufe am Gymnasium. 14 Heubrock, Die reformierte gymnasiale Oberstufe im Schülerurteil. 15 Bönsch, Gesamtschule. 16 Ibidem. 17 ‘[Geisteswissenschaftliche] Bildung’ can be seen as a specific German construct rooted in Lutheran ideas. See Tröhler, Languages of education, 164–177. 18 Wissmann, ‘Gesellschaft 1945–1951’; Wissmann, ‘Gesellschaft 1952–1969.

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school reform in the Federal Republic of Germany took place in Bremen after 1975. The horizontally-structured school system was replaced by a vertically-structured staged school system (Stufenschulsystem). The four-year primary school (Primarbereich) was followed by a two-year orientation stage (Orientierungsstufe), as introduced in other Länder as well. The pupils then attended a four-year lower secondary level (Sekundarstufe I) and afterwards a (usually three-year) upper secondary level (Sekundarstufe II). The secondary schools were brought together in school centres (Schulzentren), which came with a variety of internal divisions. For example, in lower secondary level there were comprehensive schools, but there were also tripartite branches under one organizational roof. Sekundarstufe II school centres were intended to combine vocational and general education and included not only (partly specialized) upper secondary schools (gymnasiale Oberstufe and Fachoberschule), but also the vocational schools of the German Dual System, in which trainees had to attend schools once or twice a week in addition to their in-company training. This school system was meant to minimize the social division between the middle and working class at the educational level. However, after protests from the (upper) middle and upper classes, again a few (mostly inner-city) grammar schools remained.19 English was taught as a main subject from grade five onwards and remained an important subject until the Abitur, as a basic or advanced course (Grund- or Leistungskurs). It became and remained undisputedly the first and most important foreign language. However, after the discussion about teaching English in a way that was appropriate for Haupt- and Volksschule, the entire language teaching syllabus had to be adapted to the new school structure and cater for the needs of an economically diversified society. The merchant city state of Bremen, which until the decline of the German shipbuilding industry in the 1980s was amongst the most well-off areas within Germany, put a lot of effort into curriculum design by, for example, bringing in nationwide and even international expertise. The following section looks at the curricular level in more detail. 2.2 English Language Teaching at Bremen (Lower) Secondary Schools The buzzword in the German debate on foreign language teaching in 1970 was ‘communication’. The starting point for what was discussed worldwide as ‘Communicative Foreign Language Teaching’ (CLT) was a linguistic 19 Nitsch, ‘Gesellschaft 1970–1989. Bildungspolitik und Schulentwicklung’.

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debate based on Dell Hymes’ definition of ‘communicative competence’. Hans-Eberhard Piepho20 linked parts of this (international) concept with (national) socio-philosophical approaches of Habermas and Baacke, who saw communicative competence as a prerequisite for a democratic and emancipated discourse. In spite of some vagueness—for example, in the partly synonymous use of the concepts ‘communicative action’ (‘kommunikatives Handeln’) and ‘discourse’ (‘Diskurs’)21 Piepho shaped German foreign language education in the 1970s alongside authors like Butzkamm and Nissen.22 Bremen’s 1982 curriculum (Unterrichtsrahmen Englisch) for lower secondary level argues in this tradition: “The primary goal of English teaching is to enable learners to communicate in private and professional situations”.23 The justification for the subject arises from its ‘usefulness’ (‘Nutzen’) in a time of growing international connections, from its function as a ‘mediating language’ (‘Mittlersprache’) for politics, science, technology, trade, and transport.24 This general orientation was in line with older concepts of teaching English in a merchant city like Bremen, where English had already been the first foreign language at the Bürgerschule in 1855.25 These and similar utilitarian concepts, however, were in clear contradiction to the traditional German educational concepts of neo-humanism, which had been largely transferred to modern foreign languages in the nineteenth century.26 Instead of traditional literature-based teaching, the focus in Bremen was on conveying content and factual information (“Inhalte […] und Sachinformationen”) about life in English-speaking countries. By dealing with the foreign language, the “learner’s sphere of experience” was also to be expanded, thus promoting his or her willingness to make contacts and tolerance:27 in other words, achieving what was later to be subsumed under the label ‘intercultural competence’. In the spirit of the times, texts should not only be means of language learning, but also the subject of critical reflection in a political sense. 20 Piepho, Kommunikative Kompetenz als übergeordnetes Lernziel im Englischunterricht. 21 Bolton, Die Gütebestimmung kommunikativer Tests, 41. 22 Doff, Englischdidaktik in der BRD, 232–235. 23 FHB, Unterrichtsrahmen Englisch, 3. Remarkably, this curriculum includes requirements for all three horizontally-structured strands within lower secondary level. 24 Ibidem, 3. 25 Giesler, Die Formation des institutionellen Englischunterrichts. 26 Giesler even defines this transfer as ‘dysfunctional’ (ibidem, 223ff.), as the applied method does not serve the purpose of modern language teaching. 27 FHB, Unterrichtsrahmen Englisch, 3.

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The area of critical education was further underlined by the general educational objectives that the English classes were intended to teach. Among them were the pupils’ independence, critical thinking, and communication skills.28 In foreign language teaching, too, the student should be enabled to form his or her own opinion, to make his or her own decisions, to see through paternalism, to define his or her own limits accordingly, and to see the necessity of cooperation and meaningful achievement.29

These global goals should not only be achieved by appropriate content, but also by the teaching design. The methodical procedure should refrain from ‘mechanical’ forms of learning such as ‘pattern drills’ and pure factual learning, as these would hinder the development of independence and critical thinking faculties. Instead, the students should be informed about the methodological decisions by the teacher and, if possible, involved in their choice.30 As according to the curriculum learning in school should always be social learning as well, especially in practice phases, social forms such as partner or group work should be used. Work techniques were to be learned that enable students to work independently in order to reduce teacher dominance.31 Finally, at the level of content, the topics, communication situations, and socio-cultural information should be chosen in such a way that they help students to become critical of what was happening in their environment.32 This is further underlined by the demand that the selection of topics be based on criteria taken from political education (‘sozialkundedidaktische Kriterien’).33

3

Bremen Teachers’ Manuals for Communicative Testing and Skills

Along with the publication of the new curriculum, the Senator for Education, together with the Bremen ‘Wissenschaftliches Institut für Schulpraxis’ (WIS), which was responsible for the second and practical phase of teacher training, 28 29 30 31 32 33

Ibidem, 4. Ibidem, 4. Translations are the author’s own. Ibidem, 5. Ibidem, 6. Ibidem, 4. Ibidem, 41.

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as well as for in-service teacher training, commissioned two manuals for English language teaching in the ninth and tenth grades. The aim of these manuals was ‘to maintain or re-introduce the fun of foreign language learning in the final classes of the lower secondary level through new impulses and sense of achievement’.34 The authors of the manuals were Anthony L. Clark and John Whitehead. Both worked as ‘British Resource Teachers’ of the ‘Centre for British Teachers’35 at Bremen schools and produced these manuals between 1981 and 1983 as part of their teaching duties. The contracting authorities of the manuals are mentioned by name. They are Dr. Casper Kuhlmann and Dr. Peter H. Stoldt from the senatorial authority and E. Fiedler of the WIS. Casper Kuhlmann was an influential curriculum planner in Bremen between 1972 and his death in 1990. He had been a teacher of English, Latin, and history and had worked and received his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Education.36 P.H. Stoldt had adapted L.G. Alexander’s popular New Concept English37 for the German market. In the following, all aspects of teaching practice that are addressed in the foreword of the manuals will first be presented in the order in which they appear. Aspects indicating the (past) practice of Bremen teachers are then analysed in more detail with regard to their contribution to valorizing practice below. The first of the two manuals includes communicative test formats for the end of the tenth grade.38 These range from vocabulary tests, cloze tests, and reading comprehension tests to writing tests. The second manual is intended to provide teachers with teaching methods for communicative skills in the ninth and tenth grades.39 Here, eight thematic units of five to six class hours are presented. Both manuals are rich sources, which would be worth appreciating also in terms of content. In the context of this essay, however, the main objective is to examine, between the levels of the intended and the taught curriculum, which difficulties the authors anticipate at the practical level of teaching and which challenges they wish to meet. For this 34 FHB, Handreichung zum Englischunterricht, foreword. 35 The manuals speak of the ‘British Centre for English Teachers’, but it seems plausible that it was the ‘Centre for British Teachers’, which was founded in 1968 to support British teachers working abroad. The activities of the Centre, which now operates worldwide as the ‘Education Development Trust’, were initially focused mainly on Germany (see Education Development Trust). 36 Lacking other sources, this information is based on the corresponding Wikipedia entry. 37 Alexander and Stoldt, New Concept English. Band 1. 38 FHB, Communicative testing. 39 [FHB] Freie Hansestadt Bremen. Handreichung zum Englischunterricht. Communicative skills for the end-of-ten-level.

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reason, the introductions to both documents are particularly interesting and are analysed in more detail here. In both cases, the material is intended to supplement and expand older material. In the first case, it builds upon older test procedures already developed and used by Bremen teachers, which are to be communicatively expanded by the manual;40 in the second case, six out of eight units are based on published teaching materials, which also receive an expansion in the sense that was required in the curriculum. 41 3.1 Communicative Testing for the End-of-Ten Level When taking a closer look at the tests, they exclusively focus on written work; oral skills are not covered. In the introduction, Clark points out that this is primarily a practical matter: meaningful oral tests are supposedly hard to carry out during school lessons, as they require time-consuming pupil interviews. The same would go for the evaluation of recordings from language laboratories. The listening tests already developed, on the other hand, are claimed to be good enough and could not be substantially improved within the framework of the manuals. Thus, only examples of grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing tests are given in the manual. 42 In the next section, Clark explains why the tests are intended to be proficiency tests and not achievement tests. Here he describes to the Bremen teachers in some detail why at the end of the tenth grade it is of substantial interest to see to what extent the students meet a standard. These proficiency tests are meant to be independent of the teaching the pupils received. By defining a standard independent from the received tuition, they differed from achievement tests in that they are not designed to find out how much of the subject matter and language the students had actually learned. This was of particular interest in order to assess whether the individual student meets the demands of upper secondary school. 43 Next, the difference between integrative and discrete-item tests is discussed. While—according to the manual’s author—single words and grammatical structures had traditionally been tested, a communicative approach would require integrative testing, that is testing complex linguistic skills. This would shift the focus from deficit orientation to the question of what the student is already able to do linguistically: “The question posed 40 Ibidem, 2. 41 Ibidem, 3. 42 FHB, Communicative testing, 2–3. 43 Ibidem, 3.

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is not ‘How much English do you know?’ but ‘What can you do with your English?’”44 Grammar and vocabulary tests, for example, would also focus on allowing the student to independently comprehend elements that he or she cannot yet master with confidence. In reading comprehension, a global rather than a detailed understanding was required. Finally, the writing tests should be integrating different skills by composing the required narrative and descriptive texts on the basis of different information, such as pictures or listening texts. 45 An implicit recourse to linguistic notions of the 1960s that distinguish between linguistic ‘competence’ and ‘performance’46 can be recognized here. This distinction is used in the manual to assess the communicative competence of students. It is also found in the theoretical treatises that Piepho based his concept upon, for example, both in Hymes47 and Habermas. 48 The critical reader is confronted with the question of why exactly these aspects are emphasized and explained in detail in the manuals. A possible answer could be based on the assumption that these are aspects that the authors—that is, Clark and Whitehead—considered particularly central due to their own academic backgrounds. The extent to which this was the case cannot be reconstructed, since no other writings of the two authors are available. It is also conceivable that these aspects were particularly important to the contracting authorities of the manuals: that is, the senatorial authority and the WIS. Presumably there was an interest in this curricular layer being used to spread the innovative spirit of the curriculum within the Bremen English teaching staff. Thus, the materials were presented to the trainers of English at the WIS and the wish was expressed that they be introduced and used in in-service training courses and tested in classrooms. In addition, teachers were explicitly encouraged to give feedback to the manuals’ authors.49 This approach was certainly in keeping with the cooperative, democratic, and emancipatory basic tenor that runs through the curriculum and manuals. However, a closer look at the wording within the manuals also points to another possible interpretation: It seems plausible that the handouts deal 44 Ibidem, 5. 45 Ibidem, 3–5. 46 For this difference, see, for example, Chomsky, Aspects of the theory of syntax, 4. This difference in turn goes back to Saussure’s dichotomy of langue as a linguistic system and parole as language use: Saussure, Cours de linguistique générale. 47 Hymes, ‘On communicative competence’, 54ff. 48 Habermas, ‘Vorbereitende Bemerkungen zu einer Theorie der kommunikativen Kompetenz’, 101. 49 FHB, Communicative testing, preface.

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precisely with those aspects of the curriculum in whose implementation the authors and publishers saw, or at least anticipated, resistance and difficulties within the Bremen teaching staff. Clark formulates explicitly in this direction: It seems to be the view of a large number of Bremen teachers that there is a need for teachers to assess outgoing tenth classes and incoming eleventh groups at the transition from Sekundarstufe I to Sekundarstufe II. Frequently, this assessment is conceived of primarily in terms of grammatical knowledge. In the Handreichung mentioned above, we point out that smoother transition to Oberstufe work can perhaps best be fostered by the earlier adoption of more communicative learning activities in Sekundarstufe I. Chief among these are a structured approach to monologisches Sprechen, Konversation and kommunikatives Schreiben and the reading and listening comprehension of authentic texts dealing with a wide range of subjects. It is our hope that teachers at Sekundarstufe I level will be pleasantly surprised by what their pupils can actually achieved in this direction when they are given the opportunities (original emphasis; bold type by TG).50

This excerpt addresses two problems and shows how the manual wanted to present solutions. The first problem in its specific form is caused by the separation of the lower and upper secondary level in the vertically-structured school system in Bremen after 1975. In the horizontally-structured school system, there were usually no transition problems: English only began after the transition to secondary school. At the Realschulen the same teachers taught from grades five to ten; at the Gymnasiums this was the case from five to thirteen, that is, until the Abitur; Hauptschule traditionally did not offer foreign language classes. Therefore, it was probably not as necessary to ease any transition. Only the introduction of the stage school system created or at least strengthened this necessity. Clark probably also judges the necessity of these tests against his personal educational background from the British system with O-levels (now, GCSEs) and A-levels and the corresponding final examinations, which are centralized and assess proficiency. A second aspect is a cautious and indirect criticism of the Bremen teachers who taught at the lower secondary level: Clark identifies a preference among them for testing ‘grammatical knowledge’. In contrast, however, topic-based teaching at the upper secondary level would require more ‘communicative’ 50 Ibidem, 6.

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skills, which had to be developed beforehand. He also emphasizes again that the suggestions made in the manual would allow students to demonstrate their actual abilities more effectively by concentrating on what they are able to do instead of focusing on their deficits with regard to grammar. 3.2 Communicative Skills for Ninth and Tenth Classes Clark and Whitehead elaborate on the perceived differences between lower and upper secondary education in the second manual. The introduction here is much more comprehensive (eleven pages instead of five) and also addresses the differences between spoken and written English, gives recommendations on teaching methods, analyses the importance of grammar, listening, and reading, and explains different types of text.51 Here, too, the argumentation is based on the (supposed) view of Bremen teachers. Meanwhile, the implicit criticism of the teachers’ view sounds fairly stronger than above: One of the problems which has concerned Bremen teachers in recent years is the question of the transition from the tenth class to the eleventh class, from Sekundarstufe I to Sekundarstufe II. There is certainly a great difference between the kind of English teaching going on in these two stages of secondary education […].52 It is well known that many teachers of the Gymnasiale Oberstufe feel that more and more students now arrive in the eleventh class without the basic skills in English required for them to take part effectively in the style of teaching which is usual at this level. […] Sekundarstufe II teachers feel obliged to introduce remedial grammar as a major part of their work. There is speculation as to whether it is the pupils who are not talented, the Sekundarstufe II teachers who are aiming too high, or the Sekundarstufe I teachers who have not done their job properly (bold type by TG).53

Particular criticism is levelled at the traditional teaching of grades five to ten, which is considered to be exerted in a (too) controlled manner. According to the manual, this was mainly due to the textbooks used, which prescribed a grammatical progression and mainly provided structure-based practice activities. They also lacked “systematic training in more lengthy 51 FHB, Communicative skills, 2–13. 52 Ibidem, 4. 53 Ibidem, 5.

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oral and written text production”.54 In theme-centred teaching at higher secondary level, “serious issues” should be discussed and “lengthy analytical or argumentative writing” would be required. The prerequisites for this would be “taken for granted” by the teachers at this level.55 The solutions proposed by Clark and Whitehead are largely in accordance with the curriculum and are also mainly within the orthodoxy of CLT. Since they seem less central to the questions addressed in this paper, they will only be briefly outlined here: The authors see a good preparation for upper secondary education in the increased use of authentic materials in combination with a targeted preparation for oral classroom discussion and the writing of different generic text types. The difference between spoken and written language, as highlighted by applied linguists, should also be taken into account.56 The first phase of the classroom implementation is described in detail and then summarized as follows: To sum up, the method used in the oral output phase differs from conventional practice in three ways: Pupils are asked to deal with larger sections of the text, up to and including the whole text. Pupils are asked to repeat what they say until it is complete, accurate, and fluent. This sometimes requires several attempts. 1. The same section of the text is spoken by several pupils, one after the other, so that each section of the text is heard a number of times (bold type by TG).57

This passage is interesting for two reasons: In terms of content, it makes clear how controlled and mechanically the exercises, which the manual’s authors saw as a suitable preparation for communicative action, were apparently designed. In the context of this chapter, however, it is particularly relevant to note that this was (supposedly) a deviation from conventional practice: The background of the exercise—even though explicit reference is made to accuracy here—was a preparation for ‘real’ communication and was thus intended to prepare the pupils’ content and language skills for less controlled ‘communicative’ use in higher grades. Central to this is that texts should not be seen as a quarry for the isolated exercise of grammar 54 55 56 57

Ibidem, 4. Ibidem, 5. Ibidem, 5–11. Ibidem, 9.

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phenomena, but should be appreciated in their entirety. In a subsequent phase, “free conversation around the topic” should be stimulated, in which the content should take a back seat to the “psychological and linguistic aims”; the decisive factor would therefore be the encouragement to use and practise language.58 The fourth section of the introduction is the most interesting for the purpose of this chapter. Here the authors address explicitly formulated criticism of the units they have developed: “It now remains to consider some of the questions that have been raised by Bremen teachers who have seen some of the units”.59 The points addressed are “place of grammar in lower secondary education”, “the place of listening and reading”, the role and function of text production, visuals and the “level of difficulty”.60 In terms of grammar, Clark and Whitehead propose a grammar syllabus that focuses on essential and commonly occurring grammar forms. These should be taught in “appropriate contexts”. Here, they refer to Wilkins’ Notional syllabus.61 In contrast, the textbooks used dealt with verb forms that are rarely used in authentic texts. Many of them could “profitably be omitted”. The Bremen teachers, however, apparently attached too much importance to grammar teaching and also overburdened some of the students by teaching in a manner that was too strictly oriented cognitively: Teachers may feel that they should be continually revising grammar, particularly if their pupils are still having difficulties with elementary forms. However, it is probable that the majority of grammar revision programmes are not very effective. Not all pupils have the motivation or the capacity for self-correction of errors on the basis of cognitive rules. These pupils cannot benefit from more teaching of a cognitive kind. They have probably not had enough practice in using elementary forms (bold type by TG).62

Another central point is addressed, but not invalidated on the basis of theoretical considerations: “At first glance some of those texts may appear too difficult for 9th and 10th class learners”. Here, however, only the hint follows that “they have all been used successfully in Bremen at this level”.63 This does not seem to be very convincing, because the curriculum was aimed 58 Ibidem, 11. 59 Ibidem, 11. 60 Ibidem, 11–13. 61 Wilkins, Notional syllabuses. 62 FHB, Communicative skills, 11. 63 Ibidem, 13.

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at all school types and not only at future students of the upper secondary level. There is no statement at all about which pupils were exactly able to handle the materials in a successful way, nor what that specifically meant. Also, the authors address the question why the units start with listening instead of reading texts. “Pupils are required to understand and eventually recreate the text without ever reading it”. This indicates a traditional preference for written texts in foreign language teaching. In the remainder of the section, the authors focus on cultural misunderstandings, for example, by explaining that the required texts are not ‘re-narratives’ (Nacherzählungen)—a text type adopted from German lessons—and that the pictures and visuals used are meant to be prompts and memory aids, not coherent picture stories, which had long been a well-known and widely used tool in textbooks.64 In summary, there are three main areas addressed here: Firstly, the importance of grammatical knowledge in a ‘communicative’ syllabus and the way in which functional and formal aspects of foreign language learning must be balanced. In this context, the role of the textbook as a ‘hidden curriculum’ that forces the teaching into a (too) tight corset also crops up time and again. The second point refers to interferences between different school subjects and international contexts. This is particularly visible in the consideration of the importance of assessment at the transition between lower secondary and upper secondary level and also in the question of which types of text should be learned and used by the pupils. The last point refers to the transition problems between school levels in general. It seems that all three points are issues that were (and possibly still are) central to other (temporal, national, or local) contexts as well. Therefore, it seems plausible to think through to what extent these are general problems of institutional English language teaching,65 the time-specific characteristics of which are made clear in the manuals of the 1980s. The following section pursues these questions in the form of some preliminary conclusions drawn.

4

(Some Preliminary) Conclusion(s)

The criticism of English lessons in the last years of lower secondary education formulated here seems largely plausible. It was precisely at this level that 64 Ibidem, 12–13. 65 Based on Tyack and Tobin’s ‘grammar of schooling’, one might consider speaking of similar stable features in relation to institutional language education: for example, of a ‘morphology of foreign language teaching’; see Giesler, ‘Here be dragons’.

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teachers were called upon to combine the considerations of ‘English lessons for all’, ‘communicative’ demands, and traditional ideas of Bildung.66 This was particularly challenging for foreign language teaching, as it had traditionally been reserved for a small elite at only a few secondary schools and there was little experience with teaching foreign languages at different school types. A common reflex to make this complexity of language manageable seems to lie in recourse to grammar tasks presented in a structured way, from simple to more complex forms. Although grammar teaching—in an isolated form—tends to be contrary and rather counterproductive to the functional aim of teaching modern foreign languages, it has an undeniable charm for the teachers: even if their own foreign language skills are not sufficient, they retain professional authority in the classroom and can also structure the complex process of foreign language acquisition in a manageable way. In addition, assessment gets easier by testing isolated vocabulary and grammar items that can be attached with a clear solution. Coursebook series with a coherent grammar course are an obvious aid in this approach and have maintained their popularity through the decades of language teaching—from Heinrich Plate’s nineteenth century bestseller67 to their persisting status as the ‘hidden curriculum’68 or ‘Leitmedium’.69 The extensive attempts to specify the role grammar should play in language curricula and coursebooks70 should above all indicate that this indeed has been (and probably is) a constant feature of teaching practice. Whether the manuals analysed above could provide a sustainable remedy in this respect seems at least questionable. Two other aspects highlighted in the manuals point to contextual and cultural differences. Both are probably related to the authors’ perspectives, but at the same time they indicate a wider problem within teaching practice. Specifically, it is about how upper secondary teachers on the one hand and English native speakers on the other assess the demands of teaching English at the lower secondary level in German schools. The performance of the lower secondary level is defined in the manuals based on the requirements of the upper secondary level so the question is mainly how the former can prepare for the latter. From the general requirements of schooling, this does not seem fully plausible, because not all pupils wanted to continue until the Abitur or afterwards study at university. However, the question of which non-school 66 Hermes, Liesel, ‘Gab’s das nicht schon mal?’. 67 Klippel, Englischlernen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, 404–407. 68 Jackson, Life in classrooms. 69 Schmid-Schönbein, Kurtz & Sauer, ‘Ergebnisorientierter Englischunterricht’. 70 Richards & Renandya, Methodology in language teaching, 145.

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professional requirements (apart from preparing for higher secondary level) teaching at lower secondary level should have met—for example in the sense of ‘hauptschulgerechter Englischunterricht’—is not addressed. It is thus plausible that despite the emancipatory spirit that permeates the curricula, an implicit appreciation of a certain traditional form of ‘Bildung’ (possibly in a modernized manner) shines through; the aim for all language education was the higher secondary level that led to Abitur. Although education in Bremen was no longer meant to be gymnasial in denomination, but more comprehensive all the way from the fifth grade onward, it was nevertheless gymnasial (that is, oriented towards the ideal of grammar school education) in its ultimate goal. This orientation might also be seen in the respective staff at the different stages of schooling: The extent to which the status within the teaching staff in Bremen had merely shifted since 1975 would deserve further investigation. Historically, secondary school teachers in Germany were highly privileged civil servants whose salaries were based on those of a major in the German military (pay grade ‘A 13’). Even if the pay gap had been levelled out in Bremen, the professional status of the old Studienrat, who now taught in the upper secondary schools, could have persisted, seen as superior to the elementary and lower secondary school teacher (Volksschullehrer) who taught at lower school types. In the sources this might be reflected in the statement that “the Sekundarstufe II teachers […] are aiming too high or the Sekundarstufe I teachers […] have not done their job properly”.71 In any case, the sources implicitly reveal a devaluation of teaching at the lower secondary level. These issues of transition itself—from one school type to the other—find their origin in the specific Bremen school system since the 1975 reform (see above), but similar discussions on how to deal with different educational cultures between two levels of schooling commonly arise where and when transition newly occurs, as in the recent discussion of “bridging a gap”72 between English language teaching in primary and secondary school. To which degree this discourse was dominated by the secondary teachers (and whether this is due to their feeling of superiority in status) would also deserve a closer investigation. The last aspect highlighted here is the intercultural perspective that the British authors take on the Bremen school system. This aspect is particularly evident in two sections of the manuals: the discussion of achievement vs. proficiency test and the examination of text genres specific to the German 71 FHB, Communicative skills, 5. 72 Becker & Dieckmann, ‘Bridging the gap—strategies for primary teachers’, 12–13.

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educational system. A substantial difference between the German and British school systems lies in the respective final examinations. The Prussian and later other German grammar schools had gained the right to take the Abitur examination and thus the right to decide who was allowed to study at a university in the eighteenth century. Because this examination was usually held by the teachers who had also taught the Abiturient, it was (and still is) largely a non-standardized achievement test, as it tried to assess what had been done in class.73 The British GCSE and A-levels, on the other hand, are centralized and standardized proficiency tests that only the individual teacher and school prepare for. In the manuals analysed, the British authors thus seem to see a need to define the difference between the two types of testing which probably was largely unknown to most German teachers at that time. With the advent of centralized teaching in Germany since the 2001 ‘Pisa shock’, this eventually led to a “clash of religious languages” between a specific German concept of Bildung based in Lutheran ideas and Calvinist ‘competences’,74 a division that had already met resistance among Bremen teachers two decades earlier. This distinction definitely deserves closer examination with regard to language education, where proficiency language tests also constantly gain importance: for example, the IELTS or Cambridge Examinations. This process has also gained further momentum through the standards defined in the Common European Framework. In the manuals, the devaluation of Bremen teachers’ past practice by foreign experts taking a perspective from the outside foreshadows this struggle. German-English ‘intercultural’ differences in teaching are also evident in the text forms suggested by the manuals. For example, the Nacherzählung (a generic form used mainly in native German lessons) is explicitly mentioned as a text form to which the Bremen teachers (allegedly) paid too much attention (see above). Hence, another general point could be implicitly addressed here, namely the question of the extent to which text, teaching, and test forms of (L1) German language teaching75 have influenced foreign language teaching. These few examples here show how normative sources, read against the grain, can indeed facilitate getting closer to teaching practice or—in other words—to ‘valorizing practice’. Of course, the individual aspects mentioned in the manuals are little more than subjective assessments of the shortcomings of 73 Wolter, Das Abitur. Eine bildungssoziologische Untersuchung zur Entstehung und Funktion der Reifeprüfung. 74 Tröhler, Languages of education, 197–201. 75 For an example of examination and text forms in the French zone of occupation, 1945–1949, see Reh in this volume.

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Bremen’s teaching practice. Still, in combination with the context stated and the comparison to similar problems within the history of language teaching, the blurred outlines of a past practice do become apparent. Read this way, the sources are not only (rare) windows into past practice, but also reflect much larger discourses on language education and the way languages are best taught. Although the practitioners are not explicitly valorized as agents in this discourse, indirectly their perspective comes to light. This is done, and should be done regularly, by opening up the black box of teaching practice beyond presenting the normative ‘intended’ curriculum as more than it is.

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Schmid-Schönbein, Gisela, Jürgen Kurtz & Helmut Sauer, ‘Ergebnisorientierter Englischunterricht. Das Lehrwerk als Leitmedium’, Grundschulmagazin Englisch, 3 (2011), 7–8. Staatsinstitut für Schulpädagogik, Abteilung Gymnasium, Einführung in die Kollegstufe am Gymnasium: Handreichung für Schüler (Donauwörth, Auer, München: self-published, 1974). Tenorth, Heinz-Elmar, Geschichte der Erziehung. Einführung in die Grundzüge ihrer neuzeitlichen Entwicklung (Weinheim/München: Juventa, 2010). Tröhler, Daniel, Languages of education: Protestant legacies, national identities, and global aspirations (New York/London: Routledge, 2011). Tyack, David & William Tobin, ‘The “grammar” of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change?’, American Educational Research Journal 31/3 (1994), 453–479. Weick, Karl E., ‘Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems’, Administrative Science Quarterly 20/1 (1976), 1–19. Wikipedia, ‘Caspar Kuhlmann’, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Kuhlmann (accessed 28.07.2021). Wilkins, David Arthur, Notional syllabuses. A taxonomy and its relevance to foreign language curriculum development (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977). Wissmann, Sylvelin, ‘Gesellschaft 1945–1951. Bildung und Wissenschaft’, in: Barfuß, Karl Marten, Müller, Hartmut & Tilgner, Daniel (eds.), Die Geschichte der Freien Hansestadt Bremen von 1945 bis 2005, vol. 1, (Bremen: Edition Temmen, 2008), 162–174. Wissmann, Sylvelin, ‘Gesellschaft 1952–1969. Bildung und Wissenschaft’, in: Barfuß, Karl Marten, Müller, Hartmut & Tilgner, Daniel (eds.), Die Geschichte der Freien Hansestadt Bremen von 1945 bis 2005 vol. 2 (Bremen: Edition Temmen, 2008), 464–473. Wolter, Andrä, Das Abitur. Eine bildungssoziologische Untersuchung zur Entstehung und Funktion der Reifeprüfung (Oldenburg: Holzberg, 1987).

About the Author Tim Giesler University of Bremen, Faculty 10, Linguistics and Literary Sciences [email protected] Tim Giesler has been a lecturer for English language education since 2010. His main research interest is the historiography of language teaching in institutional context, a field in which he earned his PhD. Before 2010, he was a teacher of (mainly) English, history, and political education at several northern German schools.

7

The Quest for Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Learning in English Schools, 1968–2010 John Daniels

Abstract This chapter looks to identify the role of communicative competence as an objective for language teaching through the different periods and methodologies which have marked language learning in England over the author’s thirty-five years as a middle school language teacher and researcher. As an autobiographical account it therefore focuses on Cuban’s second level in the multi-layered curriculum: the teacher ‘deciding what to teach and how to present it’.1 Cuban’s curriculum model is particularly relevant to this paper’s exploration of how the intended curriculum, the official framework within which modern foreign languages are taught, is subject to a range of different influences. The development of intensive language programmes to supplement classroom language learning demonstrates how teachers can respond to an identified problem, here the difficulty of developing productive language skills that are essential for communicative competence. Keywords: Communicative competence; productive language skills; audio-visual teaching; intensive language work; student exchange; national curriculum; ‘vocabulary dormancy’

1

Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch07

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Communicative Competence as Key Objective for and Appropriate Outcome of Language Learning

This chapter on valorizing practice explores the period of language learning in English schools from 1968–2010 and the different methodologies introduced over this time with which the author, as teacher and researcher, has been personally involved. The central theme is communicative competence, the ability to communicate in a foreign language, emphasizing the role of spoken language and the importance attached to productive language skills. For much of this period, communicative competence is identified as an objective for language learning, an appropriate outcome: the ability to use the language practically. The chapter will trace this theme through the different periods of language learning, describing in turn the three key periods2 which marked language learning in England over the period starting with the ‘revolution’3 of the pioneering audio-visual period of the 1960s, introducing language learning for younger pupils. This is followed by what is described as a consolidation period in the 1980s and finally the monitoring phase associated with the introduction of the National Curriculum in England in the 1990s. This is a way of establishing the importance given to spoken language from its central role in audio-visual language learning, to a less prominent position during the monitoring phase of the National Curriculum. It is important to examine which activities encourage the development of productive language, how language is acquired in the context of school language learning, and how the vocabulary and structures introduced in the classroom can become available to the pupil as practical elements of language for use in communication. Cuban’s multi-layered curriculum provides a structure for examining different methodologies and in this case, a way to illustrate the growing influence of a centralized national curriculum. His theorization considers the official or intended curriculum and the elements that influence how this is delivered: the central role of teachers, the students themselves, and the testing procedures in place to measure successful outcomes. The autobiographical nature of this account means that my role as teacher in this process is privileged, the period seen from the perspective of one French language teacher who experienced the different language learning methods introduced at first hand. This is the language teacher as witness, able to record the events which take place, adding colour and dimension to 2 Daniels, ‘Pioneering, consolidating and monitoring’, 293. 3 Stern, Languages and the young school child, 103.

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an historic account, helping in this way “la représentation présente d’une chose absente [the representation now of an absent past]”. 4 A teacher’s narrative element will be included to provide an impression of what each period involved from the teacher’s perspective, how it actually felt to be teaching using these different methodologies.

Here, for all the limited perspective that comes from the personal account of the witness, it is possible to show how a teacher can respond to concerns about the language curriculum by identifying areas of concern—in this case the development of spoken language skills—and take action to address this problem and through research to investigate more closely the phenomenon and theorize the outcomes. The search to develop communicative competence and a concern that not enough emphasis was given to developing spoken language skills is described here and how this led to the introduction of a programme of intensive language work to supplement classroom learning. This chapter will also examine how intensive work—an extension of the immersive nature of audio-visual learning—led to research which demonstrated how an experience of this kind could lead to vocabulary development and the theory of ‘vocabulary dormancy’: words only partially learnt in the classroom becoming fully acquired. A further, teacher-led initiative in the French exchange programme will consider how this experience can develop productive language skills. A quest is the search for something elusive and of particular value, elusive in this case because developing communicative competence proves difficult to achieve in the classroom and is not an easy element to assess. In the conclusion to this chapter, I look at how successful the different language methodologies and teacher-led initiatives of this period were in achieving in pupils a level of communicative competence.

2

Audio-visual Language Learning

The introduction of primary foreign language learning in England came with the Pilot Scheme Proposal, launched by the UK government in March 1963. The “enthusiastic response from schools and parents” led by 1970 to an estimated one third of all primary schools in the country including French 4 Ricoeur, La Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, 8.

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in their curriculum.5 This rapid expansion can be explained as audio-visual language learning was seen to provide “the practical solutions”6 needed to enable younger children to learn another language. Language learning at this point was given particular importance due to the United Kingdom’s application to join the Common Market, which explains why this was a government initiative. This period represented a complete change from traditional language learning methods. The audio-visual learning programme was designed specif ically for young learners. Stern provides a useful account of the ambition of this learning programme, expressing the belief that here was an educational resource which would lead children to successfully learn another language: “The pupil is plunged into a language bath in the same way as he found himself immersed in the linguistic environment of his native tongue as an infant […]. The exposure of children to the second language in real life situations which exclude the use of English”.7 The Nuffield En Avant Introduction to French course (the most popular and frequently used course in England) was therefore based on the idea of teaching languages in the same way as first languages are learnt, adopting a natural method. Lessons were conducted entirely in French, English strictly prohibited. It is worth considering the implications of the prohibition of English and what this meant in terms of acquiring a command of the different elements of vocabulary encountered. The problem basically, is how to ensure understanding without translation: “It is also being assumed that at least where there is a clear referent (object or idea) for the French word to be associated with, direct connection can be established between them and English can be by-passed”.8 Wright, the senior artist responsible for En Avant illustrations, talks about the role of illustrations being “to aid the grasp of meaning”.9 The “grasp of meaning” doesn’t however seem adequate. It may be that the connection is made between the object—in actual or illustrated form—but there is some way to go from this point to a situation where the word becomes available to the pupil, as a fully acquired element. The realization comes that many of the words introduced in the classroom may only be partially known and require some kind of catalyst to become 5 Hawkins, 30 years of language teaching, 59. 6 Stern, Foreign languages, 103. 7 Stern, Foreign languages, 85. 8 Rapaport & Westgate, Children learning French, 63. 9 Wright, Visual materials, 78.

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fully acquired, an activity in which pupils engage with the language: “[M]aterial that is practised without full involvement is not thoroughly learned and is soon forgotten”.10 Buckby produced a book introducing a series of games and songs specifically to support the En Avant course. Role-play is another and important way to engage pupils in these early stages of language learning, a further way to acquire vocabulary and phrases by using them in practical situations. The greeting process associated with the earliest stage of learning French (once the basic vocabulary for this has been introduced), involves pupils shaking hands as they ask each other their names and ages. Later this dialogue would be extended to include where they live and what they like and don’t like. The most extensive and probably most popular role-play activity in the first years of learning French is the ‘café’. Pupils set up a café in the classroom, producing an illustrated menu with the available items in French—this is likely to be hot chocolate rather than coffee—and a croissant. Children acting as waiters, dressed appropriately with white shirts and bow-ties, take the orders and serve the others in the class. There is an element of communicative competence in these activities, showing the important place role-play and simulation can have in language lessons. Drama acts as a mechanism for developing practical language skills and forms the basis for the intensive language work described below. However, the anticipated outcomes from audio-visual learning were not achieved: “The high hopes of the period were gradually eroded. The new methods did not produce spectacular results. The research was less conclusive than had been hoped”.11 And, “Although the language is said to be taught first and foremost as a means of communication, the pupils rarely find themselves in a genuine communication situation in the classroom”.12 This point is a constant element throughout this chapter, linked to children not having the necessary productive language skills: Not enough in the teachers’ estimation were developing a command of the basic vocabulary and structures that they could apply to new situations. This was not the criteria for success teachers were setting themselves.13 Burstall’s f inal report on primary language learning in 1974 led to the demise of foreign language teaching in primary schools at this time: 10 Buckby, Faites vos jeux, 1. 11 Stern, Fundamental concepts, 103. 12 Rapaport & Westgate, Children learning French, 117. 13 Ibidem.

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“[U]ltimately audio-visual learning failed because children were not making progress”.14 It is useful to consider a further reason for this failure: the difficulty some teachers were having in maintaining the key immersion element for audio-visual learning, speaking exclusively in French: “Frequently, general classroom procedure is carried out almost exclusively in English with occasional recourse to ‘Taisez-vous!’ and ‘Levez les mains!’ [‘be quiet!’],[‘put up your hands’]”.15 It was also disconcerting for many teachers that there was no textbook for pupils to follow, setting out the learning material they would cover, one key way in which language teaching was different to what was going on in other classrooms and areas of the curriculum. Audio-visual learning demanded a particular teaching approach. Teaching Audio-visual I am at the centre of the learning process, the animator conducting and controlling the lesson from the front of the class. The person with the language skills to make the lesson happen. And in these earliest stages of introducing a foreign language, there is real excitement and an enthusiastic response. As children become slowly more confident and begin to respond, progress is immediate as you move from no knowledge of this new language to pupils being able to identify the names of the different objects around the classroom. and carry out simple conversation routines. It has to be one of the most rewarding moments in a teaching career, the smiling faces as you move at the end of the lesson to a French song before the bell rings and the class returns to the English-speaking world, momentarily left behind. The problem is how to sustain this enthusiasm.

Turning to the consolidating phase which follows audio-visual learning, the concept of productive language begins to be described as communicative competence for the first time.

3

Consolidation Phase: Communicative Language Teaching

The period that followed audio-visual learning, the consolidation phase during the late 1970s and 1980s, represents an intermediate period between the influential audio-visual and final monitoring phases. Languages become

14 Burstall, Primary French, 243. 15 Hares, Teaching French, 81.

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more closely adapted to the school curriculum, conforming more closely to learning in other subject areas. There is no longer language immersion but there is still a concern to maintain the prohibition of English use in lessons. However, a concern remains that not enough of the foreign language is being used to conduct the lesson.16 The course material is notably easier to manipulate for teachers and pupils and contained in textbooks and on cassette. A concession to enable better understanding, sees vocabulary lists at the back of course books with translation provided. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), “the engagement of learners in communication to develop their communicative competence”,17 now becomes the central methodology for language teaching in English schools, a more practical and less demanding system for the teacher and pupils than the previous audio-visual process. CLT is understood as a language teaching methodology that: […] refers to both the processes and goals in classroom learning. A central theoretical concept in communicative language teaching is communicative competence, a term introduced into discussions of language use and second/foreign language learning in the early 1970s. […] The focus has been the elaboration and implementation of programmes and methodologies that promote the development of functional language ability through learner participation in communicative events.18

The term ‘communicative competence’ now begins to be used as an appropriate objective for foreign language learning in English schools. Language teaching in this sense means helping learners go beyond the mastery of structures to the point where they can use them to communicate in real situations, the ‘functional language ability’ described above. A curriculum document circulated to every teacher in Northumberland in 1983 states that the first aim for foreign language teaching in middle schools is to “[a]chieve a measure of practical, communicative competence in French”.19 In terms of language policy, it is important to notice the school curriculum is not yet a government responsibility but controlled by local education authorities. There is beginning to be a conformity of approach in all subject 16 Daniels, ‘When a lapse into English is invariably accepted’. 17 Ibidem. 18 Savignon, ‘Communicative language teaching’, 124. 19 Spicer, The school curriculum in Northumberland, 29.

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areas across England and Wales, finalized with the introduction of the National Curriculum as government control and responsibility for learning in schools is established. The question becomes, what kind of programmes and activities can lead to communicative competence? The concerns of CLT are the same as those already encountered in audio-visual learning. How to ensure that the material introduced to students in the classroom becomes fully acquired in order to achieve the desired communicative competence? CLT can be seen as a positive methodology for language learning in English schools, the aim of developing practical language skills. There is, however, no longer the same crusading sense of being engaged in a learning process which would lead to the development of those skills needed to achieve the target of communicative competence. This is a time of textbooks in which in the first stages of language learning, a series of standard topic areas are introduced (‘la maison’—home, ‘l’école’—school, ‘ma ville’—my town) through the introduction of the appropriate items of vocabulary and structures accompanied by photographs or illustrations of scenes from France, associated with a range of activities and exercises. Once one topic is completed after two or so weeks, it is time to move on, the previous set of vocabulary being replaced, often before there has been time for this to be properly digested, with a new topic and fresh set of vocabulary, structures, and images, “where teaching and learning are assumed to have taken place […] before the next chapter is begun and new language introduced”.20 Looking through the textbooks from this period is to be reminded of the similarity of approach in each topic area, the lack of innovation in these textbooks for younger learners which contrasts with the innovative approach of the audio-visual period. It seems as though there is here a reaction to what went on before, the need to consolidate learning approaches and for languages to conform more closely to what was taking place in other curriculum areas. Listening comprehension exercises are a prominent feature: “As listening comprehension is such a vital skill and one in which all pupils can succeed, it is very much emphasised in these materials and used from the very first unit of stage one”,21 and it remains up to the present time a central element in school language learning. Unlike audio-visual courses where listening is embedded into a narrative, now there is a diet of largely disconnected passages to listen to and then 20 Rapaport & Westgate, Children learning French, 90. 21 Honnor & Mascie, Tricolore 2, 7.

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oral and written questions to answer using the exercises set out in each pupil’s textbook. While a much easier system to operate—no large posters to try and manipulate—from my own experience, this was a procedure less likely to engage pupils. Listening Comprehension 1: Classroom Learning It’s Friday afternoon, the end of the week and the last lesson of a tiring day. The pupils aged twelve or thirteen have just had a games lesson, a practical activity and they should be coming to another practical lesson, French. I walk wearily up the stairs to the classroom and introduce yet another listening comprehension exercise to a group that does not like learning a language because they can’t see the point and would rather be somewhere else. France is a distant, unrealizable place with which they engage uniquely through textbook illustrations and cassette recorded dialogues. You go through the familiar routine ‘tournez à la page vingtdeux, on va écouter un passage’; and ask yourself why are you giving them another listening comprehension exercise, what is the purpose of what you are doing?

It is disconcerting for language teachers to find themselves in this situation. There is the need for something different not just for the pupils but, also, from the teacher’s perspective. This is the problem of a routine language learning process which doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. French students learning English have outside links to the English speaking world—as a year’s exchange teacher in a French ‘college’, my English students wanted to know the words from the Queen album of the time. Particularly for weaker pupils, in England, the foreign language can be an isolated element that counts for very little. It is this kind of experience that led to the search for more innovative and practical approaches where the new elements of vocabulary are given purpose, used to communicate, to develop spoken language skills as will be considered when we look at intensive language work. The monitoring phase that followed proved through attainment targets to give more purpose to learning but, as we will see, the dominance of testing began to colour the whole of the language learning curriculum.

4

Monitoring Phase: Introduction of the National Curriculum

The introduction of the National Curriculum in England and Wales represents the most important education development taking place over the period covered in this chapter. What it provides is: “A common structure and

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design for all subjects”.22 It sets out “ […] clear, full and statutory entitlement to learning for all pupils. It determines the content of what will be taught.”23 The nature of learning in each subject area is prescribed. A key control element here is on measuring pupil progress for the National Curriculum that “sets attainment targets for learning. It also determines how performances will be assessed and reported”.24 From a language perspective, attainment targets cover the four skill areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. To lock the whole testing process in place, Ofsted, the organization set up to oversee school progress is engaged. Inspectors will visit schools to ensure the National Curriculum is being implemented and standards improving. On a more positive note from the focus of the present chapter: “[T]he emphasis should be on improving standards of communication in foreign languages among pupils of all abilities”.25 The danger of this type of conformity is that it may not suit, to the same degree, the different subjects which make up the curriculum in English schools. Boyle makes the point, in his recent book on the ‘tickbox’ culture, that there are some elements of the curriculum which suffer because “they are difficult to measure”, and he gives the example of the creative elements such as the “arts, poetry and music”,26 contrasting these areas with maths because it is easy to score. It could be argued that speaking skills come into this category, a difficult element to measure in the classroom when compared with the other modern foreign language attainment targets: listening, reading, and writing, which are well adapted to testing. This is particularly important because it means that there is a danger in some language classrooms that the communicative teaching approach may suffer as the emphasis on lessons is on those elements of language most easily covered and assessed. Textbooks are quick to respond to the new requirements for language teaching as set out in the National Curriculum: “A rich variety of topics and tasks provide full and exciting coverage of the National Curriculum […] The course enables effective assessing, monitoring and recording of pupil progress to take place within the classroom routine”.27 22 DFE, Modern foreign languages in the National Curriculum, 6. 23 Ibidem. 24 Ibidem, 3. 25 Phipps, A statement of policy, cover letter to MFL statement of policy. 26 Boyle, Tickbox, 136–137. 27 McNab & Barrabe, Avantage, back cover promotional statement.

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What the National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages generates is a continuous data stream on the progress of language learning as reflected in the scores delivered by the attainment targets. This means that it becomes possible to measure an individual pupil’s progress and compare this with others in the language class, at the same time as comparing school results. Holmes makes the point that “monitoring and assessment all too often become the driver of teaching and learning”, and that “over regulation has suppressed teacher and learner autonomy and arguably has impoverished the language learning experience many pupils receive”.28 What are we to make in this climate of attainment targets and school inspections of the following quotation from an official language review?: “It is also important that pupils see that languages exist beyond the classroom”. 29 Does it represent an inward looking and self-contained language curriculum, where an emphasis on standards associated with attainment targets, means there is no longer the same focus on the distant France and French culture? Reporting Pupil Progress in the National Curriculum era Writing reports on pupil progress I am used to finding general statements to reflect progress and engagement. Now with the introduction of the National Curriculum there is continuous assessment: I have data on listening, speaking, reading, and writing to refer to, and can be more focused on reporting attainment. However, in the area of spoken language, am I able to accurately assess levels of communicative competence. Does the structure for measuring speaking skills allow me to do this accurately?

Cuban’s own comments on the impact of testing on the curriculum are of value here, when he highlights that “high-stakes test driven accountabilities have ignored the official curriculum and narrowed the taught curriculum”.30 In this autobiographical account we have followed Cuban in identifying the important role of the teacher not just in terms of a personal perspective of what is going on in the classroom but also, as a source of innovative learning programmes. If there is concern that a prescribed language curriculum is not proving able to develop spoken language skills, the elusive communicative competence, what can be done about this? We turn from national to individual initiatives, the author’s own response to the situation, with two 28 Holmes, ‘What is French for?’, 20. 29 Dearing, Languages review, 35. 30 Cuban, Inside the black box of classroom practice, 92.

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projects to develop communicative language skills: intensive language work and the school exchange programme.

5

Teacher-based Initiatives

5.1 Intensive Language Work The advantages of intensive language activity, as a supplement to classroom learning, was promoted in England by Hawkins. He was convinced that “[p]upils rarely find themselves in a genuine communication situation in the classroom. […] Progress can only be achieved through extending the length of time between the learner and language and improving the quality of the language learning experience itself”.31 Hawkins published a collection of articles from teachers who enthusiastically describe their intensive language programmes.32 He believed that “for the average learner, language will not stick unless it is used to transact real speech acts, conveying personal meanings that matter to the learner”.33 And he argues that “[i]f the optimum environment for our students is immersion, then clearly we should be looking at ways of making this possible, not as fringe or marginal activity but as a central feature of at least some part of the learning programme, whether for a day, a week or a term”.34 For Richard Coates Middle School the format was for an annual five day intensive learning programme at an outdoor centre in the English Lake District, ‘High Borrans’. A series of intensive language programmes were introduced during the 1980s which eventually became ‘Mission Secrète’, with a theme of secret agent training. This is a week’s course of intensive French for pupils who have studied the language for three or more years. The purpose of the course is to stimulate language learning by creating a situation where French becomes natural to participants in a way that is not usually possible in the classroom. Drama has a central role here as “a substitute for real experience”,35 and a way to create “the fictional world […] a shared context of imagined reality”.36 31 Hawkins, Intensive language teaching and learning. 32 Ibidem. 33 Ibidem. 34 Capel-Davies, ‘Epilogue’, 143. 35 Fleming, ‘Drama’, 186. 36 Verriour, ‘Drama’, 49.

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A distinctive element of intensive language work is that there is no direct focus on learning vocabulary and structures as there would be in the classroom. The question then becomes how can words familiar from language lessons become activated and new words acquired? This is the concept behind ‘vocabulary dormancy’, the fact that language learning in the classroom does not, as has been seen, easily lead to productive language skills, the communicative competence which is central to this chapter. The context of the intensive activities provides the catalyst for language development. For pupils participating in an intensive language programme, French becomes a living element, the medium in which activities are conducted. The words encountered are not representations in a text book, photographs, or illustrations but the actual objects having a physical presence, a shape, form, and texture with which pupils engage. Once out of the classroom they come into actual contact with the material they have previously known only as textbook illustrations; as they walk across the country, they are crossing streams, seeing sheep, climbing over dry stone walls, and needing to speak about them. The business of staying in an outdoor centre means accessing familiar words introduced in language lessons associated with the house and mealtimes. Research undertaken into vocabulary acquisition during intensive learning points to some of these words, only recognized in pre-testing, do become fully acquired following the intensive experience. The more specific vocabulary associated with the ‘secret agent training’ programme and an outdoor centre is in contrast unlikely to be familiar from classroom lessons. Acquisition here is likely to be directly associated with the intensity of the experiences. This is an immersion, similar with its prohibition of the use of English (participants sign a contract to speak only in French), to what years previously, audio-visual learning had been seeking to achieve. Only, instead of the single half-hour of classroom French, here is a sustained five days of the foreign language. Mission Secrète Instructions I’m standing in front of a group of twelve and thirteen year olds participating in the Mission Secrète ‘secret agent’ training programme giving them their instructions for the afternoon’s surveillance operation: the equipment they need, the actions they have to carry out as they search for the elusive ‘Norbert’, a missing agent who has disappeared but has been sending coded messages. The level of concentration as they listen is much higher than it would be in the classroom

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because this matters. They have been engaged in this role-play for the past few days. They need to understand what they have to do and remember to collect their outdoor gear as instructed: the kitbags and anoraks, gaiters, woolly hats, gloves, and walking boots because they are heading out onto the cold open moorland—and this is February in the Lake District—to carry out this task.

