1 English or Portuguese: language or literature? Richard Hudson Lisbon, May 2007

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English or Portuguese: language or literature?

Richard Hudson

Lisbon, May 2007

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Plan

• Similarities between Portugal and Britain

• English: language or literature?

• A new approach to language teaching

• Grammar in Britain

• The place of literature

• Some lessons for Portugal?

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Plan







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Language history

• Ancient written language– complex spelling

• Massive overseas expansion– emigration– world language

• Relative wealth– recent immigration, bringing other languages– literary heritage

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Plan







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What is ‘English’?

• I speak English.– ‘English’ = a language

• The two core school subjects are mathematics and English– ‘English’ = a language because literacy is core.

• I am studying English at university.– ‘English’ = literature (written in English?)

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Confusion!

• English is obligatory for all because writing and reading are important.– but includes literature.

• English teachers are graduates in literature.– but teach language more than literature.

• Similarly, French teachers are graduates of literature– but teach language more than literature.

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The old solution

• Teach language through literature• Argument: children learn to write well by

reading good literature.– Some children do learn this way.

• Counter-argument: most children do not learn like this.– 1999: 20% of adults in Britain cannot find a

plumber in the phone book

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The romantic view of language

• Children are natural language learners.– They learn their first language without help.– Instruction is just a waste of time.– All they need is experience.– So: the same is true of all language learning.

• Research support:– Some literature experts (e.g. Leavis in UK)– Noam Chomsky and many linguists.

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But …

• Is this view true?

• Why do so many children fail to learn by exposure?

• Why do we need language teachers if we can leave it all to nature?

• Nature alone is not enough – we need to do better than that!

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Plan







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The new solution in England

• Teach language directly.• Argument: children need help when

learning language.– They may not notice new patterns.– They may not understand new patterns.

• This is true of all language learning:– advanced first language– elementary second language

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Language includes …

• grammar

• vocabulary

• pronunciation

• variation– regional– ‘stylistic’– historical

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The realistic view of language

• Children are natural learners

• But language is hard to learn because new words and patterns are not:– obvious, so it is easy not to notice them.– self-explanatory, so it is easy to misunderstand

them.

• And schools add extra problems.

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English: language or literature?

• School English must include direct teaching of language.

• So English teachers must know about language.

• But: they must also know about– literature– media studies (film, TV)– drama

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Plan







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The death of grammar

• 1900-1960: no study of grammar at university– so no grammar for ‘English’ undergraduates– so grammar at school was not based on research

• 1960-90: grammar disappears from school– so young English teachers know no grammar– very little grammar in foreign-language

teaching

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A problem for the new approach

• Language should be taught directly.– Official government policy in L1 and L2

• But most teachers know very little about grammar and other structural matters.

• So how can they teach directly?• How to break the cycle?

– Teachers have just one post-graduate year of training with little time for ‘subject knowledge’

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The future

• Maybe teachers will gradually learn about grammar.

• Especially if they help to teach ‘Advanced-level English language’– Years 12, 13 – Very popular (20,000 pupils each year)

• But it will take a generation to retrain teachers.

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Plan







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What about literature?

• Literature is one of the many uses of language.– So it is studied as such.

• But it is also part of the ‘national heritage’– So it has a very special status.– But what is the heritage of a multi-cultural

nation in a multi-national world?– And what is literature?

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In defence of the status quo

• English (including literature) is the most popular school subject– well taught– using age-appropriate texts– with discussion and interaction– by well-informed and enthusiastic teachers

• But foreign languages are the least popular.

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Literature in language teaching

• Literature is:– well written– enjoyable to some readers – especially girls!

• So it’s a good model for language teaching, provided that:– students notice and understand new patterns– understand differences between genres

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Plan







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Lessons for Portugal?

• Don’t let grammar die.

• Respect literature – as an important model of language– as part of your national heritage– but maybe not central to language teaching?

• Accept direct teaching of language.

• Make sure that teachers can teach directly.

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Obrigado!

• This slideshow can be found at:www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks/lisbon.ppt

Documents

1 English or Portuguese: language or literature? Richard Hudson Lisbon, May 2007