English or Portuguese: language or literature?

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

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?

Language history • Ancient written language • complex spelling • Massive overseas expansion • emigration • world language • Relative wealth • recent immigration, bringing other languages • literary heritage

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?)

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.

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

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.

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!

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

Language includes … • grammar • vocabulary • pronunciation • variation • regional • ‘stylistic’ • historical

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.

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

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

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’

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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

English or Portuguese: language or literature?