The research into vocabulary development during the intensive language period matched our own impressions, showing the positive effects of this learning experience. The intensive experience was acting like a catalyst: We have been able to establish that the intensive period does lead to vocabulary acquisition and have shown that words introduced in the classroom and partially learnt, have become fully acquired through the experience. […] A characteristic element in classroom vocabulary development might be that words become fixed at an intermediate stage on the vocabulary knowledge continuum, instead of proceeding to full acquisition status. We have described this process as ‘vocabulary dormancy’.37

Pupils who participated in the intensive work were aware of the improvements in their language skills as a result of this experience: “I feel my French is better now and I can sometimes make sentences, when I could only use single words before.”—“In normal French lessons you don’t always say sentences.”—“At Haut Borrans you have French conversations, which I don’t think I could manage before”. “You have conversations”, is a remark that suggests how the intensive experience does lead to a previously unknown level of communicative competence. While Mission Secrète developed pupils’ language skills, as we have shown, it remained an artificial, not authentic experience, relying on drama to make it credible. An authentic language experience would be participating in a French exchange, which we turn to next. 5.2 The French Exchange Programme Au Marché An October morning in Saint Brieuc, Brittany, it’s almost as though a page from their textbooks has been brought to life, the central square of the town taken up by a traditional market. We have brought the pupils to France, the most authentic experience we can provide to use the language they have been learning in 37 Daniels, Vocabulary acquisition, 122.

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genuine, not simulated circumstances. The group travelled yesterday by coach and ferry and coach again, a long arduous journey. Now, they are able to relax, wandering around in the bright sunshine enjoying being there, doing the tourist bit, buying souvenirs for themselves and presents to take home to their families. This might be the extent of the experience, a trip to France, a gentle encounter with French culture, getting used to using the different currency and trying out their French as they order ‘une galette au chocolat’. On a limited French visit you experience things without really leaving your comfort zone, you have friends around you, so that you are not fully immersed in the new culture like the earlier language teaching methods, where English translation is always available as you learn new words. This is, however, an exchange trip and the pupils have just experienced their first night living with a French family. We have brought them here to experience the real France and although they are likely to visit many different countries in their lives, the unique flavour of an exchange is something they are unlikely to forget.

A French exchange programme does not need any introduction, traditionally the way to provide direct experience of the target language and culture for learners, by pairing up with a French person of the same age and where possible, similar interests, in order to go and stay in their house for a week. This is experiencing at first hand the French culture and language. Later in the same year there would be the return trip, hosting the French partner at your house. It is possible to analyse the nature of an exchange and to identify a number of key characteristics from the experience of nine years participating in an annual exchange programme with College Jean-Macé in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany. A way to consider what this experience represents in terms of a developing communicative competence. Among the distinct characteristics of the pupil exchange in this regard are the following:38 – The distance separating the target language and culture is eliminated following a journey which ‘transports’ the pupil to a ‘real’ language and culture situation, as they are immersed in a French family environment. – The language and culture experienced by pupils in the ‘real-life’ situation is no longer a translated, adapted version which has been selected and made accessible to pupils for classroom learning. The pupil therefore has to contend with different forms of language to those with which she has become familiar. The language experiences represent an encounter with a dynamic functioning language. 38 Daniels, Approaching the real, 320.

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– The culture element of the exchange becomes the key factor with language taking on a supporting role, in a reversal of what takes place in the classroom. Pupils in a real language situation find themselves in specific cultural contexts in which they need to communicate. While they will use French words where these are available, they will also need to use English and signs to make themselves understood and for communication to take place. – The textbook illustrations of France and French life, familiar from classroom learning, now materialize as actual features and identities, replacing representations of them. There are real people to communicate with and actual situations and places to encounter: the exchange partner and family, the house, the college. It is the unpredictable nature of the exchange, which makes the experience most challenging. The controlled environment of the classroom is replaced by a situation where not only the language but, also, the routines and behaviour of the particular environment of the French home and college need to be understood. The pupil faced with this situation needs to adapt, adjust their behaviour to deal with the circumstances they are now encountering. A defining feature of the exchange is its limited duration. After only a few days of ‘immersion’ in the French family environment, the pupil returns home again (following another long journey) to familiar environments and routines. The nature of the language acquisition taking place will depend on how confident the pupil feels in this very different situation. The suggestion is that different strategies will be used to communicate and will vary according to how much English is spoken by the host French family, and how well the pupil’s partner speaks English. The increasing demands of the National Curriculum may explain why fewer English schools now carry out an exchange programme, a heavy commitment in terms of organization and perhaps an unnecessary distraction from continuous focus on attainment targets. There are also health and safety issues associated with placing a pupil in an unknown household.

6 Conclusion This chapter provides a personal narrative of over thirty years of language development and changes in English schools that have marked this period, from the enthusiasm generated by the pioneering audio-visual work, through

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the consolidating phase of communicative language teaching, to the monitoring phase associated with the introduction of the National Curriculum. Included here are also teacher-led initiatives introduced at school level over this period: intensive language work and an exchange programme, ways to supplement classroom language learning and develop the elusive communicative competence. There are a number of key points which are present throughout this account and which like coloured balloons drift up from the narrative needing now to be secured and emphasized: points relevant to this study of developing communicative competence in school learning. First, despite only a few years of language learning and comparatively limited knowledge of vocabulary and structures, pupils are able to develop productive language skills and apply them to new situations. They need the opportunity, however, to do so. Certainly some kind of intensive programme from my own experience seems important which takes the learner out of the classroom even for just a single day, working on a particular project where there is a task to achieve through the use of language. This shows them, perhaps for the first time, what they can do with their knowledge of French—working in groups on an advertising campaign for dog food was one successful in-school project. The intensive experience does appear to act like a catalyst as words known from classroom learning become fully acquired and new words are added to vocabulary knowledge through the intensity of the experience. The importance of role-play and simulation in creating a new learning environment needs to be underlined here, but there is also the value of dealing with actual objects rather than their representation as photographs or drawings. These elements come together and help explain the success of intensive language work and the importance of participation in an exchange. This account is about the nature of language learning in schools. Is learning a language merely an academic exercise conforming to classroom practice and curriculum demands? Or as the whole process of communicative competence suggests, a practical, creative process associated with the development of functional language which has purpose beyond the narrow confines of the classroom. The ambition to develop productive language skills in pupils, enabling them to achieve a level of communicative competence, has just about survived this period and remains a token element on which progress can be judged in the National Curriculum. This measure of practical language skills goes beyond the detailed assessment provided by attainment targets. It is useful to return the comments of Rapaport and Westgate in 1974 from the beginning of the period under review: during the audio-visual, En Avant

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learning period: “[T]he single most serious failing was that of not developing a command of basic vocabulary and structures that they could apply to new situations”.39 And to compare this finding with similar comments from the end of the period: Foreign language learning in English schools looks to have come full circle. The language curriculum is still failing to achieve a level of communicative competence, with Ofsted remarking on a particular weakness in spoken language skills, compared to listening and understanding, 40 which, given the influence of attainment targets and the lack of emphasis on spoken language, is hardly surprising. There is concern for all those students for whom school language learning has led nowhere and has been a failure.

Bibliography Boyle, David, Tickbox (London: Little Brown Book Club, 2020). Burstall, Claire, Primary French in the balance (Slough: NFER, 1974). Buckby, Michael, Faites vos jeux (York: Language Teaching Centre, 1971). Capel-Davies, Duncan, Epilogue: The way ahead, in: Hawkins, Eric (ed.), Intensive language teaching and learning initiatives at school level, 143–148 (London CILT, 1988). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, http://larrycuban.wordpress.com (2012) (accessed 24 May 2021). Cuban, Larry, Inside the black box of classroom practice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2013). Daniels, John, Vocabulary acquisition during intensive French language learning, the effect of a residential course for middle school pupils. Unpublished M.A. thesis (Durham: Durham University, 1994). Daniels, John, ‘Intensive language work as a catalyst for classroom learning and an antidote for “vocabulary dormancy”’, Language Learning Journal, 2.1 (2000), 13–18. Daniels, John, Approaching the Real, unpublished PhD thesis (Durham: Durham University, 2009). Daniels, John, ‘Pioneering, consolidating and monitoring’, in: McLelland, Nicola & Smith, Richard (eds.), The history of language learning and teaching vol. 2 (Oxford: Legenda, 2018).

39 Rapaport & Westgate, Children learning French, 117. 40 Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), The changing landscape of language: an evaluation of language learning, 6.

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Daniels, John, ‘When a lapse into English is invariably accepted’: The use of L1 in language classrooms in England during the audio-visual period of the 1970s from a middle school perspective, Language & History, 62.2 (2019), 177–194. Dearing, Ron & King, Lid (eds.), Languages review (London, Department for Education and Skills, 2007). Department for Education and Science, Modern foreign languages in the National Curriculum (London: DFE, 1995). Fleming, Michael, ‘Drama’, in: Byram, Michael (ed.), Encyclopedia of language teaching and learning (London: Routledge, 2004), 185–187. Hares, Rod, Teaching French (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979). Hawkins, Eric (ed.), Intensive language teaching and learning: Initiatives at school level (London: CILT, 1988). Hawkins, Eric, 30 years of language teaching (London: CILT, 1996). Holmes, Bernadette, ‘What is French for?’ in: Fawkes, Steven (ed.), Looking back, moving forward: The legacy of Brian Page (Association for Language Learning, Leicester, 2009), 18–21. Honor, Sylvie & Mascie-Taylor, Heather, Tricolore 2, pupil’s book (Exeter: A. Wheaton, 1981). Littlewood, William, Communicative language teaching: An introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). McNab, Rosi & Barrabe, Fabienne, Avantage (Oxford: Heinemann Educational, 1992). Northumberland County Council, The school curriculum in Northumberland (1984) (Northumberland: County Council, 1984). Nuffield Foundation, En Avant: Nuffield introductory French course, second edition (Leeds: Arnold, 1968). Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), The changing landscape of language: An evaluation of language learning 2004/2007 (London: Ofsted, 2008). Phipps, Michael, Cover letter for Modern languages in the school curriculum: A statement of policy (Department of Education and Science, London: 26 January 1988). Rapaport, Barbara & Westgate, David, Children learning French (London: Methuen, 1974). Ricoeur, Paul, La Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli (Paris: Seuil, 2000). Savignon, Sandra, ‘Communicative language teaching’, in: Byram, Michael (ed.), Encyclopedia of language teaching and learning (London: Routledge, 2004), 124–129. Spicer, Michael, The school curriculum in Northumberland (Northumberland: County Council, 1984). Stern, Hans, Foreign languages in primary education (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963).

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Stern, Hans, Languages and the young school child, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1969). Stern, Hans, Fundamental concepts of language teaching (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983). Verriour, Patrick, ‘Drama in the teaching and learning of a f irst language’, in: Schewe, Manfred & Shaw, Peter (eds.), Towards drama as a method in the foreign language classroom (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1993), 43–57. Wright, Andrew, Visual materials for language teaching (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976).

About the Author John Michael Daniels [email protected] John Daniels worked for thirty–five years as a language teacher in a Northumberland middle school from 1971–2007 and for six years as headteacher. A concern to understand the development of language skills during a series of annual intensive programmes working with pupils aged 12 to13 led to research at the School of Education at Durham University working with Professor Mike Byram and to an MA (1999) and PhD (2009). The research identified the concept of ‘vocabulary dormancy’, where the catalyst of the intensive experience led to words becoming activated that were only partially known through classroom learning. Since retiring in 2007, John has had time to reflect on his experiences as a middle school language teacher and a year working in a French college. He has produced a number of articles on this time, particularly on the intensive language initiatives which provided an important supplement to classroom based learning. His ambition is to write a book on language teaching based on this experience. He feels he owes the present generation of language teachers the chance to appreciate the potential of developing active language skills among their students, through intensive language work outside the classroom.

8

Teaching English Writing in the Twentieth Century Seen through Handbooks for Mother-tongue and Foreign Speakers1 Laura Pinnavaia and Annalisa Zanola Abstract The production and consumption of handbooks for MTS and for FS have remained distinct, characterized by two different theoretical traditions. This divide has never been based upon the systematic contrastive and comparative analysis of the two types of handbooks, but purely on abstract histories of ‘method’ and origins. This work features the analysis of the prefaces and contents of six handbooks—three addressed to MTS and three to FS—covering the periods 1880–1920, 1920–1960, 1960–1990) to see whether similarities between the two text-types exist. The results of the analyses disclose interesting similarities, suggesting the need to further pursue this innovative line of research. Keywords: English writing; natives vs. non-natives; mother-tongue speaker; foreign speaker; English handbooks; history of English teaching

1

Analysing Handbooks for the Teaching of English Writing

If children can learn to speak simply by listening and imitating, they cannot learn to write unless someone shows them how. Unlike speech, writing needs to be taught. This is the European-American principle that seems to be substantiated by “the tremendous investment of time and 1 Sections 2, 4, and 7 were written by Laura Pinnavaia; sections 3 and 5 were written by Annalisa Zanola. The first section was written by both authors.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch08

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resources in writing instruction over many centuries”.2 It was in the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds that writing instruction became a fundamental cornerstone of education and learning. Indeed, Isocrates is considered the first literate rhetorician and the first educator to introduce writing instruction in the classical curriculum of Ancient Greece.3 Moreover, it is from Isocrates that Quintilian, teacher in Ancient Rome, seems to have inherited the educational program that he turned into a system, focused on fostering writing instruction at elementary, secondary, and adult levels. If the Roman Empire lasted for such a long time and extended over so many lands, it was not just owing to the strength of its army, but also to the development of formal, written Latin, which secured extensive communication and efficient coordination. Indeed, “the soldier and the grammarian proceeded in lockstep to spread the Roman way, one by conquering the world, the other by providing it with correct Latin as a medium of organization”. 4 Since its advent as the new Lingua Franca, being able to write clearly and correctly in English has for a long time been of paramount importance and has led to the production and consumption of a great number of teaching materials, including handbooks, especially in the twentieth century when students could be asked to buy them.5 Indeed, beginning in the twentieth century, handbooks for the teaching of English writing have become valuable supports in the classroom for mother-tongue (MTS) as well as for foreign speakers (FS). However, the production and consumption of handbooks for MTS and for FS has remained distinct, not only for the obvious differing linguistic and temporal reasons but for many others, including economic ones. Whatever the motives, two different theoretical traditions seem to have been forged in the twentieth century: dependent upon the rules of rhetoric and composition for the MTS, and upon the rules of grammar for the FS, as will be shown in sections 2 and 3 which contextualize the origins of the rise of the handbook for MTS and FS. Consequently, the two categories of handbook have been traditionally considered as being quite different—as they possibly should be—but not on the basis of a systematic contrastive and comparative analysis of the two types of works; rather, purely on abstract histories of ‘method’. In fact, handbooks are almost universally examined within their own 2 Murphy, A short history of writing instruction, x. 3 Marrou, A history of education in antiquity, 79–89. 4 Pattison, On literacy, 67. 5 Cf. Connors, Composition-rhetoric, 69.

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tradition, hardly at all within the FS tradition.6 It is therefore the aim of this chapter to investigate whether the theoretical divide that separates the MTS and FS handbooks on teaching English writing really exists in practice, by examining the handbooks themselves. By analysing the teaching procedures (that is, Cuban’s ‘taught’ layer 7) contained in three exemplary models for each type of handbook published in each of the three periods (1880–1920, 1920–1960, 1960–1990), recognized by researchers as having been important moments of change for language teaching,8 a bottom-up analysis of the handbooks will be pursued. In other words, two handbooks, one for the MTS and one for the FS, published in each one of the three periods mentioned above will be comparatively and contrastively analysed. The selection of the three handbooks for each category and period was determined by the most representative work based on critical theories. The three MTS handbooks chosen are Edwin Woolley’s Handbook of composition: a compendium of rules, John Kierzek’s The Macmillan Handbook of English, and Elizabeth McMahan and Susan Day’s The Writer’s Handbook. Published for the first time in 1907 in Chicago, Woolley’s was not among the f irst twentieth-century handbooks to have been issued in North America or Britain. Indeed, quite a few works had appeared before this one9 but because “Woolley’s name remained the one most associated with handbooks as a form until the 1950s”,10 it has been considered by Connors as the most representative of the f irst period, thus explaining the choice. To represent the second period, John Kierzek’s The Macmillan Handbook of English, first published in New York in 1939, was selected. This is because it is the first handbook that highlights the tradition in which publishing houses began to christen books with their own names.11 Lastly, to represent the third period, Elizabeth McMahan and Susan Day’s The Writer’s Handbook, published for the first time in New York in 1979, was chosen. It is one of the first handbooks characterized by the communication 6 See Nava & Pedrazzini, ITALY ELT ARCHIVE; Harwood, English language teaching textbooks. 7 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 8 Howatt & Smith, ‘The history of teaching’, 78–79. 9 See in the bibliography: Arnold & Kittredge, The mother tongue book I; Bates, Talks on writing English; Cody, The art of writing and speaking the English language; Gardiner et al. The mother tongue book III; Hartog & Langdon, The writing of English; Lewis, A first book on writing English; Maxwell & Smith, Writing in English; Meiklejohn, The art of writing English: A manual for students. 10 Connors, Composition-rhetoric, 92. 11 Ibidem, 95.

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and general semantics movement, which helped channel the idea that writing has a purpose.12 As for the selection of the three FS handbooks, we chose Hendrik Poutsma’s Grammar of Late Modern English for the Use of Continental, especially Dutch, Students (1904); Friedrich Leopold Sack’s Structure of English: A Practical Grammar for Foreign Students (1954); and the wellknown Thomson and Martinet’s Practical English Grammar for Foreign Students, in its three editions (1960, 1969, 1980). Our first choice is justified by the important role the volume played in the history of English grammar for foreigners, as this is the first grammar-book to be written “to unravel knotty questions, to account for so-called anomalies, and f ind out the principles underlying certain turns of expression”,13 explicitly written for FS (Dutch learners, in particular). The second handbook represents the first ‘practical’ grammar of English for foreigners, to our knowledge: in simpler words than Poutsma’s, the author aims to offer the suitable tools for teaching written English to foreigners, who need a “clear, accurate, reliable, and reasonable complete” grammar, “simple in explanations and entertaining in its examples”.14 The third handbook under consideration is Thomson and Martinet’s Practical English Grammar, as this was one of the most popular English language grammar and exercise books in Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s.15 For each handbook, the preface and the table of contents were examined in order to uncover the author’s stance towards the reader, the information deemed important to convey, and the manner in which it is imparted, following the Hallidayian framework of language function (interpersonal, ideational, and textual),16 with the objective of beginning to map the extent of the top-layer similarities between the two traditions that have characterized MTS and FS writing instruction. Before providing the outcome of this analysis, however, which is presented in sections 4 and 5, it is necessary to take a step back and briefly describe (in sections 2 and 3) the two differing traditions from which arose the two typologies of handbook.

12 Ibidem, 102. 13 Poutsma, A grammar of late modern English, iv. 14 Sack, The structure of English, III. 15 Porcelli, Principi di glottodidattica, 46. 16 Halliday, Language as social semiotic.

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The Rise of the Handbook for Mother-tongue Speakers

As is well-known, the tradition of teaching English writing to MTS has a long history, possibly extending back to when the educational theories of the Humanists and Erasmus’ De ratione studii underlined the importance of grammar as “knowledge of speaking attractively (pulchre loquendi), gathered from distinguished poets and authors” in order “to teach faultless composition (sine vitio dictionem) in prose and verse”, with the aim of giving “pleasure through flawless skill in refined speech or writing”.17 Because the knowledge of Latin grammar would allow students to read the classical authors, whose writings were believed to inspire moral thought and eloquence, grammar had to combine oral and written composition with literary criticism.18 It is with the intent of teaching this precise curriculum that grammar schools were created in sixteenth-century Britain. In these schools, rhetoric (the art of public speaking) and writing were taught hand in hand for the whole of the seventeenth century, but of course only for the classical languages. It is only in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the sovereignty of Latin and Greek truly came to be challenged in Britain, with a shift from Latin to English beginning in schools, dissenting academies, and universities.19 “[I]nstruction in English, including English composition, became more common in response to evolving social, political, religious and economic developments”. 20 Originally designed for the sole purpose of educating ministers, the academies decided to broaden their scope and take on a practical and utilitarian purpose, turning to English study as a means of economic advancement and political reform.21 Consequently, didactic materials, which in the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries were largely written in Latin, also began appearing in English. At some academies, in fact, didactic works in Latin “were abridged and translated [into English] by students before being used by them”. 22 17 Lanham, ‘Writing instruction from late antiquity to the twelfth century’, 100. 18 Abbott, ‘Reading, writing, and rhetoric in the Renaissance’, 150. 19 Horner, ‘The roots of modern writing instruction: Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain’, 325. 20 Ferreira-Buckley, ‘Writing instruction in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Great Britain’, 173. 21 See Hollingsworth, ‘Beyond literacy’ and Miller, ‘Where did college English studies come from?’. 22 McLachlan, English education under the tests acts, 22.

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Before the nineteenth century, however, relatively few didactic works were available at schools and universities in Britain and North America. What is more, they were prevalently formal and theoretical. As a matter of fact, instruction was imparted directly by the teacher in a lecture-andquestion format, with students expected to take notes and memorize the information.23 It was not until the 1800s that less formal works started to appear in response to the momentum gained by writing instruction in English in educational institutions. Consequently, in the nineteenth century, alongside theoretical rhetorical works, students were assigned textbooks: “The work of Hugh Blair, George Campbell, Lord Kames, Lindley Murray, and Richard Whately served as textbooks for almost a hundred years in Britain and elsewhere”.24 In North America, Blair’s ‘Lectures’ especially had a huge impact on writing instruction. By emphasizing that writing need not just be the imitation of eloquent classical literature, but also the expression of one’s own feelings and ideas (in the form of poetry, fiction, drama, or essay) with the intent to satisfy the taste of a readership, it contributed to shift the writing curriculum to focus on non-classical and personal writing.25 This new model of writing instruction was, after all, in line with a whole new way of thinking and acting, triggered by the Industrial Revolution. The creation of an array of new jobs and tasks demanded that students acquire specialized knowledge at school. Therefore, if in the eighteenth-century American classroom “the goal of writing had been to display learning, learning that would be necessary in the pulpit, court, and deliberative bodies of Society”, by the end of the nineteenth century, “the new model asked students to demonstrate original contributions”.26 This was not the only dramatic change in rhetoric pedagogy, however. As it became evident that writing instruction was indispensable for a professional career, more and more students filled classrooms with a “burgeoning of popular education in rhetoric between 1850 and 1910”.27 To meet the demands of so many new students, the number of textbooks published began to soar, above all, in America, where learned teachers were fewer and the number of students who could not afford college education greater. Indeed, as Connors underlines, “the scholarly instruction in rhetorical theory that a London or 23 Connors, Composition-rhetoric, 71. 24 Ferreira-Buckley, ‘Writing instruction in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Great Britain’, 184. 25 Bordelon, Wright & Halloran, ‘From rhetoric to rhetorics’, 211. 26 Russell, Writing in the academic disciplines 1970–1900, 36. 27 Johnson, ‘The popularization of nineteenth-century rhetoric’, 140–141.

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Edinburgh student could have by sauntering down to the college each week could usually be had in Boston only between leather covers”.28 By the end of the nineteenth century, therefore, writing instruction had shifted from an abstract-concept learning pedagogy to a more practical and skills-oriented one supported by a selection of handbooks29 that comprised questions, exercises, drills, questions, and assignments. American publishing houses produced the majority of twentieth-century handbooks; in North America, the skill to write clearly in the vernacular came to be recognized as a democratic ideal.30 Believed to be one of the keys to a more egalitarian society, writing in English was introduced in universities by the end of the nineteenth century, with composition courses “among the most distinguishing features of the North American version of university education”.31 Moreover, as early as 1874, Harvard was the first university to introduce the entrance exam in writing, whereby admission candidates were asked to write “a short English composition, correct in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and expression, the subject to be taken from such works of standard authors as shall be announced from time to time”.32 Based upon this requirement, the Committee of Ten (appointed in 1892 at Harvard to reform the US secondary school system) subsequently defined two primary objectives of teaching English at school: first, “to enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts of others and to give expression to thoughts of his own”; and secondly, “to cultivate a taste for reading, to give the pupil some acquaintance with good literature, and to furnish him with the means of extending that acquaintance”.33 Although these objectives underline the incontrovertible importance that reading always had for writing, two different models of writing instruction, based on a diverging ideal of the literary text, developed at the turn of the twentieth century. Founded on the belief that students should be taught to write “the habitual use of correct and intelligent English”,34 the “current-traditional 28 Connors, Composition-rhetoric, 71. 29 Although the words ‘textbook’ and ‘handbook’ are often interchangeable in the literature regarding writing instruction, by ‘handbook’ we mean “a small book that gives information about a subject or instructions about how to use something” (MED s.v. handbook); by ‘textbook’ we mean “a book containing information about one subject” (MED s.v. textbook). In the history of writing instruction, handbooks are more practical and technical while textbooks are pedagogical and theoretical. 30 Gold, Hobbs & Berlin, ‘Writing instruction in school and college’, 236. 31 Bartholomae, ‘Composition, 1900–2000’, 1950. 32 Applebee, Tradition and reform in the teaching of English, 30. 33 NEA, Report of the committee of ten on secondary school studies, 86–90. 34 Copeland & Rideout, Freshman English and theme-correcting in Harvard college, 2.

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rhetoric” model saw the literary text as a historical artifact to be studied scientifically, shifting attention from the rhetorical canon of invention to arrangement and style, with instruction emphasizing the modes of discourse, clarity, and correctness.35 The ‘liberal cultural’ model, instead, saw the literary text as a unique experience of truth and beauty, which it was hoped would encourage the creation of new literature, not rhetoric.36 Although these two models kept professors busy at a scholarly level for the greater part of the twentieth century, high school teachers were less preoccupied with this intellectual debate, given that the handbooks they used in the classroom never explicitly referred to either model.

3

The Rise of the Handbook for FS

Unlike for MTS, the history of writing instruction for FS is undoubtedly more recent and goes hand in hand with the history of teaching foreign languages in general. Even in this domain, however, the classical languages played an important role as ethical and cultural spheres of reference, argumentative and philosophical models, promulgating a fascinating world full of symbols, myths, and heroes, not least a world that no longer exists.37 Virginia Woolf’s thoughts on the charm of ancient Greek for English MTS is memorable: We can never hope to get the whole fling of a sentence in Greek as we do in English. We cannot hear it, now dissonant, now harmonious, tossing sound from line to line across a page. We cannot pick up infallibly one by one all those minute signals by which a phrase is made to hint, to turn, to live. Nevertheless, it is the language that has us most in bondage; the desire for that which perpetually lures us back. First there is the compactness of the expression. Shelley takes twenty-one words in English to translate thirteen words of Greek […]. Every ounce of fat has been pared off, leaving the flesh firm. Then spare and bare as it is, no language can move more quickly, dancing, shaking, all alive, but controlled.38

In other words, the learning of Latin and Greek was for centuries the model for learning to write in a foreign language, as well. 35 Gold, Hobbs, & Berlin, ‘Writing instruction in school and college’, 237. 36 Ibidem, 238. 37 Palmer, The Greek language, 12. 38 Woolf, ‘On not knowing Greek’, 43.

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The history of writing instruction for FS began in Great Britain and the US at the beginning of the twentieth century, starting as strong criticism of the principles and practice of the “old and traditional” teaching methods, which needed to be replaced by “new and advanced” proposals, often thought of as authentic “revolutions”.39 As the case studies described below in section 5 will demonstrate, it was age (adults) and motivation (professional and/or life needs) at the beginning of the last century that fostered the production of the English handbooks. In the US, quite a number had already been published, addressed to classes of foreign workers who had emigrated to America and were required to learn the language quickly and effectively to be efficient in their professional daily routine. This is the case, for example, with a fifty-two-page booklet produced by Illinois Miners’ and Mechanics’ Institutes in 1914, summarizing the results of a conference on “The education of non-English speaking people”. Its priority is to find ways and means to “promote the technical efficiency of all persons working in and about the mines and other industrial plants”. 40 To do so, Roberts, the booklet’s author, insists on the fact that “One must acquire the habitual reaction of automatically associating a foreign symbol […], not through some intermediary” but by “establishing the connection between meanings and simple words, phrases and short sentences, which are the selected language symbols the foreigner will meet and need at every turn”. 41 Guaranteeing an effective method of instruction was indeed regarded as fundamental for foreigners in the US in the second decade of the twentieth century, as we read in the Introduction to a small volume published in 1918 by the Bureau of Education (American Department of Interior): The influx of foreign speaking peoples into the United States since 1900 to the beginning of the war numbered 13,000,000. After the war, there will be resumption of immigration and again millions of non-Englishspeaking aliens will present further problems to teachers. One of the strongest bonds of Americanism is unity of language. […] So gradually has the rapid flood of immigration crept upon us, and so varied and general have been the efforts to stem the tide of foreign speech, that even active workers in the f ield are scarcely aware of the efforts that are made by coworkers. […] In many cases, texts prepared by foreigners 39 Porcelli, Principi di glottodidattica, 45. 40 Roberts, ‘English for foreigners’, 5. 41 Ibidem, 19.

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for their compatriots present many points of superiority over texts prepared by Americans. 42

Noteworthy here is the author’s praise of handbooks written by foreigners, whom he argues seem to cope better with the task of teaching English to FS. After all, there is no denying that there is an important distinction between teaching English to MTS and FS. Owing to the delicate issue of different learning backgrounds that are so crucial in defining contents and methods of teaching, Talbot indeed endorses his appreciation of foreign texts, written by Scandinavians in this case: It is generally a waste of time for a literate person and especially those who have had a considerable amount of schooling in their country to use textbooks intended for illiterates, even though these illiterates be of their race. Textbooks prepared by Swedish and Norwegian writers recognise this fact. American writers of textbooks are apt to ignore it. It is interesting and enlightening to see the degree of prior schooling which is taken for granted by Scandinavian writers. 43

In Europe, in the same years, the topic of writing instruction was being discussed in grammars for FS. To list just a few: Poutsma’s Grammar of Late Modern English (1904), “for the use of continental, especially Dutch, students”; A Working Grammar of the English Language by Fernald (1908), “designed to give in simple statements the principles and methods of correct English”; the manual by Walsh based on the so-called ‘Swiftspeech Method’, entitled English for Foreigners / L’anglais aux étrangers. By ‘Swiftspeech Method’, the author means a method suitable for rapid and effective learning of both written and oral English, based on the exclusive usage of the English language during the lesson. As the century progressed, the need for effective and efficient publications on general English for FS became increasingly stronger. While in Great Britain “little serious work on grammar was being pursued […], still less on the grammar of English: the work which was published was produced primarily by freelancers or practicing teachers and was orientated to the

42 Talbot, Teaching English to aliens, 5–6. The same concern is underlined two years later in a similar publication, by another famous American ‘English instructor’ of the time: Goldberger, Teaching English to the foreign born. 43 Ibidem, 6.

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needs of civil servants”, 44 in Europe scholars were very productive. Indeed, many English grammars were being published in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, but not by British authors. 45 Other important grammars started to appear in the United States too.46 Moreover, there was a flourishing of handbooks of English for FS, in which traditional grammar was taught in a simplified way and accompanied with the basics of English vocabulary and pronunciation. 47 With the spread of the communicative approach in the 70s,48 the concept of ‘English handbook’ for foreigners changed dramatically, moving from the traditional manual of notions and rules towards a ‘container’ of real life situations and stimuli for practicing language skills. This evolution took place gradually, however, following the general trend of teaching foreign languages on one hand, but also following the specific issue of English internationalization and globalization on the other. As Howatt and Smith state: Initially, the changes did not make many waves. They seemed to involve more of an extension of existing methodology than a replacement for it, and the public display of the new ideas took some time to appear in course materials, conference presentations, and the like. There was no massively radical move like the assault on translation had been a hundred years earlier. However, it gradually became clear that the whole environment had altered. A new focus on the learner and on learning which had already begun to emerge in the 1960s had resolved itself into a focus on purposeful use in the classroom, and other modifications in presentation and practice followed naturally from the new emphasis. 49

By the end of the twentieth century, writing instruction for FS had evolved and been modified significantly in Great Britain, in the US, and in Europe: the quality and the quantity of information in the handbook had improved enormously, following the needs of an increasingly diverse and varied audience and context, as will be seen in section 5.

44 Hudson & Walmsley, ‘The English Patient’, 597. 45 Ibidem. See also: Rose & Shprentz, English essentials for foreigners. 46 Curme, A grammar of the English language; Fries, American English grammar. 47 Caro, English for foreigners; Freeman, English for foreigners; Goldberger, Teaching English to the foreign born; Reaman, The new citizen; Roberts, ‘English for foreigners’; Rose & Shprentz, English essentials; Sack, The structure of English. 48 Howatt & Smith, ‘The history of teaching’. 49 Ibidem, 89.

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Three Twentieth-century Handbooks for Mother-tongue Speakers

If in MTS handbook prefaces published in the twentieth century the authors announce to readers the purpose of their book, then one of the many changes we find as we pass from one preface to another is the author’s attitude to his readership. Indeed, in the expected and acknowledged transition from a prescriptive to a descriptive approach in teaching writing,50 Woolley, Kierzek, and McMahan & Day interestingly also disclose three different positions as writing instructors. By expecting his students “to observe rigidly and invariably rules to which masters of the art make except”,51 Woolley underlines the importance of his book and the information it holds. Kierzek is more modest, writing that “a student must be guided by rules until he knows enough about writing to be superior to [them]”.52 Of the three, however, the most deferent are McMahan and Day, who write they are offering “only guidelines describing in general the processes that most composition instructors recommend to their students”, who should not feel obliged “to follow the advice given […] as if it came down from the mountain with Moses”.53 Just as the purpose of the handbook transforms from a rigid rule-providing tool to a series of guidelines, so the author’s attitude to his readership changes. At the beginning of the twentieth century, authors talk down to their students, insisting on the necessity to follow the rules to improve their writing; by the end of the century, authors address their students as equals, respectful of their limits, aware that their handbooks are not the only ones in circulation and that rules can no longer be imposed as they used to be. Indeed, as the attitude to language becomes less prescriptive and authors’ attitudes become more tolerant, writing instruction also morphs, as the contents of the handbooks show. The tables of contents reveal a clear divide between these handbooks. Sections in Woolley entitled “improprieties”, “barbarisms”, “misuses of pronouns”, “fundamental errors”, and “incorrect omissions” disclose what writing instruction essentially entailed up until the 1920s: the mechanical correction of mistakes. Under each of these sections, Woolley tells his readers “to avoid” certain words “generally observed in the writings of the best English authors and in the speech of well-educated people”.54 Moreover, in 50 This transition was common to all areas of language study during the twentieth century. 51 Woolley, Handbook of composition, iv. 52 Kierzek, The Macmillan handbook of English, vii. 53 McMahan & Day, The writer’s handbook, 3. 54 Woolley, Handbook of composition, 1.

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all the parts of the 255-page-long handbook (Part I: Diction, Structure of sentences, Structure of discourse; Part II: Spelling, Punctuation, Syllabication, Abbreviations; Part III: Analytical outlines; Part IV: Letter-writing; Part V: Glossary of miscellaneous faulty expressions) he provides a wrong versus right version for each language element. For instance, regarding the possessive case of nouns not designating persons, he writes: “Bad: Our university’s rules; Right: The rules of our university”.55 Even though this insistence on what is right and what is wrong set a trend for all handbooks to come, new conversations, questionnaires, and reports by the PMLA (the pedagogical section of the Modern Language Association, the National Council of Teachers or NTCE) began to trigger a change in writing instruction from the 1920s onwards. By underlining that student writing should be valued as “something more than just an exercise in correctness and more than a submission to standard forms and expectations”,56 these groups contributed to transforming writing instruction from a grammar-focused practice to a more communication-based one. Indeed, that “teachers turned to discussing the most effective ways of ‘criticizing a theme’ beside the question of grading it”57 can be gathered from the contents of Kierzek and McMahan and Day’s handbooks. In the latter, published in 1979, the space devoted to prescriptive grammar is noticeably reduced: McMahan and Day emphasize correct and incorrect usage in one chapter in particular. Entitled “the revising index”, this chapter aims to point out the grammatical errors that do not qualify as Standard English. One example is the use of adverbs instead of adjectives after verbs: “Standard: the car was vibrating badly; Faulty: the car was vibrating bad”.58 Although compared to their predecessors McMahan and Day do not use the terms ‘correct/right’ and ‘incorrect/wrong’, they still point out in this chapter the difference between acceptable and not acceptable usage, while stating that they do not expect readers “to sit down and read the chapter straight through”, but to refer to it to get “quick advice during [the] revision process”.59 They devote the remaining six chapters of the 400-page-long handbook to the writing process, which includes how to plan an essay, how to construct the paragraph, and how to develop the thesis statement from the introduction to the conclusion. 55 Ibidem, 20. 56 Bartholomae, ‘Composition’, 1951. 57 Connors, Composition-rhetoric, 158. 58 McMahan & Day, The writer’s handbook, 70. 59 McMahan & Day, The writer’s handbook, 67.

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Kierzek’s handbook appears chronologically between Woolley and ­ cMahan and Day. Compared to these two, Kierzek is twice as long. It reflects M the middle stage of the pedagogical evolution from early twentieth-century mechanical-correctness to the late twentieth-century composing process. Indeed, it is made up of two parts: the first is more rhetorical and devoted to “the discussions about grammar as a tool of effective writing, about building good sentences and good paragraphs, to the process of planning and writing compositions of various kinds and lengths”:60 the second is centred on the revision process with the principles of grammar explained using the binary method, subsequently seen in McMahan and Day. For instance, to explain the conjunctions ‘as’ and ‘like’, unlike Woolley, who uses the terms ‘right’ and ‘vulgar’,61 Kierzek, much like McMahan and Day, applies the terms ‘formal’ and ‘informal’: “Informal usage: the little boy spoke his piece like he had been told. Formal usage: The little boy spoke his piece as he had been told”.62 By attributing the difference in use to register, Kierzek begins to move away from the prescriptive- towards the descriptive-grammar model: a progressive stance that can also be seen in the inclusion of a chapter on researched writing that appears in McMahan and Day’s handbook, but not in Woolley’s. The attention to a specific genre of writing, such as the research paper, marks a clear boundary between the intentions of Woolley’s handbook and Kierzek and McMahan and Day’s handbooks. Unlike Woolley’s, intended simply to correct deficiencies in general English usage, Kierzek and McMahan and Day’s handbooks were also intended to help students write for a purpose, as the chapter devoted to letter-writing in all three handbooks might help illustrate. In the transition from an oral culture to one dependent on writing, “the written letter replaced the spoken declamation of classical antiquity as the primary vehicle for practice in prose composition”.63 Right from the beginning of a written culture, the letter was considered an excellent framework for teaching composition: ideal for classroom practice on circumscribed themes; elastic and accommodating, even inviting, for the mature writer.64 It comes as no surprise, then, that all three handbooks include a section on letter-writing, albeit in different ways. Indeed, how the authors impart the information may be just as revealing as who they write for and what they include in their works. The prescriptive 60 Kierzek, The Macmillan handbook of English, vii. 61 Woolley, Handbook of composition, 172. 62 Kierzek, The Macmillan handbook of English, 332. 63 Murphy, A short history of writing instruction, 103. 64 Ibidem, 104.

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nature of Woolley’s handbook is also confirmed by the way he instructs upon letter-writing: for every part of the letter (heading, inside address, salutation, complimentary close), there is always a correct versus incorrect example of use, in line with the overall style of his work. Moreover, in the section entitled “sundry mechanical directions”, Woolley orders his readers not to use blue ink but black; not to use writing paper that is ruled, limp, and flimsy in texture; not to crowd the writing close to the top of any page,65 insisting that “faults, characteristic of ill-educated writers and of writers without good taste, are to be avoided in letters”.66 There is no doubt that his approach to letter-writing, and to writing instruction in general, focuses principally on the faults to be avoided if one wants to be held in esteem in society. Faults that should be avoided are also central in Kierzek’s short chapter on letter-writing. Like Woolley, Kierzek acknowledges the importance of following the rules, especially when it comes to writing a letter that should be interesting, original, and vital, but “also governed by certain other laws, or conventions, of usage, which the letter writer cannot ignore without serious penalty”.67 Unlike Woolley, however, Kierzek has a milder tone when imparting his rules, which he asserts are established by usage. His assertion that it is “usage that has prescribed certain forms”68 shows that his instruction is more descriptive than prescriptive and much closer to McMahan and Day’s. Undoubtedly more descriptive is the approach that McMahan and Day take in their chapter on letterwriting. Unlike the earlier handbooks, there is no emphasis on mistakes and errors: on the contrary, emphasis is placed on how to write well. Throughout the whole chapter and under every subsection, the authors motivate the instruction, as seen in the section devoted to “tone and level of usage”: Just as you must adopt a tone appropriate to your purpose in writing essays, so should you match your tone to purpose in a letter. Try to strike your balance between being formal and being friendly. Since you are trying to get your reader to do something […], do not be sarcastic or too aggressive.69 65 Woolley, Handbook of composition, 154–155. 66 Ibidem, 150. 67 Kierzek, The Macmillan handbook of English, 247. 68 Ibidem. 69 McMahan & Day, The writer’s handbook, 338.

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In this example, McMahan and Day go much farther than explaining why one should adopt a certain tone as opposed to another when writing a letter: they unveil a completely new attitude to writing instruction. They abide by the ‘writing for a purpose’ principle, which posits that effective writing needs to comply with what is socially acceptable and appropriate in different situations. Indeed, different communicative purposes require different features and correspond to different specimens of writing: for example, essays and letters. Even among correspondence, there are letters of request, persuasion, complaint, all of which require a different form that McMahan and Day do not fail to present. Aware that writing is communication and that every piece of writing needs to be negotiated with the reader according to context, McMahan and Day present a handbook that reflects a far less prescriptive writing instruction method than that reflected in the other two handbooks examined. They must surely have been influenced by the new schools of thought on mainstream learning and teaching in Britain and Europe in the 1970s.

5

Three Twentieth-century Handbooks for Foreign Speakers

Considering our assumption that there is an undeniable difference between teaching English to MTS and FS, we now focus our attention on manuals for FS. Two common elements link the three chosen handbooks: the attention to any contrastive issue identifying English versus other European languages and the desire—and urgency—to define some specific rules for teaching writing to a foreign learner. The prefaces of the three books all underline this aspect very clearly. Poutsma’s ‘preface’ states the role of grammar in foreign language teaching, arguing that grammar is the foundation of any language learning methodology. As for classical languages, it is proven that there is no better way to learn than being familiar with their mechanisms. The same statement may be applied to modern language learning, where the contrastive approach is also important. For this reason, special attention must be paid to the foreign learner and to examples suitable to his/her mother tongue: The fact that my grammar addresses itself to Continental, especially Dutch, students, […] will account for its general character. I have abstained from giving definitions of grammatical terms […]. I have touched only briefly on those points where the manner of treatment seemed to make

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it desirable or necessary. […] In some cases, I have thought it advisable to point out the difference between Dutch and English idiom, and also to give the Dutch translation of peculiar locutions and phrases.70

Moreover, the teacher should focus on some basic issues related to style and register, widely supported with quotations from literary sources, dictionaries, or previous grammars. Sack’s approach to FS’ way of learning writing confirms Poutsma’s contrastive method, but goes one step further, stressing that English as a foreign language is a tool for ‘communication’ for the FS. This implies a strong need for a ‘practical’ or ‘example-based’ grammar, enriched with examples and based on the description of grammar rules necessary to understand and formulate sentences.71 Accompanied by a separate book of exercises, Sack’s Grammar “is intended for the advanced student of a higher secondary school, college, or university”,72 with particular attention to the foreign language learner. The audience is supposed to be made up of adults (adolescents or young adults), who “cannot ‘pick up a language’” because their “memory is less impressionable [than the children’s]” but their “mental consciousness has become sharper, so that speech habits of their native tongue intrude when they are speaking a foreign language”.73 The author underlines some issues related to word order, typical of a foreign learner of English: A Frenchman is inclined to say, ‘I am here for two months’, by analogy with ‘Je suis ici depuis deux mois’. Once his attention is directed to the specific English speech pattern, there is a good chance that he will in future use the correct form, ‘I have been here for two months’. It is the function of grammar to sharpen the student’s observation and to help him recognize ‘what is done’.74

Following this priority, Sack’s ‘Grammar’, which resorts to simple and clear language, “with a minimum of technical terms”,75 is full of examples (both in English and—contrastively—in some other European languages, namely French and German), rich in notes referring to languages other than English and has a very clear layout. 70 Poutsma, A grammar of late modern English, 4. 71 See Crespo-Fernández, Describing English. 72 Sack, The structure, III. 73 Ibidem. 74 Ibidem. 75 Ibidem, IV.

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Thomson and Martinet’s Practical Grammar (three editions: 1960, 1969, and 1980) moves definitively from English grammar teaching to English communication learning. This grammar reference book, with multiple reprintings for each edition, has become a classic and one of the most widely used books of the last decades. A useful reference source for intermediate to advanced learners, and for teachers, it is arranged in systematic and categorized indexes that make it simpler for learners to search for particular grammar features. The first edition, dated 1960, reprinted seven times, states the foundations of twentieth century EFL learning: This book deals with the construction of English from elementary to advanced level and is intended for intermediate and advanced students of English as a foreign language. Though written chiefly for adults it is suitable also for senior forms in schools. It is hoped also that teachers of English as a foreign language may find it useful as a reference book. Special features of the book are: 1. A very comprehensive index, which should make this Grammar easy to use as a book of reference. 2. A very careful and detailed treatment of those points which students of English find particularly difficult […]. 3. A new treatment of the future. 4. Indication where necessary of the difference between ordinary conversational usage and strict grammatical form. 5. A list of over 300 of the more important verb+preposition/adverb combinations […]. 6. A chapter on spelling rules. 7. The use of the simplest possible English for all explanations to present the minimum difficulty to students who have not yet mastered English. 8. Copious examples in good modern English. […] it is not a graded course, and […] the chapters are not presented in order of difficulty. Difficult sections may therefore be met with in any part of the book, and intermediate students may prefer to omit these on the first readings.76

The Preface to the second edition (1969, with ten reprintings), while confirming what was stated in the previous edition, reflects the authors’ growing concern with grammar correctness in general, both for MTS and FS. In fact, the book’s contents are enriched in some sections (for example, the 76 Ibidem, iii.

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conditional, the gerund, the passive, participles, and indirect speech), to give a clearer, more comprehensive picture of each structure. Moreover, ten books of exercises complete the ‘package’ in two possible versions, one with a key and one without, as a substantive practical support to theory. The third edition (1980, with nine reprintings as of 1985) preserves the features that already made the book so successful (basically, the fact of being written in simple modern English with numerous examples), while at the same time introduces the difference between strict grammatical usage and conversational forms, where the emphasis on conversational forms is meant to encourage FS to speak the language as used by natives. To further this aim, many of the examples are in the form of short conversations between two people. Looking now at the table of contents of the three handbooks in parallel, the differences are minimal, since they are all advanced grammars of the English language. Nevertheless, it is not the specific content of each book that is worth considering, but the evolution of the concept of ‘English writing for FS’ that emerges: from a simple set of notions, the grammar is transformed into a real guide to communication written in a foreign language. It gradually became clear that the whole teaching and learning environment had changed, which “resolved itself into a focus on purposeful use in the classroom, and other modifications in presentation and practice followed naturally from the new emphasis”.77 This general trend is attested clearly in the way modal verbs are presented in the handbooks, moving away from the prescriptive approach towards the communicative model: a progressive evolution that can be seen in the careful choice of concrete examples accompanied by comments on the speaker’s/writer’s attitude towards the listeners/readers in Sack’s and Thomson and Martinet’s Grammars, but not in Poutsma’s. By way of example, the case of should deserves particular attention: Poutsma’s descriptive approach adopts a list of situations when the modal is used, accompanied by a few examples: ‘Should’ is used when the acting power is: a) an obligation prescripted by duty, courtesy, propriety, or advisability […]; b) a conjuncture of circumstances […]; c) meaning of obligation sometimes mixed with that of ability […].78

77 Howatt & Smith, ‘The history of teaching’, 89. 78 Poutsma, A grammar of late modern English, 53–54.

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Sack’s handbook contains neither description of the item nor any rules at all, but only examples followed by a short comment on language usage: “1. You should work harder. 2. You should go and see the doctor. ‘Should’ and ‘Ought to’ denote […] obligation (moral necessity or duty): something that is desirable or advisable”.79 A renewed approach to the description of should is definitely a priority in Thomson and Martinet’s volume, which becomes clear from the first to the third edition, where the usage of this modal is supported by plenty of examples testifying to its role in expressing duty, or unlikely supposition, giving advice, following some fixed structures,80 up to practical remarks: “[W]hen the speaker queries the reasonableness of an assumption (I don’t see why you should think it was my fault)”,81 or stylistic notes: “[I]n dramatic expressions of surprise (What should I see but an enormous snake!)”.82

6 Conclusion This brief and initial research has focused on the analysis of twentiethcentury handbooks for MTS and FS, covering the periods 1880–1920, 1920–1960, 1960–1990. Six handbooks—three addressed to MTS and three to FS—were selected and examined in order to see whether, despite their different theoretical and historical origins, similarities between the two text-types exist, challenging the traditional belief that handbooks devoted to teaching English writing to MTS and FS are quite different. In applying the social semiotic framework of language analysis proposed by Halliday, some interesting similarities between the two types of handbook have been identified. It is interesting to note that in their prefaces across the three periods, both types of handbook address the two types of readers with different needs in similar styles. If in the first twenty years of the twentieth century, the authors’ stance is highly prescriptive, as the century progresses, it becomes increasingly less so, and much more descriptive from the 1970s onwards, when, characterized by the communicative approach in applied linguistics, the importance of the situational context and the appropriate use of language foster a more descriptive method in language teaching. 79 Sack, The structure of English, 152. 80 Thomson & Martinet, A practical English grammar (third ed.), 213–214, 235–238, 309–310. 81 Ibidem, 238. 82 Ibidem.

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Striking similarities between the two typologies are also evident when it comes to the contents of the handbooks. Even though the titles of the handbooks for MTS indicate writing as their object and the titles of the FS handbooks more accurately point to grammar, what the authors include in the two types of handbooks is very similar. Underscored by the contrastive method adopted to point out the structural differences between English and the readers’ foreign tongue, the handbooks used to teach FS writing in the twentieth century are undoubtedly grammars of English, which all considered makes sense given that foreign speakers need to have a solid grounding in the grammar of the English language before they can approach writing. The more unexpected finding is that the handbooks for MTS also lean heavily towards the teaching of grammar. In fact, the information conveyed to the reader in the two types of handbooks differs only very slightly, even though the presumed consumers have different needs. Both focus principally upon the grammatical and stylistic aspects of the English language, insisting upon correct/standard versus incorrect/nonstandard usage. Regardless of the readers’ abilities, teaching writing in both types of handbooks involves instructing to produce a text that is perfectly arranged, free of grammatical and stylistic errors. Besides the formal similarities mentioned above, another surprising feature that both handbooks share, because actual examples are missing from both, is what Crowley defines as the “art of introspective analysis”.83 This consists of the moment of invention, which precedes the secondary moment of writing itself. Although of prime importance, it is never fully discussed in any of the handbooks, not even those published in the latter part of the twentieth century. This fact seems to confirm Crowley’s claim that, starting from the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, rhetoricians “were convinced that invention was too difficult to teach since young people either had the wherewithal or they didn’t”.84 That the handbooks concentrate on “the way that every discourse is to be arranged, down to the very order in which sentences are to follow”85 (albeit in tones that soften over the century) seems to underline that they both belong to the current-traditional method of writing instruction. It also seems to endorse Crowley’s claim86 that most twentieth-century authors prefer to imitate the late nineteenth-century textbooks that historians now 83 Crowley, The methodical memory, 76. 84 Ibidem, 76. 85 Ibidem, 95. 86 Ibidem, 71.

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characterize as marking the high point of current-traditional thought. This leads us to surmise that the handbooks examined for MTS and for FS are not only similar by not disclosing the stark rhetoric vs. grammatical divide that has traditionally kept them apart, but that they are both much indebted to the works of Hugh Blair, George Campbell, and Richard Whately, along with those written by the ‘big four’ of current-traditional thought: John Franklin Genung, Adams Sherman Hill, Barrett Wendell, and Fred Newton Scott and Joseph Villiers Denney.87 To confirm this fully, however, further comparative research is necessary, first, between other MTS and FS handbooks on teaching English writing published in the twentieth century and, secondly, between these and late nineteenth-century textbooks. In the meantime, we can conclude that, despite the limitations of an analysis restricted to six handbooks, an interesting picture of what teaching writing was for MTS and for FS in the twentieth century has begun to appear: that is, that major differences at referential, interpersonal, and textual levels between the two types of handbooks, destined for two different types of consumers, produced for completely differing needs, do not really exist. Although it is clearly premature to start redefining the theories of writing instruction for MTS and FS based on these results, the analysis of handbooks is certainly an interesting starting point and an innovative research perspective for mapping the history and evolution of language theories for MTS and FS given that “nobody really knows what is new or old in present day language teaching procedures (but) there (is) a vague feeling that modern experts have spent their time in discovering what other men have forgotten”.88

Bibliography Primary Sources Arnold, Sarah Louise & Lyman Kittredge, George, The mother tongue book I (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1900). Bates, Arlo, Talks on writing English (Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 1901). Cody, Sherwin, The art of writing and speaking the English language (Chicago, New York, Boston: The Old Greek Press, 1903).

