History
of French and Other Modern Languages
“Language plays a great part in our life. Perhaps because
of it’s familiarly, we rarely observe it, taking it rather for granted, as we
do breathing or walking (Bloomfield 3).” Language has been our way of
communication for centuries on end.
Perhaps we owe it to the Greeks because they were first to speculate
about the origin, history and structure of language. As far back as 427 B.C., we
can note that Plato discusses the origin of words in his dialogue, Cratlyus (Bloomfield 4). The study of
language has been vital to our understanding of the world as a whole. Today,
the study of language is in almost every high school as well as some elementary
schools. It is important that we study language so that we as a whole are able
to better communicate and understand the world and different cultures around
us.
When looking back through history, we are able to see
that the study of languages has been around for centuries. Dating back to
medieval times, the study of language meant the study of classical Latin.
Horizons did not broaden until the time of the Renaissance. By the end of the
Middle Ages, scholars began teaching Greek and then eventually Hebrew and
Arabic. Language broadened at this time because it was the time of the
travelers. People began traveling during
these times and experiencing cultures and languages that had not been crossed
before. Travelers were able to bring back enriched vocabularies of languages
that had never been heard before. They were able to create dictionaries that
held these newly learned words. Spanish missionaries also played a large role
in these early travelers because they were soon able to translate religious
texts. With the increase in commerce around this time, traveling became more
common and dictionaries of exotic languages started to be compiled. However,
with the number of amateur scholars compiling dictionaries and journals
regarding language, advanced scholars refrained from teaching them.
Misconceptions about the connections between different languages were covering
the language scene and made it nearly impossible to tell what was true and what
was not.
After years of traveling and studying the correlation
between different languages, scholars began introducing languages into study
more and more. It was not until the nineteenth century that modern foreign
language study was introduced into public-sector schools. “Under the existing
order of things there is too little incentive to an American for spending so
much time and money as even a moderate residence abroad would necessitate, upon
an uncertainty (Carpenter).” During the
1800s, living or spoken languages were not frequently taught in schools. Prior
to the introduction of these languages to public schools, the study of them by
students was very rare. Parents and families did not have the money to send
their students abroad to one of these countries to study. Families did not see
the practicality of spending such money on something that was not a necessity
at the time. In addition, it was not always guaranteed that the student would
learn and achieve the expected goal of fluency. Foreign teachers at the time
were easily attainable and often at a moderate rate but in most cases cheapness
was not recommended. Cheaper teachers were seen as inferior and therefore,
families felt it was a waste of time to even try (Carpenter). Bloomfield even
went to the extreme to state, “The effects of language are remarkable and include
much of what distinguishes man from the animals, but language has no place in
our educational program or in the speculations of our philosophers (Bloomfield
3).” Clearly, the study of language was not favored in America.
Foreign Language Movement in Europe
Across the pond, in Europe, language studies were
undergoing a major transformation. In Germany, Wilhelm Vietor published Der
Sprachunterricht Muss Umkehren (The Language Teaching Must Return) in 1882. The
publication was influenced by the political and economic changes in Germany at
the time. The reform movement soon
spread from Germany to other German speaking countries and to Scandinavia. Otto
Jespersen played an important role during this movement in Germany. He was a
Danish linguist who “helped revolutionize language teaching in Europe (Otto
Jespersen).” Jespersen focused strongly
on the pedagogy of language. He argued that “in teaching a language, the
language itself is not the aim—communication is (Grenfell 13).” However, this
approach took a lot of harsh criticism from other scholars. It was criticized
for focusing too much on how to speak the language rather than read or write
it. For many students learning, they would actually never need to speak it but
only read and write it (Grenfell 13).
The movement spread to Germany and to German speaking
countries as well as to other places in Europe. The movement moved through
France where it had perhaps the strongest urge. Introduced in 1902, the new
ways of teaching foreign languages in France were strongly influenced by German
studies but also by one of their very own scholars, Gouin. Gouin was one of the
very first students to study language and to pose the problem of linguistics.
He found that what had been found throughout Germany was not helpful to him so
he chose to study further on his own.