87 Kitzhaber, Rhetoric in American colleges, 59–69. 88 Kelly, 25 Centuries of language teaching, 9.

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Gardiner, John Hays, Lyman Kittredge, George & Arnold, Sarah Louise, The mother tongue book III (Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1902). Hartog, P. J. & Langdon, Amy H., The writing of English (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907). Kierzek, John, The Macmillan handbook of English (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1939). Lewis, Edwin, Herbert, A first book on writing English (New York, London: Macmillan, 1900). Maxwell, W.H. & Smith, G. J., Writing in English (New York: American Book Company, 1900). McMahan, Elizabeth & Day, Susan, The writer’s handbook (New York: McGraw, 1979). Meiklejohn, J. M. D., The art of writing English: A manual for students (London: Meiklejohn & Holden, 1907). Poutsma, Hendrick, A grammar of late modern English (Noordhof: Groningen, 1904). Sack, Friedrich Leopold, The structure of English: A practical grammar for foreign students (Franke: Berne, 1954). Thomson, A.J., & Martinet, A.V., Practical English grammar for foreign students (London: Oxford University Press, 1960). Thomson, A.J., & Martinet, A.V. Practical English grammar: Second edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1969). Thomson, A.J., & Martinet, A.V., Practical English grammar: Third edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1980). Woolley, Edwin C., Handbook of composition: A compendium of rules (Boston: Heath and Co., 1907).

Secondary Literature Abbott, Paul, ‘Reading, writing, and rhetoric in the Renaissance’, in: Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012), 148–171. Applebee, Arthur N., Tradition and reform in the teaching of English: A history (Urbana: NCTE, 1974). Bartholomae, David, ‘Composition, 1900–2000’, PMLA, 115, 7 (2000), 1950–1954. Bordelon, Suzanne, Wright, Elizabethada A., & Halloran, Michael, ‘From rhetoric to rhetorics’, in: Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012), 209–231. Caro, James, English for foreigners (Hirschfeld: Philadelphia, 1941). Connors, Robert J., Composition-rhetoric: backgrounds, theory, and pedagogy (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997). Copeland, C. T., & Rideout, H.M., Freshman English and theme-correcting in Harvard college (New York: Silver, Burdett, and Co., 1901).

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Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer, Describing English: A practical grammar course (Granada: GEU Editorial, 2016). Crowley, Sharon, The methodical memory: Invention in current-traditional rhetoric (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/ (accessed June 2021). Curme, George Oliver, A grammar of the English language: parts of speech and accidence (Heath: Boston, 1935). Fernald, James, A working grammar of the English language (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1908). Ferreira-Buckley, Linda, ‘Writing instruction in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Great Britain’, in: Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012), 172–208. Freeman, William, English for foreigners (London: Dent and Sons, 1939). Fries, Charles, American English grammar: The grammatical structure of present-day American English with especial reference to social differences or class dialects (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1940). Gold, David, Hobbs, Catherine L. & Berlin, James A., ‘Writing instruction in school and college’, in: Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012), 232–272. Goldberger, Henry, Teaching English to the foreign born: A teacher’s handbook (Washington Government Printing Office: Department of the Interior / Bureau of Education, 1920). Halliday, Michael A.K., Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning (London: Edward Arnold, 1978). Harwood, Nigel (ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014). Hollingsworth, Alan, ‘Beyond literacy’, Bulletin of the Association of Departments of English (1973), 3–10.
 Horner, Winifred Bryan, ‘The roots of modern writing instruction: Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain’, Rhetoric Review, 8 (1990), 322–345. Howatt, A. P. R. & Smith, Richard, ‘The history of teaching English as a foreign language, from a British and European perspective’, Language & History (2014), 57/1, 75–95. Hudson, Richard & Walmsley, John, ‘The English Patient: English grammar and teaching in the twentieth century’, Journal of Linguistics, 41(2005), 593–622. Johnson, Nan, ‘The popularization of nineteenth-century rhetoric: Elocution and the private learner’, in: Clark, Gregory & Halloran, Michael S. (eds.), Oratorical culture in nineteenth-century America: Transformations in the theory and practice of rhetoric (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), 139–157.

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Kelly, Louis G., 25 Centuries of language teaching: An inquiry into the science, art, and development of language teaching methodology, 500 B.C.–1969 (Rowley: Newbury, 1969). Kitzhaber, Albert R., Rhetoric in American colleges, 1850–1900 (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 2006). Lanham, Carol Dana, ‘Writing instruction from late antiquity to the twelfth century’, in: Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012), 77–113. Marrou, H. I., A History of education in antiquity, transl. by George Lamb (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). MED, Macmillan English Dictionary (online), https://www.macmillandictionary. com/opendictionary/latestEntries.html (last accessed June 22nd, 2021). McLachlan, Herbert, English education under the tests acts: Being the history of nonconformist academies 1662–1820 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1931). Miller, Thomas, ‘Where did college English studies come from?’, Rhetoric Review, 9, (1990), 50–69. Murphy, James J. (ed.), A short history of writing instruction: From ancient Greece to contemporary America (London: Routledge, 2012). Nava, Andrea, & Pedrazzini, Luciana, ‘ITALY ELT ARCHIVE: A historical archive of materials for English language teaching in Italy’, in: San Vicente, Félix (ed.), Grammatica e insegnamento linguistico. Approccio storiografico: autori, modelli, espansioni, (Bologna: Clueb, 2019), 291–314. NEA (National Educational Association), Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies (New York: American Book Company, 1894). Palmer, Leonard R., The Greek language (London: Faber and Faber 1980). Pattison, Robert, On literacy: The politics of the word from Homer to the age of rock (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982). Porcelli, Gianfranco, Principi di Glottodidattica (Brescia: Editrice La Scuola,1994). Reaman, George Elmore, The new citizen. Modern language instruction: A method of teaching English to foreigners (Toronto: Macmillan,1921). Roberts, Peter, ‘English for foreigners’, Bulletin by Illinois Miners’ and Mechanics’ Institutes (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1914). Rose, Pauline & Shprentz, Frieda, English essentials for foreigners (Chicago: Lyons and Carnahan, 1925). Russell, David R., Writing in the academic disciplines. 1970–1900 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991). Talbot, Winthrop, Teaching English to aliens. A bibliography of textbooks, dictionaries, glossaries, and aids to librarians (Washington Government Printing Office: Department of the Interior / Bureau of Education, 1918).

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Woolf, Virginia, ‘On not knowing Greek’, The Common Reader (London: The Hogart Press, 1948), 39–59.

About the Authors Laura Pinnavaia Università degli Studi di Milano Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures [email protected] Laura Pinnavaia (PhD) is full professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Milan (Italy). Her research interests in lexicology and lexicography have produced over forty articles and three authored monographs: The Italian Borrowings in the OED: A Lexicographic, Linguistic and Cultural Analysis (2001); Introduzione alla Linguistica Inglese (2015); Food and Drink Idioms in English: “A Little Bit More Sugar and Lots of Spice” (2018). She is currently working on seventeenth-century travelogues and the history of writing instruction for mother tongue speakers of English. Annalisa Zanola Università degli Studi di Brescia Department of Economics and Management [email protected] Annalisa Zanola (PhD) is full professor of English Language and Linguistics, director of the Language Teaching Centre, and Rector’s Delegate for Language Teaching and Training at the University of Brescia (Italy). She represents her university at the European Language Council (ELC) meetings. Her current research interests include the epistemology of English phonetics and phonology and the most recent trends in public speaking and academic writing, English as an international language, and international English in business and health communication. She is a member of the board of the international doctoral program in Euro(pean)-Languages and Specialized Terminologies at the University of Naples Parthenope (Italy), in collaboration with Université d’Artois, Arras (France).

IV AIMS

9

‘Too Much Workload in Technical Schools!’ Luigi Pavia and the Teaching of English in Italian Technical Schools on the Threshold of the Twentieth Century Silvia Pireddu

Abstract This chapter illustrates the work of Luigi Pavia by examining the pamphlet Le Lingue straniere negli istituti tecnici e l’eccessivo lavoro scolastico, published in two editions: 1888 and 1906. Pavia discussed the role and mission of the state school teacher, and, in particular, the difficult task of matching the official requirements of the curricula and everyday classroom practice. Excessive hours spent at school and the eclecticism of the curriculum did not allow for in-depth learning, but could only provide a general, broad understanding of the mechanisms of English grammar. Pavia had a holistic view of education and testified to the difficulties encountered by a teacher facing teenagers at the beginning of the new century. Keywords: Luigi Pavia; Italian technical schools; ELT; Nineteenth-century language teaching; scientific curriculum

1

Public Language Education for the Working and Middle Classes

In 1888, Luigi Pavia published a pamphlet entitled Sull’insegnamento delle lingue Straniere negli Istituti Tecnici e relativi Programmi ed Istruzioni Ministeriali. In 1906, the text was reissued with the more controversial title Le Lingue straniere negli istituti tecnici e l’eccessivo lavoro scolastico.1 The 1 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch09

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first addressed the current legislation and the state of language teaching in technical schools, while the second addressed the teacher’s role more specif ically. The two pamphlets shed light on a period of change and describe a new scenario for the teaching of foreign languages. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the Italian school system included scientific-technical curricula in which language teaching was a distinguishing feature: while French was studied as part of the literacy requirements at all school levels, English and German were seen as a necessary skill for those involved in business and technology.2 Rather than addressing methodological issues relating to adults learning diverse languages, or innovative grammars, the documents bring us into a teenage classroom with problems related to age and, in part, their social backgrounds. The students described here are not middle or upper-class learners willing to broaden their view of politics and culture by reading news and books in a foreign language. They are youngsters trained to become artisans and skilled workers.3 In other words, Pavia discusses public education in a period of change and constant reform of school organization. Moreover, Pavia represents himself as an advisor of the ministry, writing for the benefit of the public, opposing the constraints of the state curricula and the amount of time spent at school. He advocates for a more graded approach to learning, a simplified curriculum, and respect for his pupils against preordained methodologies that would not consider the reality of day-to-day classroom management. 4 In the following paragraphs, I recall the social context of technical education, and describe its role in Italian society by referring to official documents. Contextualization is essential to understand Pavia’s reaction to legislation that was backed by ideals of social progress, but no understanding of classroom management. From this perspective, I show how the first edition may be seen as from-the-outside perspective that frames the pedagogical experience into a system. In that sense, Pavia’s pamphlet is a response to and criticism of top-down reforms. The second edition is also relevant as it is more focused on his students’ emotional, physical, and intellectual needs. The role of the teacher is also brought to the forefront, being the one who can direct, mould, and mediate the 2 For an introduction to the technical curricula, see Fumi, ‘L’insegnamento’, 174–209. 3 Lacaita, L’Istruzione secondaria, 15–25. 4 Larry Cuban discusses the issue of resistance to innovation with special reference to the US from a historical perspective in How teachers taught, 22–23, 237–271.

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complexities of school subjects. The focus on the teacher’s role and his relationship with students valorizes the from-the-inside knowledge of the teacher as the source of classwork and the core of pedagogy.5 The eighteen years of separation between the two editions testify to the clash between a theoretical approach to education against practice.6

2

The Social Context of Technical Education in Nineteenthcentury Italy

2.1 The Reasons behind the Pamphlets The political and social movement that joined the different states of the peninsula into one single state was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital under the Savoia ruling house. Progressively, Piedmont extended its administrative system to the rest of the country and this also affected education, as it became clear that the new state had to create unity and uniformity at the political, cultural, and social levels.7 When the first edition of the pamphlet appeared, Italy was still a preindustrial country. The main share of the labour force worked in agriculture and was illiterate. Both birth and death rates were high, while transatlantic emigration was becoming a massive phenomenon.8 Nevertheless, protectionism favoured domestic products and supported internal commerce, while the increasing use of electricity, the growth of textile, mechanical, and steel industries, and more traditional craftwork began to improve the lives of many. The second edition was published amid a period of growth. The years from 1896 to 1914 saw the boosting of the Italian economy. New technologies, new organizational, entrepreneurial skills and new forms of financing for companies came from abroad. These profound changes testified to the need for skilled workers and more technical schools and institutes.9 The parallel development of new infrastructures commissioned by the State also played a fundamental role in stimulating the industrial and urban 5 Ibidem. 6 Chiosso, Novecento Pedagogico. 7 Clark, The Italian Risorgimento, 87–100; see also Laven, Restoration and Risorgimento. 8 Ciccarelli & Fenoaltea, ‘Through the magnifying glass’, 57–85. 9 Zanelli & Cafaro, Alla guida della prima industrializzazione.

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growth of the country.10 In this scenario, rural areas began to separate from urban localities where industrialization benefited from natural resources or infrastructures. This background distinguished the mass of rural schools (mostly primary schools) and schools in areas where the working and middle classes could easily access the state curricula and where lay and religious charities supported vocational training.11 In 1859, the so-called ‘Casati Law’ (Legge Casati) organized the new national school system.12 The law established two consecutive biennial grades for primary education, of which the first was free of charge and compulsory. At the end of the fourth year, several options were available. At about the age of ten, the ruling class could start the gymnasium (from ten to fourteen) followed by the lyceum (from fifteen to seventeen years) and the possibility of accessing university (from eighteen to twenty-one years). All the others could access the three years of technical school without being able to enrol later on in a university course, except for the physics-mathematics curriculum.13 Technical schools (Scuole Tecniche) were divided into four curricula (common, agricultural, industrial, and commercial) lasting three years, and followed by more specialized training in the technical institutes (Istituti Tecnici) with five types of curricula (industry, land surveying, agronomy, commerce, and physics-mathematics). As mentioned above, students would learn French to support their literacy, while English and German were considered the languages of science and business. The curriculum was rich and grounded in the idea of fostering citizenship and character backed by a comprehensive and holistic idea of knowledge.14 Table 1 illustrates the subjects and numbers of hours allocated to each every week; it is to be noted that both the number of subjects and the weekly timetable were under constant reform:

10 Maggi, Politica ed economia dei trasporti. 11 Caimi, Carità educatrice; Chiosso, Aristocratici, filantropi e preti di fronte; Morandini, Scuola e Nazione, 231–358; D’Ascenzo, ‘Research Fields’, 249–272. 12 Gaudio, ‘La legge Casati. Una ricognizione storiografica’, 63–71. 13 Pizzarelli, ‘L’istruzione matematica’, 35–36; Di Pol, La pedagogia scientifica. 14 Hazon, Storia della formazione; Rugiu & Santamaita, Il professore, 5–70; Tognon, ‘L’industria e le politiche’.

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Table 1:  Weekly Timetable for Technical Schools Subject

First year

Second year

Third year15

Calligraphy Drawing Geography French Italian Arithmetics and geometry Natural history History of Italy Citizenship Greek History Physics/Chemistry, Mineralogy Accounting

1 6 2 2 6 4 null 2

2 4 2 5 6 4 2 2

2 4 or 3 2 3 + 1 of practice (speaking) 4 or 2 5 or 2, + 2 of practice 2 2 1 2 or null null or 2 null or 2

The push to modernize the country led to several adjustments of the curricula, which, given the uneven state of the school system, soon became an object of debate. The survey that the Minister of Education Antonio Scialoja promoted in 1872 collected proposals to reform secondary education. The documents available exemplify the diversity of opinions of teachers and school administrators about the condition of all public, municipal, and private secondary institutes. The investigation was innovative in method and aided by a detailed questionnaire aimed at school authorities such as headmasters, directors and teachers, fathers, and members of religious institutions. Latin and Greek in secondary education, the role of French in literacy, and the importance of learning modern languages in a practical, natural way were discussed extensively. One of the interviewees, for example, the philosopher Giorgio Politeo, advocated for the presence of foreign languages in the curriculum given the urgency “to read a newspaper and be able to speak”, hence the preference for methods that would “stimulate curiosity, and would skip the niceties and complexities of traditional grammars”.16 The state of technical education was also investigated in Britain and described by the Second Samuelson Report (1884), which testif ied for the advancement of the Italian school system despite the overwhelming 15 Only for admission to the Technical Institute or Diploma; numbers vary according to institutes. 16 Giorgio Politeo suggested reducing the amount of homework and mentions the popular grammar by Millhouse as the best example of ‘practical grammar’. See Montevecchi & Marino, L’inchiesta Scialoja, 417–420.

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illiteracy of the population. 17 The interest of the British commission was part of an extensive work of comparison of continental scientif ic, technical, and vocational education.18 By the middle of the nineteenth century, the importance of technology in schools became a concern given Britain’s declining economic position relative to other countries.19 Samuelson’s Reports warned that Britain’s industrial leadership was being challenged worldwide by countries with well-educated artisan and middle classes, and they underlined the severe shortage of professional schools in Britain. The reports commissioned by the Crown examined technical education on the continent to plan a reform of the British educational system. The Italian technical institutes were appreciated for being […] schools of a similar kind to those of Bavaria, which likewise form an integral part of the country’s school system […]. These institutions, of which there exist over seventy, are very similar in character, and their courses of instruction are determined for them by the Government Educational Department. They generally comprise three sections or divisions, (1) chemical; (2) physical and mathematical; and (3) a special section devoted, according to the prevailing industry of the district, either to agriculture, naval architecture, or weaving and dyeing.20

The commission highlighted the relevance of a uniform organization of the curriculum and a comprehensive theoretical approach to education, schools not being places “in which manual dexterity is to be acquired”.21 In fact, the commission was looking for models to improve vocational training, and it also observed that technical schools provided workers a rather ambitious humanist and scientific background. Literacy and broad theoretical expertise were prioritized over more practical needs, something dangerous in the eyes of the British commission, but quite understandable from the liberal perspective of the Italian élites, who believed that education was an essential tool of economic development and was recognized as a critical element of social reform.22 17 Samuelson Report, Second report of the Royal Commissioners, 27, 47, 66. 18 Argles, ‘The Royal Commission’. 19 O’Brien & Pigman, ‘Free trade’. 20 Samuelson, Second report Vol. I, 98. 21 Ibidem. 22 For a comprehensive view see Tonelli, L’istruzione tecnica.

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2.2 Professional Education, Legislation, and a Humanist View of National Culture The Royal Decree of 26 December 1877, n. 4220 brought technical schools under the control of the Ministry of Education. For decades, local communities and charities had fostered professional education according to the needs of their cultural and economic environments. In the newly formed Italian state, technical schools were managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce (MAIC). Therefore, the decree was controversial and clashed with the intents of charities whose vocational schools met the specific needs of local communities. Criticism came above all from the MAIC itself, as it saw the reform as an attempt to downsize the schools’ technical, scientific, and practical nature in favour of an elitarian view of education. From MAIC’s perspective, the management of technical and vocational schools had to be committed to the ministries responsible for developing economic, agricultural, and industrial activities, and the move of the Ministry of Education appeared arbitrary and short-sighted.23 As a matter of fact, the move was never digested. There was a climate of bitterness and intolerance on both parts: the transfer was seen as the final act of debasement of technical studies promoted by the supporters of classical culture. It appeared that the ministry aimed at an increasingly ‘literary’ or humanist approach to secondary education, as it would better create a sense of citizenship and morality among the working classes.24 Vocational schools of applied arts and crafts, evening courses with workshops, dedicated vocational schools for women, and schools of applied arts to industry were calibrated on the needs of specific industrial sectors. They provided the notions of basic practices and techniques that could be useful for the work of the artisans. The subjects comprised arithmetic, algebra, geometry, chemistry, physics, mechanics, technology, industrial economics, natural sciences, design, and drawing. French, English, German, and Spanish could also be taught, which testifies to the relevance of linguistic education.25 The function and effects of these schools were remarkable in the improvement of skilled labour because they combined advanced literacy, theoretical skills, and practical expertise. However, 23 The regulation for technical education issued in 1885 introduced four sections: physicalmathematics, surveying, agronomy, industry, and commerce and accounting (private and public administration). See Martinelli, ‘Branding of technical institutes’. 24 D’Amico, Storia della formazione, 244–248; Soldani, ‘L’istruzione tecnica’. 25 Ministero dell’agricoltura, industria e commercio, Relazione sulle scuole d’Arti e Mestieri 3–39.

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local interests and specific philanthropic motivations caused continuous changes.26 Many voices were raised against the lack of investment in the recruitment of qualified teachers. Programs seemed either too general or poorly applied and failed their objectives. In this context, we can place Pavia’s concerns for the effective teaching of foreign languages. His pamphlets show the distance of these vast programs from real school issues; they advocate practice as a form of pedagogy.27 The work is indeed a reaction to the cultural context of the time, but it is also a genuine appeal motivated by concern. Pavia rejects a stiff arrangement of school programs that do not represent the emotional capabilities of students, a remarkable idea inspired by his teaching experience.

4

The Curriculum and Pavia’s Pamphlet

4.1 The First Edition of 1888—A Response to Legislation As stated above, Luigi Pavia published the first of his pamphlets as a response to the continuous reforms of technical education, foregrounding his experience as a teacher and the problems faced by his pupils. As is the case with many grammarians and teachers of past centuries, biographical information can only be gathered by secondary analysis of his writings. Rovito’s Dictionary,28 though, registers Luigi Pavia’s birth in Milan in 1856 and describes him as a cultivated writer and scholar, well–versed in many languages and the author of novels, poems, and grammars of English, German, Italian, and Spanish. Pavia earned a living as a teacher in several schools and worked in a context where teachers were civil servants, conscious of their roles of conveying a sense of authoritativeness, coherence, and belonging. In both editions, Pavia describes the state of technical education in terms of ‘mild’ positivism. In his view, technical education is ‘scientific’ because scientific disciplines have a significant number of school hours (maths up to four, natural sciences up to three hours per week) and provide the tools for improving society. However, there is no trace of a strong belief in ideas of progress, nor can we see ideals of political and civil freedom. Modern languages fit into a view of 26 Martinelli, ‘Searching for a national model’; Morcaldi, Le scuole industriali. 27 Rugiu & Santamaita, Il professore, 42–64. 28 Rovito, Dizionario, 1922. The importance of his work as author of a Spanish-Italian grammar is discussed by Rodríguez, ‘Luigi Pavia y sus aportaciones’, 22–35.

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modernization of education, but this does not affect students’ intellectual skills.29 Therefore, the f irst pamphlet discusses time management and the excessive numbers of school hours and subjects. Students learn the Italian language (up to five hours), French as part of their literacy skills (up to four hours); arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and accounting in the curriculum for commerce (for a total of nine hours depending on the curriculum and year); drawing and calligraphy (from two up to five hours); geography and history (usually two hours for each subject) and would also have lessons explaining the rights and the duties of the ‘new’ citizen (two hours per week). The institutes would further enrich their offers by adding subjects ranging from agronomy, surveying, commerce, accounting, English and German, administrative law, economy, geometry, and trigonometry.30 This broad range of subjects appears to be overwhelming to students, but necessary, as if both the ministry, and, more generally, the educated classes, could not conceive of a school without basic lessons in all of them. This clash between the ideal and the practical needs of his classes generates anxiety in pupils and pressure in the teacher himself.31 Pavia also addresses another ‘prejudice’ embedded in the curricula: the idea that technical education is inferior to the humanist one reserved for the upper classes studying in the lyceum.32 A technical course of study would not be viewed with the respect reserved for a classical education. The lack of Latin in the technical school programmes was telling: knowledge of the Latin language continued to be the essential requirement for university studies and a powerful means of marking the separation of the mass of citizens from the ruling classes.33 The need for technical education responded to a social, cultural, and economic necessity that was both dictated by the first timid processes of industrialization, and, by a liberal approach to schooling. Education represented the attempt by the State to align itself with the economic and educational policies of the powerful transalpine countries. The government aimed to increase the consensus among the bourgeois class and to prevent, through the symbolic barrier of Latin, a too rapid social progression.34 The system allowed the popular urban classes to become literate enough to exercise the small professions of trade and 29 Pavia, Sull’Insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 13–12. 30 Ibidem, 6. 31 Pavia, Sull’Insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 15. 32 Ibidem. 33 See Morpurgo, Istruzione tecnica, 68–69. 34 Bruni, Greco e latino: le lingue classiche nella scuola italiana (1860–2005), 25–45.

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industry, but not to access higher education.35 The Risorgimento legacy brought political innovation, but did not reform education. On the other hand, education contained a potential revolutionary power capable of mobilizing the classes/masses.36 From this perspective, technical schools served to mediate the inclusion of the working classes in society. For this reason, Pavia highlights the importance of student’s needs: education fosters citizenship and is valuable and helpful to all. On the contrary, the rigidity of the programs is an obstacle to the transmission of knowledge.37 However, modern times call for a more practical approach to learning skills. In a pamphlet entitled L’istruzione Tecnica in Italia (1890), Carlo Bressan states: […] Technical courses respond to the trend of modern times: that of wanting to live quickly and intensely, which is sometimes caused by vocation, or it may be a need of the new social classes that require schools other than the classic as these are only a starting point to higher education. In the technical institutes, one has the possibility of qualifying to the exercise of a profession, or one obtains a title to aspire to employments in such a way as to obtain a position in a shorter time than that which obtained through the classical studies.38

This view that was commonly accepted among the educated and was one of the reasons behind the constant reforms of the school system that aimed at adjusting the role of state schools for the masses and the élite. In February 1888, the ministry surveyed the implementation and the results achieved by students in the final exam that tested the curricula and the programs, hence Pavia’s reaction and the publication of the pamphlet. The exam results were poor, and the curricula were criticized for the busy timetables and the uneven number of lessons allocated to each subject: sometimes excessive, sometimes insufficient to carry out the programmes effectively. Moreover, the school programs were considered disproportionate in quantity and nature and unfit to sustain the intellectual development of the students.39 35 The Royal Decree 19/9/1860 Art. 122, n. 4315, guaranteed access to scientific faculties for those attending the physics-mathematics curriculum in technical institutes. Access could only be granted, however, after a Latin test, which was only abolished in 1875. 36 Conti, L’Italia dei democratici; De Sanctis, I partiti e l’educazione; Barausse, Il libro per la scuola, 44. 37 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 5–10. 38 Bressan, L’istruzione tecnica, 6–7. 39 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 3–4; Fugazza, ‘L’istruzione secondaria’, 235–256.

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Seen from this perspective, the first edition of Pavia’s pamphlet fits into this context and responds to the results of the survey. The booklet was published in Como while Pavia was teaching at the local Istituto Tecnico. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Lakes area had more than 45,000 employees in the silk industry, with 157 spinning mills and 246 supply plants. However, Pavia does not engage in a discussion of poverty nor of the working-class condition. There is no comprehensive or in-depth reference to the economic context or needs of local communities. Instead, he refers to the general state of technical education; the pupil he refers to is a ‘general’ prototypical student. The tone and rhetoric of his writing are never aggressive, rather passionate and proactive: he is a critical voice raised against the poorly applied programs with an empathic approach to his pupils, which testifies to the value that Pavia attributes to practice. The constant reference to his experience does valorize his work and makes a clear distinction between the ideal and the real. The discussion is always grounded in examples that focus on three main points: 1. The insufficient knowledge of Italian, which he ascribes to the teaching method used in the primary schools; 2. The number and diversity of the subjects are excessive and leads to superficial understanding; 3. Too many hours spent at school and the impossibility to work at home effectively (that is, too much homework and lack of self-study in crowded houses or affected by poverty). The weekly timetable is organized around thirty-four to thirty-seven hours with nine to ten subjects. The result of such a busy schedule is a lack of in-depth study. Pavia firmly believes that pupils need time to slowly process and revise what they learn at school. Homework and self-study are crucial and indispensable. Yet, an hour of school teaching corresponds to two hours of self-study at home, which equals fifteen hours of daily commitment, which is, quite obviously, beyond the capabilities of any young student. 40 In particular, he underlines adolescents’ need for for outdoor recreation, as both the mind and body of the young need rest to for healthy development. In fact, he writes: If the Germans, whom in Italy we often want to imitate, without considering the different environmental conditions we live in, can, but not always do, apply many hours of the day to their study, the Italians cannot 40 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 1–10.

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because each country has its specific ethnographic traits and because the southern people are endowed with a more proactive spirit and also greater mobility than those living in the north. 41

Education is a complicated matter that connects individuals to society in a profound and personal way. Rather than a mere social and political matter, education aims to improve national cohesion and personality.42 Pavia does not criticize the teaching method used in school for English and German per se, rather the range of topics that the teacher has to fit into the yearly program to meet the state requirements. He observes that the premises on which the directions and the programs are based are wrong, since the amount of time any student can dedicate to studying foreign languages is subordinated to the needs of more essential core subjects. Students do not choose to study English or German: they are compelled to do it and hence have no interest in it. The effort is such that reading prototypical texts or complex scientific ones may diminish their overall interest in learning. Language learning is effective if supported by motivation and need that can be provided only by future employment: that is, a real-life situation and not school attendance. In Pavia’s own words, one could be a good engineer without speaking English or German. 43 Pavia believes the best results could be achieved with reading novels for their dialogues, real spoken language, and genuine, everyday interaction, all of which truly display the nation’s identity. He argues for a ‘natural’ approach to learning focused on basic everyday English or German reflected in novels. In his view, vocabulary has to be the starting point of any teaching unit or lesson and supported by homework activities such as reading, writing, drilling, revision, and extension of lexical awareness by means of a dictio­ nary—clearly, a method that requires commitment and time, unavailable to his students given the long school hours, homework, and home duties44 . Quite interestingly, he also makes some observations about learning from a cognitive perspective and suggests using translation as an exercise to stimulate cognition. To his way of thinking, translation does not merely activate memory: it fits into a view of language learning as deductive and based on critical thinking. Mental associations and constant comparison 41 Ibidem, 5. 42 Piedmont and the Lombardo-Veneto area, formerly under the Augsburg Empire, had merged their respective school systems. See Polenghi, La scuola degli Asburgo. 43 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 8. 44 Ibidem.

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with one’s native language are effective approaches to the understanding of vocabulary. A good teacher must explain grammar with clear examples and support rules with evidence: simplify and stimulate understanding. Exercises have to develop writing skills through dictation, reading, and translating. 45 As for speaking, Pavia is well aware that the pupils’ social condition and fluency level are such as to make it almost impossible to develop any oral competence. Technical schools have to teach specialized language, especially business terminology: thus, a good knowledge of basic vocabulary and morpho-syntax is mandatory, the starting point to develop a more advanced understanding of terms. Nevertheless, most students would not be able to parse in Italian and hence would not understand declensions or the morpho-syntactic role of a foreign word, enough to make any method difficult and time-consuming. The popular approach devised by Ahn’s and Ollendorf’s for German, for example, would be useless if students only memorized sentences without understanding syntax, because they could not create new structures and reuse vocabulary in a different context. 46 As for English, idioms and pronunciation represent another challenge: recognizing sounds that are not available in Italian and appreciating the richness of vocabulary is a matter of time and perseverance that, in his view, students would not have, given the excessive workload. 47 In sum, Pavia believes that the programs have to focus on providing the basics, allowing students to start a more serious study of foreign languages after graduating, being motivated by personal interest and sufficient time to practice. The idea of absorbing a language as children does not work for students with an established mental subjective worldview. His class of young people does not correspond to the ideal language class which appeared to inform the curricula: the diversity of the students’ abilities prevents any in-depth knowledge of subjects; hence a teacher should only provide the ‘nuts and bolts’ to stimulate curiosity and support future studies. 48 Another critical point addressed in the pamphlet is the necessity to establish a hierarchy among the subjects and a more balanced distribution of time in all subjects, the same balance that is profitable in the organization of language teaching. The last part of the pamphlet describes the order of the topics and a progressive organization of the lessons. 45 He also approves of drilling to master phonology, and believes that etymologies are essential to the understanding of morphology. See Pavia, L’istruzione tecnica, 10–13. 46 For a description of Ollendorf and Ahn’s method, see Howatt & Widdowson, A history of ELT, 158–165. 47 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 10. 48 Ibidem, 13–15.

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First, the teacher should present the most ‘used’ words, in the form of common morphemes, and then their possible combinations according to their frequency in everyday language to stimulate the student to recombine them correctly into new words, phrases, and clauses. As for English, Pavia suggests starting with verbs and their forms, while in the case of German, the teacher should alternate the description of all word classes, moving gradually to present more complex structures and possible variations in the morphology of words. The ordering of the grammar should not follow the typical listing, that is, proceed from phonology to exercises based on texts to be translated, nor should it go from the simple to complex, but should be based on the frequency of the lexical item examined, and should foreground the most common grammatical aspects.49 An ordering of grammar based on a better understanding of complexity in cognitive terms is indeed an innovative approach compared with the traditional organization of grammar books. It indicates that Pavia’s teaching experience was inspired by his methodology and that, in his view, the teaching experience could be the guiding principle of school programs. 4.2 The Second Edition, 1906—Reenacting the Proposal The second edition of the pamphlet was published in Naples (1906). Although it is a reprint, for the most part, it represents a change in perspective as it foregrounds the role of the teacher. The subtitle reads note critiche, that is, critical notes, suggesting a more militant approach. The first edition had no lasting effect.50 As a matter of fact, Pavia fills the volume with his observation of the poor state of technical schools eighteen years after the first edition. He laments that the amount of work that students have to do is still excessive and that no real improvements have been made to the way languages such as English and German are taught: the ministry did not understand the urgency of his first proposal. While the first edition was a quick response to a ministerial decree, the second is a more accurate work intended to stir debate, given the fact that “his ideas are commonly accepted by public opinion”.51 49 Pavia does not define the concept of frequency nor does he provide examples. In the context of technical education the problem of teaching specialized vocabulary was an advanced task. See Del Lungo Camiciotti, ‘Conduct yourself’, 153–175. 50 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere 1–5. 51 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 7. Giovanni Gentile also taught in Naples at Liceo Vittorio Emanuale from 1902–1906 and we might assume that school was part of the public

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At the time, Pavia taught at the local Royal Technical Institute, which means that he worked in a new social context, but still had to adjust his teaching to the same standardized curriculum.52 If we try to characterize the work, we can construe it as an appeal for new reform in consideration of what seems to be a necessity of modern society at the turn of the century, to observe students’ needs and conditions. The two pamphlets represent two stages in a confrontation with the idea of pedagogy: one in which the teacher reacts to a top-down action, where the law instates teaching practice, and another which proposes a bottom-up view, pleading for consideration of student’s needs and hence an adjustment of all the requirements of the curriculum. Pavia restates his ideas: the most significant problem of language proficiency consists in insufficient knowledge of Italian, especially the inability to parse, the comprehensiveness of the program, that is, the excessive range of subjects, and the lack of time for self-study given the thirty-three to thirty-six hours of teaching that are still the norm in most schools.53 In his view, the core technical subjects compete with the learning of foreign languages, which need time, dedication, and practice, while his students lack motivation and commitment. Boredom, in particular, is a point that Pavia highlights in the second edition as a true obstacle to proficient learning. For this reason, he now suggests teaching about culture, i costumi stranieri, to stimulate curiosity through appropriate readings—which he does not specify, in any case.54 The fact that the lessons in foreign languages are placed at the end of the school day with no breaks does not help the learning process: students are tired and confused. Three rather than five hours a week would be more profitable: enough for the teacher to explain the grammar, leaving time for the students to digest.55 A gradual description of the language supported by exercises, the extensive use of examples, and a rejection of what Pavia def ines as an ‘excess of formality’ are also critical issues discussed in the new edition. He recommends homework and gives specific suggestions: reading the same text many times, focus on specific words and phrases, writing and notetaking as a form of practical learning, using a dictionary and reformulating what was debate among the educated. Pavia, though, does not mention any specific point nor provides context for his statement and we have no proof that he knew Gentile. 52 Naples was a former capital, struggling to find a new economic role and cultural identity. See Di Vaio, ‘L’istruzione tecnica’, 1–30. 53 Pavia, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere, 9. 54 Ibidem, 16–21. 55 Ibidem, 44–45.

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learned at school are all essential.56 Pavia adheres to the idea of teaching to educate that informed ministerial reforms, but this should not overwhelm and impair good organization of classwork, something that reaffirms the relevance of practice and experience. Teachers are still responsible for students’ morals, hence the recommendation to use the “best authors” as models to read and learn vocabulary.57 Moreover, variety and interest should make language learning stimulating. A good teacher has to explain grammar rules, dictate to improve orthography, read to improve listening, work on etymology, and compare foreign words with native versions, and this is the science of a good lesson.58 The lesson is a moment of physical and mental effort for both the pupil and the teacher, hence the importance of breaks in the daily timetable, short and more essential objectives. In this context, Pavia advocates for the importance of gymnastics and outdoor education. Walks could decompress and help students concentrate: physical exercise could strengthen the weak, stimulate sluggish students, and fortify the spirits of the young.59

5

Observations and Conclusion

The two editions of the pamphlet address a moment of reform and reorganization of technical schools that stimulated debate about the overall objectives of scientific education. In the social and cultural context described above, foreign languages in technical education played a significant role in the structure of the curricula. The number of hours dedicated to language learning equalled those given to science, which testified to their educational value. The curricula were rooted in a humanist view of culture, where classical and modern languages played a formative role. Pavia highlighted the clash between humanist education, the needs of the entrepreneurial classes, and classroom reality. By criticizing the curricula for being compiled with no knowledge of teenagers, Pavia supported the idea that class observation increased the value of teaching in social terms.

56 57 58 59

Ibidem, 13–14. Ibidem, 16–18. Ibidem, 30–32. See Alfieri, ‘La ginnastica’; Krüger, ‘Body culture’.

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In other words, the two pamphlets show that language learning was a classroom matter rather than a private concern, as the role, status, and function of the foreign language teacher changed from freelance to state-employed. Rather than adults, Pavia had to face young people with different needs who deserved a different kind of teaching. In his view, the teacher was the only one who could adapt the curriculum to the classroom context and meet the needs of the pupils. Seen this way, the curriculum must fit the student as a young person;the subject matter should be modulated with the student’s intellectual capabilities in mind, not an abstract pedagogy. In other words, this approach valorized practice by prioritizing it over the dominant pedagogy that understood teaching in philosophical terms. The grammars published at the end of the nineteenth century addressed the teacher rather than the students. The number of detailed explanations, the page layout, the order and the type of exercises and readings available in these books do not show innovation. The teacher would mediate the content and create the lesson by writing on the blackboard, dictating, and having students copy rules, words, and sentences in their notebooks. Drilling, repeating, and translating were achieved by copying down the exercise. A detailed description of any language would inform the teacher first: rich details assured quality. In sum, the day-to-day management of a class would clash with the prescriptions of the state curriculum: pupils needed time, practical exercises, and a sense of purpose. In this respect, homework was essential. At the end of the century, the educational situation called for political interventions to encourage mass literacy, vocational training, and specialized workers. By foregrounding the value of practice, Pavia brings insight to the difficulty of schooling in a moment of economic growth and social tension. His work represents a unique point of view on experience and the value of language teaching. Starting from an opposite position with the first edition, the second version of his pamphlet discloses a perspective that resists the bias of coeval pedagogy, too élitarian, but most of all distant from learners. Pavia’s position shows that the practical dimension of education had a purpose in cultural and economic terms, as it could improve schools that were modern and meaningful for the working classes and the new bourgeoisie. His voice remained isolated, but, for once, practice dominated theory.

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Bibliography Alfieri, Paolo, ‘La ginnastica come disciplina della scuola elementare negli anni dell’unificazione italiana. Una proposta di “ri-contestualizzazione” storiografica’, Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 4(2) (2017), 187–208. Argles, Michael, ‘The Royal Commission on technical instruction, 1881–1884: Its inception and composition’, The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education, 11.23 (1959), 97–104. Barausse, Alberto (ed.), Il libro per la scuola dall’Unità al Fascismo. La normativa sui libri di testo dalla Legge Casati alla Riforma Gentile (1861–1922), 2 vols. (Macerata: Alfabetica, 2008). Bressan, Carlo, L’istruzione tecnica in Italia nel 1889 (Parma: G. Ferrari, 1890). Bruni, Elsa M., Greco e latino: le lingue classiche nella scuola italiana (1860–2005) (Roma: Armando Editore, 2005). Caimi, Luciano, Carità Educatrice. Riscontri e testimonianze nell’Italia dell‘Ottocento (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2008). Chiosso, Giorgio, Aristocratici, filantropi e preti di fronte all’educazione del popolo nel primo Ottocento (Torino: SEI, 2007). Chiosso, Giorgio, Novecento Pedagogico (Brescia: La Scuola, 2012). Ciccarelli, Carlo & Fenoaltea, Stefano, ‘Through the magnifying glass: provincial aspects of industrial growth in post-Unification Italy’, Economic History Review, 66 (1) (2012), 57–85. Clark, Martin, The Italian Risorgimento (London: Routledge, 2013). Conti, Franco, L’Italia dei democratici. Sinistra risorgimentale, massoneria e associazionismo fra Otto e Novecento (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2000). Cuban, Larry, How teachers taught: Constancy and change in American classrooms, 1890–1990 (London and New York: Longman—Teachers College Press, 1993). D’Amico, Nicola, Storia della formazione professionale in Italia: Dall‘uomo da lavoro al lavoro per l’uomo (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2015). D’Ascenzo, Mirella, ‘Research fields of school historiography in Italy: The local history’, Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, v. 3(1) (2016), 249–272. De Sanctis, Francesco, I partiti e l‘educazione della nuova Italia (Torino: Einaudi, 1970). Decreto Regio 19/9/1860 n. 4315: Regolamento per le scuole tecniche e gli istituti tecnici. Raccolta degli atti del Governo di Sua Maestà il Re di Sardegna, Torino, Stamperia Reale, vol. XXIX, 1860, pp. 1715–1718. Decreto Regio 21 Giugno 1885, n. 3413, in: Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi e dei decreti del regno d’Italia. Parte principale. Volume 68, Anno 1885 (Roma: Regia Tipografia, 1885) 4728–4729. Del Lungo Camiciotti, Gabriella, ‘Conduct yourself towards all persons on every occasion with civility and in a wise and prudent manner; this will render you

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esteemed: Stance features in nineteenth-century business letters’, in: Dossena, Marina & Fitzmaurice, Susan (eds.), Business and Official Correspondence: Historical Investigations (Bern: Peter Lang, 2006) 32, 153–175. Di Pol, Redi Sante, La pedagogia scientifica in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento (Torino: Marcovalerio Editore, 2007). Di Vaio, Francesco, ‘L’istruzione Tecnica a Napoli dall’Unità alla Legislazione Giolittiana’, Rivista di Terra di Lavoro. Storia cultura società, Bollettino Ufficiale dell‘Archivio di Stato di Caserta, Anno IX, (2014), 1–2. Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 81 (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960). Fugazza, Mariachiara, ‘L’istruzione secondaria a Milano e l’inchiesta Scialoja’, in: Lacaita, Carlo & Fugazza, Mariachiara (eds.), L’istruzione secondaria nell’Italia unita 1861–1901 (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2013), 235–257. Fumi, Gianpiero, ‘L’insegnamento delle materie economico-commerciali negli istituti tecnici’, in: Lacaita, Carlo & Fugazza, Mariachiara (eds.), L’istruzione secondaria nell’Italia unita 1861–1901 (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2013), 174–209. Gaudio, Angelo, ‘La legge Casati. Una ricognizione storiografica’, in Annali di storia dell’educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche , in: Prunieri, Fabio (ed.), (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2019), 63–71. Hazon, Filippo, Storia della formazione tecnica e professionale in Italia (Roma: Armando, 1991). Howatt, Anthony Philip Reid & Widdowson, Henry George (eds.), A history of ELT (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Krüger, Michael, ‘Body culture and nation-building: The history of gymnastics in Germany in the period of its foundation as a nation-state’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 13:3 (1996), 409–417. Lacaita, Carlo, ‘La svolta unitaria e l’istruzione secondaria’, in: Lacaita, Carlo & Fugazza, Maria (eds.), L’istruzione secondaria nell’Italia unita, (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2013), 15–25. Laven, David, Restoration and Risorgimento: Italy 1796–1870 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Maggi, Stefano, Politica ed economia dei trasporti (secoli XIX–XX): una storia della modernizzazione italiana (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2001). Martinelli, Chiara, ‘Branding of technical institutes by the state: Italy 1861–1914’, in: Heikkinen, Anja & Lassnigg, Lorenz (eds.), Myths and brands in vocational education (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015), 12–26. Martinelli, Chiara, ‘Searching for a national model. Early paths in Italian industrial and artistic-industrial education’, Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione 5.2 (2018), 249–267. Ministero di agricoltura, industria e commercio, Italia: Divisione industrie e commerci, Annali dell‘industria e del commerci. Relazione sulle scuole d’Arti e Mestieri […]

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(Roma: Tipografia Eredi Botta, 1885), https://books.google.it/books?id=yK84lt 2UykwC&printsec=frontcover&hl=it&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v= onepage&q&f=false (accessed 24.04.2021). Montevecchi, Lucia, & Raicich, Marino (eds.), L’inchiesta Scialoja sulla istruzione secondaria maschile e femminile (1872–1875) (Roma: Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, Ufficio Centrale per i Beni Archivistici, 1995), http://www.­treccani.it/ enciclopedia/giorgio-politeo_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/ (accessed 28.4.2021). Morandini, Maria Cristina, Scuola e nazione: maestri e istruzione popolare nella costruzione dello Stato unitario (1848–1861) (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2003). Morcaldi, Maurilia, Le scuole industriali: 1880–1930, formazione e capitale umano, Vol. 1 (Milano: Franco Angeli, 2004). Morpurgo, Emilio, Istruzione tecnica in Italia (Roma: Tipografia Barbera, 1875). O’Brien, Patrick K. & Pigman, Geoffrey Allen, ‘Free trade, British hegemony and the international economic order in the nineteenth century’, Review of International Studies 18.2 (1992), 89–113. Pavia, Luigi, Sull’insegnamento delle lingue straniere negli Istituti tecnici e relativi programmi ed istruzioni ministeriali: Risposta alla circolare ministeriale n 828 del 18 gennaio 1888 (Como: Tipografia Angelo Luzzani, 1888). Pavia, Luigi, Le Lingue straniere negli istituti tecnici e l’eccessivo lavoro scolastico: note critiche (Napoli: Chiurazzi, 1906). Pizzarelli, Chiara, L’istruzione matematica secondaria e tecnica da Boncompagni a Casati 1848–1859: il ruolo della Società d’Istruzione e di Educazione, Rivista di Storia dell‘Università di Torino 2.2 (2014), 23–60. Polenghi, Simonetta, La scuola degli Asburgo. Pedagogia e formazione degli insegnanti tra il Danubio e il Po (1773–1918) (Torino: SEI, 2012). Rodríguez, Victoriano Gaviño, ‘Luigi Pavia y sus aportaciones a la enseñanza del español para italianos’, Signo y seña 33 (2018), 22–35. Rovito, Teodoro, Dizionario bio-bibliografico dei letterati e giornalisti italiani contemporanei (Napoli: Tipografia Melfi & Joele, 1907). Rugiu, Antonio Santoni, Breve storia dell’educazione artigiana (Roma: Carocci, 2008). Rugiu, Antonio Santoni & Santamaita, Saverio, Il professore nella scuola italiana dall’Ottocento a oggi (Bari: Laterza, 2014). Samuelson Report, Second report of the Royal Commissioners on technical instruction, Vol. I (London: HM Stationery Office, 1884) http://www.educationengland.org. uk/documents/samuelson/samuelson1884.html (accessed 28.04.2021). Soldani, Simonetta, ‘L’istruzione tecnica nell‘Italia liberale (1861–1900)’, Studi Storici 22.1 (1981), 79–117. Tognon, Giuseppe, ‘L’industria e le politiche per la formazione. Storia, problemi e prospettive della formazione professionale in Italia’, L’industria, Rivista di economia e politica industriale 4 (2002), 719–744.

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Tonelli, Aldo, L’istruzione tecnica e professionale di Stato nelle strutture e nei programmi da Casati ai giorni nostri (Milano: Giuffrè, 1964). Zaninelli, Sergio & Cafaro, Pietro, Alla guida della prima industrializzazione italiana, Vol. 2. (Milano: Il Polifilo, 1990).

About the Author Silvia Pireddu Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy [email protected] Silvia Pireddu received an MA in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature from Università degli Studi di Pavia (Italy), specializing in History of the English Language. She holds a PhD in English and American Cultures from IULM University, Milan, and worked with post-doctoral grants at Università degli Studi di Pavia on the history of translation. From 2005 to 2017, she taught seminars and courses at IULM and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan. At present, she is an associate professor of English Language and Linguistics at Università di Torino. Her research interests include diachronic linguistics, the history of language learning and teaching, the history of translation, and stylistics, with special reference to the intersection of discourse, texts, and culture.

10 Yoshisaburô Okakura and the Practical Value of the Study of English in Secondary Schools in Early Twentieth-century Japan Kohei Uchimaru Abstract To reconsider the teaching of English as a school subject at a time when education has come to be seen in almost entirely instrumental terms, this study focuses on the doyen of English teaching in early twentieth-century Japan, Yoshisaburô Okakura, who was more concerned than any of his predecessors or successors with teaching English as education. He is well known for valorizing reading as the practical value of the study of English. By closely examining his policies and teaching practice (the ‘taught’ layer), this chapter reveals that underlying his valorizing process were considerations on the purpose of general education in secondary schools, thereby illustrating that teaching practice should be irrevocably entwined with the ‘context’ (that is, where language is taught) from which ‘policies’ (for example, goals) result. Keywords: Yoshisaburô Okakura; English language education; EFL; English studies in Japan; EFL policies in Japan; history of language education in Japan; general education; secondary school education

1

Teaching and Learning English between Educational and Practical Values

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has increasingly come to be seen in almost entirely instrumental terms. Facing the pressure from career-oriented f ields, English teaching has focused on the functional

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch10

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use of language and has been reduced to meeting the perceived needs of workplaces across the globe. Japan is also not exempt from this. EFL policymakers are more concerned and obsessed than their predecessors with ‘fostering practical communicative abilities to comprehend information, to understand others’ intentions and to express one’s own ideas’, as is the case with the 1998–1999 revisions to the Course of Study for junior and senior high schools.1 Moreover, ‘Action Plan to Cultivate “Japanese with English Abilities”’, promoted by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) in 2003, mentions the word ‘communication’ no less than thirty-nine times and ‘speaking’ and ‘conversation’ thirty times each.2 Further buttressed by the revisions to the Course of Study in 2008–2009 and 2017–2018, those EFL policy directions have been deeply ingrained in Japanese English language education. Underlying this were the strong demands from the business community for English as the international language of commerce.3 A notable example is a business executive who called for a shift in the focus of teaching in the English departments at Japanese universities from ‘Shakespeare’ towards ‘Tourism’, catering lucratively to mass tastes and interests (this sounds odd given that few learn Shakespeare in English departments). Something similar can be said about English teaching in secondary schools. Literature has been scrapped from locally produced EFL textbooks authorized for use in secondary schools as useless for English teaching, and the uplifting benefit of good stories have been contested by competition from job-oriented fields. This situation is questioned by a distinguished scholar of English: “There are numbers of English textbooks that probably have little concern with the contents of texts”.4 No one can argue that communication is a major concern for EFL learners, but it is questionable whether English teaching in school education should serve as a mere training ground for the workforce. Many students would fall outside its narrow confines if the goals of English teaching were reduced to utilitarian instruction. The reduction of the needs and motivations for practical short-term goals would substantially repeat something similar to the nineteenth-century divide in England between utilitarian instruction for the masses and a literary education for the rulers. It is imperative, albeit hitherto neglected, to seriously consider the purpose of English teaching as a school subject. This chapter, therefore, seeks to remedy that oversight by focusing on Yoshisaburô Okakura (1868–1936), the doyen of English language teaching 1 2 3 4

Kanno, ‘EFL Policy Directions’, 66–67. Takahashi, ‘Literary texts’, 31. Hashimoto, ‘Cultivating “Japanese who can use English”’, 21–42. Yamamoto, ‘Kyôkasho no Eikyôryoku’, ii.

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in Japan during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Okakura was more concerned than anyone else with the teaching of the English language as part of school education, emphasizing the educational and practical values of the study of English in secondary schools. Of particular interest is that he presented arguments in favour of the practical, rather than educational, benefits of English learning and teaching, positing the notion that the practical study of English was reading. This is surprising given that, to one’s ear, the utilitarian benefits of English would sound like communication-oriented instruction, particularly speaking and listening. By illuminating what considerations operated on Okakura’s valorization of reading as the practical value of English, this study offers a notable instance of the ‘practice’ that stemmed from ‘context’ (general education in secondary schools). The subsequent discussion is divided into five sections. The first points out that Okakura categorized the benefits of the study of English as educational and practical, then valorizing reading as the practical value of English learning and teaching. The second section provides the underlying context for understanding his valorizing process, demonstrating that English teaching, from his perspective, should take its place as part of general education in secondary schools. The purpose of general education advanced by educators is discussed in the third section. The fourth section examines how Okakura geared the utilitarian implications of English teaching in schools towards the needs of general education. The fifth section argues that not only his principled approach to English teaching, but also his teaching practice per se, was dominated by educational, rather than simply linguistic, considerations.

2

Yoshisaburô Okakura and the Practical Value of the Study of English

It is necessary to provide a brief picture of the educational context in late‑ and early-twentieth century Japan to understand Okakura’s conception of English teaching. In seeking to construct the Japanese educational system, the first National Plan for Education (gakusei), established in 1872, created a primary school (shôgakko), secondary school (chûgakko), and university (daigaku) system on a national basis. Though school years varied several times between 1872 and 1946, those who advanced to secondary schools from primary schools (which started with an eight-year course in 1881 and became a six-year course in 1892) typically spent five years in middle schools

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for boys, girls’ high schools, normal schools for prospective schoolteachers, or (lower) technical schools. After that, some advanced to four-year higher normal schools (for aspiring secondary-school teachers) or higher technical schools, and small groups of male students spent three years in higher schools or two to three years in university preparatory courses (daigaku yoka) before advancing to three- or four-year universities. The English language began to be a compulsory subject in secondary schools in 1881, when the Japanese Ministry of Education circulated to each prefecture the Guidelines for the Middle School Curriculum (­chûgakko kyôsoku taikô). The year 1891 witnessed the foundation of a Japanese educational system that remained through 1946: both middle schools (chûgakkô) and girls’ high schools (kôtô jo gakkô) started to offer five and four years for students (aged approximately between twelve to seventeen years).5 Among other purposes, the middle school was partly designed to lay the foundation for higher schools, thus serving as an elite track. Indeed, the percentage of those who advanced from primary to middle schools was only 2.8 to 3.9 percent between 1901 and 1909, and it was still only 11.9 percent in 1936.6 Less than half of those students advanced to higher education institutions, as set out in the following decennial breakdown of the proportions:7 Table 1: Proportion of Students Who Advanced to Higher Education Institutions Period Number of those who advanced to higher education institutions

Total number Total national of students in middle population schools

Higher education entrance rate from middle schools

Percentage of middleschool students

1904 1910 1920 1930

98,000 118,133 177,201 345,691

41% 35% 34% 27%

0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.5%

4,510 5,621 7,693 15,516

45,546,000 48,554,000 55,473,000 64,450,000

5 Ômura, Takanashi & Deki, Eigo Kyôikushi Shiryô, I, 46–47; Ike, ‘A historical review’, 5. 6 Something similar can be said about girls’ high schools, although girls were not given the opportunity to advance to higher schools and imperial universities. See Erikawa, Kindai Nihon no Eigoka Kyôikushi, 14. 7 Ministry of Education, Zenkoku (1905), 90, Zenkoku (1911), 60, Zenkoku (1921), 119, Zenkoku (1931), 46. For the total national population in 1904 and 1910, see Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Prime Minister, Statistical Yearbook: The Fifth Edition (1964), 10. For that in 1920 and 1930, see National Statistics Centre, ‘Population by Sex […] — Total population (from 1920 to 2000), Japanese population (from 1950 to 2000)’.

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On average, approximately 32.5 percent of middle-school students continued to study in higher education institutions, and they were expected to assume leading roles in Japanese state administration or scholarship. This secondary education was at the heart of Okakura’s reflection on English teaching. Since Okakura was little known outside Japan, it is useful to provide a brief picture of his life and career. He was born in 1868 in Yokohama as the younger brother of Tenshin Okakura, who was to become a leading authority on Asian art, with major works including The Ideals of the East (1903), The Awakening of Japan (1904), and The Book of Tea (1906). As a special-course student at the College of Liberal Arts of the Imperial University (later Imperial University of Tokyo), he learned English under J.M. Dixon and Japanese linguistics under B.H. Chamberlain; he then began his career as a secondary school teacher in Japanese and English.8 As head of the English department at the Middle School of Tokyo (Tokyo Jinjô Chûgakkô), Okakura published his first article on English teaching, ‘Gaikokugo Kyôju Shinron’ (“A New Approach to Teaching the English Language”) (1894), in a periodical entitled Kyôiku Jiron (“Current Educational Topics”). After a stint in middle school, Okakura gained an academic position in the English Department at Tokyo Higher Normal School (Tokyo Kôtô Shihan Gakkô), the principal teacher-training institution for secondary schools, in 1896, and he was subsequently sent on a three-year official tour (1902–1905) to Germany and England (via France) at the behest of the Ministry of Education to research the language teaching methods used in Europe.9 During his sojourn in Western countries, he learned English literature under the aegis of Ronald B. McKerrow and the teaching of foreign languages under prominent linguists Walter Rippmann in London and Jean-Pierre Rousselot in Paris.10 Thus, Okakura learned about English literature and language pedagogy. After his return to Japan, Okakura served as head of the English Department at the Tokyo Higher Normal School before taking a position as professor of English studies at Rikkyo University.11 His emphasis on educational considerations of English teaching in secondary schools is well known

8 Okakura, ‘Prof. J. M. Dixon’, 150. 9 For Okakura’s attitudes towards teaching methods in Europe, see Uchimaru, ‘Education’, 159–176. 10 Fukuhara, Eigo Kyôiku Ron, 141; Muraoka, ‘Okakura Yoshisaburô Sensei Ryakuden’, 369; Sugiki, ‘Okakura Sensei Ryakureki’, 105–108. 11 Yoshisaburô Okakura is the younger brother of Tenshin Okakura (1863–1913), who was esteemed as a leading authority on Asian art. For Yoshisaburô Okakura’s biography, see Muraoka, ‘Okakura Yoshisaburô Sensei Ryakuden’, 397–404.

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among historians of EFL in Japan.12 He established himself as a leading name in English studies via multiple publications relating to English teaching, translations, and annotations of English literary texts; most notable was his co-edited large-scale project, the Kenkyusha English Classics series, which comprised 117 volumes of English literary texts meticulously annotated by distinguished Japanese scholars of English. Thus, Okakura prominently figured among scholars of English studies during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Okakura argued on his return that the teaching of the English language should include educational and practical values. A notable example of his vision can be found in his prominent 1911 book entitled English Language Education (Eigo Kyôiku): The subjects taught there [in secondary education] should all contain educational and practical values. The former is the so-called ‘mental cultivation’ and the latter ‘utilitarianism’. English as a school subject should have those two values.13

This demarcation per se is not unusual if the educational value of English refers to mental cultivation, whereas the practical value consists in skill training for the workforce. What is remarkable, however, was Okakura’s willingness to view ‘reading’ as most ‘practical’ rather than the spoken language: The purpose of English language teaching should be practical, but a question raised here is “What is practical?” Some people say it is “to foster the ability to exchange letters, or speak, with English-speaking people”. However, this is not correct […] In answer to “what are practical benefits like?”, I will not hesitate to say that it is to foster reading ability […] for the majority of students, the absorption of fresh knowledge and thought via books is more profitable. Therefore, there is no doubt that the practical value is to foster reading ability.14

Okakura presented arguments in favour of reading rather than speaking and writing practice. The juxtaposition of his unique bent with his predecessors’ investigation into the benefits of the study of English can more clearly demonstrate the 12 Smith & Imura, ‘Lessons from the past’, 31. 13 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 39. Translations from the Japanese originals are the author’s own. 14 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 37, 41–42.

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point. For instance, Henri Satô’s How to Study English (Eigo Kenkyûhô) (1902) articulated the following two different benefits of the study of English: (A) To learn practical English, thereby communicating and exchanging knowledge with Anglo-American, and other English-speaking people. (B) To absorb knowledge through English texts, that is, to foster reading ability.15

To his mind, the practical study of English was international communication. On the other hand, the cultural, and secondary, benefit was reading, not vice versa. This was, and still is, a common frame of mind. Such a notion, however, sharply contrasted with Okakura’s view of reading as the practical value of English studies. In his mind, the primary, and utilitarian, benefits of the study of English was reading. This compels one to ask: What ‘taught’ layer caused him to shift the focus of utilitarianism from oral communication to reading? To address this issue, it is necessary to investigate the underlying educational considerations behind his valorizing process of reading as the practical value of English in relation to the shifting Japanese EFL contexts.

3

Teaching English as a School Subject

The Japanese embarked on the study of English in the late nineteenth century. Faced with Western pressures for trading ports, Japan reopened its doors to the world in 1868, when the emperor decreed a restoration of imperial power to spearhead modernization and accepted the challenge to undertake monumental reforms and adaptations in a struggle against Western imperialism. The study of the English language was enlisted in the national project of absorbing and appropriating Western civilization for Japan’s modernization at a time when the American fleet was going westward across the Pacif ic Ocean and the British Empire was encompassing the world. The early Japanese take on English studies is most forcefully expressed in the English preface to an 1869 English-Japanese dictionary: The English language offers the readiest means of acquaintance with the manners and customs of the various nations of the world, and the 15 Henri, Eigo Kenkyûho, 3.

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knowledge thus derived, by showing us our defects and how to remedy them, must be of utility to the Empire.16

The study of the English language and English studies were rolled into one; language acquisition was designed to imbibe Western knowledge and values. This model of English studies, spreading among intellectuals at the dawn of Japan’s modernization, was called Eigaku (literally, ‘English studies’), and it was intended to overcome Japan’s weaknesses by learning ‘manners and customs’ from Anglo-American countries. In so doing, learners of English strove to make the country intellectually and mentally strong enough to compete with the West. It is noteworthy that this view indicates that the early study of English in Japan was intended as a means to “acquaintance with the manners and customs of the various nations of the world”. Indeed, the English language had been just a ‘means’ to knowledge acquisition until around the 1880s, when higher education was imparted in English by Anglophone teachers employed under the Ministry of Education.17 As far as English was a ‘means’, the study of English did not entirely need its ‘purpose’ or ‘value’; it was simply a ‘means’ to an end. However, the English language technically ceased to be a means to an end in 1881, when the Japanese Ministry of Education incorporated English as a compulsory subject within the middle-school curriculum. Regardless of their English-language needs, students started to learn English in school. Consequently, the study of English per se became an objective. This inevitably invited schoolteachers to ask a question: For what purposes should the English language be learned in secondary schools? To address this issue, teachers were obliged to start exploring the benefits and values of English learning and teaching in schools.18 This issue became increasingly pressing in the aftermath of Japan’s victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), when Japan embarked on the capitalist road, and, correspondingly, the business community began to call for English as a means to a commercial end.19 A distinguished scholar of English, Naibu Kanda (1857–1923), rubbed shoulders with the business community and sounded a call to economic competition in the wake of the war: 16 Takahashi, Maeda, & Maeda, English-Japanese dictionary, n.p. 17 Duke, The history of modern Japanese education, 61–256. 18 Takenaka, ‘Eigo Kyôiku’, 171–184. 19 Saitô, ‘Meiji Jidai,’ 109–115.

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The successful termination of the war has given an impetus to industrial and commercial enterprises to an extent hitherto unprecedented in the annals of this country. It is not too much to expect that in the next ten years the material progress of Japan will completely throw into the shade her not inconsiderable achievements in the past thirty years. She has come forth victorious from the storm of the battlefield, only to be plunged into a mightier conflict—the struggle for supremacy in the field of commerce. Not the least of her weapons in this species of warfare is the knowledge of European languages—especially English, the intellectual currency of the commercial world.20

The craving of the business community for English as a means to the perceived needs of the market and workplace became insatiable in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Mark Lincicome nicely explains the growth of capitalism in Japan after the war: The growth of capitalism at home, which received an important boost from the war, created new demands from industry for skilled workers, and new demands from workers for the education and training needed to compete for those positions. Japan’s abrupt emergence onto the world stage also created demands for a new generation of talented cosmopolitans, whose knowledge of foreign languages and cultures could be employed to advance Japan’s diplomatic and economic interests in the international arena in an era marked by increasing global economic competition.21

Graduates of higher education institutions were expected to serve as skilled workers for Japanese industry and as talented cosmopolitans on a global stage. The English level of the graduates of higher education institutions was, however, lamented, due to the lack of sufficient English proficiency in instrumental terms. For instance, a critic argued that current English language education was totally out of step with the real needs of English: Not being versed in practical English is not worth a penny in instrumental terms. Bookkeeping, accounting, and practical English are an essential weapon in business. Scholars of English are remarkable only in studying and criticizing verses written by high-brow Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, 20 Kanda, ‘English in middle schools’, 13. 21 Lincicome, Imperial subjects, 21.

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Tennyson, Emerson, and Carlyle, but they do not have a sufficient level of English proficiency to write a letter and to correctly understand a piece of newspaper, nor do they know how to write an invoice. All of them tend to be upset if foreign people speak to them.22

Whereas English literature was deemed irrelevant to utilitarian users of English, the ability to write a business letter and an invoice, or international communication, was considered necessary for the marketplace. The graduates’ lack of English proficiency was inevitably seen as resulting from the insufficient instruction of English in schools. As a consequence, the criticism was also aimed at English teaching in secondary schools that provided the foundation for higher education. Japanese teachers of English in secondary schools were, therefore, forcibly confronted with the task of addressing how and why English should be learned and taught in classrooms. In this climate, Okakura, who had just returned from an official tour in Europe in the wake of the Russo-Japanese war, voiced his concerns about English language teaching in Japan. In his view, though spoken English should come first in English instruction, teaching English as a tool for use in global markets was ideally and realistically neither desirable nor obtainable in a school environment. Setting secondary students’ sights only on such short-term practical goals would lead the majority of them to fall outside its narrow confines: We can hardly imagine that all of the middle-school students in Japan will communicate with foreign people. It is, therefore, a fallacy to define the word ‘utilitarianism’ in this instrumental term. Otherwise, not a single school subject in secondary curriculum is up to the mark. For example, students learning the Japanese language cannot entirely have masterly command of reading and writing various types of Japanese scripts immediately after their graduation. If one wishes it, Japanese textbook editors must fill the textbooks with an invoice, letter of attorney, promissory note, and business letter, and remove passages with educational value. However, writing practice must not be reduced only to business papers either.23

Whilst the business community pressured schoolteachers to train students for industrial pursuits, Okakura found it realistically and educationally 22 Nishikata, ‘Eigo Jukutatsu’, 8. 23 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 37–38.

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doubtful to reduce teaching goals to the perceived needs of the international market in secondary schools (albeit with the exception of technical schools).24 Instead of framing English as a career-oriented subject, Okakura drew a cordon sanitaire between the study of English as part of school education and English for functional purposes. This dichotomy can be traced back to his first article on English teaching, “Gaikokugo Kyôju Shinron”. In the paper, Okakura divides learners of English into two types: “[T]hose who learn a foreign language as part of general education” and “those interested in specializing in a foreign language”.25 In his view, Western methods advanced by the likes of H. G. Ollendorf and François Gouin were better suited for the latter, but they were out of step with the teaching of English as a school subject. That said, he directed his attention towards “those who learn a foreign language as part of general education”. The same view was more forcefully expressed again in his 1906 essay: The form of English teaching cannot be dictated without any consideration on types of learners. Teaching English as a school subject in secondary education is one thing, and teaching it for a short-time practical goal is another.26

Okakura confined the scope to teaching English as part of school education with the contention that “what I am trying to discuss is not about the teaching of foreign languages in general, but about foreign languages as a school subject in secondary education”.27 Thus, he sought to gear the study of English towards the purposes and requirements of school education.

4

The Overall Purpose of General Education in Secondary Schools

Okakura’s audacious bid to gear English teaching towards the needs of secondary education inevitably entails the following question: What was the purpose of general education in secondary schools? This question was answered by educationists, rather than English teachers, during the 24 25 26 27

On the teaching of English in (Italian) technical schools, see Pireddu in this volume. Okakura, ‘Gaikokugo’, 13. Okakura, ‘Honpô no Chûtô Kyôiku Gaikokugo Kyôiku nitsuiteno Kanken’, 1–2. Ibidem, 1–2, 10.

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formative years of Japanese secondary schools. An early instance can be found in Tomeri Tanimoto (1867–1946), professor at Tokyo Higher Normal School and Imperial University of Kyoto, who advocated general education in primary and secondary schools by demarcating between education and professional training: Instruction is simply to impart knowledge, but this is not the case in education […]. Instruction aimed at developing cultured citizens can be defined as educative instruction, whereas instruction aimed at merely imparting knowledge can be called non-educative instruction. Whilst instruction at universities should be non-educative, general education must be imparted through educative instruction.28

Whilst dismissing instruction aimed at merely imparting domain-specific knowledge as non-educational, Tanimoto distinguished primary and secondary schools as sites for general education intended to develop cultured citizens. By the same token, the educator who served as a principal at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal Schools, Motoichi Yuhara (1863–1901), eloquently asserted: Whilst universities are intended for the pursuit of science and technical schools impart knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the workplace, the ultimate objective of primary and secondary education is to develop cultured citizens […] professional training can be called non-disciplinal instruction, and general education should be def ined as disciplinal instruction.29

Yuhara framed general education for character development. In trying to define the educational value of history teaching, a history teacher at Tokyo Middle School, Taichirô Honjô, also differentiated general education in primary and secondary schools from professional training in higher education institutions, asserting that general education should be designed to “impart not simply knowledge and skills necessary for everyday life, but also to foster students’ intellectual and moral development”. In this framework, teaching Japanese history as part of “our general education”, he argued, should serve as a material resource to exploit for developing cultured citizens, rather than simply imparting historical knowledge.30 28 Tanimoto, ‘Rekishi Kyôjuhô Yôron’, 41. 29 Yuhara, Futsû Kyôju Shinron, 4. 30 Honjô, Rekishi Kyôju hô, 13, 29.

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These educators shared the same view in large part due to their embrace of educational science advanced particularly by a German educational theorist, Johann Friedrich Herbart, whose theory on general education was widely accepted in Japanese educational circles in the 1890s. The pedagogy was promoted by Emil Hausknecht, who taught German pedagogy at Imperial University between 1887 and 1890. Tanimoto, Yuhara, and Honjô all learned the educational theory under the aegis of Hausknecht. Most importantly, Okakura himself attended his class as an unregistered student at the university.31 The subsequent years saw the dissolution and absorption of Herbartian pedagogy into a new educational theory, but the new generation of educators further elaborated on general education, dividing the benefits of school subjects into educational and practical benefits. For example, Okakura’s colleague at Tokyo Higher Normal School, Shinma Mizobuchi (1871–1935), stated that the purpose of general education should be “not only to provide knowledge and skills but also to develop general cognitive abilities”.32 An educator at the primary school attached to Tokyo Higher Normal School, Tsunezô Morioka (1871–1944), similarly claimed that the school curriculum should entail ‘formal’ and ‘practical’ values.33 The ‘formal’ values concerned the development of cultured citizens, whilst the ‘practical’ value consisted in the so-called knowledge considered necessary for everyday livelihood. In his exposition of secondary education, Morioka foregrounded the ‘formal’, or educational, study of subjects as an integral part of primary and secondary education. Thus, there was a remarkable trend among educators towards dividing the benef its of school subjects into educational and practical values, thereby presenting their arguments in favour of mental culture.34 Teachers for general education courses were not preparing students to gain work skills, but rather providing a foundation on which to develop cultured citizens through the teaching of a school subject.

5

Valorizing Reading Practice as the Practical Value of English in Secondary Schools

English as a school subject was not exempted from this framework of general education. The 1911 revised Course of Study in English for the Middle School 31 Okakura, ‘Tomoni Ihô ni Au’, 17. 32 Mizobuchi, Kyôikugaku Kôgi, 122–123. 33 Morioka, Kyôikugaku Seigi, 256–260. 34 Saitô, ‘A Reconsideration’.

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(Chûgakkô Kyôju Saimoku), dictated by the Ministry of Education, shifted the primary purpose of teaching English from simply knowing the English language (chisiki) towards “intellectual and moral development” (chitoku).35 Y. Tadokoro, director of the Common Education Bureau for the Ministry of Education, similarly embraced this view by stating that “the teaching of English in our secondary schools ought to be turned to full account for the furtherance of moral education”: [I]t is still of greater moment and more essentially important for teachers to give moral instruction while teaching English to their pupils […] we are aiming in secondary schools in our country at imparting the higher general education that is necessary to a man, that is, at making Japanese gentlemen.36

Equipping students with the intellectual and moral development necessary for cultured citizens through the study of English was a major concern in secondary education. The notion of general education in schools as a means to develop cultured citizens was shared by Okakura, who averred that “in general, the purpose of secondary education is to impart higher general education to middle- or upper-class students”.37 His view was further forcefully expressed in a 1915 lecture organized by the Ministry of Education: The purpose of such [secondary] schools is not to equip students with knowledge and skills necessary for their livelihood, but to foster the intellectual and moral development (chitoku) necessary for cultured Japanese citizens, thereby leading them to learn what Westerners call ‘humanities’, or, by extension, what the British call ‘liberal education’.38

To his way of thinking, secondary education should aim to improve the minds of students in ways bef itting gentlemen and ladies: “English for middle and normal schools should be an English designed to shape the innate qualities of a gentleman”.39 35 Ômura, Takanashi & Deki, Eigo Kyôikushi Shiryô, I, 71, 84. 36 Tadokoro, ‘The study of English’, 9–10. 37 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 39. 38 Okakura, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Eibun Kaishaku-hô’, 375. 39 Okakura, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Kôgi Yôkô’, 244; Okakura, ‘Eigo Kyôjuhô Ippan’, 116: Shibuya, ‘Eigo Taika Rekihô Roku’, 115.

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What is exceptional about Okakura, however, is that he construed this purpose of secondary education as the practical, rather than educational, value of English teaching in secondary schools. For him, the educational study of English was largely to foster cognitive (i.e. observation, classification, and induction) awareness through grammar and syntactic analysis, but this was not the prime value. In placing greater emphasis on practical benefits, Okakura ramped up efforts to rework the utilitarian implications of the study of English in terms of school education: To gear the subjects taught in secondary schools towards utilitarianism is […] to encourage students to exploit something that they learned in secondary schools, thereby enabling them to apply it in different directions. Since all the school subjects are premised on this idea, it is a fallacy to think that all the things necessary for everyday life must be learned in schools. A good example is math. To what extent is the calculus learned in schools useful for everyday life? The study of school subjects is not designed to be instantly applied in everyday life, but to provide a repository of general ideas to be applied to whatever directions students wish if they apply. Only in this term does the true sense of the ‘utilitarianism’ that I have advanced manifest itself. 40

In defining utilitarianism in school education as acquiring “a repository of general ideas” to be applied in any direction in the future, Okakura voiced his dissent to the call for reducing English teaching in secondary schools to practical short-term goals. The truly utilitarian accomplishment of school education was, from this perspective, made possible not by everyday prattle and business-letter writing, but by reaping the rewards of Western thought and knowledge from English texts: The practical value of the study of English is to absorb different types of knowledge and information; in other words, to draw fresh and wholesome intellectual currents in the West, pour them into the minds of the Japanese, and generate applicable ideas by combining them. Our country’s great progress since the Meiji Restoration was made possible largely through the adoption of new knowledge and thought from foreign countries. It is generally acknowledged that its means and catalyst have been foreign languages. Given that our country has been indebted to

40 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 38–39.

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foreign countries and will further benefit from them hereafter, it is most natural that this should be the purpose of the study of English. 41

From the standpoint of general education, reading was viewed as having practical value in schools. For Okakura, the most suitable materials to cultivate the mind include literary works that Stopford A. Brooke called “the written thoughts and feelings of intelligent men and women” or stories of great historical figures. 42 Such materials were viewed as a moral and intellectual force to be applied to the conduct of life and the improvement of national culture. Okakura’s idealism powerfully shone through in his sets of locally produced textbooks authorized for use in secondary schools, particularly the five volumes of The Globe Readers (1908). Whereas early lessons focus exclusively on the spoken language, the fourth and fifth volumes collect texts on admirable characters and historical topics, including “Washington’s Address to his Troops”, “The Enchanted Sword” (King Arthur), “Alfred the Great”, “Sir Francis Drake”, “Dr Johnson”, and “John Milton”. 43 In the light of general education, gaining knowledge and thought from English texts and generating ideas applicable to the conduct of life in all its contexts were set as goals of the practical study of English in secondary schools. Language teaching took its place alongside other subjects in the school curriculum as part of the educational process of developing cultured citizens. Okakura’s bid to valorize reading over short-term instrumental goals as the practical value of the study of English represented his careful considerations of and allegiance to general education in secondary schools.

6

Educational Considerations on Teaching Practice

Okakura’s educational considerations operated not only on his principled approach to English teaching, but also on his teaching practice, particularly reading instruction, in a school setting. The difficulty that Japanese students would face when English was taught monolingually, he claimed, should not be ascribed simply to linguistic difficulties, but also to cognitive ones. 41 Okakura, Eigo Kyôiku, 40. 42 Brooke, English literature, 5. This book was one of the most popular amongst teachers and learners of English. 43 For Okakura’s teaching methods, see Uchimaru, ‘Education’, 159–176.

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Okakura, therefore, promoted the use of the known as a catalyst for the new in instruction, as he argued in his 1894 article: In teaching new ideas, it is necessary to encourage learners to compare the new with the already acquired idea and to notice differences and similarities between them. There is no doubt that it is wrong to only present the new to acquire it […] regrettably, few teachers present differences in the use of syntax and words between Japanese and English, thereby making learners aware of similarities between the acquired idea and the new and sort out those differences and similarities in their minds. 44

Language learning, he argued, would proceed best when tied to existing knowledge. To that end, he advocated the use of Japanese equivalents to English. A 1916 interview provides a good example: In order to learn a language unfamiliar to our culture and customs and then to appreciate the language, it is necessary to have a platform, like a sort of mirror, from which to work out the meaning of the target language […] in a way that we can infer ‘oranges’ from Japanese ‘mandarin oranges’ (mikan). 45

In his reflection on educational science, knowledge acquisition takes place when an unfamiliar idea is assimilated by those already in the mind. Students were, therefore, expected to expand their own ideas as a way to help them acquire the new: Some people say that writings by Emerson or Carlyle are difficult […] they should seek to cultivate the habit of thinking and expand their ideas by reading Chinese classics and Japanese books in the first place. It often happens that some idea expressed in English appears to be difficult, though the same idea makes sense when expressed in Japanese words. To remedy this, it is necessary to expand their ideas. 46

It was not entirely right to think that language acquisition should be simply linguistically-oriented, on the grounds that it was irrevocably

44 Okakura, ‘Gaikokugo’, 6. 45 Shibuya, ‘Eigo Taika Rekihô Roku: Okakura Yoshisaburô Shi’, 115. 46 Okakura, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Eibun Kaishaku hô’, 178.

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entwined with what he called ‘empirical units’, or the amount of preexisting experience: [I]n much the same way that we cannot understand French and English cuisines without tasting Japanese fare […] we cannot sufficiently understand what we have not experienced; on the other hand, we can fully understand what we have already experienced. In this respect, our knowledge of the Japanese language is significantly related to the ability to interpret English sentences. 47

Thus, his inductive attitude towards language learning can be seen as oriented by educational, rather than simply linguistic, considerations. What is crucial to recognize here is that Okakura was far from alone in advancing this pedagogical process; rather, it resonated strongly with that promoted by experts on general education. For instance, Tanimoto, the educationist mentioned above, placed strong emphasis on a complete absorption of the new in familiar ideas: For students unable to directly assimilate new ideas, it is necessary to make their past ideas clear before presenting the new, then associate the known with the new to apperceive the related new ideas, and after that, combine, arrange, and recapitulate them, and finally apply them in the interpretation of life. 48

Pre-existing ideas for assimilation of the new was considered an integral process of the pedagogy among educators. Prominent educator Takehiko Yumoto (1856–1925), shared the same belief: “[T]he apperceiving mass of ideas in the minds of students is not entirely clear and correct. To apperceive the new, they must clearly and correctly understand something that they have already known”. 49 A more concrete example of teaching practice was presented by Sadaharu Kuroda (1863–1914) and Kunimasa Kinoshita in their co-authored Kyôju Jutsu (The Art of Teaching): “When teaching something that students have never seen before, such as a wolf and tiger, teachers should begin with something that they have already known, such as a cat and dog.”50 In applying this pedagogy to actual teaching in the classroom, 47 Okakura, ‘Okakura Kyôju’, 146. 48 Tanimoto, Jitsuyô Kyôikugaku oyobi Kyôjuhô, 87–88. 49 Yumoto, Sinpen Kyôjugaku, 44–47. 50 Kuroda & Kinoshita, Kyôju Jutsu, 19–20.

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they encouraged teachers to see a dog and cat as the mass of ideas in the minds of students for assimilation of new ideas: a wolf and tiger. In this educational science, new knowledge became best digestible when it was perceived in terms of a past experience.51 This process of instruction drew sustenance from the preference for inductive, rather than deductive, teaching in primary and secondary schools. Tanimoto was adamant that ‘inductive’ reasoning was definitely educational: “In educational instruction, it is imperative to begin with induction from specific known facts to produce general rules and principles, and to apply them.”52 It is important to bear in mind that inductive reasoning as a method of educational instruction provided a valid foundation to assimilating the new by using past ideas. After the last few years of the 1890s, the Herbartian psychology of education per se lost its hold due to its too formalistic instructional process, but basing instruction on the known was further promoted by educationists at higher normal schools. Kanjirô Higuchi (1872–1917), professor at Tokyo Higher Normal School and an ardent critic of Herbart’s formalism, nevertheless argued in 1899 that “understanding takes place when new ideas are assimilated in familiar ideas”.53 In trying to apply the pedagogy to language teaching, Shôichiro Kawashima (1870–1947), who taught at several normal schools, wondered “how on earth grammar in foreign language can be learned without any knowledge of that in Japanese”.54 By the same measure, Jirô Shimoda (1872–1938), professor at Tokyo Women’s Higher School, advocated the use of the ideas already in the minds of students as a ‘foundational’ form of instruction in secondary schools for girls: Instruction must be foundational. In other words, it is necessary to base instruction on past experience and knowledge to bind it with the new. This newly acquired idea serves again as a basis for teaching the next. Ideas thus expanded are foundational, and well-arranged.55

It is no coincidence that the pedagogy built by educationists was in close proximity to Okakura’s, given that they served as professors at normal schools and were ardent advocates of general education. It is fair to say, rather, that 51 For Japanese principles, practices, and politics in education during the 1890s, see Lincicome, Principle, praxis, and the politics of educational reform, 56–102. 52 Tanimoto, Jitsuyô, 86. 53 Higuchi, Tôgoshugi: Shin Kyôjuhô, 48–49. 54 Kawashima, Kakuka Kyôju Genri oyobi Kyôan, 256. 55 Shimoda, Joshi Kyôiku, 365.

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Okakura commonly shared the then-current pedagogical knowledge, and applied it to the teaching of English in his own way. His teaching theory and practice, inspired by his allegiance to school education, were entirely underpinned by educational, rather than merely linguistic, considerations.

7 Conclusion At a time when there were increasing calls for utilitarian school education, Okakura audaciously set his sights on the purpose of general education in secondary schools and sought to place the teaching of EFL alongside other subjects in the curriculum. Drawing sustenance from contemporary educational, rather than linguistic, theory, in combination with insights from his teaching experience, Okakura’s considerations on general education in schools informed his view on reading as having practical value, his selection of material in the textbooks that he produced, and his teaching methods. His preference was thus for “English language education”, instead of “English language teaching or instruction”. Although Okakura’s idealism was not entirely achieved in schools that were ultimately degraded into preparatory ones for higher education institutions, his educational considerations on English language teaching illustrate that teaching practice should be irrevocably entwined with the ‘context’ (that is, where language is taught) from which ‘policies’ (that is, goals and ideals) result. In his view, it was ethically questionable to reduce teaching goals exclusively to short-term utilitarianism without any regard to ‘context’ and its corresponding ‘policies’.

Bibliography Brooke, Stopford Augustus, English literature (London: Macmillan, 1876). Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Prime Minister, Statistical yearbook: the fifth edition (Tokyo: Japan Statistical Association, 1964). Duke, Benjamin, The history of modern Japanese education: Constructing the national school system, 1872–1890 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009). Erikawa, Haruo, Kindai Nihon no Eigoka Kyôikushi: Shokugyôkei Shogakkô niyoru Eigo Kyôiku no Taishûka Katei (“A historical study of English language teaching in prewar Japan”) (Tokyo: Tôshindo, 2006). Fukuhara, Rintarô, Eigo Kyôiku Ron (“On English language education”) (Tokyo: Kenkyûsha, 1948).

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Hashimoto, Kyoko, ‘Cultivating “Japanese who can use English”: Problems and contradictions in government policy’, Asian Studies Review, 33.1 (2009), 21–42. Higuchi, Kanjirô, Tôgôshugi Shin Kyôjuhô (“A holistic teaching method”) (Tokyo: Dôbunkan, 1900). Honjô, Taichirô, Rekishi Kyôju hô (“The teaching of Japanese history”) (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1892). Ike, Minoru, ‘A historical review of English in Japan (1600–1880)’, World Englishes, 4.1 (1995), 3–11. Kanda, Naibu, ‘English in middle schools, 1896’, in: Ômura, Kiyoshi, Takanashi, Kenkichi & Deki, Shigekuni (eds.), Eigo Kyôikushi Siryô (“A collection of research materials on English language teaching in Japan”), 5 vols. (Tokyo: Horei Shuppan, 1980), II, 13–17. Kanno, Yasuko, ‘EFL policy directions in multilingual Japan’, in: Cummins, Jim & Davidson, Chris (eds.), International handbook of English language teaching, part 1 (New York: Springer, 2007), 63–73. Kanô, Kizô, ‘Kaizen no Yochi Oshi’ (“Much Room for Improvement”), in: Ômura,Kiyoshi, Takanashi, Kenkichi & Deki, Shigekuni (eds.), Shiryô Nihon Eigakushi (“A collection of research materials on English studies in Japan”), 2 vols. (Tokyo: Taishûkan, 1978), II, 346. Kawashima, Schôichiro, Kakuka Kyôju Genri oyobi Kyôan (“A principle for teaching and its proposal”) (Tokyo: Shûeidô, 1900). Kuroda, Teiji & Kunimasa Kinoshita, Kyôju Jutsu (“The art of teaching”) (Tokyo: Bungakusha, 1891). Lincicome, Mark, Imperial subjects as global citizens: Nationalism, internationalism, and education in Japan (New York: Lexington Books, 2009). Lincicome, Mark, Principle, praxis, and the politics of educational reform in Meiji Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1995). Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau (ed.), Zenkoku Kôritsu Shiritsu Chûgakkô nikansuru Shochôsa: Meiji 38 nen 2 gatsu (“Investigations into public and private secondary schools across the country: February, 1905”) (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau, 1905). Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau (ed.), Zenkoku Kôritsu Shiritsu Chûgakkô nikansuru Shochôsa: Meiji 44 nen 10 gatsu (“Investigations into public and private secondary schools across the country: February, 1910”) (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau, 1911). Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau (ed.), Zenkoku Kôritsu Shiritsu Chûgakkô nikansuru Shochôsa: Taishô 10 nen 10 gatsu (“Investigations into public and private secondary schools across the country: October, 1921”) (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau, 1921).

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Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau (ed.), Zenkoku Kôritsu Shiritsu Chûgakkô nikansuru Shochôsa: Shôwa 6 nen 10 gatsu (“Investigations into public and private secondary schools across the country: October, 1931”) (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, Middle and Elementary School Bureau, 1931). Mizobuchi, Shinma, Kyôikugaku Kôgi (“A lecture on pedagogy”) (Tokyo: Fuzanbo, 1909). Morioka, Tsunezô, Kyôikugaku Seigi (“A detailed exposition of pedagogy”) (Tokyo: Dôbunsha, 1906). Muraoka, Hiroshi, ‘Okakura Yoshisaburô Sensei Ryakuden’ (“A short biography of Okakura Yoshisaburô”), in: Ichikawa, Sanki (ed.), Okakura Sensei Kinen Ronbunshû (“Collected papers in honour of professor Okakura”) (Tokyo: Kenkyûsha, 1928), 397–404. National Statistics Center, ‘Population by sex (as of October 1 of Each Year)–Total population (from 1920 to 2000), Japanese population (from 1950 to 2000)’ (2000), (accessed 19 July 2020). Nishikata, Gakunin, ‘Eigo Jukutatsu no Hiketsu’ (“A tip for mastering English”), Gakusei Taimusu (“The Student Times”), 9.13 (1906), 8–9. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Gaikokugo Kyôju Shinron’, Kyôiku Jiron (“Current Education”), 338–340 (1894), 1–49. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Honpô no Chûtô Kyôiku Gaikokugo Kyôiku nitsuiteno Kanken’ (‘A view on English teaching in Japan’), in: Brebner, Mary (ed.), Gaikokugo Saishin Kyôjuho (‘The latest foreign language teaching’), trans. by Yoshisaburô Okakura (Tokyo: Dai-Nishon Tosho, 1906), 1–32. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Kôgi Yôkô’, Eigo Seinen (“The Rising Generation”), 19.10 (1908), 244–246. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Eigo Kyôjuhô Ippan’, in: Makiyama, Eiji (ed.), Chûtô Kyôiku Kyôjuhô (“Pedagogy for Secondary Education”) (Tokyo: Ikusei-kai, 1910), 95–156. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Eibun Kaishaku-hô’ (“Professor Okakura on the teaching of English reading”), Eigo Seinen (“The Rising Generation”), 33.12 (1915), 375. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Eibun Kaishaku-hô’ (“Professor Okakura on the teaching of English reading”), Eigo Seinen (“The Rising Generation”), 34.5 (1915), 146. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Okakura Kyôju no Eibun Kaishaku-hô’ (“Professor Okakura on the teaching of English reading”), Eigo Seinen (“The Rising Generation”), 34.6 (1915), 177–178. Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Prof. J. M. Dixon no koto domo’ (“About prof. J. M. Dixon”), Eigo Seinen (“The Rising Generation”), 70.5 (1933), 150.

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Okakura, Yoshisaburô, ‘Tomoni Ihô ni Afu’ (“Meeting friends in foreign countries”), Kokkan (Japanese and Chinese), 30 (1936), 12–17. Ômura, Kiyoshi, Takanashi, Kenkichi & Deki, Shigekuni (eds.), Eigo Kyôikushi Shiryô (“A collection of research materials on English language teaching in Japan”), 5 vols. (Tokyo: Tokyo Hôrê Shuppan, 1980), 1. Saitô, Kôichi, ‘Meiji Jidai niokeru Eibunpô Kyôikushi no Kenkyû’ (“A historical study of English grammar in Meiji Japan”) (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Tokyo, 2014). Saitô, Kôichi, ‘Okakura Yoshisaburô Saikô’ (“A reconsideration of Okakura ­Yoshisaburo’s principle for English education in Japan”), The Journal of HiSELT, 27 (2012), 1–30. Satô, Henri, Eigo Kenkyûho (“How to study English”) (Tokyo: Bunseisha, 1902). Shibuya, Shinpei, ‘Eigo Taika Rekihô Roku: Okakura Yoshisaburô Shi’, Eigo no Nippon (“The Nippon”), 9 (1916), 114–16. Shimoda, Jirô, Jôshi Kyôiku (“Women’s education”) (Tokyo: Kinkôdô, 1904). Smith, Richard, & Motomichi Imura, ‘Lessons from the past: Traditions and reforms’, in: Makarova, Veronika & Rodgers, Theodore (eds.), English language teaching: The case of Japan (Munich: Lincom-Europa, 2004), 29–48. Sugiki, Takashi, ‘Okakura Sensei Ryakureki’ (“A short biography of professor Okakura”), Eibei Bungaku (“British and American Literature”), 9 (1937), 105–108. Tadokoro, Y., ‘The study of English in the schools of Japan’, Eigo Kyôju (“The English Teachers’ Magazine”), 4.9 (1916), 6–11. Takahashi, Kazuko, ‘Literary texts as authentic materials for language Learning: The current situation in Japan’, in: Teranishi, Masayuki, Saito, Yoshifumi & Wales, Katie (eds.), Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 26–40. Takahashi, Shinkichi, Kenkichi Maeda & Maeda, Masana, English-Japanese dictio­ nary (Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1869). Takenaka, Tatsunori, ‘Eigo Kyôiku Eigo Gakushû niokeru Mokuteki Ishiki no Hensen nit suite’ (“Shifting purposes of the study of English”), Eigakushi Kenkyû (“English Studies in Japan”), 15 (1982), 171–184. Tanimoto, Tomeri, Jitsuyô Kyôikugaku oyobi Kyôjuhô (“A practical pedagogy and its teaching method”) (Tokyo: Rokumeikan, 1894). Tanimoto, Tomeri, ‘Rekishi Kyôjuhô Yôron’ (“On the teaching of history”), in: Yamaguchi Kôtô Gakkô, Kyôsoku Setsumeisho Tsuki (“Proposals for the teaching at Yamaguchi Higher School and its supplementary notes”) (Yamaguchi: Yamaguchi Kôtô Gakkô, 1890). Uchimaru, Kohei, ‘Education through the study of English: Yoshisaburô Okakura as a conservative reformer’, History and Language, 62.2 (2019), 159–176.

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Yamamoto, Shirô, ‘Kyôkasho no Eikyôryoku’ (“The powerful influence of English textbooks”), in: Sanseidô (ed.), The crown English series II: New edition, teacher’s manual (Tokyo: Sanseidô, 1999), 1–2. Yuahara, Motoichi, Futsû Kyôju Shinron (“A new theory of general education”) (Tokyo: Kinkodô, 1892). Yumoto, Takehiko, Sinpen Kyôjugaku (“A new method of teaching”) (Tokyo: Sankôsha, 1895).

About the Author Kohei Uchimaru Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences Osaka Metropolitan University [email protected] Kohei Uchimaru is an associate professor in the faculty of Literature and Human Sciences at Osaka Metropolitan University. His recent articles include: ‘“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast”: Learner-Friendly Shakespeare in an EFL Classroom’ in Early Modern Culture Online 7 (2019); ‘Education through the Study of English: Yoshisaburô Okakura as a Conservative Reformer’ in Language & History 62.2 (2019); and ‘Teaching Shakespeare in Early Twentieth-Century Japan: A Study of King Lear in Locally Produced EFL School Readers’ in Shakespeare Studies 56 (2018). He guest-edited Teaching Shakespeare 16 (British Shakespeare Association, 2018) and co-authored Shakespeare in East Asian Education (Palgrave, 2021).

11

The British Juggernaut ESP Practice and Purpose in the 1970s Shona Whyte Abstract This chapter begins with a debate in the British Council publication ELT Documents in the late 1970s over English for Specif ic Purposes (ESP) and what Abbott 1 termed TENOR (Teaching English for No Obvious Reason), which highlights tensions between the emerging field of applied linguistics and the practical experience of language teachers working in UK universities and overseas.2 Contemporary sources including academic articles, textbooks, and biographies document the influence of eight academics and EST lecturers on the development of ESP in the UK. Their work benefited from both unusually propitious circumstances and some quite remarkable individuals, exemplifying a useful cross-fertilization of academic research and teaching practice. Keywords: English for specific purposes (ESP); English for Science and Technology (EST); materials writing; applied linguistics; British Council

1

The Practice-theory-gap

In language teaching, as in other f ields of education, it is common to discuss a gap between theory and practice. On one hand we may ask how research findings can be made accessible to language teachers and integrated into curricula. On the other, we might wonder how what occurs in language classrooms and in the heads of language learners can best be accounted for by theories of language learning and teaching. 1 2

Abbott, ‚‘ESP and TENOR’. Abbott, ‘Motivation, materials’; Abbott, ‘ESP and TENOR’; Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch11

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The bridging of this gap is often viewed as a need to bring teaching into line with theory, which may be referred to as science, methodology, or research in different contexts at various times. However, as the grounded histories in the present volume show, the opposite approach, aligning theory with teaching practice, may in fact pay greater dividends. Cuban explains the theory-practice disconnect in terms of the sometimes wilful ignorance on the part of reformers of what he refers to as a ‘coral reef’ of prior developments: Previous reforms create the historical context for the multi-layered curriculum and influence the direction of contemporary reforms. This historical context is like a coral, a mass of skeletons from millions of animals built up that, over time, accumulates into reefs above and below the sea line. Its presence cannot be ignored (n)either by ships (n)or by inhabitants.3

Hence, for Cuban, the futility of tinkering with the “intended (or official) curriculum” which “rests atop” three other layers: the taught curriculum, which teachers deliver “once they close their classroom doors”, the learned curriculum or “what students take away from class”, and the tested curriculum, representing “an even narrower band of knowledge”. 4 The branch of English language teaching (ELT) devoted to particular academic, scientific, or occupational concerns known as English for specific purposes (ESP) presents an interesting case for this multi-layered model because of its traditional “conflation of research and pedagogical practice”.5 This chapter looks at conflicts and convergences in ESP, and especially English for Science and Technology (EST), as it emerged in the UK in the 1970s, between the official or intended curriculum, which was generally designed and promoted in universities and by the British Council, and Cuban’s taught layer, which was developed by practitioners in these same contexts. This domain is by nature quite clearly circumscribed and thus amenable to close investigation; it was also the focus of intense efforts and debate among practitioners and theorists over grassroots needs and institutional constraints which are mirrored in current developments regarding English Medium Instruction (EMI), for example. Finally, this period is considered by some “a golden age” where the British Council developed “a 3 4 5

Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. Ibidem. Johns, ‘The history of English’, 6.

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splendid cohort of applied linguistics specialists”6 and thus presents an interesting example of a domain shaped largely via bottom-up rather than top-down principles. Given the geopolitical developments in the wake of the Second World War, the race to establish scientific and technological expertise, and the concomitant importance of the oil-rich Middle East, a new concern for EST seemed inevitable. For some in ELT, this new orientation was a welcome opportunity to rationalize: “[T]here would be much to be gained […] by discarding the confusing acronyms which are in use (e.g. TEFL, TESL, TESOL) and approaching all language teaching situations from an ESP viewpoint”.7 Others took an opposing position, noting that much language teaching and learning occurs outside particular needs or motivations and may be viewed as TENOR: Teaching English for No Obvious Reason.8 From this perspective, practical difficulties with ESP remain at all levels of the model, but especially between the taught and learned layers, and between the taught layer and the intended curriculum. This chapter examines some of these tensions, taking as its starting point an early controversy in the fledgling domain of ESP among practitioners working in the UK and abroad in the 1970s.

2

Teaching English for No Obvious Reason (TENOR): A Historical Debate

The history of this acronym can be traced to an exchange between 1978 and 1980 in ELT Documents, a series of occasional papers published by the British Council. Swales describes ELT Documents as “an interesting series of small volumes” of talks from “small, specialised conferences/seminars”,9 and it was a frequent publication outlet for both practitioner-oriented and more theoretical, linguistic research. Abbott published an essay on “some fundamental problems in ESP” in ELT Documents 103, Kennedy responded in ELT Documents 106, and Abbott reacted in turn to this article in a letter to the editor published in ELT Documents 107.10 According to Johns, “ESP 6 Swales, Incidents in an educational life, 137. 7 Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’, 119. 8 Abbott, ‘ESP and TENOR’; Abbott, ‘Encouraging communication’. 9 Swales, Incidents in an educational life, 137. 10 Abbott, ‘Motivation, materials’; Abbott, ‘ESP and TENOR’; Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’. I had previously ascribed this tongue-in-cheek acronym to Medgyes (‘Queries from a communicative teacher’) who uses it without attribution, but became aware of the prior use via a reference hunt instigated by Neil McMillan (@neil_mcm) on Twitter.

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has been at its core a practitioners’ movement”11 and she cites influential British Council coursebooks like the Nucleus series12 as evidence of the early orientation of British Council ESP work towards materials development rather than research. A more academic turn in the field might be dated to the first issue of ESP Journal appearing in 1980,13 suggesting that the Abbott-Kennedy exchange occurred at a key moment in the development of the domain. Gerry Abbott (1935–2019) was a lecturer in education at the University of Manchester from 1965 to 1992, and also worked for the British Council in Africa and Asia.14 He was more a practitioner than a researcher, gaining his doctorate by publication towards the end of his career, though he previously published articles in a range of applied linguistics and ELT journals and coedited a volume on The Teaching of English as an International Language.15 He took something of an outsider, even contrarian stance in ELT, penning provocative pieces with titles focusing on a “paradox”, a “hole”, or a “catch” in other scholars’ arguments,16 and in “Reading skills and terrorism” he claimed “my own view of good teaching is that it is a subversive activity, in that it actually fosters the questioning and challenging of authority”.17 It seems fitting that this maverick should coin the term Teaching English for No Obvious Reason, and only “half-jokingly”.18 In his 1978 article in an ELT Documents issue devoted to individualisation in language learning, Abbott tackles “motivation, materials, manpower, and methods”, all of which he considers to involve “fundamental problems” for ESP.19 He starts by denouncing the recent rapid growth of ESP teaching as a “juggernaut” and ends by declaring contemporary efforts in the area to be so lacking in theoretical or empirical foundation as to be tantamount to an “act of faith”. Abbott highlights a number of objections to contemporary concepts of ESP teaching which relate to both the learned and taught layers of ESP. Concerning learner needs and motivation, he notes that externally defined needs “may not be very strongly felt by the learner” (98), who may 11 Johns, ‘The history of English’, 6. 12 Bates & Dudley-Evans, Nucleus series. 13 Hewings,‘A history of ESP’. 14 Beaumont, ‘Gerry Abbott obituary’. 15 Abbott & Wingard, The teaching of English. 16 Abbott, ‘Encouraging communication’, ‘Should we start’, ‘English across cultures’. 17 Abbott, ‘Reading skills’,17. 18 Abbott, ‘ESP and TENOR’, 123. 19 Abbott, ‘Motivation, materials’, 98. All page numbers in this and the following paragraph refer to his paper.

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have a different motivation (perhaps desiring oral communication or ‘Social English’), or indeed no immediate instrumental motivation. Among his concerns for the ESP teacher, Abbott notes that the preparation of tailor-made “ESP materials for ‘one-off’ purposes” (100) is tiring for teachers, without necessarily resulting in attractive activities for learners. He also sees problems with the teachers’ domain-specific competence or “level of knowledge of a specific subject (or occupation)” (101) and the heterogeneous classes they are expected to teach. Since it is unreasonable “to demand that every ESP teacher be a polymath” (101), difficulties are bound to arise in understanding materials, responding to student queries, judging their work, and indeed in representing a relevant authority to students advanced in their discipline. Even in courses including students with different subject specialization, content knowledge can never be entirely separated from language. Abbott disagrees with Widdowson’s (1975) assumption20 in the case of English for science that “scientific modes of thinking” are “already present in the learner” (102): in Abbott’s experience, many international teaching contexts include rote-learning and prescriptivist methods which may not be adequate preparation for scientific studies (102). He also contends that a solution involving regular collaboration between ESP practitioners and content-specialists is “little more than a pious hope” (103). Abbott concludes by expressing his dissatisfaction for having raised so many objections to the ESP endeavour without offering constructive solutions, but argues that answers should be sought before continuing to invest in large-scale ESP projects. Kennedy takes up the gauntlet.21 Chris Kennedy’s career trajectory shows some similarities with Gerry Abbott: he began teaching overseas with the British Council and later combined lecturing in ELT and applied linguistics in the UK with international secondments. However, Kennedy was himself involved in the University of Malaya English for Specific Purposes Project (UMESPP), which entailed collaboration with Birmingham University academics and resulted in the publication of the ESP textbook series Skills for learning.22 He was also more of an establishment figure: president of IATEFL, a major professional ELT association (from 1991–93);23 chair of the British Council’s English Teaching Advisory Committee; and retiring as full professor to become honorary fellow at the University of Warwick. His publications concern ESP, and 20 21 22 23

Widdowson, ‘EST in theory and practice’. Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’. University of Malaysia, Skills for learning development. Cf. Rixon & Smith, A history of IATEFL.

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ELT more broadly, often in terms of change management or innovation. It is therefore not surprising that his reaction to Abbott’s criticisms of ESP is a rather defensive one. Kennedy’s response appears in an ELT Documents issue devoted to team teaching.24 It takes Abbott’s subtitle as its title—fundamental problems in ESP—but adopts a consistently positive tone regarding the field, concluding that ESP is “a creative force which has effected a rewarding amount of research and innovation in syllabus and materials design, and which will continue to play an important role in second language learning and teaching” (124). Far from being a juggernaut “driving on regardless of unresolved problems” (118), for Kennedy, ESP represents a more rigorous approach to ELT, providing “fresh impetus to the teaching and learning of the English language” (119). Regarding motivation and needs, Kennedy places the onus on teaching materials and applauds the Nucleus series25 and the UMESPP project in this respect. Needs analysis should include learner, ESP teacher, and subject-specialist perspectives and “if there is a need, it should be satisfied” (120). Kennedy goes on to tackle subject competence in ESP teachers and the question of market forces. He claims ESP teachers include “retrained” scientists and others who “willingly re-educate” (122), citing examples of successful subject-specialist/ESP teacher collaborations. He concludes with a call for more research, particularly in ESP testing. Kennedy’s position in this rebuttal is close to a defense of the intended or official curriculum described by Cuban,26 which addresses all three underlying layers without adopting the point of view of any of these. Abbott returns to the fray in a letter to the editor27 in the following 1980 issue of ELT Documents, devoted to the University of Malaya ESP project already cited28. His paper runs to just over two pages and is entitled “ESP and TENOR”29 and again addresses the learned and taught layers of the ESP undertaking. He takes exception to Kennedy’s proposal to extend ESP to all ELT contexts and his apparent assumption that learners do not know their 24 Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’. All page numbers in this and the following paragraph refer to this paper. 25 Bates & Dudley-Evans, Nucleus series. 26 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 27 No editor is named in the majority of the issues of ELT Documents I consulted, although they often feature an unsigned preface. 28 British Council, ‘University of Malaysia English for specific purposes project’. 29 Abbott, ‘ESP and TENOR’. All page numbers in this and the following paragraph refer to this paper.