After many failed attempts to learn German through the classical manner
of grammar rules, compiled bilingual word lists and the translation of
sentences, he decided to try something new. He studied through observation of
his three year old nephew how humans obtain language. He focused all of his
time of the psychology of language learning (Grenfell 11).
Meanwhile, in England, Henry Sweet studied “practical
philology.” He based his studies on phonetics and psychology of the study of
languages as well as its practicality. This meant that he studied how to
understand, speak, read and write a foreign language. He found that inductive
lessons were more efficient than the previously used deductive learning or
classical style of study. He concluded that presenting examples and allowing
the students to discover the rules of grammar for themselves was much more
effective than what scholars had been doing previously. He also believed that
there were certain disadvantages that went along the age of which one studied a
language at. He knew that it was more difficult to learn a language at an older
age and dismissed Gouin’s technique (Grenfell 12).
Study of Language Moves to the United States
As the twentieth century began, so did the First World
War. The previous focus on education almost completely stopped. While Europe
had been undergoing a massive movement and reformation of language studies, the
United States had been continuing to instruct students through the classical
style. American scholars had been focusing on learning to read rather than learning
to speak. Modern foreign language study in public schools lagged greatly behind
what had been happening in Europe although language study in private schools
began to boom (Grenfell 18). By the end of the First World War, Europe looked
towards the United States for guidance but was unsuccessful.
The
war ended in 1914 and that same year, American linguist Leonard Bloomfield
presented himself on the education scene. Bloomfield published a book in 1914
and again in 1933 in which he recognized both Jespersen and Sweet and their
influences on the teaching of foreign language.
He also points out the hugely greater success that Europe experienced
with language instruction than the United States (Grenfell 18).
In 1941, the United States entered the Second World War.
The United States finally began to feel the effects of lagging so far behind
Europe in language education when they could find very little military
personnel who could fluently speak a foreign language. The United States was in
a cramp and needed foreign language aficionados quickly. The US Army needed
speakers of the common foreign languages as well as many exotic ones. The
government quickly constructed crash courses for military personnel. Bloomfield
himself was involved in this process, teaching and instructing foreign
language. He found himself using audio-lingual methods to quickly instill the
different languages in the troops. His efforts proved successful when the
American won the war. This outcome quickly changed the ways of the Europeans in
their foreign language instruction (Grenfell 19).
The United States soon began incorporating modern foreign
language studies into compulsory education. Language education slowly began
including languages such as French, Spanish and German. Today, these modern
languages as well as Latin can be found in most high schools as well as some
elementary schools. Elementary school language education first made an
appearance in the 1950s, in an immersion style. One of the most well-known immersion
models is known as the St. Lambert model. St Lambert’s is an elementary school
in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada. Parents in this district wished their
children to learn French alongside English learning. French soon became the
medium of instruction rather than the subject. This model has become more and
more prevalent throughout the United States. Besides having a complete
immersion, school districts also have become magnet schools. In this case,
students are able to learn a second language as well as participate in the
regular school curriculum (Met 322). Incorporating language into elementary
schools is a great way for students to become fluent in a language, especially
French, before entering a middle or high school. Without having to start at the
elementary level, secondary school teachers are able to focus on more in depth
on more complex ideas of the French language and culture.
Works Cited
Bloomfield,
Leonard. Language. New York: H. Holt and, 1933. Print.
Carpenter,
WM H. "Modern Languages in School and College: The Critic and Good
Literature." American Periodicals (1884): 89. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 31 Jan. 2012.
Grenfell,
Michael. "Theory and Rationale: A Historical Perspective." Modern
Languages across the Curriculum. London: Routledge/Falmer, 2002. 10-18.
Print.
Hinkel,
Eli. Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Vol.
2. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Lionnet,
Francoise. National Language Departments in the Era of Trasnational Studies.
Proc. of Conference on the Relation between English and Foreign Languages in
the Academy, University of California, Los Angeles. 2003. 1252-254. Print.
Met,
Myriam. "The Rebirth of Foreign Languages in the Elementary School."
(1980): 321-23. Academic Search Premier. Web. 31 Jan. 2012.
"Otto Jespersen." Encyclopædia
Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.,
2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2012.
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