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own needs. For Abbott, just as teachers may not ethically speak for their learners, so theorists may not dictate to teachers: “I know of at least three applied linguists of high repute who have also been known to exhibit naïve notions based on inadequate teaching experience” (122). In a very explicit plea for humility, he goes on: “I would just like everyone involved in the ESP industry to be more ready to admit that its processes are full of uncertainties, and to be less prone to constructing pseudo-scientific justifications” (123). Regarding TENOR, he explains he coined the term “for the sort of situation in which a learner finds himself studying EFL simply because it is a compulsory subject” (123) and argues that “most of the world’s schoolchildren perceive no particular set of purposes to which they will put any English that they learn; and the younger the learner the more remote the prospect of ever using English at all” (123). By artificially “imposing specific purposes upon this kind of learner” (123) as Abbott interprets Kennedy’s suggestion, he claims the result would be a mockery of educational practice, for we would be limiting the children’s roles instead of opening up a range of possibilities for them; but if we were to provide for a range of possible uses we would be dealing with the range of Englishes associated with them and would consequently no longer be dealing with ESP as it is usually understood (123).

This passage is clear evidence of Abbott’s socialist and humanist values,30 and in later work he takes a clear position: “[E]ducation must not be allowed to become a mere governmental training ground for the work-force it thinks it needs”.31 From this close reading of this early discussion of the ESP curriculum, we see tensions between the intended (official) layer and both taught and learned layers. From Abbott’s perspective as a practitioner and teacher educator, there are three main objections to the rosy picture presented by Kennedy: 1. ESP is not so scientifically rigorous as its proponents claim, and some of ESP’s champions in applied linguistics lack the pedagogical credentials to command respect among teachers (intended curriculum); 2. ongoing teacher investment in materials development is not sustainable and limits on their competence in specific disciplines constrain their effectiveness (taught layer); 30 Beaumont, ‘Gerry Abbott obituary’. 31 Abbott, ‘EFL as education’, 48.

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3. the actual needs and motivation of ESP learners may not be reducible to practical short-term goals and many learners around the world fall outside its rather narrow confines, making it ethically questionable to reduce teaching goals to meeting the perceived needs of the market or workplace (learned layer). In what follows I examine each point in more detail, drawing on contemporary teaching materials, and scholarly debate in ESP publications and in the wider field of applied linguistics, as well as more informal accounts from biographies and obituaries of contemporary figures in the field. I argue that early developments in ESP in the UK focused strongly on the taught layer, due in large part to the sustained engagement of a small group of highly motivated, experienced, and skilled applied linguists.

3

English for Specific Purposes: The Intended Curriculum or Official Layer

Insofar as it is possible to claim the existence of an official ESP curriculum in 1970s UK, its institutional and academic anchoring was largely ensured by four key figures who held the first PhDs and/or occupied the first university chairs in the new field of applied linguistics: John Munby, Henry Widdowson, Peter Strevens, and David Wilkins. All these figures had both extensive overseas teaching experience, academic credentials, and influential publications in ESP and ELT more broadly; all interacted in a number of capacities. Widdowson and Strevens taught in the first applied linguistics course at Edinburgh University. Widdowson (b. 1935) was among the first postgraduate students in Edinburgh’s new department of applied linguistics, and took his doctorate in 1973, a time when this was a highly unusual enterprise. A prolific writer and editor with a lifelong interest in language learning and teaching, he has done much to define the field of applied linguistics, to contribute to our understanding of the key concept of communicative competence, and to provide critical perspectives on ELT policy.32 Strevens (1922–1989) was instrumental in structuring the new field of applied linguistics at institutional, national, and international levels. He held the first chair in applied linguistics in the country at Essex (1964), helped found the international association of applied linguistics AILA (1964) and its British affiliate, BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics, 1967). 32 Widdowson, ‘Models and fictions’, ‘On the limitations’.

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According to Corder33 “it is certainly no exaggeration to say that, had it not been for Peter’s initiative, neither BAAL nor AILA would have come into existence at the time and in the form they did”. Like others of this generation of ELT specialists, Strevens combined language teacher education (in his case with Bell Educational Trust) and academic appointments in the UK and the US as “a facilitator” with “great administrative and negotiating talents” whose legacy was perhaps that of “an impresario rather than a scholar”.34 Wilkins, too, contributed actively to the creation of BAAL and was behind the foundation in 1974 of a Centre for Applied Linguistics Studies at Reading University, his academic home throughout his career.35 His work on a groundbreaking notional syllabus36 helped shift the attention of language teachers from the analysis of the language to be taught to a consideration of how it might be taught. It greatly influenced the development of the embryonic European movement which eventually resulted in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) (2001), as well as the task-based language teaching model pioneered by Long and Crookes (1992)37. Another influential work on syllabus design was published by a prominent teacher educator and editor of British Council in-house publications. In Munby’s Communicative Syllabus Design, based on his PhD thesis, contemporary teachers admired the “sophistication” of his painstaking definition of “a learner’s sociolinguistic needs”.38 Academic linguists, on the other hand, were more critical: Davies39 decried the book’s reliance on “intuition”40 to define language skills, and saw in it an illustration of a general problem of “how to remain applied and not slide into more prestigious theory”41 Richards42 complained that “the Munby model had been presented in Council-sponsored workshops and used as the basis for several Council consultancy projects in different parts of the world” while conceding that “no one can blame the British for selling things British”. This quotation neatly illustrates the link between universities and other national soft-power institutions like the British Council in designing and 33 Corder, ‘Obituary’, 52. 34 Ibidem, 52. 35 Robinson, ‘Applied linguistics’. 36 Wilkins, Notional syllabuses. 37 Long & Crookes, ‘Three approaches’. 38 Kennedy, ‘Fundamental problems’, 118. 39 Davies, ‘Review of John Munby’s communicative syllabus design’. 40 Ibidem, 334. 41 Ibidem, 336. 42 Richards, The secret life of methods, 16.

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establishing a framework for an official or intended ELT curriculum. Indeed, Davies43 contrasts “the British tradition of Applied-Linguistics” with the North-American tradition of “Linguistics-Applied” and situates the former in “the mainstream British and Commonwealth tradition” which grew out of “teaching English as a Foreign (often Second) Language in the former colonies, in Latin America, Japan, and in Europe”. He credits the British Council with the professionalization of language teaching “to such an extent that British ‘Teaching English as a foreign language’ became one of the wonders of the language teaching world”. His characterization of the emergence of applied linguistics in the UK in the 1950s fits with our picture of ESP two and three decades on: It was very much a bottom up approach and it led of course to a search for input of a theoretical kind. The School of Applied Linguistics at Edinburgh University was established in 1957 precisely to provide that theoretical backing and support. Applied linguistics in Britain was therefore never just linguistics for language teachers. It was always a more problem oriented approach.

Some of these problems as they relate to ESP and the creative solutions envisaged by teachers are examined in the next section.

4

Language Teacher Competence: The Taught Layer

With respect to the taught layer of ESP among British teachers and academics in the 1970s, the main problems identified by Abbott44 concern the subjectspecialist competence required of language teachers and the difficulties associated with creating tailor-made teaching materials. In this section I show that four of the most active and arguably influential ESP teachers embraced those challenges with gusto; like the figures reviewed in the previous section, their academic lives intersected in a number of highly productive ways. Table 1 provides an overview. As Davies notes, 45 much early ESP work was begun not in the UK, but abroad, particularly in the Middle East and Latin America. Ewer was a pioneer, developing courses in ESP teacher education in Chile before his 43 Davies, ‘Obituary’, 35. 44 Abbott, ‘Motivation’. 45 Davies, ‘Obituary’.

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Table 1:  Key ESP Teachers and Teacher Educators in 1970s Britain British University Council

Textbooks

ESP research

Ewer & Latorre (1969), Teacher education A Course in Basic Scientific English (Longman)

Ewer, John (1918–1982)

Chile (1950s–1975)

Johns, Tim (1936–2009)

Birmingham

Data-driven learning Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998), Developments in ESP

Dudley-Evans, Tony (1943–)

Libya, Iran

(English Overseas Bates & DudleyEvans, Nucleus Students Unit, 1971–2001)

Swales, John (1938–)

Libya, Sudan

Leeds, Aston (1978), Michigan (1985–2007)

Nelson (1971), Writing Genre analysis, English for Academic Scientific English; Swales & Feak (1994), Purposes Academic Writing for Graduate Students

untimely death in 1982. Johns and Dudley-Evans were colleagues at Birmingham University, working on an innovative tandem teaching initiative before Johns’ interest in early computer applications led him to develop his data-driven learning approach. Dudley-Evans and Swales both taught EST in Tripoli and later in Birmingham, and both became highly influential figures in ESP research. In this section, I consider the contributions of these figures first in terms of materials development, then classroom teaching. 4.1 Materials Development: Commercial Textbooks and Local Dissemination Materials writing was a core activity for this generation of EST teachers. Swales46 is not alone in affirming that “the best materials are ‘tailor-made’ materials” based on linguistic research, and materials production is what ESP teachers “know best”. Hutchinson and Waters confirm in their overview of early ESP materials writing that “most of the work has been done close to the ground”,47 citing the UMESPP series involving Kennedy among other schemes in different parts of the world. The textbooks and textbook series arising from such projects involving the ESP figures in this chapter are shown in Table 2. 46 Swales, ‘Incidents’, 86, 148. 47 Hutchinson & Waters, English for specific purposes, 13.

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Table 2:  Key ESP Textbooks in 1970s Britain Date Authors

Title

1969 Ewer & Latorre A Course in Basic Scientific English 1971 Swales Writing Scientific English 1971 Widdowson 1976 Bates & Dudley-Evans 1978 Allen & Widdowson 1980 UMESPP (Kennedy et al)

Language teaching texts (English Studies Series) Nucleus: General Science

English in social studies (English in Focus series) Skills for Learning: Foundation

Context

Publisher

University of Chile (Santiago) University of Libya (Tripoli) Edinburgh University

Longman

University of Tabriz (Iran), Egyptian secondary schools Edinburgh, Essex

Thomas Nelson Oxford University Press Longman

Oxford University Press University of Malaya/ Nelson/UniverBirmingham University sity of Malaya

One of the earliest projects was conducted by Jack Ewer and colleagues at the University of Chile in Santiago with the goal of bringing secondary school pupils to a level of competence in scientific English appropriate for university-level courses. His method is described in some detail in Ewer and Latorre48 and the related teacher training dimension forms the focus of a special issue of the young ESP Journal in 1983. 49 Widdowson co-edited an ESP textbook series at OUP which did not sell well, unlike Dudley-Evans’ Nucleus series, which was a resounding commercial success. In a contemporary survey of ESP textbooks, Ewer and Boys selected ten major volumes or series to analyse, including the four titles in bold in Table 2.50 These authors noted the eclecticism of methods, from the structural syllabuses underpinning Ewer and Latorre51 and Swales,52 through a combination of methods in the Allen and Widdowson English Studies series, to the notional-functional framework adopted by Bates and Dudley-Evans in the Nucleus series. They also commented on the scientific scope of each, showing the earlier textbooks to have adopted a wider perspective than the more narrowly specific focus of individual volumes in the later series. These authors found much to criticize in the published ESP materials they analysed, not least a general lack of scientific 48 Ewer & Latorre, ‘Preparing an English course’. 49 Mancill, ‘Teacher training for ESP’. 50 Ewer & Boys, ‘The EST textbook situation’. 51 Ewer & Latorre, ‘Preparing an English course’. 52 Swales, Writing scientific English.

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foundation: no preliminary analysis of the types of language students would be required to cope with and no systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the materials offered. Many of these and other ESP materials were written collaboratively. Swales53 remembers working with Tony Dudley-Evans in Birmingham in the late 1970s: The serendipity of a shared house offset the fact that (we) were working at different institutions. Each had colleagues who would further contribute to a positive and productive materials-writing environment, such as Ray Williams at Aston and Tim Johns at Birmingham. Over that kitchen table and of an evening, we could plan next week’s materials, spark and improve ideas, kill off weak or stray enthusiasms, and cobble together collages of photocopies and handwritten manuscripts to take to our secretaries for typing up. Yes, we still did that.

Swales54 goes on to praise Tim Johns as “the most creative ESP materials writer I ever saw” and relates how Johns would effortlessly transform others’ “adequate materials” into “superior ones” with spontaneous suggestions after conference talks and in informal discussion. The Abbott-Kennedy debate has shown that the textbook question tends to arouse conflicting opinions, and in the first issue of The ESP Journal, Swales55 gave several reasons to reject ESP textbooks: Partly because such books undermine the professionalism of the instructor and by extension that of his department, partly because they cannot meet the elaborated inventories of requirements produced by needs analysis or by schemes of evaluation, partly because they are offered in a format ostensibly unsuitable for communicative language teaching, and partly because their educational effectiveness may have been reduced by marketing considerations. The standard solution to these diff iculties with published materials is for each institution, organization, or training establishment to offer its own tailor-made programmes.

53 Swales, Incidents, 127. 54 Swales, Incidents, 127. 55 Swales, ‘ESP: the textbook problem’, 17.

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While he went on in this article to argue for more open-ended textbooks to allow greater flexibility, in the following anecdote Swales appears to favour the in-house tailor-made approach, corroborating Widdowson’s view of a local, practical vision of ELT as opposed to a more academically ambitious or indeed commercial one. Swales recounts the genesis of a paper “which might in other circumstances have represented the core of a PhD thesis”.56 He preferred to publish it as [a] 95-page typed mimeograph (with a printed cover) subtitled ‘Aston ESP Research Reports No. 1’ (and) ran off perhaps 100 copies and distributed them locally and around the world. For several years thereafter, a further 50 were produced each year, half being given to the students on our new M.Sc. in Teaching ESP. I doubt if more than 400 were ever produced, but, to this day, it continues to live on as some kind of samizdat publication.57

It therefore appears that these early EST practitioners and academics took pride in producing their own materials to disseminate locally, and derived satisfaction and indeed pleasure from informal collaborative endeavours. A just-in-time dimension also seems to have played a role, as the following examples show. 4.2 Team-Teaching: Working with Subject Specialists and General Language Teachers A pioneering project conducted by Tim Johns and Tony Dudley-Evans58 at the English Overseas Students Unit at Birmingham University involved close cooperation with subject-specialist lecturers in two domains (plant biology and transportation). The initiative was intended to complement their institution’s common-core programme whereby students in different university departments were taught scientific English together, given “an awareness in both departments of underachievement among some of their overseas students as a result of problems with English”. The authors proposed “some sort of ‘involvement’ at the cutting-edge in departments, both in order to help students more directly, and as a form of ‘on-the-ground’ research”59 56 Swales, Incidents, 141. 57 Ibidem, 142. 58 Johns & Dudley-Evans, ‘An experiment’. 59 Ibidem, 7.

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and a new course was offered to students who scored lowest in English on admission. Students in this pilot programme received an extra two-hour weekly session in groups of ten to twelve, taught by a tandem of specialist lecturer and language teacher who rotated throughout the semester. In the first semester they worked on comprehension of academic lectures using the following protocol: One of the subject-teacher’s lectures is recorded during the week before the session on a small cassette recorder with a built-in microphone. The language-teacher is not present during the recording: we have found that this arrangement causes the least alarm to the lecturers, who soon forget that they are being recorded, and who tell us that their recorded lectures are fairly typical. The language teacher listens to and analyses the lecture in preparation for the team-teaching session—the recording is never used in the session itself. In most cases he has the lecturer’s own notes or handout to guide him through the material, and subject teachers have been generous of their time in explaining the more obscure topics and their significance in relation to the course as a whole. For about half the number of sessions, we prepare in some haste an ‘ephemeral’ handout as a starting-point for the session’s activities. We regard the job of preparing a handout as most valuable in concentrating the language teacher’s mind on the task in hand, and in providing a general framework for the session: the materials, being ephemeral, cannot become an end in themselves.60

The authors draw on Widdowson61 for the design of teaching activities and express satisfaction with student outcomes, and the collaborative process itself. They explained their success for the benefit of colleagues interested in replicating their experience: Firstly, a clear framework was agreed in advance for the pattern of activities, and the responsibilities of each side were defined. Secondly, we attempted to reduce intrusion on the subject-teachers to a minimum, while exploiting the help they could give us to the maximum. In doing this, we hope we avoided the hubris which can too easily afflict the EAP teacher when, with a smattering of knowledge in the subject area, and a view of himself as an expert on communication, he comes to regard 60 Ibidem, 10. 61 Widdowson, ‘Directions’.

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himself as an expert or the expert on how the subject ought to be taught, and even on what the subject ought to be.62

They conclude with a curious remark (emphasis added): Where in an operation of this kind subject and language are so enmeshed, finding out what the language-teacher has learnt of the subject may be as reliable a way of estimating its success as measuring the improvement in the students’ English. On this criterion we could certainly not claim to be entirely successful, but we enjoyed the effort at understanding, even where we know that our understanding is still incomplete.63

We return to the highlighted comment in the conclusion. Another aspect of team-teaching is evident in the work of Ewer mentioned earlier. Described as “the father of teacher education in ESP”64 Ewer set out the details of his approach to teacher education in a 1983 article in the second issue of The ESP Journal. Republished from a 1979 conference talk, this paper provides a thorough practical overview of a 150–200 hour course taught over two semesters to convert traditionally trained language teachers into ESP teachers able to develop and coordinate programmes, as well as train others. A taste for science and practical importance is again evident: “[T]he teacher of EST is training his students to do a definite job in the real world, just as the staff of an Engineering or Medical School are training their students to build real bridges and perform surgical operations on real people”.65 The Santiago programme involved theoretical lectures and practical strands (materials production and microteaching): adjustments made to accommodate an L2 student audience are remarkably similar to advice for today’s EMI lectures: It is also standard practice in lectures to stop every ten to fifteen minutes for a few minutes to allow time for the students to get down notes, discuss among themselves points about what they have just heard, and ask questions. This may sound a slow way of getting things done, but we have found that it is far more effective than the unbroken lecture, which tends to go in at one ear of the student and out at the other in an undigested stream. 62 63 64 65

Johns & Dudley-Evans, ‘An experiment’, 21–22. Ibidem, 22. Howard & Brown, Teacher education, 22. Ewer, ‘Teacher training for EST’, 13

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During these pauses the two instructors are not idle; they go round the class checking that notes are being written up correctly (a very necessary job), giving hints, and answering questions.66

Like the Birmingham project discussed earlier, team-teaching was an important feature, with two instructors present, Each taking it in turn to do the ‘active’ part of the teaching (as indicated previously) whilst the ‘passive’ or watching instructor sits at the back of the class noting the reactions of the students and the performance of the active teacher (students soon get used to this), and often ‘controlling’ the latter by a system of signs or facial expressions. For example, it is often difficult for the active teacher to gauge when explanations are too long, or not long enough; his partner is in a much better position to appreciate this and to give him the appropriate signals. Again, in this game we are learning all the time, and it often happens that the active teacher may omit or underemphasize a relevant point which the watching teacher can ensure is brought to the attention of the students and given its due weight.67

Ewer further suggests that this teacher education course itself can provide in-service ESP teacher education by pairing more and less experienced instructors. After a good deal of practical advice concerning group work and evaluation, Ewer concludes with a prescient comment on the assessment of proficiency, calling for “a relaxation of the unrealistically, unnecessarily, and inhibitorily high standards of grammar and pronunciation sometimes imposed” and arguing for what he calls “communicative tolerances” in the form of “a sliding scale for acceptability according to the criterion of effectiveness of communication in different cases”.68

5

Learner Needs and Motivation: The Learned Layer

In the final section of this chapter we turn to the ESP learner, whose specific needs and motivation Abbott69 strenuously contested. Information on the 66 67 68 69

Ibidem, 16. Ibidem, 22. Ibidem, 26. Abbott, ‘Motivation’.

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learned layer in the early years of ESP is somewhat difficult to come by in spite of sweeping statements that it “should focus on the learner and the purposes for which he requires the target language, and the whole language programme follows from that”.70 My reading of contemporary articles and textbooks suggests that the ESP teachers and academics investigated here tended to take a somewhat paternalistic attitude to their learners’ needs, based on pre-course language tests and their own experience with previous cohorts of EFL students at universities overseas and ESL students in the UK, and rarely justified in talks and papers. One exception is the single paper co-authored by Dudley-Evans and Swales, which appeared in ELT Documents in 1980.71 More than half of this ten-page text involves a contrastive analysis of Arabic and English academic writing conventions, but the first part of the article offers a nuanced analysis of the needs and expectations of Middle Eastern students arriving in the UK. Drawing on their experience of teaching in Libya, Sudan, and Iran, the authors first question where the difference in educational systems is best viewed as geopolitical, religious, or otherwise cultural in origin: “[A]re we observing a contrast between youth and maturity of educational institutions, or observing radically different conceptions of the function and execution of higher education?”.72 They note the existence of an “informal order” beneath official institutional policies which informs a firm “parental consensus” which overrides “the personal preference of individual students”.73 Motivation for Middle Eastern students is thus very different from our Western conception, especially since “the third world extended family social security system means that many students shoulder family responsibilities inconceivable in the West”.74 This assessment goes some way to bridging the gap between a keenly-felt Specific Purpose and a nebulous lack of Obvious Reason in Abbott’s terms. Moreover, as Abbott also notes, the memorization and rote-learning practices central to the Koranic school are key learning strategies in the Middle East, and Swales collected examples of a read-copy-recopy technique practiced by students at the University of Khartoum using long strips of paper salvaged from the university press and discarded once their purpose served. As the authors point out, although such techniques are “highly effective 70 Munby, Communicative syllabus design, 2. 71 Dudley-Evans & Swales, ‘Study modes’. 72 Ibidem, 92. 73 Ibidem, 92. 74 Ibidem, 93.

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ways of committing information to memory” they are peculiarly unsuited to university studies in a second language, since this information “cannot easily be retrieved in a selective way or used in a manner supportive of a particular line of argument”.75 Some support for this assessment of the rare inclusion of the learned layer in academic and teacher discussion of ESP in 1970s Britain can be derived from the reception of the key ESP handbook which immediately followed the period of our focus.76 This volume’s insistence on a learner-centred viewpoint marked it as a departure from the discourse and genre analytic approaches espoused by applied linguists such as Widdowson and Swales. Its authors defined ESP as “an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning”.77 Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters taught together at the Institute for English Language Education at Lancaster University, the former gaining a reputation as a materials writer for the general ELT textbook market, while the latter had particular expertise and investment in teacher education. The book became “enormously influential” though also “controversial”78 among the ESP figures investigated in here. In later work Dudley-Evans79 argued that a theory of ESP should be sought in the “analysis of ESP texts” as to do otherwise is to run the risk of insufficient distinction from general ELT, reducing ESP to “essentially a type of CLT with perhaps a greater sensitivity to needs”. Indeed the next landmark ESP handbook, Developments in ESP,80 brought the field back to genre analysis in the tradition of his own and Swales’ work. In so doing, it also brought ESP back to the more neutral terrain of the taught layer and perhaps also to the intended curriculum as an example of linguistics which succeeds in remaining “applied”.81

8 Conclusion This examination of different layers of the ESP curriculum as developed in the UK in the 1970s illuminates the work of what turns out to be a particularly tight-knit group of EST teachers and lecturers involved at a key juncture 75 Ibidem, 94. 76 Hutchinson & Waters, English for specific purposes. 77 Hutchinson & Waters, English for specific purposes, 19. 78 Myers, Comment in tributes and memories. 79 Dudley-Evans, ‘Genre analysis’, 3. 80 Dudley-Evans & St. John, Developments in ESP. 81 Davies, ‘Obituary: Pit Corder’; Widdowson, ‘Models and fictions’, ‘On the limitations’.

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of the development of applied linguistics and ELT. The chapter bears out Strevens’ claim that “almost all applied linguists are simultaneously engaged both in theoretical discussion and in practical tasks”.82 It also exemplifies what Rajagopalan83 refers to as a “long tradition of British empiricism and sober, down-to-earth sense of practicality”. It has shown how Cuban’s official or intended curriculum in the fledgling domain of ESP in 1970s Britain was constructed largely through the taught layer by practitioners with extensive and varied teaching experience with both undergraduate students in overseas universities and postgraduate ESP classes in the UK. These EST lecturers were frequently supported by the British Council, which served as an intermediary for the recruitment of British teaching staff to universities outside the UK, while also funding and organizing teacher education workshops which promoted their work to an international ELT audience, and supporting ESP research in seminars, conferences, and publications like ELT Documents to further disseminate new materials and methods. In this way communicative language teaching spread quickly beyond the confines of British institutions to influence global ELT. The same figures were also active in the creation and development of the new academic discipline of applied linguistics, and this at the level of local university centres and departments, national professional and academic organizations, and indeed international associations. Although the emergence of an ESP field was doubtless “not a planned and coherent movement, but rather a phenomenon that grew out of a number of converging trends”,84 it did seem to benefit from an enviable constellation of facilitating factors ranging from strong national support for science and technology, and indeed for the promotion of the English language; the expansion of the British higher education system; to the presence of a group of rather exceptional individuals who were particularly devoted to their chosen profession and were given an enviably free rein in many ways. It is striking how Abbott’s criticisms of ESP teachers’ lack of methodological rigour and insufficient scientific credentials seemed to be rather easily overcome by the individuals described in this chapter, through their marked taste for the creative dimensions of materials writing and their willingness to introduce novel collaborations with subject-specialist colleagues. His third point regarding learner motivation is more difficult to rebut on the basis of the sources reviewed here. With the few exceptions mentioned, there 82 Strevens, ‘Why versus?’, 3. 83 Rajagopalan, ‘The philosophy’, 412. 84 Hutchinson & Waters, English for specific purposes, 6.

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is indeed surprisingly little reference to learner needs beyond sweeping generalizations regarding average proficiency or general student profiles as a preface to detailed analyses of ESP texts and teaching materials. Perhaps Dudley-Evans and Johns’ recommendation to evaluate an ESP course on “what the language-teacher has learnt of the subject” can be taken as an indication of the real purpose driving these ESP pioneers, and it may not be too wide of the mark to suggest that the “specific purpose” of ESP at this time is best viewed as a characteristic of the teacher rather than the learner. If Abbott is correct that much English at this time was learned for No Obvious Reason, the same cannot be said of its teachers.

Bibliography Abbott, Gerry, ‘Motivation, materials, manpower and methods: some fundamental problems in ESP’, ELT Documents 103 (1978), 98–104. Abbott, Gerry, ‘ESP and TENOR,’ ELT Documents 107 (1980), 122–4. Abbott, Gerry, ‘Encouraging communication in English: A paradox’, English Language Teaching Journal 35 (1981), 228–30. Abbott, Gerry, ‘Should we start digging new holes?’, ELT Journal 38 (1984), 98–102. Abbott, Gerry, ‘EFL as education’, System 15 (1987), 47–53. Abbott, Gerry, ‘English across cultures: The Kachru catch, English Today 7 (1991), 55–57. Abbott, Gerry, ‘Reading skills and terrorism’, English Today 19 (2003), 14–18. Abbott, Gerry & Wingard, Peter, The teaching of English as an international language: A practical guide (Glasgow, UK: Collins, 1981). Bates, Martin & Anthony Dudley-Evans, Nucleus series (Harlow, UK: Longman, 1976). Beaumont, Peter, ‘Gerry Abbott obituary’, The Guardian, 03/07/2019. British Council, ‘University of Malaya English for Special Purposes Project (UMESPP)’, ELT Documents 107 (1980). Council of Europe, Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Corder, S. Pit, ‘Obituary: Peter Strevens’, BAAL Newsletter 35 (1990), 50–2. Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’. Larry Cuban on school reform and classroom practice, http://larrycuban. wordpress.com (2012) (accessed 24 May 2021). Davies, Alan, ‘Review of John Munby’s communicative syllabus design’, TESOL Quarterly 15 (1981), 332–336. Davies, Alan, ‘Obituary: Pit Corder’, BAAL Newsletter 36 (1990), 33–5.

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Dudley-Evans, Anthony, ‘Genre analysis: A key to a theory of ESP?’, Ibérica, Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos 2 (2000), 3–11. Dudley-Evans, Anthony & Swales, John, ‘Study modes and students from the Middle East,’ ELT Documents 109 (1980), 91101. Dudley-Evans, Anthony & St. John, Maggie Jo, Developments in ESP: A multidisciplinary approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Ewer, Jack R., ‘Teacher training for EST: Problems and methods’, The ESP Journal 2 (1983), 9–31. Ewer, Jack R. & Guillermo Latorre, ‘Preparing an English course for students of science’, ELT Journal 21 (1967), 221–229. Ewer, Jack R. & Odette Boys, ‘The EST textbook situation: An enquiry’, The ESP Journal 1 (1981), 87–105. Hewings, Martin, ‘A history of ESP through English for specific purposes’, http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_3/ Hewings_paper.htm (2001) (Accessed 24 May 2021). Howard, Ron & Gillian Brown (eds.), Teacher education for languages for specific purposes (Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 1997). Hutchinson, Tom & Alan Waters, English for specific purposes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). Johns, Ann, ‘The history of English for specific purposes research’, in: Paltridge, Brian & Starfield, Sue (eds.), Handbook of English for specific purposes (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), 5–30. Johns, Tim F. & Dudley-Evans, Anthony, ‘An experiment in team-teaching of overseas postgraduate students of transportation and plant biology’, Team Teaching in ESP (1980), 6–23. Kennedy, Chris, ‘Fundamental problems in ESP’, ELT Documents 106 (1980), 118–26. Long, Michael & Crookes, Graham, ‘Three approaches to task‐based syllabus design, TESOL Quarterly 26 (1992), 27–56. Mancill, Grace, ‘Teacher training for ESP,’ The ESP Journal 2 (1983). Medgyes, Peter, ‘Queries from a communicative teacher’, ELT Journal 40 (1986), 107–112. Munby, John, Communicative Syllabus Design: A sociolinguistic model for designing the content of purpose-specific language programmes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978). Myers, Greg, Comment in tributes and memories, in memory of Alan Waters, http:// wp.lancs.ac.uk/alan-waters/tributes-and-memories/ 2016 (accessed 24 May 2021). Rajagopalan, Kanavillil, ‘The philosophy of Applied Linguistics’, in: Davies, Alan & Elder, Catherine (eds.), Handbook of Applied Linguistics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), 397–420. Richards, Jack, ‘The secret life of methods’, TESOL Quarterly 18 (1984), 7–23.

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Rixon, Shelagh, & Smith, Richard, A History of IATEFL: The first 50 years of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL, 2017). Robinson, Pauline, ‘Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading: Theory put into practice and practice refining theory’, University of Reading Language Studies Working Papers 7 (2016), 13–17. Strevens, Peter, ‘Why versus? And not only!’, BAAL Newsletter 8 (1979), 3. Swales, John M., Writing scientific English (Nashville: Nelson, 1971). Swales, John M., ‘ESP: The textbook problem’, The ESP Journal 1 (1980), 11–23. Swales, John M., Incidents in an educational life: A memoir (of sorts) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013). Swales, John M., & Feak, Chris, ‘Reflections on collaborative practice in EAP materials production’, in: Hewings, Martin (ed.), Academic writing in context: Implications and applications. Papers in honor of Tony Dudley-Evans (Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 2001), 215–226. University of Malaya, Skills for learning development (Hong Kong: Thomas Nelson/ University of Malaya Press, 1982). Widdowson, Henry, ‘Directions in the teaching of discourse’, in: Corder, Pit S. & Roulet, Eddy (eds.), Theoretical linguistic models in applied linguistics (Paris: Didier, 1973), 65–76. Widdowson, Henry, ‘EST in theory and practice’, in: English for Academic Study, ETIC occasional paper (London: British Council, 1975). Widdowson, Henry, ‘Models and fictions’, Applied Linguistics 1 (1980), 165–170. Widdowson, Henry, ‘On the limitations of linguistics applied’, Applied linguistics 21 (2000), 3–25. Wilkins, David, Notional Syllabuses (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976).

About the Author Shona Whyte Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, BCL UMR 7320 Bases, Corpus, Langage [email protected] Shona Whyte is professor of English at the Université Côté d’Azur where she teaches English as a foreign language (EFL), translation, second language learning and teaching, and applied linguistics. Her research interests include CALL (computer-assisted language learning), particularly classroom interaction and teacher integration of

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technologies, and she has participated in European projects on interactive language teaching with a variety of technologies. She has also published on teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) and co-founded a special interest group on language teacher education research (ESP didactics) within GERAS, the French scholarly society for ESP. Books include New Developments in ESP teaching and learning research (co-edited with Cédric Sarré, 2018); and Implementing and researching technological innovation in language teaching: The case of interactive whiteboards for EFL in French schools (Palgrave 2015). She blogs on topics related to language research and teaching at ­shonawhyte.wordpress.com.

V CONTEXT

12 Sociocultural, Political, and Educational Aspects of Teaching English in Polish Schools in the Interwar Period (1918–1939) Irmina Kotlarska Abstract This essay aims to uncover the history of the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language in Poland from 1918 to World War II (1939). English first came into the curriculum in the developing school system then. The main investigated phenomena are the links between teaching and learning procedures of English language teaching (ELT) at state schools and the social, cultural, intellectual, and political context of foreign language teaching in interwar Poland. The analysis investigates how the purposes of English language education given in curricula are reflected in textbooks. Therefore, this chapter makes a comparison between curricula and textbook content. To analyse the materials as comprehensively as possible, professional journal articles printed at that time are considered as well. Keywords: History of ELT; English language education in Poland; the interwar period; textbook analysis

1

“Through school, we need to change our attitude towards the state”: Educational Reforms in Poland after the First World War

This study offers an overview of external factors influencing English language education in Poland in the interwar period, i.e. from 1918 to 1939. Its main objective is to track how modern language teaching goals projected

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch12

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in curricula and theoretical publications are reflected in the content and methods used in English language schoolbooks.1 The interwar period is a time of intense discussions on the place of modern foreign languages in Polish schools. In a country that had just regained independence, the necessity of their universal education was emphasized. The education reforms carried out at that time included both organizational and ideological changes. The English language, which became a school subject for the first time in the history of Polish education, became the subject of these discussions and reforms alongside the traditionally taught German and French. The foreign language teaching programs from the beginning of the analysed period emphasized linguistic proficiency, which was understood as the possibility of efficient use of the language in speech and writing. With time, the emphasis shifted from practical to educational purposes. The educational goal meant paying attention to the values typical of a given foreign culture, which can be assimilated for the benefit of the reborn Polish state. In this text, I will examine how the objectives of teaching English in Polish schools have evolved and how these changes have influenced the content of school textbooks. I am particularly interested in how the textbooks implemented the recommendation of practical English learning and whether the learning materials actually gave an opportunity to shape the students’ life attitudes. To achieve these goals, I have immersed myself in both primary and secondary sources and analysed their content. The analysis of curricula (for example, the ‘top layer’ sources) as well as articles published in professional journals and textbooks approved by the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment (the ‘taught layer’ sources), shows how language education was influenced by political ideology. This chapter is meant to shed some light on the history of learning and teaching of English as a foreign language in Poland from 1918 to World War II. Historical research in the field of modern language learning and teaching in the interwar period in Poland is relatively well-charted. The evolution of modern language teaching school curricula has been described by Krystyna Iwan2 and Jolanta Dobrowolska.3 The goals of modern language teaching are also discussed on the basis of the foreign literature reading

1 The approach adopted is inspired by the interdisciplinary HoLLT field of study promoted, for example, by McLelland & Smith, ‘Introduction’. 2 Iwan, Nauczanie języków; Iwan, Polska myśl. 3 Dobrowolska, Analiza programów nauczania, 1918–1979, 180–198.

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list published in 1933. 4 Some biographical studies of English lecturers have also been published.5 When it comes to textbook analyses, there is a detailed description of two English textbooks from the 1930s displaying their innovative methodological approach.6 The most comprehensive textbook-oriented study of this period covers all modern languages, therefore the analysis of English textbooks is limited7. The question of how English language teaching is done in practice and how it correlates with the policy still deserves closer attention. After the First World War, the teaching of English as a foreign language faced a new orientation in Poland. The crucial reason was Poland’s regaining of independence in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. This epoch-making event influenced Polish education, including the teaching of modern foreign languages. One of the tasks of the renascent Polish state was to create a unified educational system and to introduce an effective educational policy. The state authorities saw it as a critical instrument for the unif ication of the various regions of the Second Polish Republic. In 1919, the Polish government introduced compulsory schooling for all children aged seven to fourteen, to reduce illiteracy. In 1932, the head of the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment, Janusz Jędrzejewicz,carried out a major reform. As a consequence, there were two main levels of education: common school (szkoła powszechna), with three levels or stages—four years + two years + one year; and middle school (szkoła średnia), with two levels—four years of comprehensive middle school and two years of high school. The solutions adopted in education reforms throughout the interwar period were dictated by the dominant political ideology. Education first depended on the doctrine of the ruling national democracy camp, pushing the idea of so-called national education. Then, the most influential policy became the so-called state education promoted by a Sanation (or ‘healing’) camp associated with the First Marshal of Poland, Józef Piłsudski. The ultimate goal of the Sanation was to create a supra-class and a supranational

4 Przyklenk, Teksty i ko(n)teksty nauki języków obcych w międzywojniu a kształcenie polonistyczne, 128–142. 5 Podhajecka, Lektorzy języka angielskiego w Wilnie i Krakowie w okresie międzywojennym. Próba biograficzna, 271–301; Pudłocki, English and German studies at the Jagiellonian University between the two World Wars: The ideal of a scholar and challenges of reality, 317–338. 6 Możejko, A post-method perspective on ELT materials in pre-war Poland. 7 Cieśla, Dzieje nauki języków obcych w zarysie.

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state, where all citizens work for the common good. The Education Act of 1932, originated by Janusz Jędrzejewicz, strengthened the role of the state through educational practice: “Through school, we need to change our attitude towards the state”8 became the guiding principle in the reformed school. As a result of changes introduced by the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment, English and other modern languages became established school subjects and were included in the language policy of the Polish state. Its main idea was the hegemony of Polish in public life.9 This idea was associated with numerous appeals for ‘weeding’ of German and Russian loanwords from the Polish language, which negatively affected the desire to learn the languages of former partitioners. These are the languages of Russia, Prussia, and Austria which, in 1772, 1793, and 1795 perpetrated three territorial divisions of Poland. After the final partition, the state of Poland ceased to exist. Russian and German were obligatory for Polish children until the regaining of independence in 1918. In this situation, the position of French and English became strengthened. They did not have the ballast of a language imposed by force. English was perceived as a ‘world language’, a carrier of a high technical culture, a tool for international trade and travel. Its knowledge was seen as a guarantee of access to Western culture: We keep the historical connection with everything that is best in the spiritual tradition of the West only through an intensive direct study of Western cultures—and the key to their treasury is knowledge of their languages. […] Some of us […] see in the near future the long-term world hegemony of English, like the French hegemony in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. […] The historical decline after the nineteenth century places us in the face of a cultural duty to get acquainted with several leading world languages […].10

Despite the belief in the high importance of the English language, the lack of teachers seriously affected the number of people learning English at schools: in the mid-1930s, it was only 3,000 students.11 Regardless of the 8 Stolarczyk, ‘Wychowanie państwowe w drugiej rzeczypospolitej w świetle programów szkolnych (po wprowadzeniu reformy oświatowej z 1932 roku)’, 217. 9 Woźniak, ‘Polityka językowa państwa polskiego w okresie międzywojennym’, 12. 10 Dyboski, ‘O znaczeniu nauki języków zachodnich dla Polski’, 164. Translations are the author’s own. 11 Iwan, Nauczanie języków obcych nowożytnych w Polsce w latach 1919–1939. Koncepcje organizacyjno-programowe, 97.

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organizational problems, English coursebooks implementing the program recommendations were published.

2

Sources for Further Analysis

The primary sources surveyed for further analysis can be divided into three groups:12 – policy and curriculum (government papers; policy documents; curricula; syllabus documents), – learning materials (textbooks for learning English approved by the Ministry, with accompanying methodological guides for teachers), – articles printed in the professional journal Neofilolog representing history of ideas. The selected sources take into account the official curriculum, which, using Cuban’s terminology, is the top layer of the formal structure of content and skills that teachers are expected to teach, and students learn,13 and the ‘taught’ layer, that is, teachers’ choices of what to teach and how to present it.14 This choice of sources presents a broad view of teaching English: textbooks are the last link in the didactic process, intended primarily for practical use in the teaching process, while many issues regarding the perception of English and notions of ideology are presented in official or methodological materials. The teaching procedures applied while using the textbooks can be observed in the methodological guides. For this chapter, I examined a corpus of seven textbooks of English under scrutiny for twenty years, as well as official documents prepared by the Ministry, and articles published in the first professional journal, Neofilolog. In order to determine how policy was translated into practice, the curriculum document analysis covers the following items: ‘Program naukowy szkoły średniej’ (1919), (Secondary School Science Program), ‘Program gimnazjum państwowego. Gimnazjum niższe. Język polski. Historia. Języki nowożytne’ (1919) (The State Gymnasium Program. Lower secondary school. Polish language. History. Modern languages), ‘Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych z polskim językiem nauczania’ (1934) (Study program in state 12 Smith, ‘Building “Applied linguistics historiography” ’, 81. 13 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 14 Ibidem.

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lower secondary schools with the Polish language of instruction). Key factors for the selection of the documents were the dates of their release compared with information given in the textbook titles about the types of schools they were prepared for. In the 1920s, textbooks for primary and secondary schools were published, while in 1934, textbooks for the reformed four-year middle school and two-year high school began to appear. The curricula examined were prepared for the abovementioned school types. The chronological diversity of curricula was necessary for insight into the changing attitude towards modern language education. The schoolbooks officially accepted in ministry documents are also analysed. Their authors belonged to the first generation of English philologists educated in Poland. Jadwiga Knapczyk and Tadeusz Grzebieniowski were graduates of the Jagiellonian University. The third author is a colourful figure, Klara Jastroch, born in Milwaukee, a nun who came to Poland after the First World War and taught English successfully. To get more information, I also analysed the methodological book prepared for teachers by Tadeusz Grzebieniowski and Klara Jastroch. Journal articles printed in Neofilolog, a periodical of the Polish Association of Modern Languages founded in 1929, exemplify the heated debate on the modern language education in state schools. Neofilolog provided the discourse forum for everyone involved in foreign language education: prominent authors published their manifestos here; school teachers shared their experiences; the pioneers of language teaching reforms communicated with each other enthusiastically.15 For this chapter, I have read texts commenting on the state and civic education in relation to the English language.16

3

Official Aims of Teaching Modern Foreign Languages in the Interwar Period in Poland

Analysis of curricula (Cuban’s ‘top layer’, see above) indicates the evolution of goals in the field of teaching modern foreign languages. Shortly after Poland regained independence, modern languages were marginalized. According to the authors of the Scientific Programme of the High School, modern language 15 For a broad study of the significance of specialized journals in the development of modern language teaching in the past, see Linn, ‘Modern foreign languages get a voice’. 16 Ciesielska-Borkowska, ‘Wartość wychowawcza nauki języków nowożytnych’ (‘The educational value of learning modern languages’), 57–66; Siwicka, ‘Wychowanie obywatelskopaństwowe na tle języka angielskiego w szkole średniej (‘Citizenship-state education based on English in high school’), 31–39.

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teaching was to serve, “complementing the tasks posed in learning the Polish language”.17 The document clearly indicates that education should strengthen the sense of responsibility among young people for the recently regained state. The key to success is to base school education on teaching the mother tongue, history, and social sciences, as well as mathematics and natural sciences.18 Foreign languages were supposed to allow students to familiarize themselves with foreign-language literature, which is a carrier of specific values. Two later program documents19 focus on practising productive language skills, emphasizing the need for developing speaking skills. The direct method is considered to be the best method of teaching modern languages. The recommendation to use the direct method results in the following methodological postulates: – textbook-less period at the first stage of language teaching. At this time students should practise speaking. The basic exercise of speaking skills is a conversation based on short questions and answers, which the students repeat many times. The topic of the talks should be the students’ environment at school; – emphasizing the role of correct pronunciation; – treating a sentence rather than a word as the starting point for teaching a foreign language; – the need to base the first stage of language learning on imitation, not reflection; – emphasizing the need to adapt the lessons to the intellectual abilities and interests of students. The program from 1934 recommends using a sense of humour;20 – emphasizing students’ independence and the importance of teamwork; – limiting the role of the mother tongue. Its use should be occasional and limited to situations where it is not possible to verify that the student has understood the meaning given in the taught language; – inductive grammar teaching. Both programs cover in detail the teaching techniques used in developing speaking and writing skills. Forms of speaking exercises include: dialogues, telling stories, re-telling the content of texts, reports on lessons, events, and reading; discussions related to texts and life; delivering poetry and prose; and 17 18 19 20

Program naukowy szkoły średniej (‘Scientific programme of the high school’), 114. Ibidem, 19–21. Program gimnazjum państwowego; Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych. Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych, 239.

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singing songs.21 Writing exercises are: dictation; rewriting text fragments; answering questions; arranging questions; writing short descriptions, letters, dialogues, and grammar exercises.22 When discussing teaching grammar, it is suggested to reject rare forms and exceptions. The main approach is the inductive method. The ministerial programs also list the topics on which the language exercises should be based. These are: school; the human body; time and weather; students’ homes and families; crafts and professions; city and countryside; nature; geographical concepts; communication; and correspondence. The differences between the document issued in 1919 and the one from 1934 concern mainly the goals of foreign language teaching. The program from 1919 emphasizes utilitarian goals: the ability to use a foreign language in speech and writing, reading and understanding works written in a modern language. The cultural element is limited to “getting to know the culture of a given nation in outline”.23 The goals become much more elaborate in the 1934 curriculum. The teaching of modern foreign languages should simultaneously pursue three objectives: practical, cognitive, and educational, so that they complement each other at each level of education.24 Practical knowledge of the language means that after graduating from lower secondary school, a student should be able to communicate in words and in writing in the field of everyday life; understand basic texts and handle more difficult ones with a dictionary; and learn and correctly apply basic grammar standards.25 The term ‘cultural studies’ was first discussed in the 1934 program. The central issue was to provide illustrative material to capture specific features of the foreign nation’s present life. Students should acquaint themselves with everyday private, public, political, and economic life through stories, poems, songs, and illustrations. The term ‘civic and state education’ appears for the first time in 1934 with the following description: It allows you to penetrate into the values of a given nation, teaches you healthy criticism and noble pride. The image of the nation should be 21 Program gimnazjum państwowego, 39–40. Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych, 244. 22 Program gimnazjum państwowego, 44. Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych, 247–250. 23 Program gimnazjum państwowego. Gimnazjum niższe. Język polski. Historia. Języki nowożytne, 37. 24 Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych z polskim językiem nauczania (tymczasowy), 237. 25 Ibidem, 238.

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real, therefore the flaws should not be ignored, although moralizing and simplification should be avoided. Thanks to this, young people will understand the contribution of their own nation to the heritage of human culture.26

The above excerpts from a text published in the 1930s clearly show how the role of education was perceived in the interwar period: it was supposed to equip young people with knowledge, but also influence their behaviour and personalities in a way desired by people in power. It must be said that the goals set for learning modern foreign languages were extremely ambitious. Students should acquire knowledge of the language system, its usage, as well as get to know the nation that speaks the language, its country and culture.

4

English Language Teaching Goals in Textbooks

In this part of the essay, I try to show if and how the different types of goals listed in curricula are reflected in schoolbooks. Once again it should be mentioned that the books being observed are the first Polish coursebooks used in a school system. The inclusion of English alongside German and French in the school curriculum had a direct impact on the content and use of learning materials for this language. The content of English textbooks was decided not only by their authors, but also by authors of curricula and institutions approving the textbook for use at various stages of education. The teachers were forced to proceed in a systematic way in order to comply with the demands of a structured school system, which leads in stages to some kind of final standard of achievement. Previously, English language learning materials satisfied the needs of professional or social groups (merchants, travellers, emigrants) or functioned in the home and self-education systems.27 The most effective way to observe how curriculum recommendations were implemented in practice is to analyse the content of school textbooks. In the interwar period, the following three series of English textbooks were published: 26 Ibidem. 27 For a more comprehensive study of the early history of English language education in Poland, see Schramm, Dzieje nauki języka angielskiego i innych języków nowożytnych w Polsce w okresie zaborów and Kotlarska, ‘Teaching English in the First English Handbook for Poles of 1788’.

272 Irmina Kotl arsk a Table 1: Series of English Textbooks in Poland (Interwar Period) Textbook author

Title

Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część pierwsza Jadwiga Knapczyk Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część druga Tadeusz A First English Book. Podręcznik języka angielskiego dla klasy I gimnazjalnej Grzebieniowski Tadeusz A Second English Book. Podręcznik języka angielskiego dla 2 klasy gimnazjalnej Grzebieniowski Tadeusz Grzebienio- Great and Greater Britain:Scenes and Stories. Podręcznik wski, Klara Jastroch języka angielskiego dla 3. klasy gimnazjalnej Klara Jastroch The First Year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania Klara Jastroch Life and Work in England. Podręcznik języka angielskiego dla drugiej klasy gimnazjalnej Jadwiga Knapczyk

Release date28 1922 1924 1934 1935 1934 1934 1938

The oldest series by Jadwiga Knapczyk was intended for the initial stage of education, as evidenced by its title: Beginnings of English for Elementary and Secondary Schools. Two parts of the book appeared in the 1920s, and they follow the program recommendations of the 1919 program. Textbooks prepared in accordance with the recommendations of Jędrzejewicz’s reform began to appear in 1934. Textbooks for the first and second grades of junior high school were prepared simultaneously but separately by Tadeusz Grzebieniowski and Klara Jastroch, who, as co-authors, published a textbook for the third grade. The textbook’s authors wanted their books to fulfil curriculum goals. In ‘Methodological Tips’, printed as a teacher’s guide to A First English Book, Grzebieniowski states that if the teacher, using this textbook, equally combines form with content, the intentions of the ministerial programmes regarding the results of teaching a foreign language will be met.29 To see how theory given in curricula was translated into practice, I examine: – how practical language education under the principles of the direct method is implemented in the textbooks, i.e. how the practical goal of English teaching is put into practice;

28 The dates of the first release are given; all textbooks were published several times. 29 Grzebieniowski, Wskazówki metodyczne do podręcznika ‘A first English book dla 1 klasy gimnazjalnej’, 3.

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– by what means the content of textbooks introduces young people to the English culture, i.e. how the cognitive goal is implemented; – what values typical of English culture were displayed in textbooks and by what methods, i.e. how ‘civic and state education’ is reflected in the textbooks. 4.1 Practical and Utilitarian Language Teaching The utilitarian and practical goal of teaching English can be summarized with the recommendation: have students use English to communicate correctly and efficiently. To meet that goal, schoolbook authors sought to teach language in the most effective way, which, according to the then current state of methodological knowledge, meant applying the direct method. The authors of the textbooks present grammar inductively: they start by providing examples, then give a rule or the verb conjugation formula. In schoolbooks by Klara Jastroch and Tadeusz Grzebieniowski,30 the grammar portion appears at the end of the books. Their books first provide the list of classroom expressions, followed by texts of controlled length with exercises. The grammar section follows next, and its structure follows the Latin model of word classes. In the series by Jadwiga Knapczyk,31 there is no separated grammar section: the grammar explanations appear immediately below texts containing the new structure. It is then translated into Polish; the students’ native language is also used to explain grammar rules; for example: He gets up and begins to wash. He does not see his sponge. Tim sees it. It has dropped down. It is on the floor. Bob picks it up. He makes haste and gets dressed. He brushes his hair. After a few minutes he is ready. […] Zjawisko językowe: I have forgotten = zapomniałem, it has dropped = upadło, są formami czasu przeszłego złożonego (Perfect Tense) w stronie czynnej (Active Voice). Czas ten (Perfect Tense) składa się z odmiany czasu teraźniejszego to have i z imiesłowu czasu przeszłego danego czasownika (Past Participle).32

Such a content arrangement emphasizes the dominant role of the teacher: the learning process would be impossible without an instructor. It is stated explicitly in ‘Introductory notes for teachers’ in The First Year of English by 30 See the table above. 31 Ibidem. 32 Knapczyk, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich, część 2, 5.

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Jastroch: ‘Bringing the lessons to life depends on the teacher’s pedagogical and didactic approach and his personal initiative’.33 The authors adhere to the principle that students discover grammar rules on the basis of the forms used in the texts, and do not provide grammatical explanations. Jastroch gives only laconic remarks on the use of grammatical tenses; Grzebieniowski does not give any rules at all: in the part devoted to grammar, fragments of texts containing the constructions taught in a given lesson are printed in bold. Grammar exercises are usually the drills: for example, change the verbs into the imperfect tense; change the following sentences into passive voice; complete with one of these verbs—must, may, can. This is due to the recommendations in the program to use imitation in the initial stage of learning. The authors tried to make the grammar teaching functional: there are lots of exercises in which students are asked to use a newly learned structure in speech or writing; for example, practice telling the time by using a clock or a watch; say something about New Year’s Eve; give an account of what you see on a summer morning in the country. The exercises practicing speaking and writing skills were varied: students are encouraged to summarize texts, arrange dialogues, describe places, illustrations, and events, and tell stories in speech and writing. The large number of productive skills elements shows careful adherence to the recommendation that learning English should be primarily practical. Another example of implementing the direct method is the question/ answer exercise. As we can read in methodological guidebooks, the lessons, especially those for beginners, were based on question-answer patterns (‘Teacher: I am looking at you. You are looking at me. Look at me! Whom are you looking at? Pupil: I am looking at you’).34 Such dialogues were used in a textbook free period. The crucial thing then was listening and speaking exercises, similar to the one given above. Questions also follow texts to check reading comprehension, or stimulate the use of productive skills; for example, ‘Which season do you find more pleasant, summer or spring? Where do you spend your weekends?’. A further attempt at making English lessons effective was teaching vocabulary through pantomiming, use of real-life objects, and visual materials. Instructions for using gestures are given in the teachers’ guidebooks, whereas textbooks contain pictures and photos of everyday objects. The materials for the teacher also emphasize the role of native-like pronunciation and 33 Jastroch, Uwagi wstępne dla nauczyciela do podręcznika The first year of English, 5. 34 Grzebieniowski, Wskazówki metodyczne, 7.

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the necessity of teaching it from the very first lesson. An explanation of the phonetic alphabet, an English pronunciation table, and an English-Polish dictionary in alphabetical and lesson layout were given in the final parts of the textbooks. Ministerial regulations codified the phonetic transcription proposed by Titus Benni in ‘Ortofonja angielska’ (English Ortophony) to be used in textbooks.35 The implementation of direct method is also visible in the limited use of the Polish language in textbooks: the later they were published, the less Polish is used. The materials for the first year of study contain longer fragments in the mother tongue; at higher stages only new vocabulary and idioms are translated into Polish from time to time. 4.2 Cultural Content—Cognitive Goal Implementation As discussed above, one of the goals of teaching English was called ‘cognitive’. Official documents explained that it meant getting to know the culture of the English nation. The scope of this goal clearly changes over the period: at first, the cognitive goal is equated with getting to know a foreign environment. This meant that learning English should include information about the daily life of a foreign society, “its works, customs and habits”.36 Then, in the 1934 curriculum, the cognitive goal is indicated as an element of achieving the educational goal. This last term was understood as the student’s character development.37 I discuss character development through English teaching in the next section; here I focus on how the English environment is presented in the textbooks. In the oldest textbooks by Jadwiga Knapczyk, the basis for the thematic selection of the presented material are the four seasons. In the autumn section, the author writes about an English boarding school;38 in winter, students learn about Christmas in England39 and winter sports;40 in spring the tennis competitions are described;41 in summer, the texts tell about life on the coast,42 sailing, and the profession of fisherman.43 Many texts concern 35 Benni, Ortofonja angielska: podręcznik wzorowej wymowy oraz słownik fonetyczny. 36 Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych, 237. 37 Ibidem. 38 Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część druga, 3. 39 Ibidem, 40–42. 40 Ibidem, 34. 41 Ibidem, 74. 42 Ibidem, 90–93. 43 Ibidem, 95–97.

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nature and field work typical of the four seasons. There are also fairy tales, poems, and songs. Knapczyk’s textbooks present topics close to students, but the information provided does not refer to British or American realities. It is therefore difficult to conclude that this is a successful implementation of a cognitive goal: the textbooks deal with some of the topics recommended in the 1919 program, such as school, weather, home, professions, nature, countryside, means of communication, and correspondence, but with very few references to British realities. It can be assumed that after the course with the use of Knapczyk’s textbooks, the students could talk about everyday life topics in English, but they had poor factual knowledge about Great Britain. The textbooks printed in the 1930s provide students with more factual information on topics including English money, measures, everyday customs, schools and leisure activities. England remained the main focus, mainly from a contemporary perspective, although historical references were used at the second and third levels. Facts are given in texts, pictures, and dialogues. Both Grzebieniowski and Jastroch present the description of geographical features of the country, especially its island character. English people are perceived as sea lovers and sea rulers. All round England there is a deep sea. There are many sailors in England. They feel very happy when they are at sea. / They sing then: Our home is the ocean, / Our grave is the deep, / We feel no emotion / When on it we sleep. / The waves are our pillow, / Our cradle the sea, / The rougher the billow, / The happier we. 44

The f ield of geography also features texts about British places, such as London, Kent, and Newcastle, and other places of interest like Yorkshire and the Lake District. Schoolbooks by Grzebieniowski and Jastroch give some information about London, presenting it not only as the busy, lively metropolis, but also as a city full of historical places, for example, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and monuments commemorating the most important events in English history. Another recurring topic is sport. Pictures of football matches, rules of lawn-tennis, a poem about cricket, and a description of Cambridge boat races are included in all schoolbooks. Sport is a topic close to young people and, more importantly from the educational perspective, it allows the introduction of the fair-play principle considered an important aspect of life in Britain. 45 44 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 5. 45 Cieśla, Dzieje nauki języków, 307.

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Fig. 1:  English Money

Source: Jastroch, Klara, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 17.

The most comprehensive text on this issue is ‘Instructions of the British Olympic Association for the British Team in Paris 1924’, giving rules such as: “Keep a sound soul, a clean mind, and a healthy body. Play the Game”, and describing a sportsman as someone who “plays the game for the game’s sake” and “never interferes with referees or judges, no matter what decision”.46 An area that features prominently in schoolbooks is the British love of nature. Texts portray an idealistic picture of rural life and the farmer’s work. Remarkably, Polish authors stress the respect and care the English give to animals. One can see it in the story ‘The People’s Bell’ showing England’s love for the horse. A text entitled ‘The English and the Animals’ clearly explains that Polish students should copy this behaviour: The animals in England are very happy. […] England is a land of joy for birds. We shall see that it is the same with other animals. The cats are fat and happy, the dogs look to be merry and the horses are strong and look well as in no other country. An Englishman will never be unkind to 46 Grzebieniowski & Jastroch, Great and Greater Britain, 32.

278 Irmina Kotl arsk a Fig. 2:  An English Farm

Source: Jastroch, Klara, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 41.

animals; on the contrary, he will always be kind to them. Because of the kindness of the English to the animals they feel happy in England. We must also be good to the animals. 47

Further important aspects of everyday British life are technological inventions and advances. They are represented in dialogues on the benefits of radio broadcasting and watching films, texts describing journeys with modern means of transport (steamers, aeroplanes, trains), or famous inventors and their achievements (George Stephenson, James Watt and the steam engine), as the following example illustrates:

47 Knapczyk, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich, część 2, 30.

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[…] flying is used for transport and is a very practical and useful sport. Many people fly and aeroplane only for the idea of sport. Of course, when a Nation has many pilots it is good for her, because in case of need she may call the civil pilots to serve her cause. 48

Many texts also contain an account of the political history of the British Isles. Schoolbooks used at the first level of education offer it in the simplified version; for example: ‘A Short History of England’ / First the Britons, then the Romans / To this island came. / Then the English crossed the waters, / Gave the land its name. / Next the Northmen, fierce sea-rovers – / Alfred was their foe; / Last of all the Normans came here / With their lance and bow. 49

When it comes to the form of presenting cultural content, visual elements are important. Pictures illustrate the content given in stories or factual texts:a text called “Busy London” is accompanied by four photos taken from The Times showing ‘One of London’s Busy Streets, the Bank of England, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge’.50 The authors use both cartoons and pictures taken from the English press, sources such as The Times, Topical, and Keystone. Songs and rhymes are also source materials. They were supposed to make learning more enjoyable and provide students with opportunities to develop further insights onthe culture that are available in no other way.51 The implementation of cognitive goals in the books printed after 1930 is more thorough than in the 1920s. The schoolbooks present both factual information and dialogues showing everyday life and content depicting the literary, philosophical, or intellectual tradition in which the language learners want to partake. In this way, the authors of the textbooks tried to implement the recommendation that learning foreign languages should show students the elements of culture of a given nation that were worthy of imitation for the good of the state.

48 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 31. 49 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 21. 50 Jastroch, Life and work in England, 35–39. 51 Deczewska, ‘Tekst, muzyka, kultura. Piosenki na lekcjach języka obcego’, 39–40.

280 Irmina Kotl arsk a Fig. 3:  Song 'We've Come to Work' from a Teacher's Book

Source: Jastroch, Klara, The first year of English. Uwagi wstępne dla nauczyciela do podręcznika, 15.

4.3 Civic and State Education—Educational Goal Implementation The syllabus from 1934 declares as its purpose: “Understanding the character and consciousness of the English nation, raising awareness of the characteristics and educational values of English culture, and deepening the feelings of separateness from the Polish culture”.52 The teaching and learning of 52 Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych, 3.

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Fig. 4:  Song 'Work and Play'

Source: Knapczyk, Jadwiga, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część pierwsza, 52.

a foreign culture gained a new, educational dimension: by looking at the achievements of another culture and trying to understand the character of its people, students were meant to gain deeper insight into their own cultural background by means of comparison.

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To understand what exactly the term ‘state education’ meant in relation to learning English, I turned to Zofia Siwicka’s text with the meaningful title ‘Citizenship-state Education based on English in High School’. The author lists values typical for British culture worth highlighting in English lessons. She enumerates hygiene; kindness; life energy; love of the sea; love of sport based on the idea of fair play; loyalty to the state; freedom and tolerance; human rights; work for the state; the parliamentary system; political education; respect for tradition and law; honouring one’s word, avoiding superlatives and praise; gentleness; putting actions above knowledge; cooperation above criticism; optimism and noble national pride; and the happiness of society and the sources of happiness.53 The desired values were presented in textbooks through proverbs, for example: – Individual responsibility: ‘Do well the duty that lies before you’,54 ‘It is a great thing to do a little thing well’;55 – Proper time management: ‘Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise’,56 ‘Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today’; Time is money’,57 – Perseverance in pursuit of goals, the ability to take advantage of favourable circumstances: ‘Strike while the iron is hot’,58 ‘Business is business’.59 – Moderation and restraint: ‘Speak less than you know, spend less than you have’; ‘Eat to live, but do not live to eat’,60 ‘Think much, speak little, and write less’.61 Some texts clearly explain the meaning of the proverbs to show both desirable and undesirable values: There is much wisdom in proverbs. They show us how to live. A man who eats to live, leads a good life. A man who lives to eat, does not lead a good life. A man who speaks more than he knows does not show his wisdom; 53 Siwicka, ‘Wychowanie obywatelsko-państwowe na tle języka angielskiego w szkole średniej’, 32–35. 54 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 54. 55 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 13. 56 Knapczyk, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich, część 1, 82. 57 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 13. 58 Knapczyk, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich, część 2, 38. 59 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 19. 60 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 13. 61 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 19.

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he only shows how silly he is. People who spend more than they have are extravagant and silly. English and American people know that time is money; they know how to save time, therefore they are rich.62

Values are also implicitly transferred in grammar tasks. Obedience, diligence, kindness, and self-control appear in sentences to illustrate how to use the verb must: “I must study my lessons, I must be gentle, I must keep calm, I must obey my parents and teachers, I must obey the traffic rules, I must listen with attention when others speak”.63 Equally often, moral notions are stressed in texts discussing the school and out-of-school lives of young people, for example: We have learned many things. It is now our duty to remember them, because all that we have studied this year will be of importance next year and the years to come. Not only is knowledge necessary at school, but it is of importance for our lifetime.64

The Scout Movement, adopted from England, was a great positive role model for young people in Poland.65 At the more advanced levels, desirable values are presented through texts published in cultural readers. An example of this type of book is ‘Life and Work in England’ by Klara Jastroch66 and ‘Great and Greater Britain’ by Tadeusz Grzebieniowski and Klara Jastroch.67 The texts there serve not only as sources of historical knowledge, but also as illustrations of British patriotism and love of freedom. These two values were of particular importance for the newly-developed Polish state. Due to Poland’s difficult history, where patriotism was sometimes confused with the privileges granted to nobility and magnates, young people are advised to become familiar with the characteristic features of English patriotism, which are loyalty to the state, individual freedom joined with working together for the common good, and tolerance.68 These values are illustrated by literary texts including ‘Patriotism’ by Walter Scott; ‘My Land’ by Thomas Osborne Davis;

62 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 13. 63 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 46. 64 Jastroch, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania, 59. 65 Jastroch, Life and work in England, 50–53. 66 Jastroch, Life and work in England. 67 Grzebieniowski & Jastroch, Great and Greater Britain. 68 Siwicka, ‘Wychowanie obywatelsko-państwowe na tle języka angielskiego’, 32–33.

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or ‘Rule Britannia’, containing the sentence: ‘Britons never shall be slaves’,69 as well as texts describing historical figures and events like‘Wallace: A Hero of Scotland’, ‘Lord Nelson’, ‘The Freeing of the Slaves’, and ‘Magna Charta’. Before moving on to the conclusion, we should discuss one more issue: in what way could the topics and the qualities of the ‘English character’ presented in schoolbooks help students understand their own culture and how did the teachers meet that syllabus requirement? The keyword here is comparison, and the critical exercise is asking questions. The schoolbook authors searched for common points between Britain and Poland in the past and present and made them clear to students in questions presented below the texts, as these examples illustrate: Honesty is the best policy; do you know a Polish saying to express this? Relate a fact from your own experience to illustrate the above saying.70 What kind of document is Magna Charta? Is there anything like that in Polish history?71 Is there any province in Poland where ‘one city runs into the next almost without division’?72

The answers to these questions were to be discussed with the teacher in class.

5 Conclusion The interwar period in the history of teaching English in Poland shows strong links between the policy, pedagogical, and textbook levels of the education process. Heavily influenced by the post-war discussion of the aims of foreign language-learning, the new teaching materials show that teaching English was subject to the regulations issued by the state. The books’ content and the method used is highly influenced by curricula. Changes in curricula are due to both the desire to improve the process of teaching foreign languages and to ideological reasons. The practical goal of learning foreign languages was supplemented with an educational goal: during English lessons, students were meant to be taught how to become good citizens of a new Polish state. 69 Grzebieniowski, A first English book, 47. 70 Grzebieniowski & Jastroch, Great and Greater Britain, 17. 71 Ibidem, 41. 72 Ibidem, 28.

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Textbooks authors did their best to implement the aims given in state documents. Their main concern was eff icient English teaching. It was intended to give Polish students a tool for fast and efficient international communication. In practice, effectiveness and usefulness meant using the direct method. The implementation of the direct method in textbooks includes an inductive way of presenting grammar, numerous speaking exercises, the limited use of the mother tongue, attempts to motivate students during lessons through singing and physical exercises. Therefore, the recommendation for practical language learning was accurately implemented. The cognitive goal is achieved by including cultural content in textbooks. The cultural content is mainly factual knowledge. The textbooks also try to present the typical features of English people, such as love of nature, sport, a sense of humour, and creativity. In textbooks published in the 1930s, there are examples of comparing Polish and English cultures. Polish students of English in the interwar period were to gain a more in-depth insight into what were considered typical traits of the British character. One aim was to achieve profound understanding of life in contemporary Britain. Another was to use these insights to compare and contrast them with Polish culture and imitate the positive elements of the British culture. It is difficult to say to what extent the textbooks’ content allowed the shaping of the character of Polish youth. The notions of the respected values at the primary level were proverbs, while more advanced students read texts about people and events that can be considered examples of the implementation of the desired Anglo-Saxon qualities. Thus, the educational goal of teaching foreign languages was partially achieved. However, it is difficult to assess whether reading proverbs and texts would make students adopt the highlighted values. Texts from the interwar period certainly deserve further analysis. They are rich sources of knowledge on the history of applied linguistics and proof that the top layer determines the ‘taught’ layer.

Bibliography Primary Sources Textbooks and Teacher’s Guidebooks Analysed

Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz, A first English book. Podręcznik języka angielskiego dla klasy I gimnazjalnej (Lwów-Warszawa: Książnica-Atlas, 1934). Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz, Wskazówki metodyczne do podręcznika ‘A first English book dla I klasy gimnazjalnej’ (Lwów-Warszawa: Książnica-Atlas, 1934).

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Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz, A second English book: podręcznik języka angielskiego dla 2 klasy gimnazjalnej (Lwów-Warszawa: Książnica-Atlas, 1935). Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz, & Jastroch, Klara, Great and Greater Britain: Scenes and stories. Podręcznik języka angielskiego dla 3. klasy gimnazjalnej (Lwów: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Książek Szkolnych, 1934). Jastroch, Klara, The first year of English. Podręcznik języka angielskiego na I rok nauczania (Lwów: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Książek Szkolnych, 1934). Jastroch, Klara, Uwagi wstępne dla nauczyciela do podręcznika ‘The first year of English’ (Lwów: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Książek Szkolnych, 1934). Jastroch, Klara, Life and work in England: podręcznik języka angielskiego dla drugiej klasy gimnazjalnej (Lwów: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Książek Szkolnych, 1938). Knapczyk, Jadwiga, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część pierwsza (Warszawa-Lwów: Książnica-Atlas, 1922). Knapczyk, Jadwiga, Początki języka angielskiego dla szkół powszechnych i średnich. Część druga (Warszawa-Lwów: Książnica-Atlas, 1924).

Policy Documents

Program naukowy szkoły średniej (Warszawa: Tłocznia Władysława Łazarskiego, 1919). Program gimnazjum państwowego. Gimnazjum niższe. Język polski. Historia. Języki nowożytne (Warszawa: Tłocznia Władysława Łazarskiego, 1919). Program nauki w gimnazjach państwowych z polskim językiem nauczania (tymczasowy) (Lwów: Drukarnia J. Żydaczewskiego, 1934).

Journal Articles

Ciesielska-Borkowska, Stanisława, ‘Wartość wychowawcza nauki języków nowożytnych’, Neofilolog, 1 (1930), 57–66. Dyboski, Roman, ‘O znaczeniu nauki języków zachodnich dla Polski’, Neofilolog 4 (1933), 160–175. Siwicka, Zofia, ‘Wychowanie obywatelsko-państwowe na tle języka angielskiego w szkole średniej’, Neofilolog 4 (1933), 31–39.

Secondary Literature Benni, Tytus, Ortofonja angielska: podręcznik wzorowej wymowy oraz słownik fonetyczny (Lwów: Książnica Polska, 1924). Cieśla, Michał, Dzieje nauki języków obcych w zarysie (Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1974). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi‐layered curriculum: Why change is often conf used w ith reform’, https://larr ycuban.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/

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why-change-is-often-confused-with-reform-the-multi-layered-curriculum/ (accessed 01/07/2021). Deczewska, Justyna, ‘Tekst, muzyka, kultura. Piosenki na lekcjach języka obcego’, Języki Obce w Szkole, 01 (2020), 39–45. Dobrowolska, Jolanta, ‘Analiza programów nauczania języków zachodnioeuropejskich w polskich szkołach ogólnokształcących w latach 1918–1979’, in: Idee przewodnie w programach szkoły ogólnokształcącej w latach 1918–1978, Wróbel, Tadeusz (ed.), (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne), 180–198. Iwan, Krystyna, Nauczanie języków obcych nowożytnych w Polsce w latach 1919–1939. Koncepcje organizacyjno-programowe (Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 1972). Iwan, Kr ystyna, Polska myśl glottodydakt yczna okresu dwudziestolecia międzywojennego (Szczecin: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna, 1975). Kotlarska, Irmina, ‘Teaching English in the first English handbook for Poles of 1788’, in: Steciąg, Magdalena, Adamczyk, Magdalena & Biszczanik, Marek (eds.), Kontakty językowe w komunikowaniu (Zielona Góra: Of icyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego, 2016), 177–188. Kotlarska, Irmina, ‘Materiały do nauki języka angielskiego wydawane od końca XVIII do połowy XX wieku jako źródła badań polsko-angielskich kontaktów językowych. Prolegomena badawcze’, Socjolingwistyka 33 (2019), 167–180. Kotlarska, Irmina, ‘Polszczyzna w służbie glottodydaktyki—zmiany we wzorcu tekstowym podręczników do nauki języka angielskiego wydanych po 1918 roku (wstęp do badań)’, in: Klimek-Grądzka, Jolanta & Nowak, Małgorzata (eds.), Dziedzictwo językowe przeszłości—w stulecie odzyskania niepodległości (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 2019), 71–86. Linn, Andrew R., ‘Modern foreign languages get a voice: The role of journals in the reform movement’, in: McLelland, Nicola & Smith, Richard (eds.), The history of language learning and teaching II: 19th–20th Century Europe, (Cambridge: Legenda, 2018), 145–60. McLelland, Nicola, & Smith, Richard, ‘Introduction: Establishing HoLLT: The history of language learning and teaching’, in: McLelland, Nicola & Smith, Richard (eds.), The history of language learning and teaching I: 16th–18th Century Europe (Cambridge: Legenda, 2018), 1–19. Możejko, Zbigniew, A post-method perspective on ELT materials in pre-war Poland, in: Galajda, Dagmara, Zakrajewski, Pawel & Pawlak, Mirosław (eds.), Language in cognition and affect: Second language learning and teaching (Heidelberg: Springer, 2013), 223–235. Podhajecka, Mirosława, ‘Lektorzy języka angielskiego w Wilnie i Krakowie w okresie międzywojennym. Próba biograficzna’, Prace Historyczne 145 (2018), 271−301.

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Pudłocki, Tomasz, ‘English and German studies at the Jagiellonian University between the two world wars: The ideal of a scholar and challenges of reality’, Prace Historyczne 145 (2018), 317–338. Przyklenk, Joanna, ‘Teksty i ko(n)teksty nauki języków obcych w międzywojniu a kształcenie polonistyczne’, in: Achtelik, Aleksandra & Graboń, Karolina (eds.), Polonistyka na początku XXI wieku. Diagnozy, koncepcje, perspektywy V: W kręgu (glotto)dydaktyki (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2018), 128–142. Schramm, Ewa, Dzieje nauki języka angielskiego i innych języków nowożytnych w Polsce w okresie zaborów (od schyłku I do narodzin II Rzeczpospolitej) (Warszawa: Fraka Edukacyjna, 2008). Sharp, Felicitas, ‘Getting to know the other: Representation of “the English” in German cultural readers of the 1920s’, in: McLelland, Nicola & Smith, Richard (eds.), The history of language learning and teaching III: Across cultures (Cambridge: Legenda, 2018), 74–84. Smith, Richard, ‘Building “applied linguistic historiography”: Rationale, scope, and methods’, Applied Linguistics 37 (2016), 71–87. Stolarczyk, Michał, ‘Wychowanie państwowe w drugiej rzeczypospolitej w świetle programów szkolnych (po wprowadzeniu reformy oświatowej z 1932 roku’), Lubelski Rocznik Pedagogiczny 37 (2018), 215–235. Woźniak, Ewa, ‘Polityka językowa państwa polskiego w okresie międzywojennym’, Socjolingwistyka 19 (2015), 7–20.

About the Author Irmina Kotlarska Department of Linguistics, Institute of Polish Philology University of Zielona Góra [email protected] Irmina Kotlarska is assistant professor in the Linguistics Department of the Institute of Polish Philology of the University of Zielona Góra. Her research interests are sociolinguistics, educational discourse, Polish-English language contacts, the history of teaching English in Poland, and textbook analysis. She is the author of the monograph The intentionality of the statements in ‘Home Teacher’s Diary’ (1814–1823) by Julian Antonowicz in the light of pragmatic and lexical analysis.

13 English as a Foreign Language in Georgia From Past to Present Ekaterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze

Abstract After the collapse of the Soviet Union, “Georgia […] entered into linguistically and culturally diverse space”1 and Russian was replaced with English,now a mandatory first foreign language. This chapter explores the establishment of English as a foreign language in Georgia in the 1930s and its development to the present day. It analyses the factors influencing English language teaching before, during, and after the Soviet period, and examines English language curricula and teaching materials. The chapter also offers the results of empirical research on the current state of English teaching and the impact of the Soviet period, based on focus group interviews which were conducted throughout Georgia. Keywords: English as a foreign language; Soviet education system; Soviet ideology; education reform; language policy; language acquisition theories; EFL learning/teaching; teaching methods; EFL curriculum in Soviet Union; EFL textbook

1

Historical Overview of Foreign Language Teaching in Georgia

Because Georgia is a multicultural and multinational country, the study of languages has traditionally been considered significant in the nation. According to the eleventh century Georgian historian, chronicler, and ecclesiastic Leonti Mroveli, five languages in addition to Georgian were spoken 1

Ministry of education and science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2018–2024), ch. XXIV, 1.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch13

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in Kartli (a historical region of Georgia) from as early as the sixth century BC: Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Hebrew, and Khazar. These languages were spoken by all the kings of Kartli, as well as by ordinary men and women; this multilingualism is emblematic of the way Georgians peacefully cohabited with different minority groups in a society that respected cultural diversity.2 From the fourth century of the common era, the Greek language was a mandatory subject, along with philosophy and rhetoric, at Georgian-Greek rhetoric schools in the west part of Georgia, and numerous translations from Georgian to Greek were produced during the period. Persian and Arabic were also taught in Georgia for both political and cultural reasons, and translations of literary, philosophical, and religious texts into and out of these languages were also undertaken. As early as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Greek, Persian, Arabic, and Syrian were compulsory school subjects at the ecclesiastical academies of Gelati and Ikalto. Western European languages were introduced at the beginning of the seventeenth century, which can be considered a consequence of the Italian and French Catholic missionaries’ work undertaken in Georgia.3 In the nineteenth century, the German language was also introduced and began to be taught along with Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. German settlers migrated to Georgia as well as other parts of the Russian Empire as a result of a difficult economic situation in Germany and religious persecution. 4 At this time the Russian language became a compulsory school subject in Georgia as a symbol of political dependence, first on the Tsarist Russian Empire and later on the Soviet Union. Since Georgia became part of the Russian Empire as early as 1801, Russian was a compulsory language for more than two hundred years and was referred to as a Second Native Language, until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.5 From that date, Russian was gradually replaced by English, reflecting the radical changes in ideological, political, and social priorities in Georgian society. English holds an important place in the school curriculum today: since 2011, it has been a compulsory subject from the first year of schooling, even though, as we have seen, other languages have a much longer history in Georgian public education. The arrival of English as a foreign language (EFL) as an optional class in Georgian schools dates to 1926, in the early Soviet period; in the same year an institute for language teacher education 2 Kaukhchishvili, ‘Kartlis Tskhovreba’ (Life of Kartli), 9. 3 Gomarteli, Questions of foreign language methodology, 7. 4 Janelidze, New and modern history of Georgia, 119. 5 Shaverdashvili et al, Basics of teaching foreign languages, 198.

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was set up based on a five-year training course. This programme was later transferred to the Foreign Language Institute (1928) and integrated into Tbilisi State University in 1931, one of the main institutions for training English language teachers throughout Georgia.6 Although Soviet policy stressed the importance of English for its citizens, EFL did not immediately become a mandatory part of foreign language curriculum throughout the Soviet republics.7 Foreign languages, including English, were often optional or completely absent: “In the early Soviet period, attention focused on issues considered more pressing than the introduction of foreign languages in the school curriculum, thus languages were not widely taught until much later”.8

2

Soviet Educational Reform and EFL in Georgia in the 1930s

The Soviet drive towards industrialization from the 1930s onwards had consequences for foreign language (FL) instruction, since proficiency in Western European languages was a pre-requisite for studying the latest technological advances made by Western countries. A multilevel overhaul of the FL teaching system was initiated and foreign language became compulsory9 during the First Reform of the Soviet education system. The resolution of the central committee of the Communist party of 25 August 1932 stated: “Foreign languages were compulsory school subjects for every republic of the Soviet Union”.10 This reform played an important role in the development of FL teaching and laid the theoretical foundation for FL didactics. The first to be mentioned in this regard are Lev Shcherba’s publications: The general importance of foreign languages (1926), How to teach foreign languages (1929) and Teaching of foreign languages in public schools (1949). The author (1880–1944) was a Russian linguist and lexicographer. He and his followers emphasized that the objective of language learning and teaching should be communication, and that the learning of grammar should be viewed as a means to this end. They opposed the earlier didactic concepts of the grammar-translation method and actively supported the belief that language should be learned for communicative purposes. Shcherba also favoured contrastive analysis, taking the view that FL learning is promoted 6 Gvarjaladze, Basics of teaching methods, 4. 7 Krupskaya, ‘Foreign language lessons’, 8–12. 8 Shaverdashvili et al., Basics of teaching foreign languages. 9 Ivanova & Tivyaeva, ‘Teaching languages in soviet and present-day Russia’, 308. 10 Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR), 1932, 3.

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via explicit comparison of native and foreign languages. Along with Shcherba, Irine Gruzinskaya’s work on ‘Analytical reading’ was also important. She criticized Harold Palmer’s oral method of teaching foreign languages, which promoted intuitive language learning though repetition and imitation and excluded the native language from FL teaching. Instead, Gruzinskaya viewed ‘language as behaviour’ and favoured a behaviourist approach.11 She was primarily focused on learning analytical reading, because it encompasses all components necessary for language acquisition, such as phonetics, grammar, lexical analysis, and oral and written exercises. Gruzinskaya and her followers stressed the following: a) at primary school (fourth and fifth grades, ten to eleven years) sentences have to be learned through repetition; b) at lower secondary school (sixth through ninth grades, twelve to fifteen years) the development of logical and abstract reasoning skills were important. Oral skills were considered to be the only means of integrating language lesson content in order to learn the language; c) at upper secondary school (tenth and eleventh grades, sixteen to seventeen years) the focus was on the development of cognitive synthesis, application of acquired knowledge, final advancement of speaking skills, and systematization of knowledge.12 Gruzinskaya attached importance to teacher’s methodology guides. She was particularly concerned to adapt teaching to the learners’ ages through the setting of both micro- and macro-level teaching objectives. Other important FL educators of the period were H. Goldstein and M. Rosenberg, Soviet linguists, who played a significant role in language teaching. In their 1938 work The importance of teaching grammar they emphasized grammar teaching (unlike Gruzinskaya) and tried to distinguish what they term ‘passive’ and ‘active’ grammar. According to them, with young beginners, ‘practical’ (inductive) or ‘active’ language teaching was possible, but at an advanced stage, deductive methods should be added in the form of ‘passive’ grammar, mostly for reading comprehension. Goldstein’s and Rosenberg’s theories particularly emphasized the role of everyday usage of the native language as a support for FL learning, building on the “commonly spoken native language as a source of semantization” and “as a source of foreign and native language comparison”.13

11 Gruzinskaya, Methods of teaching in middle school, 95. 12 Shatilov, Methods of teaching German at high school, 198–199. 13 Goldstein & Rosenberg, Methodik des neusprachlichen Unterrichts, 149–150.

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Taken together, these three early sources of FL didactic theory laid the foundation for what has been called the ‘conscious-comparative method’, which relies on behaviourist notions of imitation on one hand, and on the role of native language competence and explicit grammar instruction on the other. Although the theories were put forward in teacher training manuals, they were not fully implemented in Georgian classrooms because ideological doctrines and philosophical views of Soviet leaders had enormous influence on the teaching of foreign languages, on language acquisition theories, and determined a number of essential issues, such as, for example, course content and teaching methods. The official goal of FL education was the development of receptive language skills; productive skills were by no means a priority. Pupils were trained to read and understand selected texts, based on highly ideologized content in an effort to create a good image of Soviet society.14 Most of the texts shared a similar political outlook and supported the political and ideological doctrine of the regime. Reading topics generally presented a uniform, somewhat artificial comparison of living standards in communist and capitalist countries:—how good it is to live in a socialist country versus the difficulty of life in a capitalist system. Other texts represented the exemplary lives of Soviet heroes, drawing on both classical and contemporary revolutionary literature.15 As noted, in the centralized Soviet Union, the curriculum was the same for every republic: the curriculum was set in Moscow and then distributed in the form of mandatory programmes in all member states s irrespective of cultural, educational, and language differences. Throughout the Soviet Union, common foreign language programs established Russian as the first foreign language to be learned from the second year of primary school (age eight), and German, English, and French starting in the fifth grade (age eleven).16 The curriculum in foreign languages, which “focused on the conscious, reflective study of languages with a preference for explicit reading, grammar, and translation exercises”, included:17 – Reading aloud texts of medium complexity with appropriate pronunciation (intonation) and pace; – Answering comprehension questions on medium complexity texts asked in the target language; 14 Pauels & Fox, This representation of the USA in the EFL textbooks in the Soviet Union and Russia, 92. 15 Komisarov, Mixed method of teaching foreign language communicative competence, 3. 16 Starting in 1932, secondary education lasted ten years, split into the following stages: primary education: grades 1–4; lower secondary: grades 5–7; upper secondary: grades 8–10; cf. Prokofiev, Public Education in the USSR, 5–15. 17 Shaverdashvili et al., Basics of foreign language teaching, 214.

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– Translating into Georgian with minimum recourse to dictionaries; – Writing with accurate grammar and spelling (“writing everything without mistakes”), particularly via dictation exercises. The spoken language was addressed by – imitating the teacher to learn correct articulation; – working on texts and practicing vocabulary and grammar. A basic vocabulary of 250 words was determined, mostly related to topics like school and class, family life, seasons, and holidays. New words were provided with native language equivalents. Grammar was considered one of the most important elements of FL learning and was taught first in the native language and in the target language at later stages of schooling. According to Shaverdashvili’s work on German as a foreign language,18 reading aloud was an important teaching activity, followed by specific exercises practicing the pronunciation and spelling of words in the text. The aim of phonetic exercises was to ensure proper pronunciation of new words. Good handwriting and spelling were also considered essential and dictation of new words and sentences was used to develop spelling. Although speaking was considered as an independent skill in curricula, oral language activities focused on phonetic and orthographic exercises and vocabulary work. New words were explained by the teacher using native language equivalents, which had to be written down in pupils’ notebooks and memorized at home, perhaps requiring pupils to make up their own grammatically correct sentences that would later be corrected by the teacher. Translation was preferred over other methods of conveying meaning or aiding memorizing, such as pictures. Regarding vocabulary development, priority was given to the number of individual words memorized rather than the fluent and appropriate use of multiword units in speaking and writing, or indeed their recognition in listening and reading. During this first Soviet reform period (1930–1960), there was basically only one printed textbook per grade: “Textbooks were written by Russian authors and introduced in Georgian schools either translated or in original form” as “it would have been impossible for Georgian authors to create coursebooks in such a short time”.19 There was no teacher’s book or additional methodological supplements, though in the introduction of each textbook, one or more paragraphs were devoted to the course concept and 18 Shaverdashvili, Zur Grundlegung eines Curriculums für den Deutschunterricht in Georgien, 34–37. 19 Gvarjaladze, Basics of teaching methods, 4.

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Fig. 1:  One of the First EFL Coursebooks in Soviet Georgia

methodological guidelines for teachers, before presentation of the actual teaching units. The first coursebook used in Georgian schools in this period was the English language coursebook for schools and self-study, level 1 by G. F. Harris and F. A. Smoller (1929), which was originally published in Russia and eventually translated into Georgian.20 The concept of this book was elaborated in the introduction as “a coursebook for vocabulary and writing”. Instruction was based on the Direct Method, with eighteen units containing questions and answers. Illustrations were not included, except for one page (17) (fig. 1). In the second year of the new English programmes in Georgian schools, supplementary materials were created by Georgian authors. Qrestomatie by Apolon Nutsubidze (1930)21 was the first attempt at publishing EFL material in Georgia, a volume produced in a small number of copies. In the foreword, the author acknowledges difficulties such as lack of interest and materials when he mentions that “not enough public attention is paid to the English 20 Harris & Smoller, English language coursebook for schools and self-study. 21 Nutsubidze, Qrestomatie, 3.

296 Ek aterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze Fig. 2:  Supplementary Coursebook

language” and “We do not have specialist and coursebooks in this field”. The book consisted of only two chapters: the first was devoted to conversations in the form of simple question-answer dialogues in English and Georgian (using Georgian script); chapter two presented well-known proverbs in both languages to be learned by heart. Methodologically, both books talk about the elements of the Direct and Grammar-Translation Methods, which are also components of the conscious-comparative method (fig. 2). From this analysis of contemporary teaching materials, a clear idea emerges of the importance of influence of the 1930s reforms on FL education in Georgia. The approach was neglecting speaking skills in favour of morphosyntax, and viewing grammar as an end in itself rather than as a resource for communication. Instead of reducing the role of the first language, the programmes emphasized translation from Georgian to English and vice versa, and, rather than authentic materials, the texts offered a strong reflection of Soviet ideology. This was the context in which FL didactics were established in Georgia. Progressive changes in FL teaching from then on include new programmes and textbooks introducing new elements such as phonetic exercises and visuals, leading gradually to the replacement of the grammar-translation method. Language learning began to be no longer limited to memorizing grammar rules and translating into and out of the

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target language, as the written language was slowly replaced by listening and speaking competences.

3

Soviet Reforms from 1960: Inclusion of a Psychological Dimension in FL Teaching

There were further significant changes in FL teaching between 1960 and the 1980s. A number of studies were conducted to improve the quality and effectiveness of language education, leading to new concepts which brought new goals and a need to supersede older theories. Research suggested that the grammar-translation method had a negative impact on FL learning and should be abandoned to meet new FL policy objectives, suggesting that the “practical application of language was of utmost importance” for an active community.22 On 27 May 1961, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a decree on the improvement of FL teaching stipulating that all secondary school graduates should be able to use foreign languages as a tool of communication in practical situations.23 With this resolution began a new phase in the history of FL teaching in the Soviet era, which lasted almost until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The new decree24 mandated the creation of schools specializing in FL education and set requirements for teacher qualifications: schools could employ only teachers with appropriate higher education and further in-service training was also necessary. FL education should also be extended beyond secondary education to include preschool and primary school pupils if their parents so desired, as well as for adults. These recommendations were based, first and foremost, on research in psychology. Such research had a profound impact on FL teaching, taking the study of ‘speech’ and ‘language’ beyond the exclusively linguistic purview which had dominated until then. In particular, the activity theories of mental actions developed by the psychologists Galperin, Vygotsky, and A. N. Leontiev25 had a profound effect on FL teaching in the 1960s. Those

22 Shatilov, Methods of teaching German, 21. 23 Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR), 1961, 1. 24 Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR), 1961, 2. 25 Galperin, ‘Organization of mental activity and the effectiveness of learning’; Leontiev, Language, speech and speech activity; Vygotsky, The development of higher mental processes.

298 Ek aterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze

theories, which were quite contrary to the ‘Speech Act theory’, considered speaking as a process of acting and were focused on ‘conscious’ actions instead of ‘blind’ and ‘imitative’ ones. In the view of Leontiev and Vygotsky, language constitutes a kind of ‘action’ or ‘activity’ which necessitates certain operations. This perspective contrasts sharply with behaviourist approaches, since it gives a central role to language as a tool of mediation between an individual’s own mind and the world around him. In addition, the individual was perceived as an active participant in the construction of reality through the use of language, that is, linguistic action. According to Piotr Galperin’s (1902–1988) theory of the gradual formation of mental action, because all of us are in constant interaction with the world around us, material actions are at the root of the tasks we need to carry out for both material and mental action.26 For Galperin, the acquisition of knowledge is a process in which mental actions can only be formed through material action.27 In FL education, this theory would suggest that FL learners should not only practice vocabulary and grammatical structures which have been memorized, but also learn to generalize linguistic actions and go beyond the limits of the examples provided. Galperin’s theory involves five stages: 1. Pre-disposition towards action (intention to take action); 2. Physical action (performed on material objects); 3. Verbal action (performed by speaking aloud); 4. Internal action (performed in the mind); 5. Mental action (final stage of action). These stages were reflected in FL lessons in the following manner: 1. Lesson orientation: preparation for learning based on objectives and planned actions; 2. Physical action phase: target language forms are demonstrated with the aid of models, pictures, diagrams, and other visual displays; 3. Communicative action phase: target language is used as a means of communication and to perform actions; 4. Internalization phase: target language is understood not only as external speech, but as a means of thinking and expressing ideas; 5. Automatization phase: external and internal actions are combined in FL acquisition.28 26 Galperin, ‘Organization of mental activity and the effectiveness of learning’. 27 Ibidem,122. 28 Ibidem, 227

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Further theoretical distinctions were drawn by A. N. Leontiev (1903–1979), a Soviet developmental psychologist, in his activity theory, which included two levels of language acquisition: the level of ‘activity’ and that of ‘operation’. At the activity level learners are unable to perform any FL speech activity unless the language material is provided directly: vocabulary, syntax, phonology. At this level, learners make conscious actions. Once this level has been mastered and the foundation has been laid, the process is transferred onto the operation level, where learners are able to produce novel utterances based on their own internalized understanding of the target language system. In Leontiev’s theory, the purpose of FL teaching is to prepare students for language actions, which required the automatization of internal and external actions, first at the level of the action, then the operation. Each level of instruction implies the creation of different learning situations to stimulate the different phases of learning, culminating in the free, unobstructed use of the target language which characterizes the later stages of acquisition. It is no doubt due to the poor choices of everyday, real-life contexts for FL practice that neither schools nor higher education institutions were able to achieve this ambitious goal. Activity theory was further developed in psychology and foreign language didactics. A. A. Leontiev29, whose 1970s linguistic theories were influenced by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N Leontiev, S. L. Rubinstein,30 and A. R. Luria31, emphasized that speech can be considered an action. He pointed out that individuals motivate themselves in childhood through play, and later in adulthood by education and employment. Therefore, human activities at all ages have a specific motivation (food, assessment, renumeration). According to this theory, it is important for a foreign language learner to make connections among activities in order to use their knowledge in communication. For this reason, it is essential to define in advance the real-life situations in which learners are likely to need to use the target language to design practice opportunities.32

29 Aleksey Alekseevich Leontiev (1936–2004), Soviet and Russian linguist, psychologist. 30 Sergei Leonidovich Rubinstein (1889–1960), Soviet psychologist and philosopher. 31 Alexander Romanovich Luria (1902–1977), Soviet neuropsychologist. 32 Leontiev, Language, speech and speech activity, quoted in Shaverdashvili, Basics of teaching foreign languages, 229–230.

300 Ek aterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze

A. A. Leontiev distinguished the following types of communication that might be relevant to the Soviet language learners of the period: Table 1:  A. Leontjev, Communication Types Communication Type

Definition

Communication – Strictly conventional speech in transactions with strangers in via contextual official contexts roles – Unconventional speech among family members in informal contexts Communication that focuses on Collaboration doing things together in a group on a common towards a common goal project Public Asymmetrical communication communication among two participants plus an audience Interpersonal Communication at the level of the communication individual

4

Examples Transactional roles, for example, passenger – ticket agent; hotel guest – receptionist, doctor – patient, tourist – agent Family roles, for example, mother, daughter, father, son Projects, for example, wall poster / map – Teacher-student/class – Talk show host/audience Between friends, between acquaintances

The 1980s Reforms in the Soviet Education System: Perestroika

In the early 1980s, political change in the Soviet Union in the form of perestroika brought about fundamental changes in all areas of life, including in the education system. Perestroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1985–1991 period. The new education reform was launched in January 1984 based on a document known as Basic directions for the reform of secondary and vocational schools33 The resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party was prepared by high commissioners with far-reaching political power who sought radical change in the education system of the Soviet Union. The new Education Framework law, The basics of public education legislation of the USSR and allied republics, was adopted 27 November 1985, 33 Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza, ob osnovnikh napravleniax reform obsheobrazovatelnoy y profesionalnoy shkoly, # 13-XI (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR, On the main directions of the reform of the general education and vocational schools), 1.

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with its main goal to establish a “humanistic orientation in education”.34 However, perestroika was to prove a short-lived revolution, and this for two very different reasons. On the one hand, a coherent and effective plan which would have been necessary to fundamentally change the system was lacking;35 on the other, the Soviet Union itself was to collapse completely only a few years later. The political upheaval of the late 1980s affected FL education teaching, since one of the aims of Mikhail Gorbachev and his followers with perestroika was to promote a better understanding of the world in the Soviet Union, as a free and open country. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, foreign languages were deemed necessary to interact with people in other countries and to learn about other cultures. The existing centralized educational programs were no longer in line with the socio-political requirements of perestroika, requiring the development of new curricula and textbooks. There was no longer a mandatory curriculum for all Soviet schools, and the republics were given more authority to make independent decisions regarding the content of teaching and learning programs.36 The perestroika period continued to refine the theories of the 1960s and 1970s, and the main purpose of the foreign language lesson was to “practice foreign language as a communication tool”.37 The teaching method was based on psychological research, drawing on views of language acquisition which were not limited to linguistics. According to the Georgian psychologists of the period, the educational process requires the determination of both a) the features of mental processes (for example, perception, attention, memory) and b) the nature of our capacity for speech and speech activities.38 The theories of Galperin, Leontiev, Vygotsky, and their followers were influential throughout the USSR, in which language was perceived as a tool of mediation between the inner person and the world outside. Individuals were perceived as active participants in constructing the universe around 34 Law of the USSR, ‘On amendments to the fundamentals of legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on public education in connection with the main directions of the reform of the general education and vocational schools’, N 3661–11, 2. 35 Shaverdashvili, Zur Grundlegung eines Curriculums für den Deutschunterricht in Georgien, 151–160. 36 Shaverdashvili et al., Bascis of teaching foreign languages, 245–246. 37 Law of the USSR “On amendments to the fundamentals of legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on public education in connection with the main directions of the reform of the general education and vocational school”, N 3661–11, 2. 38 Alkhazishvili, Foreign language teaching, 207.

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them through linguistic action.39 This idea from the 1960s was extended in the 1980s: for Leontiev, linguistic action, like any human action, is a “public act” and reflects the view of an individual as expressed to the outside world. 40 Thus, a foreign language lesson should not be held in a traditional teacher-centred context, where the teacher takes the role of an orchestra conductor with sole responsibility for organizing learning; on the contrary, the teacher should take into account learners’ interests and give everyone a role in the teaching process. In theory, of course, this approach seems positive, but in practice it was never fully implemented. 41 It was no doubt impossible to achieve in a fully centralized state where everything was defined by one person or group. In effect, the FL curriculum of the 1980s was not so very different from the programs of the 1960s and included many of the same components: goals and objectives; grade-based curricula; norms based on language skills; technical and methodological guidelines for teachers. The main focus of the program should in theory have been on Practical Language Learning and language acquisition for practical purposes. Nevertheless, the structural-functional analysis of language and grammar remained a central element in the learning process and thus played an important role. Policy directives assumed that the practical acquisition of a foreign language was only possible if explicit learning of the language system and speaking practice were combined in lessons. Translation remained an important teaching method, and the fundamentals of FL prof iciency were grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. 42 Grammar remained a key focus of the new textbooks and constituted the main pillar on which texts, topics, and contexts for teaching and learning were constructed. Even the communicatively-oriented activities took grammar as their starting point, encouraging teaching to retain grammar-oriented methods. This meant that, although one of the main goals of the curriculum was the use of language in practical situations, it was never fully attained: textbook content remained highly ideologized, lesson processes still focused on development of receptive skills, much of lesson time was given over to 39 Galperin, ‘Organisation of mental activity and the effectiveness of learning’; Leontiev, Language, speech and speech activity; Vigotsky, Mind and society: The development of higher mental process. 40 Leontiev, Language, speech and speech activity. 41 Shaverdashvili, Basics of foreign languages, 156–159. 42 Shaverdashvili, Zur Grundlegung eines Curriculums für den Deutschunterricht in Georgien, 151–160.

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reading comprehension of selected texts, and the knowledge of grammar rules and translation skills were still central concerns.43 Thus, despite the evolution of programs and textbooks since the early Soviet period, official FL teaching objectives in terms of “practical mastery of foreign languages and acquisition of communication skills”44 were not met. According to Shaverdashvili, 45 the reason was: – Teaching and learning processes were still based on the transfer of factual knowledge rather than the development of skills; – Language was studied as an individual enterprise with little effort devoted to the development of communication skills; – Exercises and teaching focused on practicing grammatical rules were monotonous, leading to boredom and lack of motivation among learners; – Listening was not practiced or only through reading texts aloud; – Textbook content was not authentic and failed to reflect real-life situations. In conclusion, it can be said that the curriculum of the 1960s and 1980s were not substantially different due, no doubt, to both lack of time and funding, but, also, as has been suggested, to the difficulty of putting contemporary psychological theories into practice in the language classroom at a time when Soviet ideology blocked any concept that might threaten its system of centralized control. Indeed, adherence to the Soviet political system was viewed as a sign of patriotism and while languages such as English were important for international communication, they remained the language of ideological opponents. 46

5

Replacing Russian Language with English

When Georgia gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, educational reforms sought to respond to the change of national ideology from Communism to democracy, particularly by modifying the ideological

43 Ibidem, 167–169. 44 Law of the USSR: On amendments to the fundamentals of legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on public education in connection with the main directions of the reform of the general education and vocational school, N 3661–11, 3. 45 Shaverdashvili, Zur Grundlegung eines Curriculums für den Deutschunterricht in Georgien, 167–169. 46 Ivanova & Tivyaeva, ‘Teaching foreign language in soviet and present-day Russia’, 318.

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orientation and curricular content of the Soviet education system. 47 This process proved to be quite complex for post-Soviet Georgia, and since the country had neither the resources nor the political environment for radical reform, no substantial changes in the education system occurred over the next decade: the Soviet legacy remained intact. 48 The beginning of the 2000s opened a new chapter in the history of education in Georgia, and World Bank-funded projects played a major role in the development of new curricula and textbooks. In 2005, a Unified National Examination system was established, and national goals for basic education and national curricula for all school subjects were introduced. National education objectives have not changed substantially since 2004, though the National Curriculum has undergone some modification and a state-of-the-art third-generation education programme is currently in preparation. 49 According to the first National Curriculum, every citizen of Georgia should learn two or three foreign languages, and FL education should focus on communication and cultural awareness of target language countries50. English replaced Russian after the collapse of the Soviet Union as the country’s lingua franca solution to communication with the outside world and has been a compulsory school subject since 2011.51 The National Curriculum sets CEFR level B1+ (Reading and listening—B1.4; Writing and speaking—B.1) in English for the end of compulsory schooling; while Russian, German, French, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, and Ukrainian are compulsory elective subjects from the fifth grade.52 Although three rounds of textbook and curriculum revision have taken place since 1991, and in spite of continuous professional development opportunities for teachers (offered by the Ministry of Education, the British Council, and the Goethe Institute), research such as PISA and PIRLS shows no improvement in Georgia’s FL proficiency.53 The rather poor results may be due to a number of factors. 47 Birzea, Educational policies of the countries in transition. 48 Rabitsch, ‘New departures of the education system in Georgia—economic situation, international aid and educational reform’, 55–69 (original in German). 49 Ministry of education and science of Georgia, National Curriculum, 2006, 2. 50 Ministry of education and science of Georgia, National Curriculum, 2009, 1–2. 51 The Ministry of Education grants exceptions which allow schools to offer another FL in first grade, but English must then be the second. 52 Ministry of education and science of Georgia, National Curriculum, 2018–2024, ch. XXIV. 53 According to the PISA 2018 survey, Georgia is in the range of 65–75 out of 79, which is among countries with below average academic performance (OECD 2019, PISA 2018 Results, OECD Publishing, Paris). According to e-PIRLS 2016 results, Georgia fell below the international average,

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First, teachers may lack motivation: teachers are not well54 paid and their status in Georgian society is not especially high. Second, they may in fact lack competence, since both pre-service and in-service teacher education are mainly conducted by Soviet-trained educators whose expertise may not transfer well to the new programs. Third, the problem may lie with teaching materials: the programmes rely on textbook series from a commercial publisher with no adaptation to local needs and tastes, and no explanation of a teaching approach which may remain somewhat opaque to Georgian language teachers.55 To test these hypotheses and to support the results of our analysis of curricula and textbooks, we conducted an online survey. This survey sought to elicit information regarding Georgian EFL educators’ experience of EFL teaching and learning in the following categories: – Context in which respondents learned English: • compulsory schooling, • higher education, • private tutoring. – Type of EFL teaching offered: • school curricula, • textbooks. – Years of English study: • years of English study, • first or subsequent FL, • language of study. – Teaching and learning resources: • state-approved textbooks, • other textbooks, • teacher handouts, • any additional materials. – Self-perception of English proficiency. A questionnaire containing these items was administered online in September–October 2019. Some 1500 Georgian language teachers were in thirteenth place out of fourteen (Mullis, Martin, Foy & Hooper 2017, PIRLS 2016 International results in reading. 54 The average salary in the education sector is 600,- GEL, compared to the f inancial and insurance sector with an average salary of 4 450,- GEL (source: National Statistical Office of Georgia, 2019). 55 The main publisher currently in use in the Georgian study process is Macmillan Education LTD (British Publishing Company).

306 Ek aterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze Table 2:  Place of EFL Study Type of English study

Number

Percentage

School only University Private tutor only Language courses (Tbilisi) Independent study No English study

79 57 31 10 7 2 186

42% 31% 17% 5% 4% 1% 100%

contacted via social media and 186 respondents completed all questions.56 Respondents were aged from eighteen to seventy-two, with sixty percent between thirty-five and fifty-five years old, meaning that their language education either occurred during the Soviet period or was provided by teachers with Soviet training. Respondents were from all nine regions of Georgia,57 plus its capital (Tbilisi): twelve municipalities from West Georgia; twenty-four from East Georgia; two from South Georgia; and eight districts of Tbilisi were represented. Data on where respondents learned English are shown in Table 2. Eighty-three percent (136/186) of respondents learned English at school and university. Broken down by age, almost two thirds of the group were over fifty years old (x/186 = forty-five percent), suggesting they learned using the textbooks and curricula analysed in the earlier sections of this paper, with only one third trained since Georgian independence (y/186 = twenty-eight percent). This question is further explored in Table 3, which gives the main teaching resources used in respondents’ English classrooms and shows relatively common use of the textbooks analysed earlier in this chapter. As Table 3 shows, a number of respondents cited ‘textbooks’ without further specification, though it seems safe to assume state-approved school textbooks are intended, since these respondents were aged fifty to seventytwo and were therefore educated in the Soviet period when there was only one textbook per grade approved by the state.58 The textbooks by N. A. Bonk and C. E. Eckersly were most popular with private tutors during this 56 In total, 191 questionnaires were returned; 186 questions were fully completed. 57 There are nine regions in Georgia with sixty-nine municipalities, two Autonomous Units, and one Social Unit (source: National Statistical Office of Georgia, 2019). 58 Petrova & Tatishvili, English coursebook, periodic edition from 1962–1985.

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Table 3:  Textbooks Mentioned by Respondents Textbook

Authors

Edition Years

n

n / age

School textbook

T. Tushmalishvili (Tbilisi: Tsodna, 1964) I. Petrova & N. Tatishvili (Tbilisi: Tsodna, 1962) Z. Japaridze (Tbilisi; Education, 1967) N.A. Bonk (Moscow: Dekont,1962)

1962–1985

37

50–72

1967–1989 1960–1990 29 Annual edition

40–72

27

40–72

21 N/A 17 1960–1980 Annual Edition 1991 10

40–72 40–72

N/A

10

18–40

N/A 2004 Series of Coursebook 2006 Series of Coursebook 1990s–2000s

8 7

18–25 18–25

7

18–25

4

18–40

N/A Series of coursebook 1971

4 3

18–25 18–25

1

65

Series of coursebook

1

18–25

Uchebnik angliysskogo yazyka (English language textbook) Grammar books

A. Gakhokidze (Tbilisi: Sakartvelos Matsne, 1979) B. I. Golitsinski (Sank-Peterburg: Karo, 1999) N/A Don’t know C.E. Eckersley (Bulgaria: Foreign English for everybody language press, 1966) Headway J. Soars & L. Soars (Multi-level course) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) Exam preparation N/A (TOEFL; IELTS) Online resources N/A Gold J. Newbrook, J. Wilson & R. Acklam (Multi-level course) (Pearson Education, 2004) Destination

M. Mann; S.Taylor-nowles (Macmillan Education, 2006)

English grammar

B.I. Golicinski (Sank-peterburg: Karo, 1999) N/A C. Oxenden & C. Latham-Koenig (Oxford University Press,1996) A.V. Petrova

Films New English file

Samouchitel’ angliyskogo yazyka (Self-study guide of English) M. Mann Laser S.Taylor-Knowles

1970–2000 1990–2000 1990–2000

25–40

308 Ek aterine Shaverdashvili and Nino Chkhikvadze

period. At the same time, sixty-four respondents aged forty to seventy-two (thirty-four percent) named grammar books in addition to state approved school textbooks, suggesting that textbooks alone were insufficient to meet their language learning goals. Our data also suggests that at the start of the post-Soviet period, until around 2005, the same Soviet textbooks were still used, mainly as stand-alone resources, although thirty-one respondents reported also using grammar books. From 2005 onwards, the national curricula provided opportunities for local authors to write their own English language textbooks, and also authorized commercial textbooks (mentioned by twenty-eight respondents). Indeed, as already noted, MacMillan textbooks were used in state schools from 2011 to 2018 by ministerial decree, without adaptation to the Georgian context.59 Respondents also provided additional commentary which allows for richer analysis of our data. For instance, Bonk’s English language textbook, one of the most widespread FL textbooks that existed in the Soviet period and based on the grammar-translation method, is still used by some teachers. This affirms that some teachers are still using the grammar-translation method for instruction: “The grammar is systematically provided and the exercises are well structured” said one interviewee. This proves that older generation teachers may prefer to work with older methods of language acquisition. Another issue that emerged during the survey was that many interviewees considered important all the language aspects that were important in their time. For instance, interviewees aged between 60–70 years (studied during the Soviet period) mentioned that they are fluent in speech, but not in grammar and vocabulary. On the contrary, the younger generation (twenty to thirty-five years) discussed its lack of proper speaking and listening skills. An analysis of curricula and textbooks showed the opposite: in the Soviet period, more emphasis was given to grammar and vocabulary instead of listening and speaking skills. Today, communication is key, and the learning process is largely focused on developing listening and speaking skills. Respondents from both age groups were likely to be more in line with their desires than their skills. To the question, “Which skills do you think you are you good, moderate, or bad? How would you rate yourself on these skills: good, moderate, or bad’?”, the answers were as follows:

59 Bowen & Hocking, English world; Sprenger &Prowse, Inspiration. These textbooks are too recent to have been cited by our survey respondents.

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Fig. 3:  Respondent’s Language Skills (Self-evaluation)

Of course, it is difficult to get a complete picture of the current situation with this small survey, but its analysis gives an idea of outcomes and confirms the results obtained from programme and textbook analysis, and identifies gaps of learning materials. In conclusion, it can be said that almost three decades have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union and even though the National Curriculum60 has undergone three phases of modernization, it is still not easy to handle new challenges in the learning process. In the last few years, both society and education process stakeholders have faced a number of problems and have only been able to partially manage them. Based on the national goal of general education, the third-generation curriculum (2018–2024) is based on constructivist educational concepts of personality development, in the centre of which are the learners, their development process, attained success, and the acquisition of not only facts and information, but its transformation into solid, dynamic, and factual knowledge. As for teaching a foreign language, its “priority goals for learners” are: – Development of plurilingual competence; – Development of language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing) in two foreign languages; – Development of ability to successfully communicate with other cultures; – Development of a positive attitude towards linguistic and cultural diversity and understandingit as a private manifestation of the diversity of the world; – Development of ability to understand different cultural contexts and texts; 60 Ministry of education and science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2018–2024).

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– Preparation for cooperation with representatives of different linguistic and cultural identities; – Development of ability to learn foreign languages effectively.61 Though the language, based on the new curriculum, is defined as a means of integration into new culture, the foreign language study process is still faced with major challenges. These challenges are related to the inadequate qualifications (a majority do not have methodological backgrounds) of those in charge (for example, curriculum developers and textbook authors), as well as the inadequate competence of teachers. Teaching staff are one of the most important actors in the learning process, and the majority of them in Georgia are Soviet education graduates. Our survey also indicates (according to their age category) that it has become more difficult for this key group of actors to overcome challenges of the contemporary education system. This chapter shows that there are still a number of challenges in the practice of language education in present-day Georgia, which will be easier to overcome when language teaching and learning is seen as a joint venture by all involved.

Bibliography Primary Sources Bonk, Natalia, Ychebnik Anglyyskovo Yazika (English language textbook) (Moscow: Dekont 1962). Bowen, Mary & Hocking, Liz, English world (Stuttgart: Macmillan Education Publishing, 2009). Eckersley, Charles Ewart, English for everybody (Moscow: Kometa, 1960). Eckersley, Charles Ewart, Essential English: For foreign students (Bulgaria: Foreign language press, 1966). Gakhokidze, Andro, English grammar (Tbilisi: Sakartvelos Matsne, 1979). Golitsinski, Yury, Grammar (Gramatika) (Sank-peterburg: Karo, 1999). Gvarjaladze, Isidore, English language coursebook (Tbilisi: Ganatleba,1967). Harris, Heinrich & Smoller, Fred, Uchebnik angliiskovo iazyka. Dlya shkol y samoobrazovanya, 1-ia obraztsovaya tip (English language coursebook. For schools and self-study, first exemplary type) (Moscow-Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo, 1929). Japaridze, Zanda, English language textbook: 7th grade (Tbilisi: Education, 1967). 61 Ministry of education and science, National Curriculum (2018–2024), 4.

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Mann, Malcolm, Laser (London: Macmillan ELT, 2005). Newbrook, Jacky, Gold (Harlow: Pearson Education, 2005). Nutsubidze, Apolon, Qrestomatie (Tiflis: Skhelgami, 1930). Oxenden, Clive, New English file (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). Petrova, Irine, Samouchitel angliskogo yazyka (Tutorial of English), (Moscow: AST, 1971). Petrova, Irine & Tatishvili, Natela, English language coursebook: 8th grade (Tbilisi: Tsodna, 1962). Soars, John, Headway (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). Sprenger, Judy-Garton & Prowse, Philip, Inspiration (London: Macmillan Education, 2005). Taylore-Knowles, J., Destination (London: Macmillan Education, 2006). Tushmalishvili, Tinatin, English language coursebook: English 8th form (Tbilisi: Tsodna,1964). Tushmalishvili, Tinatin, English language coursebook: Seventh form (Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1985).

Secondary Literature Alkhazishvili, Archil, Foreign language teaching—theory and practice (Tbilisi: Universaly, 2009) (original in Georgian). Birzea, Cesar, Educational policies of the countries in transition (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1994). (https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5583562 (accessed 27th July 2021). Foreign language program for middle and high school: English, German, French, Spanish. 6th-10th grades (Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1981–1982) (original in Georgian). Foreign language program for middle and high school: English, German, French, Spanish. 6th-10th grades (Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1987–1988) (original in Georgian). Galperin, Piotr, ‘Die geistige Handlung als Grundlage für die Bildung Gedanken und Vorstellungen’, in: Galperin, Piotr, Leontjew, Alexei et al.(eds.), Probleme der Lerntheorie (Berlin: Volk und Wissen, 1972), 33–49. Galperin, Piotr, ‘Organization of mental activity and the effectiveness of learning’, Soviet Psychology 27 (#3), 1989. Goldstein, Henrietta; Rosenberg, Ruvinov, Methodik des neusprachlichen Unterrichts (Moskau: Staatsverlag für Lehrbücher und Pädagogik, 1938) (original in Russian). Gomarteli, Meri, Questions of foreign language methodology (Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1967) (original in Georgian). Gruzinskaya, Irina, Metodyka prepodavanya anglyyskovo yazyka (Methods of English language teaching) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1938) (original in Russian).

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Gruzinskaya, Irina, Metodika prepodavanya angliyskogo yazika v srednei shkole (Methods of teaching in middle schools) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1947) (original in Russian). Gvarjaladze, Isidore, Basics of teaching methods of English as a foreign language (Tbilisi: Institute publishing house, 1957) (original in Georgian). Ivanova, Victoria & Tivyaeva, Irina, ‘Teaching foreign languages in soviet and present-day Russia: A comparison of two systems’, in: Zbornik Instituta Za Pedagoska Istrazivanja 47 (2015): 305–324. Janelidze, Otar, New and modern history of Georgia (Tbilisi: Universaly, 2009) (original in Georgian). Kaukhchishvili, Simon, Kartlis Tskhovreba (Life of Kartli), Vol. 1, (Tbilisi: Sakhelgami, 1955) (original in Georgian), https://www.coursehero.com/f ile/72987458/­ qarTlis‑cxovreba-1pdf/ (accessed 27th July 2021). Komissarov, Andrej, Mixed methods of teaching foreign language communicative competence, Vol.11, (Moscow: Humanities scientific researches, 2015), https:// human.snauka.ru/en/2015/11/13095 (accessed 27th July 2021). Kommunisticheskaya partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza. Kommunisticheskaya partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza v rezolyutsiyakh i resheniyakh syezdov, konferentsiy i Plenumov TSK (1898–1988) / KPSS (Communist Party of the Soviet Union in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences, and plenums of the Central Committee (1898–1988); In-t Marksizma-Leninizma pri TSK KPSS. Pod obshch. red. A. G. Yegorova, K. M. Bogolyubova.—9-ye izd., dop i ispr.—M, 1983–1990.—16 t.—V nadzag.: In-t marksizma-leninizma pri TSK KPSS.—T. 8: 1946–1955.—1985.—542 s. Krupskaya, Nadezhda, Prepodovanie innostrannikh yazikov, na putiakh k novoi shkole (Foreign language lessons, in: On the way to a new school) (Moscow: Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, 1923; 7–12) (original in Russian). Leontiev, Alexsei, Yazik, rech I rechovaya deiatelnost (Language, speech and speech activity) (Moscow: Pedagogika, 1971) (original in Russian). Leontiev, Alexsei, Deiatelnost, soznanie, lichnost (Activity, consciousness, personality) (Moscow: Pedagogika, 1983) (original in Russian). Leontiev, Alexei and James Caradog, Psychology and the language learning process (Oxford: Pergamon, 1981). Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2006), order # 841, September 28, 2006 (original in Georgia). https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/113476?publication=0 (accessed 27th July 2021). Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2009), order # 1103, December 4, 2009 (original in Georgia). https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/ view/87778?publication=0 (accessed 27th July 2021). Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2011–2016). http://ncp.ge/ge/curriculum/satesto-seqtsia/mimdinare-esg-2011-2016 (accessed 27th July 2021).

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Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, National Curriculum (2018–2024). http://ncp.ge/ge/curriculum/satesto-seqtsia/akhali-sastsavlo-gegmebi-2018-2024/ datskebiti-safekhuri-i-vi-klasebi-damtkitsda-2016-tsels (accessed 27th July 2021). Ministry of Education of the Georgian USSR, English program for middle school (Tbilisi: Sakhelgami—Pedagogical Sector, 1939) (original in Georgian). Mullis, Ina, Martin, Michael, Foy, Pierre & Hooper, Martin, PIRLS 2016 International results in reading (Boston: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, 2017). National Statistical Office of Georgia. Statistical Yearbook of Georgia, 2019. Tbilisi: National Statistical Office of Georgia, http://www.geostat.ge/index.php?actio n=wnewsandlang=engandnpid=67 (accessed 20th July 2021). OECD, PISA 2018 Reading framework, in: PISA 2018 Assessment and analytical framework (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2019), 21–71. Pauels, Wolfgang & Fox, Thomas, ‘The representation of the USA in EFL textbooks in the Soviet Union and Russia’, American Studies International 42, no. 1 (2004): 92–122. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41280038 (accessed 20th July 2021). Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza, ob uchebnykh programmakh i rezhime nachal’noy i sredney shkoly, prilozhenie 6, k p, 19 pr. # 113 (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR on teaching programs and regimes in the elementary and middle school), N 6, 19 pr. N 113 (Moscow: Institute of MarxismLeninism under the Central Committee of the USSR, 1932). Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo soyuza, Za korennoe uluchshenie sistemy izuchenia innostrannykh yazikov v strane, # 468 (Resolution of the Central Committee on the fundamental improvement of foreign language study in the country), # 468 (Moscow: Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the USSR, 1961). Postanovleniye TSK Sovetskogo Soyuza, ob osnovnikh napravleniax reform obsheobrazovatelnoy y profesionalnoy shkoly, # 13–XI (Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR, On the main directions of the reform of general education and vocational schools) in Uchitel’skaya Gazeta, 1984 #1 (8314). Program for English as a foreign language. Teaching program for middle school, eighth and tenth grades, 1967–1968 academic year (Tbilisi: Publishing house for the central committee of the Communist party in Georgia, 1967) (original in Georgian). Prokofiev, Mikhail, Narodnoe Obrazovanye v SSSR (Public Education in USSR) (Moscow: Education, 1967). Rabitsch, Erich, ‘Das Bildungssystem in Georgien im Aufbruch—Wirtschaftslage, internationale Hilfe und Bildungsreform‘ (New departures of the education system in Georgia—economic situation, international aid, and educational reform), Zeitschrift für internationale erziehungs- und sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung H.14/1, 55–69.

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Shatilov, Sergei, Metodika obucheniya nemetskomu yasyku v srednei shkole (Methods of teaching German at high school) (Moscow: Prosveschenie, 1986) (original in Russian). Shaverdashvili, Ekaterine, Zur Grundlegung eines Curriculums für den Deutschunterricht in Georgien. Rahmenbedingungen, historische Entwicklung und gegenwertige Tendenzen (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2000). Shaverdashvili, Ekaterine, Pitskhelauri, Nino, Ramishvili, Pati & Gvasalia, Megi, Basics of teaching foreign languages (Tbilisi: Ilia State University, 2014) (original in Georgian). Shcherba, Lev, ‘Ob obshcheobrazovatelnom znachenii inostrannykh yazykov’ (On the general educational meaning of foreign languages), in: Voprosi pedagogiki, first ed. (Moscow: Gosizdat, 1926; 99–105) (original in Russian). Shcherba, Lev, Kak nado yzutchat innostrannye yaziki (How to teach foreign languages), (Moscow: Gosizdat, 1929) (original in Russian). Shcherba, Lev, Prepodavanye ynnostrannykh yazykov v srednej shkole (Teaching foreign languages at secondary school) (Leningrad: Nauka, 1974) (original in Russian). Shcherba, Lev, izbrannye raboti po russkomu yaziku (Selected works on the Russian language) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1957) (original in Russian). Szekely, Beatrice, ‘The new soviet educational reform’, in: Comparative Education Review, Vol. 30 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986) 321–331. USSR Education Commissariat of Georgia, Lower secondary and secondary school programs: Foreign languages/secondary school division. (Tbilisi: Sakhelgami, Pedagogical sector, 1939) (original in Georgian). Vygotsky, Lev, Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978). Zakon o vnesenii vocnovi zakonodatelstva soyuza SSR y soyuznyx respublik o narodnom obrazovanyy v svyazy s osnovnym napravlenyamy reformy obsheobrazovatelnoy y profesyonalnoy shkoly (Law on amendments to the fundamentals of legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on public education in connection with the main directions of the reform of the general education and vocational schools, N 3661–11) (Moscow: Vedomost verkhovnogo soveta SSSR, 1985) (original in Russian).

About the Authors Ekaterine Shaverdashvili Ilia State University School of Business, Technology and Education

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Professor of Educational Sciences Head of Innovative Education Research Center [email protected] Ekaterine Shaverdashvili is professor of Education at Ilia State University, Georgia, and the head of the Research Centre for Innovative Education. She is the author of three monographs and more than thirty-five scientific articles. Her research interests include language policy, didactics of foreign and second language, and the history of foreign language learning and teaching. Nino Chkhikvadze Ilia State University [email protected] Nino Chkhikvadze is a PhD candidate at Ilia State University, Georgia. The topic of her PhD is the historical research of English as a foreign language learning and teaching. Her research interests include FL acquisition, English language policy/practice, and didactics in the Soviet Union.

14 Language Teacher Education Improvements Would Valorize Practice A Recent History of Intercultural Language Teaching in Aotearoa/New Zealand Sharon Harvey

Abstract This chapter examines the reception and practice of intercultural language teaching policy in New Zealand from 2006 to 2018, through the lens of Larry Cuban’s second layer of the curriculum: the taught layer. Focussing the lens on practice, a review of the history and context of the policy introduction of intercultural language teaching, alongside findings of evaluative studies, is presented. The studies have investigated, among other things, the degree to which intercultural competence has been integrated into in-service language teacher education programmes aimed at upskilling New Zealand teachers. A profound disconnect is evident between the top-down globalized language and culture policy emanating from the Council of Europe and the ‘taught’ layer of the New Zealand curriculum’s Learning Languages area. Keywords: History of language learning; intercultural competence; subject languages; New Zealand/ Aotearoa; New Zealand curriculum; learning languages; globalized language policy; intercultural language teaching; language policy borrowing; language teacher education

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Teacher Education as a Fifth Curricular Layer

In his 2012 blog entry,1 Larry Cuban juxtaposes a conventional view of ‘the curriculum’ with what he considers to be a more accurate representation of 1

Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch14

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how things work in their translation from government level policy intent to the classroom. Cuban presents an argument for understanding the curriculum as multi-layered as opposed to the more traditional notion of one homogenous entity which is uniformly and seamlessly enacted from the national policy level, through to its reception by students and its instantiation in testing. His four layered curriculum consists of the intended, official layer, that is the policy layer; the layer that is taught by teachers (the practice layer); the layer that is learned by students; and the fourth ‘tested’ layer. Cuban adds that a crucial factor to consider when examining curricula is the historical context within which all layers of the curriculum are nested. He uses the metaphor of a coral reef to portray the multivalent nature of any historical context. This chapter examines the Learning Languages strand of the 2007 New Zealand curriculum2 through the lens of Cuban’s four-layered curriculum. Focussing particularly on the attempted integration of intercultural competence3 into New Zealand language education, it contrasts the intended and official layer of the curriculum strand introduced in 2007,4 with the taught layer, examined through key evaluation research carried out by the author and colleagues over the ten years following the introduction of the ‘new’ curriculum.5 While this language policy and practice account tells a story of disconnection and apparent failure, paradoxically the policy goal of intertwining intercultural competence with language teaching and learning had at its heart the valorization of practice. That is, the very point of the emphasis on intercultural competence in the new learning area devoted to teaching non medium-of-instruction subject languages, was to effect significant changes in language teaching. Some of the disconnect occurred because the in-service professional development courses that were established to support the Learning Languages area did not include the curriculum changes. Approaching the research from the perspective of researchers examining practice, an argument is made here for perhaps a fifth layer in the multi-layered curriculum model. In the spirit of valorising practice, the extra layer would consist of preservice and in-service teacher education, thus ensuring a crucial layer of policy interpretation between national language education policy and classroom practice. To contextualise the New Zealand situation, Cuban’s “historical coral reef”6 of subject language learning in Aotearoa is first presented. 2 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ (2007). 3 Byram, Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. 4 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 5 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’, 2007 6 Cuban, ‘The multi‐layered curriculum’.

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Cuban’s Historical Coral Reef

New Zealand has two official languages: New Zealand Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand and New Zealand Sign Language.7 Although often cited as an official language of New Zealand, the dominant language, English, is more accurately characterized as a de facto official language of the country as it has no legislative standing.8 In addition to these three key languages, there are up to 160 languages9 spoken by New Zealanders in the community, as a result of migration, and, to a much smaller extent, education.10 English is the dominant language as a result of the colonization of New Zealand ensuing from the mid-eighteenth century. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and a majority of Māori chiefs in 1840.11 Article two of the treaty highlighted the right of Māori to retain their tāonga, roughly translated as ‘treasures’ in English. Significantly, tāonga refers to more than special physical possessions and encompasses the idea of cultural heritage. This has been interpreted as including, perhaps most importantly, te reo Māori, that is, the Māori language. However, ongoing colonization and the New Zealand wars in the nineteenth century, followed by the urbanization of Māori in the mid-twentieth century, saw a serious decline in numbers of speakers of Māori.12 It was not until the Māori renaissance of the 1980s13 that te reo Māori (the Māori language) started to be reintroduced into all educational levels beginning with early childhood. In 1980 the first Māori-initiated kohanga reo (language learning nests) enrolled young Māori so they could learn through Māori medium education.14 Apart from te reo Māori, subject languages15 offered in New Zealand schools, particularly secondary schools, have, until recently, closely followed Britain and other former colonies of Britain. These were a narrow selection of ‘modern’ European languages (French and German, principally) as well as 7 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ (2007). 8 Ibidem. 9 ‘2018 Census totals by topic — national highlights (updated)’, Statistics New Zealand,30 April 2020. 10 Harvey, ‘The “wave” of Japanese language education in secondary schools’. 11 ‘Treaty of Waitangi’. 12 ‘1800| Tātai Kōrero’. 13 Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, ‘Māori—Urbanisation and renaissance’. 14 Higgins & Keane, ‘Te reo Māori — The Māori language—Revitalising te reo, 1970s and 1980s’. 15 Larsen-Freeman & Freeman, ‘Language moves’.

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the classical languages of Greek (to a very limited extent) and Latin (mostly limited to academic streams in grammar schools).16 New Zealand did not expand its educational language offerings until the late 1960s, when Japanese began to be introduced into New Zealand secondary schools.17 Britain’s entry into the European Union in 197218 stimulated further thinking about how New Zealand should prepare its young people for a more ethnically and linguistically diverse future, particularly as that related to the country’s search for markets to replace Britain, who at that time took the bulk of New Zealand’s exports. Meanwhile, the expansion of languages other than English in schools also reflected New Zealand’s increased immigration from the Pacific Islands, with several Pacific languages being introduced into secondary schools in the 1980s (mostly Samoan and Tongan with some Cook Islands Māori). From at least the 1990s, European languages expanded to include Spanish,19 which has now eclipsed French in popularity. In recent years, the numbers studying Mandarin Chinese have increased to outstrip Japanese.20 Through the 1980s, debates about languages in education and language hierarchies in society ensued.21 These related mostly to the place of Māori in New Zealand society. However, New Zealand had also experienced a substantial upswing in immigration from ‘non-traditional’, that is, nonEnglish dominant countries, predominantly from Asia.22 By the end of the 1980s, English language education, often coined English for Speakers of Other languages (ESOL), for adult and young migrants became a new feature of New Zealand’s education system, while little thought was given to preserving and extending the home languages of children. One response to addressing the inequities holistically, while also attending to the ‘monolingual malaise’23 of erstwhile British colonies, was the concept of a national languages policy. Such a policy would be utilized for the planning of language hierarchies, status, use, maintenance, and revitalization, in the case of indigenous languages, across policy fields, with special attention

16 Northey, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School. 17 Harvey, ‘The “wave” of Japanese language education in secondary schools’. 18 Sinclair & Dalziel, A history of New Zealand. 19 Ministry of Education, personal communication, 10 July 2020. 20 ‘Secondary school subjects 1996–2016’. 21 Kaplan, ‘Language policy and planning in New Zealand’. 22 Bedford, Bedford, Ho & Lidgard, ‘The globalisation of international migration in New Zealand’. 23 Martin, ‘They have lost their identity but not gained a British one’, 9–20, 17.

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to education. The most significant and influential policy development for New Zealand was the Australian National Policy on Languages.24 A blueprint for a similar policy tailored for the New Zealand language situation was launched in 1992, entitled Aoteareo: Speaking for Ourselves.25 The ostensibly heavy resource implications of a comprehensive language policy led to the document being presented and published as a framework rather than a national policy. With this decision, the impulse of a national languages policy was lost, although the exercise highlighted the work to be done across New Zealand’s public sector, at least. Instead of a holistic approach, specific areas of language policy work were separately considered and implemented within several ministries. As part of this more focussed attention on languages over many years,26 New Zealand launched a new national curriculum for English medium teaching and learning for Years 1–13.27 The 2007 curriculum replaced an earlier document that had been in place for around fifteen years28 and had developed from interim curriculum drafts and portfolios of policy work.29 With the launch of the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum, a new learning area, Learning Languages,30 was created. The move unbundled the learning of subject languages from the learning of English and New Zealand Māori as first languages.31 In addition, the government signalled an intention that all students in Years 7–10 would be entitled to learn a language other than English. Consequently, all schools with students in these years needed to offer a subject language by 2010. Significantly, though, subject language learning was not made compulsory.

3

Learning Languages and Intercultural Competence

Extensive research and consultation was undertaken to reach the decision to set apart from English the learning of languages other than English.32 24 Lo Bianco, Report to the Minister for employment, education, and training. 25 Waite, Aoteareo: Speaking for ourselves Part A/B: The overview. 26 Kaplan, ‘Language policy and planning in New Zealand’. 27 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ (2007). 28 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum Framework’ (1993). 29 Koefoed, ‘Policy perspectives from New Zealand’. 30 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 31 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ (2007). 32 Koefoed, ‘Policy perspectives from New Zealand’.

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The wall chart explaining the new curriculum area was entitled ‘The Generic Framework for Teaching and Learning Languages in English-medium Schools’.33 It remains the key overall policy resource for New Zealand language teachers, although it needs to be supplemented with other resources on the Ministry of Education Learning Languages website,34 for example, the individual language specific guidelines. The generic framework35 aimed to incorporate and communicate the most up to date aspects of state-of-the-art language education policy and practice, presenting it for teachers and teacher educators in a readily-assimilable form. The introduction of intercultural competency to New Zealand language education was a key factor in drawing up the framework and producing the wall chart.36 The interlinking of the teaching of intercultural competence and languages was developed by Michael Byram, a former language teacher himself. His seminal 1997 model of intercultural competence37 has been integrated into language education in many countries. Part of the reason for this theoretical and policy reach is the work Byram has undertaken for the Council of Europe, where intercultural competency and language learning have been explored in a number of reports and instantiated in what have become influential policy moves.38 A shift in New Zealand language teaching to so-called ‘intercultural communicative language teaching’ (iCLT) in line with the work of the Council of Europe39 and the direction taken in Australia,40 was the Ministry of Education’s goal. 41 However, guidelines for the implementation of iCLT were not included on the generic framework wallchart alongside what came to be known as the Ellis principles, 42 and so were not visible to teachers who needed further explication of the new focus on language and culture integrated teaching. The Learning Languages wallchart 43 includes ten 33 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 34 ‘Learning languages in the NZ Curriculum’. 35 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 36 Koefoed, ‘Policy perspectives from New Zealand’. 37 Byram, Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. 38 Nguyen & Hamid, ‘Educational policy borrowing in a globalized world’. 39 Byram & Gribkova, ‘Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching’. 40 Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino & Kohler, Report on intercultural language learning. 41 Koefoed, ‘Policy perspectives from New Zealand’. 42 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 43 Ibidem.

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principles for designing effective language programmes based on a 2005 literature review in preparation for the new learning area.44 The ten principles focus exclusively on pedagogy for language acquisition with no mention of culture or intercultural learning. The report on iCLT commissioned by the Ministry of Education only became available in 2010. 45 This was the year that the goals and practices for the new learning area were already supposed to be in place. In addition, although the ‘generic framework’ wallchart 46 included a number of explanations about culture integrated teaching and teaching culture alongside language, it may not have been direct enough about the new elements and what teachers now needed to learn, know, and do in the classroom to meet the changed expectations. Significantly, the term ‘culture’ has been widely interpreted in different academic and professional fields and may therefore have acted as an empty signifier47 for teachers reading the new framework wallchart. Culture can mean all things to all people and perhaps those who studied the generic framework did not see anything new in the inclusion of ‘culture knowledge’ alongside ‘language knowledge’. Perhaps secondary language teachers and mainstream primary teachers assumed this was common sense, and what they were already doing. In other words, it was no different from teaching what has been referred to as the ‘Four F’s’ of the target culture: food, festivals, folklore, and statistical facts, the traditional approach to teaching ‘culture’ in tandem, as opposed to integrated, with language. New Zealand language teacher education evaluation research 48 has found through interviews that teachers have applied their own understandings to the term ‘intercultural competency’. Consequently, the research discussed below, carried out in the wake of the launch of the new learning area, Learning Languages, arguably overestimates New Zealand language teachers’ understanding of the term. This lack of explicit and timely signalling of the move to iCLT may have been one reason the new curriculum initiative was not understood by many language teachers in the way the Ellis principles were, much 44 Ellis, Instructed second language acquisition. 45 Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching. 46 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007). 47 Dervin, ‘A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses.’ 48 Harvey et al., Evaluation of teacher professional development languages (TPDL) in years 7–10; Harvey et al., Evaluation of the language and culture immersion experiences for teachers programmes; Harvey et al., Asian Language Learning in Schools.

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less enacted by language teachers in their classroom practice in a timely way. 49 Other reasons may relate to a lack of targeted communication flows through the language education system. That accounts for all of Cuban’s four layers50. There is also evidence that lack of explicit priming of contracted professional development educators for the language and culture immersion experiences and TPDL51 meant that agencies responsible for providing professional development for the new learning area were largely unaware of the requirement to incorporate the teaching of intercultural competency alongside language in their in-service delivery for teachers. New Zealand’s endemic contracting culture52 includes the education sector, and as part of that, language education. It may be that this culture was somewhat responsible for the lack of wide communication on the new requirements for teachers to teach languages interculturally, as well as the initial absence of intercultural competency in the professional development initiatives accompanying the new learning area, Learning Languages. There were two in-service professional development initiatives that were considered as accompaniments to the 2007 Learning Languages launch: language and culture immersion experiences (LCIEs)53 and a bespoke professional development programme known as TPDL (Teacher Professional Development for Languages).54 Both programmes were designed as in-service professional development opportunities for teachers to teach the Learning Languages area of the curriculum and were arranged as ‘arm’s length’ contracts ‘delivered’ by third parties. In order to further unpick the intercultural competence policy to practice story through the lens of Cuban’s identification of the taught layer of the curriculum,55 it is worth considering international commentary, the experience of the reception and practice of language education policy, and specifically of intercultural competence elsewhere.

49 East, ‘Addressing the intercultural via task-based language teaching’. 50 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 51 Harvey et al., Evaluation of teacher professional development languages (TPDL) in years 7–10. 52 Harvey, ‘Intercultural competency: Policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand’. 53 Harvey et al., Evaluation of the language and culture immersion experiences for teachers programmes. 54 Harvey et al., Evaluation of teacher professional development languages (TPDL) in years 7–10. 55 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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The Disconnect between Language Educational Policy and Practice

New Zealand is not the first country to have difficulty with successfully changing language teacher practice, and specifically language pedagogy, through the inauguration of policy. Commentators writing in other jurisdictions have observed that pedagogy and educational language policy can be seen as such separate fields that one is hardly reflected in the other. Diallo and Liddicoat, writing in Australia, observe: The lack of recognition of pedagogy as an important part of language education policy and planning means that the ways language policy and planning interact with classroom practice have not been investigated and the result is a partial picture of what is involved when decisions are made about language education in a given polity.56

Diallo and Liddicoat57 go on to explain that it is not so much that pedagogy is never specified in educational language policies, but that it may not feature systematically in all planning decisions and communications following the inauguration of new policy. Consequently, professional developers and teachers, as the implementation agents of the pedagogical specifications, are not apprised of the new pedagogical expectations and practices. Interestingly, this gap between language education policy inauguration and classroom practice has been perhaps nowhere more evident than in the case of the intended integration of intercultural competency into language teaching and the new expectations of language teachers. The shift in language teaching from communicative competence to iCLT58 means that teachers need to go beyond developing linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competences and that well-established notions of culture-teaching are challenged.59 Previously, the focus in language teaching tended to be on the teaching of ‘objective culture’.60 In other words, teachers focused on the products and institutions of a culture, tied to one or more nation states where the target language was spoken as a first language. Intercultural communicative language teaching (iCLT) has 56 57 58 59 60

Diallo & Liddicoat, ‘Planning language teaching’, 110. Ibidem. Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching. Sercu, ‘ICC in foreign language education’. Sercu, ‘ICC in foreign language education’.

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instead required teachers to begin integrating the interactional teaching of ‘subjective culture’, consisting of the learned and shared communication styles, patterns of beliefs, behaviour, values, and world views of groups of people interacting with each other.61 In order to be able to shift to intercultural language teaching, teachers themselves need to have “acquired ICC [intercultural competence] to a reasonable level”.62 This should be one of the components of professional development for language teachers, allowing them to become interculturally competent themselves, along with consideration, and, indeed, specification on how to teach intercultural competence interactionally in the language classroom. However, in a retrospective discussion on the development of intercultural competence over twenty-five years, Byram explained that a lack of explicit preparation for intercultural language teaching pedagogy had hindered progress in many countries: It [intercultural language teaching] is an area which is particularly open to empirical investigation of current practices, which are probably constructed on intuitive theories of cultural learning and generalised educational aims of social learning and ‘broadening pupils’ horizons’. The lack of teacher training for cultural studies is a contributing factor.63

Twenty-five years later it seemed as though little had changed in the field of language teacher education for intercultural competence. Byram (2014) commented that recent surveys of teachers reported little or no culturallyfocussed language teacher education. Meanwhile he was adamant that “the key is teacher education, initial and in-service”.64

5

The Taught Layer of ICC in New Zealand Language Classrooms

Four empirical studies carried out over a ten-year period by the author and colleagues following the launch of the new Learning Languages area65 have 61 Deardorff, ‘Assessing intercultural competence’. 62 Byram, From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship, 83. 63 Byram, ’Foreign language education and cultural studies’, 23 64 Byram, ‘Twenty-five years on: From cultural studies to intercultural citizenship’, 222. 65 ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’ (2007).

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examined, among other things, the reception of intercultural competency by New Zealand language teachers, and their understanding and engagement with this concept in their language classrooms. Following the launch of the Learning Languages area,66 two key professional development initiatives were put in place by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to raise the standard of language teaching in preparation for 2010. Professional development was certainly necessary because the new learning area specified that languages should be available (although not compulsory) in sections of the school system where languages teachers were not always available and where languages had not historically been taught. In many cases, but particularly at years seven and eight, it was envisioned that mainstream teachers with no or very little proficiency in the target language and no language teaching experience may be teaching languages. One programme was the Teacher Professional Development Languages Programme (TPDL). The other mechanism was the funding and support of language and culture immersion experiences (LCIE) for teachers.67 5.1 Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) Harvey et. al68examined intercultural language teaching within an evaluation of the new TPDL year-long programme for in-service teachers. The TPDL programme began as a two-year pilot and was implemented fully from March 2007, alongside the launch of the revised curriculum. The programme offered three components: the opportunity for teachers to improve their target language proficiency in language classes; observation and feedback on their language teaching by experienced language teachers; and participation in a university course on language teaching methodology. In 2006 and 2007, the programme was offered to teachers of subject languages in Years 7–8. In 2008, this was extended to teachers of subject languages in Years 9–10. In 2007, places were offered to forty teacher applicants, while in 2008, fifty-eight applicants joined the TPDL programme. That year the target participants were language teachers of French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Chinese.

66 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ (2007). 67 For a comprehensive evaluation of the programme see Harvey et al., Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) in years 7–10. 68 Ibidem.

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The evaluation of TPDL69 began just a year after the programme was fully operational, that is, in 2009. In regard to teachers’ knowledge of the new learning area, including the focus on culture, it was found that: – Very few teachers knew about the change to the national curriculum. – The TPDL programme was not incorporating the curriculum changes and particularly the shift to intercultural competency. – The university theory and language teaching methodology course component of TPDL had more or less ignored the intercultural language teaching addition to the curriculum. – Professional developers needed to understand and communicate changes in the curriculum. – Some teachers were intuitively touching on aspects of intercultural competency. It was clear that without interculturality incorporated into materials, student assessment, and teacher professional development, intercultural competence would continue to be marginal if not absent in classroom language teaching.70 The TPDL evaluation was undertaken before the principles for intercultural language teaching were published.71 Therefore, teachers were not supported with principles for integrating culture into communicative competence in the same way as language teaching was supported through the Ellis principles and the language teaching methodology paper in the TPDL programme. The lack of a well-specified supporting framework for intercultural competency made it difficult for teachers and teacher educators to interpret the cultural knowledge intent. It was to be hoped, however, that with the release of the report,72 things would change. 5.2 Language and Culture Immersion Experiences (LCIEs) A 2011 evaluation73 examined the experiences of teachers who took part in the two LCIE programmes available to New Zealand language teachers. The LCIEs enabled language teachers to spend time in a country where their 69 Harvey et al., Evaluation of the Language and Culture Immersion Experiences for teachers programmes. 70 Ibidem. 71 Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching. 72 Ibidem. 73 Harvey et al., Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) in years 7–10.

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teaching language was the main language of communication. Overseas sojourns ranged from two weeks to one year and the countries visited included Japan, Germany, Samoa, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Tahiti, France, China, and the Cook Islands. The evaluation74 found that while teachers perceived there had been gains for them in language proficiency while overseas, there was confusion over and lack of knowledge about the still relatively new notion of intercultural competency: – There had been some gains for teachers in the knowledge of ‘objective’ culture. – There was evidence of the development of teacher ICC, particularly in the sub-competencies of ‘attitudes’ and ‘skills of discovery and interaction’.75 – There was no demonstration of other sub-competencies, such as discussion of social practices from the perspective of the teacher’s own culture. – There was no evidence of teachers’ development of ‘critical cultural awareness’.76 – Teachers had little explicit, theoretical understanding of the ‘knowledge’ sub-competency.77 – Teachers were not confident about their understanding of the relationship between language and culture. – They were still unsure about how to implement a coherent programme of intercultural competency in the language classroom. – The full potential of the LCIE programmes for gaining and implementing intercultural competency had hardly been realized. Harvey et al.78 found there were lost opportunities for teacher development in both the growth of cultural knowledge more broadly, as well as intercultural competency, on the immersion programme as a result of the following: – A lack of preparation before the immersion programme with respect to goal setting both in terms of professional and personal goals, and debriefings after the immersion programme. – No exposure to the theoretical background and conceptual frameworks of intercultural competency. 74 Ibidem. 75 Byram, Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. 76 Ibidem. 77 Ibidem. 78 Harvey et al., Evaluation of the Language and Culture Immersion Experiences for teachers programmes.

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– A lack of training, structure, and mentoring during the immersion programme to enable participants to critically analyse and reflect on their immersion programme experiences as an ongoing developmental process. – No processes in place to help teachers make sense of their experiences in terms of translating these into language and culture integrated teaching in the language classroom. 5.3 Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) The ALLiS programme,79 running from 2016 to 2019, has also been recently evaluated. The programme was a ‘diplomatic souvenir’ of a visit to China in March 2014 of the then New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in order to boost New Zealand’s trade with China.80 With the shift and expectation for intercultural language teaching in the curriculum, questions and prompts about this approach were threaded through data-gathering tools for the multi-pronged evaluation.81 Teachers in the ALLiS programme were asked if there had been a greater emphasis on intercultural competency since the implementation of ALLiS in the first online questionnaire. While a third of the respondents (n=17) believed the programme had resulted in an increased emphasis on intercultural competence, a quarter of teachers indicated they were not familiar with the programme.82 Some qualitative responses indicated a possible shift since the earlier TPDL and LCIE evaluations: I f ind students’ questions in class help the understanding of ICC. Of course, I am conscious in preparing stories and perspectives of the Chinese culture for students to see and understand, do they see the differences and similarities? I completed TPDL in 2014, so was already using it, but it has grown stronger. It was already a major focus for us before ALLiS.

One teacher, however, frankly admits to not knowing the term. Other responses indicate that teachers do not understand intercultural competency and are taking a guess as to what it might be: 79 ‘Asian Language Learning in Schools programme (ALLiS)’; ‘Contract for services: Asian Language Learning in Schools evaluation (CW40909)’. 80 Trevett, ‘John Key dines with China’. 81 Harvey et al., Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) evaluation: final report. 82 Harvey et al., Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) evaluation: Probe 2.

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We ran a Chinese Language Week focus. Culture themes have been set up in lessons.

Where teachers may have positively responded to a question about the integration of ICC in their teaching materials or language classes, further questions showed that this knowledge was not well embedded, not planned for, and manifested as knowledge and practice that had been incidentally learned and taught.83 For example: […] our ICC component […] tends to arise naturally, […] it’s not always planned for. Yeah, it can just arise out of a student’s curiosity.

In the teacher response below, the teacher reformulates ‘intercultural competency’ as ‘culture differences’ and then suggests these are dealt with in ‘culture lessons’, presumably taught separately from language lessons. Interviewer: How are you catering for intercultural competency in your use of resources? Teacher: In terms of understanding the culture differences. Hmm that’s a good question. That’s mostly in the culture lessons but we never […] there’s something that shows a bit of culture difference, I would mention that and then have students discuss that. They often find it quite amusing, those aspects.

These latter interview excerpts seem to indicate that teachers may not have been either comfortable or knowledgeable about the term ‘intercultural competency’ and were not explicitly planning to teach it integrated with language in their lessons. They were still conceptualizing culture as something that could be taught separately from language, that is, the culture as artefact approach,84 without the benefit of subjective culture.85 5.4 Seeds and Germination of iCLT Recently Ramirez86 examined the links between New Zealand language teacher proficiency in the target language and teachers’ conceptualizations 83 Ibidem. 84 Sehlaoui, ‘Developing cross-cultural communicative competence in pre-service ESL/EFL’. 85 Triandis, Culture and social behaviour. 86 Ramirez, ‘The intercultural dimension in language classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand’.

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and practices of intercultural language teaching (iCLT).87 Given the relatively undeveloped nature of iCLT in New Zealand classrooms, Ramirez examined the potential for iCLT with research metaphors that see the conceptualizations and practice of iCLT as the beginning of a growth process: germination and seeds. Ramirez analyses her data against Newton, et al.’s88 framework of principles for integrating language and culture in language teaching and writes that she did not find any correlation between language proficiency and the ability to teach language interculturally. Nor, as she explains below, was she able to find fully germinated examples of iCLT in her research: The ways in which iCLT was conceptualised by the teachers varied across and within the principles. There was little evidence, however, that for the teachers, the potential, or seed, had ‘germinated’ into a full or growing, understanding of the principles.89

Ramirez did, however, find a correlation between targeted professional development and the conceptualizations and practice of iCLT. Following the 2010 evaluation of TPDL,90 where almost no evidence was found of teachers learning about culture integrated language teaching, the more recently renamed Transforming Practice in Language Teaching (TPLT) now includes, according to Ramirez, “a brief introduction to Newton et al.’s principles”.91 However, this only amounted to ninety minutes in a course that introduced multiple theories to teachers in one fifteen-point university paper. In the study these teachers show some conceptual understanding of the principles, but little or no evidence of being able to translate these to practice: [T]he findings of this study suggest that teachers are not being provided with suff icient opportunities to develop an intercultural pedagogy/ approach to language teaching, nor are they exposed to how iCLT looks in practice. While there are clearly some effective professional development opportunities, without interculturally targeted training/education, 87 Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching. 88 Ibidem, 2010. 89 Ramirez, ‘The intercultural dimension in language classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand’, 82. 90 Harvey et al., Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) in years 7–10. 91 Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching, 162.

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teachers may be unable to develop an effective intercultural dimension in their teaching.92

Ramirez’s study again points to the difficulty of mandating language policy change without ensuring it is fully embedded in teacher education. Twelve years after the inauguration of the New Zealand curriculum93 introducing a new approach to language education, very little had changed.

6 Conclusion This investigation into the top-down introduction of a new approach to teaching languages in New Zealand indicates how important it is for all of Larry Cuban’s94 four layers of the curriculum to be engaged in each stage of policy conceptualization, inauguration, and implementation, as a minimum requirement for material changes to take place at Cuban’s third layer of the curriculum, the learned layer. The best curriculum intentions of policymakers cannot be realized without full consultation and communication through the ‘layers’. Intercultural competence (ICC) originally developed through the work of Michael Byram and the Council of Europe,95 was presented in the revised 2007 New Zealand national curriculum96 in the form of a new learning area, ‘Learning Languages’. The aim of the newly written area was to ensure subject languages were available to all learners in Years 7–10 (equivalent to ages 11–14) by 2010. The move also disaggregated languages other than English from the English curriculum. This emphasis on language learning brought with it a requirement for all New Zealand language teachers to integrate (inter)cultural teaching with subject language teaching. As in other jurisdictions,97the rationale was that language teaching is an ideal curriculum vehicle for developing students’ intercultural competency in preparation for citizenship in increasingly diverse local contexts, as well as to enhance students’ ability to confidently interact in globalized international settings. 92 Ibidem, 173. 93 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’. 94 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’. 95 For example, Byram, Gribkova, & Starkey, ‘Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching’. 96 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’. 97 Byram & Parmenter, The Common European Framework of Reference.

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Despite the well-informed intentions of the policy writers for the Learning Languages area in the 2007 curriculum,98 the important message about language and culture integrated language teaching, or iCLT as Newton, et al.99 coined the term, has hardly reached language teachers in New Zealand, or has reached them only in patches. This was evident in the evaluation of the TPDL programme,100 the evaluation of LCIE,101and Ramirez’s102 recently completed study. Similar findings emerged in the ALLiS evaluation,103 ten years after the policy was supposed to be in place. New Zealand may not be too different from other jurisdictions where there have been attempts to incorporate intercultural competence into language education policy, but where language teachers may not have been explicitly introduced to the term,104 nor had opportunities to put it into practice through pre-service and in-service professional development. Diallo and Liddicoat 105 explain that this may be due to pedagogy not being well-specified in language education policy and not considered in all communications and language teacher professional development on the new policy move. Byram106 discusses this issue in his retrospective article looking at twenty-five years of ICC, seeing language teacher professional development as an area that has not caught up with new language policy and language teaching practice expectations. The findings from the four studies summarized here point to the possibility of a fifth layer of the curriculum, the in-service and preservice teacher education layer. While this chapter does not examine preservice education for language teachers, the in-service professional development courses indicate the need for much better involvement of professional developers in language curriculum changes and innovations. The in-service opportunities available to language teachers in New Zealand through the language and culture immersion experiences and TPDL following the launch of the 98 ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’. 99 Newton, Yates, Shearn & Nowitzki, Intercultural communicative language teaching. 100 Harvey et al., Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) in years 7–10. 101 Harvey et al., Evaluation of the Language and Culture Immersion Experiences for teachers programmes. 102 Ramirez, ‘The intercultural dimension in language classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand’, 82. 103 Harvey et al., Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) evaluation: Probe 2. 104 Nguyen, Harvey & Grant, ‘What teachers say about addressing culture in their EFL teaching practice’. 105 Diallo & Liddicoat, ‘Planning language teaching’. 106 Byram, ‘Twenty-five years on: From cultural studies to intercultural citizenship’.

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new learning area were not initially designed to support the intercultural aspects of language teaching in New Zealand. Moreover, the professional development ‘providers’ were ‘contracted to deliver’ rather than having been equal partners in introducing language curriculum change. The intercultural, (non)integration story of the New Zealand languages learning curriculum area may be evidence that Cuban’s inspired four layer model of the curriculum107 therefore may need to tuck in a fifth layer, that is, language teacher education, to more comprehensively explain the parts of the system that need to be included to ensure curriculum changes are implemented by teachers and indeed ‘learned’ by students. In short, for practice to be valorized, language teacher education should be considered a crucial and explicitly recognized layer of the curriculum.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Emeritus Professor Charles Crothers for assistance with Statistics New Zealand data. I am very grateful also to Ashlee Li for the formatting and referencing of the manuscript.

Bibliography ‘Asian Language Learning in Schools programme (ALLiS)’, Ministry of Education 2015 (accessed 30.07.2021). Bedford, Richard, Bedford, Charlotte, Ho, Elsie, & Lidgard, Jacqueline, ‘The globalisation of international migration in New Zealand: Contribution to a debate’, New Zealand Population Review 28 (2002)1, 69–97. Byram, Michael, Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence (Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1997). Byram, Michael, ‘Foreign language education and cultural studies’, Language, Culture and Curriculum 1 (1998) 1, 15–31, 23. Byram, Michael, From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: Essays and reflections (Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2008). Byram, Michael, ‘Twenty-f ive years on: From cultural studies to intercultural citizenship’, Language, Culture and Curriculum 27 (2014) 3, 209–225. 107 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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Byram, Michael, CultNet-World: For a group of interculturalists around the world. 2018, [19 September, 2018] (accessed 20.07.2021). Byram, Mike, Gribkova, Bella, & Starkey, Hugh, ‘Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching: A practical introduction for teachers’ (Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe 2002), (accessed 30.07.2021). Byram, Michael & Parmenter, Lynne, The Common European Framework of Reference: The globalisation of language education policy (Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2012). ‘Contract for services: Asian language Learning in Schools evaluation (CW40909)’, Ministry of Education (Wellington, New Zealand: Author, 2016). ‘2018 Census totals by topic—national highlights (updated)’, Statistics New Zealand 30 April 2020, (accessed 30.07.2021). Cuban, Larry, ‘The multi‐layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’, Larry Cuban on school reform and classroom practice, 14 January 2012, [02 December 2019] (accessed 30.07.2021). Deardorff, Darla, K., ‘Assessing intercultural competence’, New Directions for Institutional Research 149 (2011), 65–79. Dervin, Fred, ‘A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses: A ‘liquid’ approach to the study of the acculturation of Chinese students’, Journal of Multicultural Discourses 6 (2011) 1, 37–52. Diallo, Ibrahima & Liddicoat, Anthony, ‘Planning language teaching: An argument for the place of pedagogy in language policy and planning’, International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning 9 (2014) 2, 110–117. East, Martin, ‘Addressing the intercultural via task-based language teaching: Possibility or problem?’, Language and Intercultural Communication 12 (2012) 1, 56–73. Ellis, Rod, Instructed second language acquisition: A literature review (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2005). Harvey, Sharon, ‘Intercultural competency: Policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand’, The New Zealand Language Teacher 44 (2018), 4–17. Harvey, Sharon, ‘The “wave” of Japanese language education in secondary schools: The case of Aotearoa / New Zealand’, in: McLelland, Nicola & Smith, Richard (eds.), The history of language learning and teaching across cultures (Oxford: Legenda, 2018), 260–273.

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Harvey, Sharon, Conway, Clare, Richards, Heather & Roskvist, Annelies, Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) in years 7–10 and the impact on language learning opportunities and outcomes for students (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2010). Harvey, Sharon, Roskvist, Annelies, Corder, Deborah & Stacey, Karen, Evaluation of the Language and Culture Immersion Experiences for teachers programmes: Their impact on teachers and their contribution to effective second language learning (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2011). Harvey, Sharon, Roskvist, Annelies, Yu, Shanjiang & Pal, Moneeta, Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) evaluation: Probe 2—Language learning resources and material (Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2017). Harvey, Sharon, Roskvist, Annelies, Yu, Shanjiang & Pal, Moneeta, Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) evaluation: final report (Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2019). Higgins, Rawinia & Keane, Basil, ‘Te reo Māori—the Māori language—Revitalising te reo, 1970s and 1980s’, Te Ara—the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, [28 August 2020] (accessed 30.07.2021). Kaplan, Robert, ‘Language policy and planning in New Zealand’, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 14 (1994), 156–176. Koefoed, Glenda, ‘Policy perspectives from New Zealand’, in: The Common European Framework of Reference: The globalisation of language education policy, ed. by Byram, Michael & Parmenter, Lynne (Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2012), 233–247. Larsen-Freeman, Diane & Freeman, Donald, ‘Language moves: The place of “foreign” languages in classroom teaching and learning’, Review of Research in Education 32 (2008) 1, 147–186. ‘Learning languages in the NZ Curriculum’, Ministry of Education, https://learninglanguages.tki.org.nz/Learning-Languages-in-the-NZ-Curriculum (accessed 30.07.2021). Liddicoat, Anthony, J., Scarino, Angela, Papademetre, Leo & Kohler, Michelle, Report on intercultural language learning (Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Science, and Training, 2003). Lo Bianco, Jo, ‘The national policy on languages December 1987–March 1990’, Report to the Minister for employment, education, and training (Canberra, Australia: Australian Advisory Council on Languages and Multicultural Education, 1990). Martin, Peter, ‘They have lost their identity but not gained a British one’: Nontraditional multilingual students in higher education in the United Kingdom’, Language and Education 24 (2010) 1, 9–20.

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‘New curriculum to make languages compulsory from seven’, BBC News 10 June 2012 (accessed 30.07.2021). Newton, Jonathan, Yates, Eric, Shearn, Sandra & Nowitzki, Werner, Intercultural communicative language teaching: Implications for effective teaching and learning—A literature review and an evidence-based framework for effective teaching (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2010). Nguyen, Van Huy & Hamid, Obaidul, ‘Educational policy borrowing in a globalized world: A case study of common European framework of reference for languages in a Vietnamese university’, English Teaching: Practice & Critique 14 (2015) 1, 60–74. Nguyen, Long, Harvey, Sharon & Grant, Lynn, ‘What teachers say about addressing culture in their EFL teaching practice: the Vietnamese context’, Intercultural Education 27 (2016) 2, 165–178. Northey, Heather, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School: The first hundred years, 1888‒1988 (Auckland: Auckland Grammar School Old Girls’ Association, 1998). Ramirez, Elba, ‘The intercultural dimension in language classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand: A comparative study across languages and teachers’ levels of proficiency’ (Unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 2018). ‘Secondary school subjects 1996–2016’, Ministry of Education 2015, (accessed 30.07.2021). Sehlaoui, Abdelilah Salim, ‘Developing cross-cultural communicative competence in pre-service ESL/EFL teachers: A critical perspective’, Language, Culture and Curriculum 14 (2001) 1, 42–57. Sercu, Lies, ‘ICC in foreign language education: Integrating theory and practice’ in: van Esch, Kees & St. John, Oliver (eds.), New insights into foreign language learning and teachin, (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2004), 115–130. Sinclair, Keith & Dalziel, Raewyn, A history of New Zealand (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 2000). ‘1800| Tātai Kōrero’, Māori Language Commission, https://www.tetaurawhiri.govt. nz/en/te-reo-maori/history/1800/ (accessed 30.07.2021). Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, ‘Māori—Urbanisation and renaissance’, Te Ara—the Encyclopedia of New Zealand [28 August 2020] (accessed 30.07.2021). ‘The generic framework for teaching and learning languages in English-medium schools’, Ministry of Education (Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media, 2007) (accessed 30.07.2021). ‘The New Zealand Curriculum Framework’, Ministry of Education (Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media, 1993).

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‘The New Zealand Curriculum’, Ministry of Education (Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media, 2007), (accessed 30.07.2021). ‘Treaty of Waitangi’, New Zealand History 1840, (accessed 30.07.2021). Trevett, Claire, ‘John Key dines with China’, New Zealand Herald 2014 (accessed 30.07.2021). Triandis, Harry, Culture and social behavior (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994). Waite, Jeffrey, Aoteareo: Speaking for ourselves—Part A: The overview (Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media, 1992). Waite, Jeffrey, Aoteareo: Speaking for ourselves—Part B: The overview (Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media, 1992).

About the Author Sharon Harvey Auckland University of Technology (AUT) School of Education [email protected] Sharon Harvey recently joined the School of Education at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) as Associate Professor. From 2008–2019, she was Head of the School of Language and Culture at AUT, as well as Deputy Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Culture and Society. Sharon initiated and co-wrote the 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand paper Languages of Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper highlighted the plight of te reo Māori, as well as Pacific and other minority languages in Aotearoa. It also explained the educational achievement benefits that would accrue to students if they were able to maintain and extend their languages within the New Zealand education system. Sharon’s wider research and supervisory interests are focussed on language policy and planning and how this translates to practice, particularly in the education sector. Sharon has led several Ministry of Education evaluations of language teaching and learning in schools.

15 Social Attitudes toward ‘School English’ in Classroom Practice in South Korea from 1970 to the Present Robert J. Fouser

Abstract This chapter investigates social attitudes toward ‘school English’ in South Korea from 1970 to 1999. As the South Korean economy developed rapidly in the 1970s, the perceived importance of English grew. The trend accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s with continued growth and the transition to democracy. The chapter uses a corpus of forty-nine selected articles on English education from four major South Korean daily newspapers. Articles were selected based on the insight provided into social attitudes and analysed qualitatively to discern trends over time. Results showed that pushes to reform ‘school English’ originated from policy markers intent on linking English proficiency to economic and social development. Instead of reflecting attitudes, policy makers acted as drivers of public opinion. Keywords: South Korea; English education; social context; social attitudes; elementary school English education; university entrance examination; global English; democratization; economic development; newspaper corpus

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Social Context and Language Learning

All formal education, like other human activities, takes place within a complex social context. In this essay, I def ine social context as the social forces that shape individuals’ daily experiences. These forces include a web of structures and processes, organizations and institutions, and interpersonal relationships. Together social context def ines the

Doff, S. & Smith, R. (eds.), Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching: 20th-Century Historical Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022. doi: 10.5117/9789463722049_ch15

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parameters of individual daily life. For language learning and teaching, social context is important because it influences the choices that institutions and individuals make. For example, education authorities in most countries require pupils in school to learn one or more languages while offering others as options. The broader social context influences these decisions which, in turn, have a direct inf luence on the daily school activities of pupils. The history of language learning and teaching thus ref lects changes in the social context over time. As H. H. Stern aptly put it, “[w]e cannot teach a language for long without coming face to face with social context factors which have bearing on language and language learning”.1 A key component of social context is social attitudes, which can be defined as ways a society looks at phenomena in the world. This chapter is an investigation of social attitudes toward ‘school English’ in South Korea from 1970 to 1999 that addresses the following research question: “How did social attitudes affect the evolution of English education policies in South Korea during this period?”. ‘School English’ here refers to English taught in official school settings ranging from primary to tertiary levels. Private supplementary school settings, which have played an important role in South Korean education, are not the focus of this study, but are referenced as they relate to social attitudes. The research is based on an analysis of a corpus of newspaper articles and opinion pieces during the thirty-year period. The research question in this work is important, not only for understanding the history of English education in South Korea, but also for revealing how social attitudes affect decisions about teaching and learning at all four layers of the curriculum as defined by Larry Cuban: the official, the taught, the learned, and the tested.2 Among Cuban’s layers, the official, the taught, and the tested have received the greatest amount of attention in the articles analysed here. In particular, the interest in the tested layer as it relates to the university entrance examination reflects that importance of higher education for life chances (‘Lebenschancen’) in South Korean society. The importance of the tested layer in the history of English education in South Korea raises questions about the role it plays in the history of language learning and teaching in other places and times.

1 Stern, Fundamental concepts, 191. 2 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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343

Historical Background

2.1 Korean History since the Late Nineteenth Century Amid competition among imperial powers for influence in Asia in the late nineteenth century, Japan gained hegemony in Korea and ruled it as a colony from 1910 until Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945. Immediately after the war, American forces entered Korea from the south, and Soviet forces from the north, giving rise to two competing Korean states in 1948. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War that lasted until an armistice in 1953. Recovery from the war was arduous, particularly in more heavily populated and largely rural South Korea, which maintained a close military alliance with the US that continues today. In 1961, Army General Park Chung-hee (1917–1979) staged a coup d’état and became president of South Korea.3 To compete with North Korea for legitimacy, he initiated a massive export-driven industrialization project. Park was a dictator, and his rule became harsher during the 1970s, which stirred internal resistance and external condemnation. Hopes for a return to democracy after his assassination in 1979 were dashed when Chun Doo-hwan took power as president in another coup d’état in 1980. 4 To legitimize his rule, Chun sought to undo the excesses of Park’s regime and to begin a push to turn Korea into an ‘advanced country’ as symbolized by the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Chun also used the Olympics as a pretext for suppressing political dissent, but by the mid-1980s, democracy movements had come out in the open, forcing him to agree to a free presidential election in 1987 and other democratic reforms. The success of the Olympics and democratization in 1987 paved the way for sustained economic growth and continued political progress in the 1990s.5 In its recovery from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, South Korea embraced globalization and the tech economy in the 2000s and continued its march toward joining the ranks of advanced democratic nations. South Korean popular culture became attractive abroad, first with the Hallyu 3 For a discussion of the Park Chung-hee era, see Brazinsky, Nation building in South Korea and Kim & Vogel, The Park Chung Hee era. 4 For discussions of the Chun Doo-hwan era, see Clifford, Troubled tiger and Oberdorfer & Carlin, The two Koreas. 5 For an overview of economic development in South Korea, see Chung, The economic development of South Korea.

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(Korean Wave) boom in the 2000s, and the K-Pop boom in the 2010s.6 The Korean Peninsula remains divided, however, into two hostile states that take opposite stances on interaction with the rest of the world. South Korea is a major trading nation with deep connections around the globe, whereas North Korea remains largely closed off from the world. 2.2 English Learning and Teaching since the Late Nineteenth Century The sweep of Korean history from the late nineteenth century has had a direct effect on language learning and teaching.7 During the period of imperial competition, trade and diplomatic relations with Western powers created a need for learning English, French, German, and Russian for the first time in Korean history. The study of Japanese boomed as Japan gained hegemony over the Korean peninsula. During the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945), public education became a tool that authorities used to promote the Japanese language and instil loyalty to Japan. Korean was taught as a ‘local language’, while Western languages, mainly English, French, and German, were taught as ‘second foreign languages’ as they were in Japan.8 After liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, the teaching and learning of Japanese disappeared immediately, and Korean was elevated to the position of ‘national language’. In the south, the American military government required English as a foreign language and that has not changed since.9 Though English has been required since 1945, views of English have evolved as the South Korean economy and society have developed.10 In 6 For a discussion of the global impact of South Korean pop culture, see Hong, Birth of Korean cool. 7 For overviews of the history of language learning and teaching in Korea since the late Nineteenth century, see Kwon & Kim, Hanguk ui yeongeo gyoyuksa (“The history of English education in Korea”) and, for the late Nineteenth century, Lee, ‘Guhanmal ui yeongeo gyoyuk gwa gyosubeop’ (“English education and teaching methods during the late Yi Dynasty”). For a history of school curricula since the late Nineteenth century, see Ham, Hanguk gyoyukgwajeong byeoncheonsa yeongu (“A study of the history of Korean curricula”). 8 For a discussion of English education during the Japanese colonial era, see Kim-Rivera, ‘English language education in Korea’; for a discussion of the role of Japanese in colonial rule, see Heo, ‘Geundae gyemonggi oegugeo gyoyuk siltae wa Ilboneo gwollyeok hyeongseong gwajeong yeongu’ (“Study of foreign language education and the Japanese language influence in the modern period”). 9 Kim, ‘English educational policies’. 10 For discussions on the social role of English in South Korean society, see Kim, ‘Yeongeo hakseup ui sahoemunhwajeok uimi wa yeongeo gyoyuk ui hamui: ne gaji sahoehakjeok jeopgeunbeop’ (“The sociocultural meaning of English learning and its implication to English

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the 1970s, the perceived importance of English grew as exports to North America and Europe began to drive economic growth and interaction with the world increased. As the economy boomed, competition to enter universities began to increase as the generation born after the Korean War graduated from high school. English was also a required subject on university entrance examinations, ensuring that it remained important to students planning for higher education. The tension between broad social needs for English proficiency and the ‘gatekeeping’ role of English in the education system became sharper at this time and remains a matter of contention today. The assassination of Park Chung-hee in 1979 and Chun Doo-hwan’s rise to power in 1980 directly affected language learning and teaching. As mentioned above, Chun promised to turn South Korea into an advanced country though ‘liberalization’ and enlightened economic growth. Chun’s rise coincided with the turn toward Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the 1980s. Globalization had begun to take hold, stimulating the growth of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in developing countries around the world, but particularly in Asia.11 In response to demand, a TEFL industry centred in the United Kingdom developed a synergy between publishers and public institutions such as the British Council.12 With a growing economy and a long history of grammar-centric English education, South Korea was fertile ground for the TEFL industry. Policy makers and academics in South Korea became aware of the new CLT paradigm, which departed from grammar-centric English education. Turning to a new approach that carried an ‘open’ image fit with Chun’s push to go beyond the Park Chung-hee era. In 1981, Seoul was awarded the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. As preparations for the Olympics began, attention turned to the state of English proficiency. The long tradition of grammar-centric English teaching and diff iculties, both legal and economic, of traveling abroad meant that proficiency in spoken English was low except among the educated elite and people working in places where English is used, such as US military bases. The desire to rectify this situation made CLT very appealing to policy makers who had easy access to the media. Improving English proficiency in the country became more than preparation for a major event, but also education: Four sociological approaches”) and Kang, Hangugin gwa yeongeo (“Koreans and English”). 11 Lin, ‘The promotion of English in East Asia’. 12 Howatt & Smith, ‘The history of teaching English as a foreign language’.

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part of a broader push to reach benchmarks that defined an ‘advanced country’ at the time. The political turmoil of the last half of the 1980s slowed the public debate about English education, but interest in English continued to grow as democratization brought greater openness. Restrictions on overseas study and leisure travel were gradually lifted and South Koreans began traveling in large numbers, which increased interest in learning English. Early in his administration, Chun greatly increased the number of places in universities, causing a surge in the number of students throughout the decade. This meant, of course, that a greater number of people were studying English to prepare for the entrance examination, creating intense competition to get into prestigious universities.13 Increased travel and university study reflected a growth in the size and economic clout of the middle class. As the middle class continued to grow in the 1990s, more South Koreans were able to consume the products of the TEFL industry, turning South Korea into one of the most promising TEFL markets. In the early 1990s, calls for reform in English education stirred again as the new administration of President Kim Young-sam, a leader in the pro-democracy movement, entered off ice in early 1993. Unlike calls for reform in the early 1980s, the influence of CLT was stronger because USeducated academics and policy makers had risen to leadership positions. The new government pushed globalization, or segyehwa in Korean, as one of its marquee policies, and improving the level of spoken English was an important component of this policy. With the government at their back, policy makers were able to push through two critical reforms: elementary school English education and adoption of a listening component to the university entrance examination.14 Both were designed to bring tangible reforms to ‘school English’ that had been targeted since the early 1980s. Structural changes, it was thought, would result in changes in classroom teaching that would push English education closer toward the ideal of CLT. Since liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, the teaching of second languages had begun from middle school. Discussions about starting English language education earlier began in the early 1980s, but did not gain traction until the early 1990s. As South Korea began to commit itself to improving English prof iciency, the idea of starting teaching earlier began to take 13 For an overview of the social evolution of education in South Korea, see Seth, Education fever. 14 Kwon, ‘Korea’s English education policy changes in the 1990s’.

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hold.15 After lengthy consideration, the government decided to start English education in the third grade because it was thought that children should learn the basics of Korean literacy before learning English. To improve the English proficiency of teachers, a massive teacher development program involving 50,000 teachers began.16 After several years of pilot testing, the program launched across the nation in 1997. As the first cohort of pupils reached middle school, the curriculum and contents of English classes were revised to reflect what had been taught in elementary school. The other major reform was the introduction of eight listening comprehension questions on the university entrance examination in 1994. The number of questions grew to seventeen in 1997 and has remained at that number since.17 A new examination had begun in 1994 as part of the Kim administration’s broader education reforms. Because of the effect of the university entrance examination on classroom teaching, reformers argued that introducing listening comprehension would help push classroom teachers to focus more on listening. At the time, theories associated with Stephen Krashen that emphasized input in the form of listening were in vogue among reformers.18 Though the listening section consists of only seventeen multiple-choice questions, its inclusion in the university entrance examination had an immediate effect on the classroom as teachers introduced listening comprehension exercises into their teaching. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis caused a steep recession in 1998, but recovery began in 1999, and the country entered a new period of growth.19 At the end of 1997, Kim Dae-jung, another important pro-democracy movement leader, was elected president and rallied the nation to support reforms required by the IMF (International Monetary Fund), one of which was greater openness to foreign investment. Amid an expected inflow of foreign investment, English proficiency gained renewed attention. A major daily newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, ran a series of articles contemplating 15 For a typical example, see Kim, ‘Necessity of English education in elementary schools in Korea’. 16 Kwon, ‘Korea’s English teacher training and retraining’. 17 Kwon, ‘Daehaksuhangneungnyeoksiheom oegugeo(yeongeo) yeongyeok jeongchaek byeoncheonsa’ (“A history of policies regarding the English section of Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test”); the number of questions rose to 22 in 2014 but was reduced back to 17 in 2015. 18 For an example, see Kim, ‘Jeonghwakseong gwa yuchangseong ui jaejomyeong’ (“Fluency and accuracy revisited”), On a personal note, from 1988 to 1992, I taught TEFL in the English Education Department at Korea University where Deok-gi Kim was a professor. He mentioned Krashen often in conversations and was an active advisor to the Ministry of Education at the time. 19 Chung, The economic development of South Korea.

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the possibility of adopting English as an official language, which caused a heated debate about language policy. Though seeming nonsensical in hindsight, the debate reflected how closely English was tied to the notions of national competitiveness and prosperity.20 In 1996, South Korea and Japan were chosen as co-hosts of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. To push the economic recovery and project a positive image through the World Cup, South Korea embraced globalization, which was symbolized in part by ever-spreading ‘global English’. After the 2002 World Cup, growth slowed and, after f ifteen years of democratization, political culture matured. As the country joined the ranks of advanced democratic nations, ‘school English’ began to fade from political discourse as people increasingly turned to private supplementary education. In 2020, English remained an important subject on the university entrance examination. Proficiency in English is de rigueur for anybody who wishes to project confidence in the workplace and society, which may explain why it is no longer the subject of heated debates and policy pronouncements. The period from 1970 to 1999 were the formative nation-building years that made South Korea what it is today. By contrast, the following twenty years have been a period of stability and consolidation. The importance of English, not just as a school subject, but also as an important piece of social capital developed during the thirty-year nation building period, which underscores the importance of this period in the contemporary history of language learning and teaching in South Korea. 2.3 The South Korean System of Education Before discussing the research method used in this chapter, a summary of the education system in South Korea is in order.21 Since its founding in 1948, South Korea has followed a 6-3-3- format for primary and secondary education with elementary school being six years, middle school three years, and high school three years. Tertiary education is composed of two-year junior colleges and four-year colleges and universities. South Korea has a national curriculum that is set by the Ministry of Education. Changes and modifications to the curriculum originate from the Ministry of Education and take place periodically according to political and social conditions. About eighty–five percent of funding for schools comes from the national 20 For an overview of the debate on and continuing effects of making English an off icial language in Korean institutions, see Choi, ‘Speaking English naturally’. 21 For a detailed overview, see Mani & Trines, ‘Education in South Korea’.

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government and the remaining fifteen percent from local governments and nominal fees for high school, which are gradually being phased out. Textbooks are subject to Ministry of Education approval. Administration, including hiring of teachers, is the responsibility of boards of education in provinces and metropolitan cities. The central role of the national government in determining the curriculum, approving textbooks, and financing education means that, compared to more decentralized nations such as the US and Germany, policy changes at the national level make their way quickly through the system. A wide network of private institutes and tutors exists alongside the official education system and is subject to varying degrees of regulation from the central government.

3 Methodology The research methodology in this chapter draws on the use of corpora in researching history. Historians use a variety of primary and secondary sources to create as complete a picture as possible of what happened in the past. Newspapers are one of the most important primary sources in history research. The Digital Revolution in the late twentieth century allowed for newspapers to be preserved as digital files and made available widely over the Internet. Advances in software technology have made it possible to analyse primary sources efficiently from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Quantitative research creates a statistical portrait of a corpus of articles, whereas qualitative analyses, not all of which use software, focus on qualitative features such as attitudes, feelings, and other subjective states in a corpus of articles. In many cases, corpora are used to supplement traditional forms of primary source research. Related to this chapter, two studies have used corpora of academic and mass media articles. A study on academic articles in Turkey was based on 274 research articles published in Turkey between 2005 and 2015. The purpose of the research was to classify articles into themes and research methodology to determine changes in the field during the ten-year period.22 A South Korean study used a corpus of 1537 articles from the Chosun Ilbo, a major daily newspaper, and academic journals from 1980 to 2011.23 The 22 Yağız, Aydın & Akdemir, ‘ELT research in Turkey’. 23 Shin & Sim, ‘Hanguk yeongeo gyoyuk ui yeoksa gochal: sinmun gisa wa haksul jaryo rul giban euro’ (“Historical review of English education in Korea: Using newspaper articles and academic papers”).

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researchers classified the articles into themes and focused on the change in the number of articles and in themes discussed during the 31-year period. The researchers included all articles that appeared in searches using only ‘English’ for the newspaper database and ‘English education’ for the journal article database. To discern social attitudes toward ‘school English’, a small corpus of articles, including opinion pieces, such as op-ed and editorials, was created. Articles and opinion pieces were searched in the Naver database of South Korean newspaper articles within the 1970–1999 range. As discussed previously, this period was one of rapid economic, social, and democratic transformation in South Korea. Naver (naver.com) is the largest portal site in South Korea and the company has digitized articles from four daily newspapers covering the period from 1920 to 1999. The Korea Press Foundation operates a database with more media outlets, but it begins in 1990, which leaves out the crucial decades of the 1970s and 1980s. Newspapers from the Naver database included in the corpus are: Dong-A Ilbo, Kyunghyang Sinmun, Mae-il Gyeongje Sinmun, and the Hankyoreh. Though these newspapers are the only papers in the database, they have, as national publications, a large circulation and influence. The Dong-A Ilbo was founded in 1920 while Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. The Kyunghyang Sinmun was founded in 1946, shortly after liberation from Japanese rule. The Mae-il Gyeongje Sinmun was founded in 1966 just as economic growth began to take off under Park Chung-hee, and the Hangyoreh was founded in 1988 and, like El País in Spain, grew out of the democracy movement. Today, the Dong-A Ilbo and the Mae-il Gyeongje Sinmun lean centre-right, whereas the Kyunghyang Sinmun and the Hangyoreh are classified as left wing. Until democratization in 1987, all newspapers were subject to varying degrees of government censorship. Two other influential newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo and the JoongAng Ilbo, were not in the Naver database in 2019 because they operated proprietary databases that were not available to the researcher. Both have a similar history and editorial stance as the Dong-A Ilbo. In searches of the Naver database, a variety of keywords in Korean were used, including ‘English’, ‘education’, ‘teachers’, ‘students’, ‘classes’, ‘problems’, ‘issues’, ‘changes’, and ‘reform’. Articles that reflected social attitudes and views toward ‘school English’ and English education policies were selected and saved using screen capture software. The Naver database does not allow for downloading of articles. Short articles presenting factual information were omitted, leaving only articles that reflected social attitudes and views. This differs from the 2011 study by Shin and Sim in which all articles

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Table 1:  Number of Articles by Decade and Newspaper

1970s 1980s 1990s

Dong-A Ilbo

Kyunghyang Sinmun

Mae-il Gyeongje

Hangyoreh*

4 16 9 29

5 8 1 14

0 2 0 2

0 0 4 4

*The Hankyoreh was founded in 1988.

containing the search keyword were included.24 In total, forty-nine articles were gathered from the four newspapers; the distribution among them is given in Table 1. The articles were organized chronologically so that they could be analysed in relation to historical events discussed in the background section above. Each article was analysed qualitatively through close reading to determine the author’s attitude toward the topic being discussed. Analysis was based on word choice, presentation (and omission) of facts, and overall diction. Most articles included quotations from academics, teachers, parents, and policy makers. Because the quotations often contained contradictory views toward the subject, each quotation was not considered representative of the author’s attitude, but of broader social attitudes. The use and organization of the quotations, however, was analysed as possibly reflective of the author’s attitude.

4

Results and Discussion

Results of the analysis revealed several interesting trends. The first is that the number of articles changed according to the degree to which the central government focused on English education policy. During the dictatorial regime of Park Chung-hee in the 1970s, the number of articles varied little across years. The number of articles increased in the early 1980s as Chun Doo-hwan began to loosen social restrictions of the Park regime and Seoul was awarded the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. Political turmoil in 1987 caused a drop in reporting on English education, but that began to pick up after the democratically elected government of Roh Tae-woo took office in 24 Shin & Sim, ‘Hanguk yeongeo gyoyuk ui yeoksa gochal: sinmun gisa wa haksul jaryo rul giban euro’ (“Historical review of English education in Korea: Using newspaper articles and academic papers”).

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1988. The mid-1990s saw an increase as the two major reforms—elementary school English classes and the listening section on the university entrance exam—gained attention. The slight drop toward the end of the 1990s reflects a brief shift in interest away from English education as the Asian financial crisis gripped the nation. Before democratization, the range of opinions presented in articles was limited, but it expanded after democratization. Likewise, opinions critical of government policy were diff icult to f ind before democratization, but more frequent afterwards. The withdraw of censorship in 1987 and development of a free press accounted for the postdemocratization change. Throughout the period, however, government policy was presented as focusing on the public good, which mitigated strong critiques of policy in the post-democracy period. The second trend is a focus on systemic issues. Broader systemic issues such as teacher development, textbooks, and curricula received more coverage than individual educators or schools. The most discussed systemic issue was the adoption of English education in elementary school. It was first discussed in an editorial in the Kyunghyang Sinmun in December of 1977 and reappeared consistently throughout the period. Articles in the 1970s, such as the Kyunghyang Sinmun editorial, tended to be critical, most likely because of Park Chung-hee’s nationalist policies and propaganda that were used to justify his dictatorial rule. Articles in the early 1980s were more supportive of the possibility, but restrained, because the government had not officially thrown its support behind elementary school English education. After democratization in 1987, however, the discourse turned more positive, and articles began to reference growing support, particularly from parents, as a reason to start teaching English earlier. In the 1990s, as the government moved to implement elementary school English education, articles began to focus on teacher development and other practical issues relating to implementation. By the 1990s, all elementary school teachers would have studied English in school, including the first year of university, but most teachers rarely used English and speaking proficiency was low. As discussed in the above background section, foreign travel was not easy in South Korea until 1989, so most teachers would have had little or no travel experience in the early 1990s. The pressing need to develop a pool of elementary teachers capable of teaching English received considerable attention. Another systemic reform, the push to include a listening component on the university entrance examination, also appeared in the mid-1990s. Changes in university entrance procedures are inherently controversial, but most articles were positive as the writers focused on the perceived benefits

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of improving English proficiency in the population. Articles referencing parents’ attitudes, meanwhile, suggested that parents worried about the burden that preparation for the examination would impose on their children even as they supported the need to improve English education. This may help explain why parents were supportive of elementary school English education because they thought it would help their children get a head start, thus improving life chances in a competitive educational system. The third trend is a critique of ‘school English’ from the perspective of speaking proficiency. This type of article was more common in the 1980s, but appeared throughout the period. The main thrust of these articles was to equate overall English proficiency with speaking proficiency. As such, native-speaker pronunciation was viewed as an ideal with the overall goal as ‘being able to talk with foreigners’. From this stance, which was commonly referred to as ‘practical English’, the ideal teacher was expected to have near native-like pronunciation and fluency to use English comfortably with native speakers. This stance has deep roots in the history of English education in Korea since the late nineteenth century when missionaries, mostly from North America, arrived in Korea. The association of English with native speakers and particularly North American native speakers began at this time and continued through the Japanese colonial period. A strong American military presence and cultural influence from 1945 to the present deepened the association of English with the US and native speakers. The rise of CLT in the 1980s may have influenced the interest in speaking proficiency, but the emphasis on native-speaker benchmarking was fading at the time with the rise of interest in ‘world Englishes’, which de-emphasized American or British native-speaker pronunciation as a goal. The emphasis on speaking proficiency in the media, or ‘practical English’, in South Korea, however, meant that other skill areas received little or no attention. Knowledge of grammar and reading proficiency dominated the university entrance examination exclusively until the introduction of listening in 1994.25 The lack of discussion of changes in these areas suggests that they were viewed as givens and the call for improved speaking proficiency was additive and not intended to replace traditional methods. Articles in the 1980s raised the issue of speaking proficiency of English teachers, often casting it as deficient and advocating teacher development programs for improvement. The interest in improving teacher English proficiency set the 25 Kwon, ‘Daehaksuhangneungnyeoksiheom oegugeo(yeongeo) yeongyeok jeongchaek byeoncheonsa’ (“A history of policies regarding the English section of Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test”].

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stage for implementing the large-scale teacher development programs for elementary school teachers in the 1990s. Finally, a fourth trend concerns the cost of private supplemental English education. Articles from the 1970s raised concern about the cost of private ‘cram schools’ that helped students prepare for the university entrance examination. As the economy grew, more families could afford to pay for supplemental lessons for their children, which created rapid growth in the number of schools. The articles presented the cost of ‘cram schools’ as a burden on families that would make it harder for people to enter the middle class. As a response to this problem, in 1980, Chun Doo-hwan made it illegal for high school students to attend ‘cram schools’ or receive private tuition of any kind. This forced ‘cram schools’ to shift their business model to teaching adults just as CLT was rising in influence. Articles about the financial burden of learning English thus disappeared in the 1980s. The ban was lifted after democratization in 1987, and in the 1990s, worries about the financial burden of ‘cram schools’ and private tuition began to appear in articles again. As the implementation of elementary English education approached, concern was expressed that it would trigger a boom in schools and tuition aimed at children, which would increase the financial burden on families. The growing economy, foreign travel, and market penetration by the TEFL industry created a boom in learning English among adults as well. Standardized English proficiency tests, mainly the TOEIC, came into use for workplace promotions. Articles treating this ‘English boom’ raised questions about the financial burden on adults as well. At the same time, articles presented the boom as evidence that individual South Koreans had embraced globalization and were thus contributing to enhancing national competitiveness. The financial burden of learning English continued to grow in the 2000s and was reported in international media outlets.26 The growing concern over the financial burden of learning English, not just for school children, but adults as well, shows how English proficiency, as measured by results on standardized examinations, was perceived as essential to life chances. This prompted discussion in the late 1990s of an ‘English divide’ that, along with the emerging ‘digital divide’, would exacerbate inequality in what was perceived to be a newly middle-class society. In looking at the four main trends, the evolution of the media articles reveals a tension between two interests: national policy goals and individual life chances. As a required subject in the South Korean system of education, English has played an important role in individual social advancement. As the economic boom accelerated in the 1970s, more people were able to 26 Card, ‘Appetite for language’.

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compete for a place in university, which was, and still is, critical to getting a white-collar job and entering the middle class. This trend accelerated greatly in the 1980s and continued in the 1990s. To South Korean students and their families at this time, English was viewed primarily as a school subject rather than as a language for communicating with non-Koreans. This meant that the public was primarily concerned with how English education policies affected life chances rather than developing proficiency in spoken English.27 By contrast, policy makers, often under influence from business interests, viewed English as a tool to participate in the global economy and, therefore, as a matter of national competitiveness. In this context, reforming English education to focus on developing communicative proficiency was seen as a desirable goal and policy makers took it upon themselves to develop reforms to achieve this goal. During the years of dictatorship, policy makers naturally had the upper hand, but that continued after democratization as policy makers adjusted to the new reality and developed effective methods of public persuasion using the media. The more vigourous discussions on elementary school English education and the introduction of a listening component on the university entrance examination succeeded in convincing a reticent public to support changes that amplified the effect of English on life chances. This may help to explain the ‘English boom’ in the 1990s as people scrambled to meet new social expectations regarding English.28

5 Conclusion In 2020, the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century, South Korea has become an economic and cultural powerhouse. It has joined a select group of democratic nations with a population over 50,000,000 and a per capita GDP over US $30,000. As a trading nation with a large population and large economy, South Korea has developed strong links around the world and uses mostly English to communicate in this wide network. To South Koreans today, the need for English is a given. What was once a school subject that was remote from daily life but required to move up the 27 Park, ‘Chodeung yeongeo damdang gyosa ui jajil gwa jedo’ (“On the qualities of an effective elementary school English teacher”). This study surveyed parents and teachers and found that parents were interested in having their children learn English but were worried that it would add another layer to an already competitive education system. 28 Kim, ‘Yeongeo hakseup ui sahoemunhwajeok uimi wa yeongeo gyoyuk ui hamui: ne gaji sahoehakjeok jeopgeunbeop’ (“The sociocultural meaning of English learning and implications for English education: Four sociological approaches”).

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educational ladder has become an important piece of social capital to use advantageously in society. The period from 1970 to 1999 discussed here was a transitional period marked by rapid change in all sectors of South Korean society, including English education. The period also saw the emergence of contemporary South Korean society. A grasp of this time is therefore crucial to understanding the contemporary role of English education in Korean society. At the beginning of this chapter, I asked the following research question: How did social attitudes affect the evolution of English education policies in South Korea during this period? An investigation of newspaper articles on English education from 1970 to 1999 in historical context showed that the driving mechanism is not social attitudes that exist on their own, but media-created social attitudes that reflect government policy. From 1970 to 1987, South Korea was ruled by dictators and, like dictators elsewhere, media manipulation was important to maintaining their rule. Democratization in 1987 stirred a free press, but the government continued to use the media effectively to influence public opinion. During the period, policy makers, often in collaboration with academics and business interests, were the prime movers of change, not the public. Though receptive to proposed reforms, the public’s primary concern was how the changes affected the life chances of their children. As democratization deepened in the 1990s, these concerns gained more attention and that trend continued in the twenty-first century, creating more of a give and take between the public and policy makers. Though limited by the small size of the corpus, the results of this investigation show how social contexts, particularly those manipulated by deft policy makers, can influence social attitudes to achieve policy goals. As Cuban notes, “Previous reforms create the historical context for the multi-layered curriculum and influence the direction of contemporary reforms”.29 South Korea, of course, is not alone, and more studies on the relationship between social attitudes and language education policies will add to our understanding of this complex relationship.

Bibliography Brazinsky, Gregg, Nation building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the making of a democracy (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010). Card, James, ‘Appetite for language costs S Korea dear’, The Guardian Weekly (15 December 2006). 29 Cuban, ‘The multi-layered curriculum’.

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Choi, Jinsook, ‘“Speaking English naturally”: the language ideologies of English as an off icial language at a Korean university’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 37:8 (2016), 783–793. Chung, Seung-Hoon, The economic development of South Korea: From poverty to a modern industrial state (London: Routledge, 2018). Clifford, Mark L., Troubled tiger: Businessmen, bureaucrats, and generals in South Korea (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1998). Cuban, Larry. ‘The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform’. Larry Cuban on school reform and classroom practice, January 14, 2012. https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/the-multi-layered-curriculumwhy-change-is-often-confused-with-reform/ (03.06.2020). Ham, Jong-gyu, Hanguk gyoyukgwajeong byeoncheonsa yeongu (“A study of the history of Korean curricula”) (Seoul: Gyoyuk Gwahaksa, 2003). Heo, Jaeyoung, ‘Geundae gyemonggi oegugeo gyoyuk siltae wa Ilboneo gwollyeok hyeongseong gwajeong yeongu’ (“Study of foreign language education and the Japanese language influence in the modern period”), Dongbuga Yeoksa Nonchong, 44 (2014), 315–354. Hong, Euny, Birth of Korean cool (New York: Picador, 2014). Howatt, Anthony P. R. & Smith, Richard, ‘The history of teaching English as a foreign language, from a British and European perspective’, Language & History 57:1 (2014), 75–95. Kang, Jun-man, Hangugin gwa yeongeo (“Koreans and English”), (Seoul: Inmungwa Sasangsa, 2014). Kim, Byung-ung, & Vogel, Ezra F. (eds.), The Park Chung Hee era: The Transformation of South Korea (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2013). Kim, Deok-gi, ‘Jeonghwakseong gwa yuchangseong ui jaejomyeong’ (“Fluency and accuracy revisited”), English Teaching, 37 (1989), 27–43. Kim, Eun Gyong, ‘English educational policies of the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea from 1945 to 1948 and their effects on the development of English language teaching in Korea’, Language Policy 10 (2011), 193–220. Kim, Jin-Cheol, ‘Necessity of English education in elementary schools in Korea’, English Teaching 35 (1988), 125–148. Kim, Tae-Young, ‘Yeongeo hakseup ui sahoemunhwajeok uimi wa yeongeo gyoyuk ui hamui: ne gaji sahoehakjeok jeopgeunbeop’ (“The sociocultural meaning of English learning and implications for English education: Four sociological approaches”), Studies in English Language & Literature 41:3 (2015), 105–134. Kim-Rivera, E. G., ‘English language education in Korea under Japanese colonial rule’, Language Policy 1 (2002), 261–281. Kwon, Oryang, ‘Korea’s English teacher training and retraining: A new history in the making’, English Teaching 52:4 (1997), 155–183.

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Kwon, Oryang, ‘Korea’s English education policy changes in the 1990s: Innovations to gear the nation for the 21st century’, English Teaching 55:1 (2000), 47–91. Kwon, Oryang, ‘Daehaksuhangneungnyeoksiheom oegugeo(yeongeo) yeongyeok jeongchaek byeoncheonsa’ (“A history of policies regarding the English section of Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test”), English Teaching 70:5 (2015), 3–34. Kwon, Oryang & Jeongryeol Kim, Hanguk ui yeongeo gyoyuksa (“The History of English Education in Korea”), (Seoul: Hanguk Munwhasa, 2010). Lee, Jong-bae, ‘Guhanmal ui yeongeo gyoyuk gwa gyosubeop’ (“English education and teaching methods during the late Yi Dynasty”), English Teaching 15 (1978), 1–29. Lin, Han-Yi, ‘The promotion of English in East Asia at the turn of the 21st century: A politico-economic and socio-cultural review’,  Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics 22:1 (2018), 1–17. Mani, Deepti & Trines, Stefan, ‘Education in South Korea’, WENR: World Education News + Reviews, online: https://wenr.wes.org/2018/10/education-in-south-korea (04.04.2020). Oberdorfer, Don & Carlin, Robert, The two Koreas: A contemporary history (New York: Basic Books, 2014). Park, Yak-woo, ‘Chodeung yeongeo damdang gyosa ui jajil gwa jedo’ (“On the qualities of an effective elementary school English teacher”), English Teaching 53:2 (1998), 107–133. Seth, Michael J., Education fever: Society, politics, and the pursuit of schooling in South Korea (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2002). Shin, Dong-il & Sim, Woo-Jin, ‘Hanguk yeongeo gyoyuk ui yeoksa gochal: sinmun gisa wa haksul jaryo rul giban euro’ (“Historical review of English education in Korea: Using newspaper articles and academic papers”), Modern English Education 12:3 (2011), 252–282. Stern, H. H., Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983). Yağız, Oktay, Aydin, Burcu & Akdemir, Ahmet Selcuk, ‘ELT research in Turkey: A content analysis of selected features of published articles’, Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 12:2 (2016), 117–134.

About the Author Independent Scholar, Providence, Rhode Island, USA [email protected] Robert J. Fouser holds a PhD in applied linguistics from Trinity College, Dublin and an MA in applied linguistics, and a BA in Japanese language

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and literature, both from the University of Michigan. He has lectured on Korean language education at Seoul National University and, before that, on foreign language education at Kyoto University. He also developed the Korean language program at Kagoshima University in Japan. His early research interests were the learning of third languages (L3), particularly from a sociolinguistic perspective. During his years in Japan and Korea, he also researched e-learning and mobile learning applications in language teaching with a focus on English and Korean. His recent research interest is the influence of social context on the history of second language learning and teaching. He is also the author of Oegugeo Jeonpadam (“The Spread of Foreign Languages”, 2018), a history of foreign language learning and teaching that he wrote in Korean for general readership. He is currently based in Providence, Rhode Island as an independent scholar.

Index Abbott, Gerry 239–241 aims/goals (of instruction) 17–18, 30, 32–33, 35–39, 64, 125, 128, 129, 135, 138, 166, 167, 181, 197, 198–199, 202, 214, 224, 226, 232, 263–264, 268–273, 280–285, 294, 297, 301–302, 304, 308–309, 318, 322–323, 326, 353–355 cognitive 275–280 communicative 101, 105–106, 127, 149 cultural 46, 275–280; see also culture functional 137 democratization 72 literary 63 practical 150, 222–223, 227–228, 244, 273–275; see also value(s) – practical applied linguistics 239–241, 244–246, 256–256 assessment 74–75, 79–80, 84, 86, 104–105. 123, 137, 153, 159, 253, 328; see also examination(s) and curriculum – tested and communicative testing attitude(s) 264, 266, 309, 329, 341–356 Audio-visual Teaching 144–148 Baacke, Dieter 127 Belgium 112 Bildung 28, 58, 64, 125, 137–139; see also humanistic education British Council 102, 238–241, 245–246, 256 Byram, Michael 322, 326 canon 26, 33–34, 36, 38–40, 49, 84, 170 decanonization 34, 37–38, 40 Chinese (language) 229, 304, 320, 327 CLT see Communicative Language Teaching communicative competence 100, 102, 105–106, 115, 131, 144–145, 147–148, 150, 153, 155–160, 244, 325, 328 as prerequisite for democratic and emancipated discourse 127 Communicative Language Teaching 98, 100–104, 111–112, 115–117, 123, 126–130, 134, 148–151, 256, 322–323, 325, 331–333, 345–346, 353–354 communicative testing 128–133 content (of instruction) 15–16, 34, 39, 50, 58, 60, 61, 128, 152, 166, 172, 175, 181, 183, 207, 214, 255, 264, 271, 273, 284–285, 292, 302–304, 347 cultural 127, 275–281 erotic 28 human 32 ideologized 293, 302 moral 35

context 11–15, 18–20, 98, 101, 102, 124, 137, 140, 164, 182, 192–193, 198, 201, 205–207, 215, 232, 238, 305, 318, 342, 356 Council of Europe 322 coursebook see textbook critical education 128 Cuban, Larry 13–15, 19–20, 144, 317–318 culture 36–39, 270, 197, 206, 264, 270–271, 279, 281, 283–285, 301, 304, 309–310, 328–355; see also content – cultural and policy – culture and intercultural cultural benefit 219 cultural diversity 290 cultural education 32 cultural heritage 74, 319 cultural knowledge 29, 48 cultural differences/misunderstandings 136–137, 139, 293 cultural reader 283 cultural references/information 101, 128 cultural socialization 46, 51 cultural studies 36, 47, 270, 326 ‘cultured citizen’ 225–226, 228 English/British 273, 275, 282 French 153, 157–158 German 34 literary 83 Korean 333, 355 oral/written 176 curriculum 12, 39, 51, 123, 145, 205, 267, 293, 310, 322 classical 164, 167 design 126 language learning 123, 291, 293, 302 hidden 136–137 intended 13–15, 28, 47, 50, 59, 61, 65, 74, 98, 102, 116–117, 123, 144, 238–239, 243–246, 255–256, 267–268, 285, 342 learned 14, 103, 244, 253–255 multi-layered 13, 15, 20, 39, 46–47, 123, 144, 153, 238–240, 242–244, 255–256, 267–268, 285, 318, 335, 342, 356 national 144, 150–153, 158–160, 304, 309, 321, 347–349 official see curriculum – intended school 29, 34–35, 58, 123, 127–132, 134–135, 146, 148–153, 192–199, 207, 216, 220, 225, 228, 232, 270–272, 275, 290–291, 301, 303 taught 14, 50–51, 60, 65, 106, 123, 166, 219, 238–239, 243, 246–253, 255–256, 267–268, 285, 324–333 teacher education 318, 335 tested 14, 61, 65, 74, 103, 116 writing 168

362 

Policies and Pr ac tice in L anguage Learning and Teaching

dispositive 46–53, 60, 65–66 elementary school see school England 103, 144–160 English (language) 12, 103, 110–112, 123–124, 126–129, 131–133, 136–139, 151, 163–184, 192, 194, 197, 198, 199, 202–204, 213–232, 263–285, 289–310, 319, 321, 342–356 for specific purposes (ESP) 237–257 TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) 345–346, 354 TENOR (Teaching English for No Obvious Reason) 239–243 error(s) 97–117, 135, 174–177, 193 ESP see English – for specific purposes examination(s) 55, 64–65, 80, 84, 87–88, 102, 111, 132, 139, 304; see also assessment essay 81–82 school-leaving 73–74, 139 regulations 75–77 topics 50–51, 62 university entrance 342, 345–348, 352–355 Foucault, Michel 47 France 156–158 French (language) 46, 57, 76, 82, 88, 103, 112, 113–114, 144–160, 179, 192, 194–195, 197, 199, 264, 266, 271, 290, 293, 304, 319–320, 327, 344 Galperin, Piotr 298, 301 Georgia 289–310 German (language) 45–66, 71–88, 179, 192, 194, 197–199, 202–204, 264, 266, 271, 290, 293–294, 304, 319, 327, 344 class 46–51, 57–58, 61, 65–66 literature 48–49, 53–55, 79–87 Germany 25–40, 45–66, 71–88, 103, 123–140 Baden-Württemberg 73–78 Bremen 123–140 French occupation zone in Germany 75–78 globalization 173, 343, 345–346, 348, 354 goals see aims/goals grammar 104, 114, 116, 130–131, 133–135, 137, 164, 166–167, 169, 172–173, 175–176, 178–183, 195–196, 203–207, 227, 231, 253, 269–270, 273–274, 283, 285, 291–294, 296–297, 302–303, 308, 345, 353; see also syllabus grammar of schooling 122 grammar school/Gymnasium 78, 79, 81, 124–126, 138–139, 164, 166–167, 169, 172–173, 175–176, 178–183 Great Britain 167, 171–173, 238–257; see also England Greek (language) 28, 60, 62, 76, 167, 170, 195, 290, 320 classical literature 28, 46, 60–61, 65

grounded history/histories 11, 13, 46, 53, 65, 238 Gruzinskaya, Irine 292 Habermas, Jürgen 127, 131 handbook 163–184, 255; see also textbook history/histories see also grounded history/ histories of practice 12, 20 of the Present 19–20 humanism 26–28, 73, 85; see also neo-humanism humanistic education 27, 32, 37, 39, 58, 66, 76, 301; see also Bildung Hymes, Dell 100, 127, 131 intended curriculum see curriculum – intended intensive language learning 145, 147, 151, 154–156, 159 intercultural competence 127, 318, 321–335 intercultural language teaching 317–335 intercultural perspective 138 Italian (language) 198–199, 201, 203, 205, 290, 304 Italy 191–207 Japan 213–232 Kennedy, Chris 239–242 Krashen, Stephen 347 Latin (language) 25–40, 46, 60, 62, 76, 129, 164, 167, 170, 195, 199, 273, 290, 320 layer see curriculum – intended, learned, multi-layered, taught, tested learned curriculum see curriculum – learned Leontiev, Aleksei N. 299–302 life chances (Lebenschancen) 342 Link, Jürgen 47 literature 25–40, 45–66, 71–88, 127, 168–170, 214, 217, 222, 264, 269, 293 loosely coupled system 122 Māori (language) 319–321 materials writing 247, 249, 256 method/methodology (of instruction) 16–17, 29, 34, 48–51, 57–58, 60, 65, 115, 128–129, 133–134, 144–147, 149–150, 164, 171–173, 176, 178–179, 182–183, 192, 195, 201–204, 223, 231–232, 241, 248, 255–256, 264–265, 267–270, 272–275, 284–285, 291–297, 301–302, 308 mother-tongue speaker 167–170, 174–178 Munby, John 245 neo-humanism 28–30, 34, 127; see also humanism New Zealand / Aotearoa 318–335

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Index

New Zealand Sign Language 319 normative source 121–123, 139 Okakura, Yoshisaburô 213–232 Ovid 25–40 pattern drill 128 Pavia, Luigi 191–193, 198–207 perestroika 300–301 Piepho, Hans-Eberhard 127, 131 Poland 263–285 policy 11–13, 232, 265, 284, 302, 317–318, 320–322, 325–326, 333–334, 349, 352, 354–356 culture/cultural 19, 73 document 267 educational 34, 49, 199, 265 EFL/ELT/English education 214, 244, 342, 351 expert/policy maker 123, 345–346, 351 foreign language (FL) 297 framework 74 institutional 254 intercultural competence 324 language / language education 19, 149, 266, 324, 348 school 73–77 Soviet 291 practice 12–15, 20, 26, 31, 34–35, 39, 46–47, 51, 54, 73–74, 83–84, 87–88, 98, 100–101, 104, 107, 116–117, 121–123, 129, 137, 139–40, 159, 165, 171, 181, 193, 197–198, 201, 205–207, 215, 218, 228, 230, 232, 237–238, 254, 265–267, 271–272, 301–303, 318, 322–326, 331–332, 334–335 communicative 114, 175 ‘conventional’ 134 error correction 104 examination 74, 77–79 grammar-focused 27, 133, 175 reading 225 writing 176, 222 histories of see history/ies valorizing see valorizing practice proverbs 282, 285, 296 reading instruction 25–40, 46, 49–51, 58, 60–61, 65, 129–136, 169, 192, 202–203, 205, 207, 215, 218, 219, 225–232, 264, 269–270, 274, 285, 292–294, 303–304, 351, 353 recontextualization 15, 74, 88 Russian (language) 266, 290, 293, 303–304, 344 Schiller, Friedrich 50–65 school 25–27, 28–30, 34, 36–39, 49–55, 60, 66, 72–76, 78–88, 102–103, 122–126, 128–132,

136–139, 144–145, 147, 149–150, 152–154, 158–160, 167–170, 172, 178–180, 192–207, 213–232, 243, 248, 254, 263–285, 295, 297, 299–301, 304–308, 318–322, 327, 341–356 Schulprogramm(e) 49–51, 53–54, 121 see also grammar school/Gymnasium secondary school see school Shcherba, Lev 291 songs and rhymes 279–281 South Korea 341–356 Soviet Union 289–310, 343 Spanish (language) 197–198, 304, 320, 327 Strevens, Peter 244–245 student exchange 145, 154, 156–159 syllabus 12, 126, 242, 248, 267, 280, 284 communicative 136 design 245 grammar 135 in-built 99, 101 notional 135, 245 systems theory 47 taught curriculum see curriculum – taught teacher education 13, 20, 252–253, 255–256, 290, 305, 317–318, 323–326, 333–335 teachers’ manual 106, 122–123, 128–130 team-teaching 250–253 TEFL see English tested curriculum – see curriculum – tested test(s) see assessment textbook 14, 36, 49–50, 52, 61, 65, 133, 135–136, 148–152, 155–156, 158, 168–169, 172, 183–184, 214, 222, 228, 232, 247–250, 255, 264–265, 267–269, 271–276, 279, 282, 284–285, 294, 296, 301–310, 349, 352; see also handbook timetable 194–195, 200–201, 206 Turkish (language) 304 Ukrainian (language) 304 Ulshöfer, Robert 73–74, 79–81, 84 USA 108, 165, 168–178 USSR see Soviet Union utilitarianism 218–219, 222, 227, 232 valorizing practice 11–15, 51–53, 129, 139, 144 value(s) (of language study) 34, 80, 175, 206–207, 213–215, 218–220, 224–225, 227–228, 232, 280–283, 285; see also Bildung and utilitarianism vocabulary dormancy 145, 155–156 Widdowson, Henry 244 Wilkins, David 245 writing instruction 163–184