Abstract
This chapter summarizes recent scholarship on the history of philology and literary theory, and on calls for a “return to philology.” It explains the potential usefulness of theoretical questions for teaching the History of the English language (HEL). It summarizes a set of relevant theoretical issues for organizing a HEL curriculum along a series of contrasts and self-critical questions: synchrony vs. diachrony; content vs. structure; levels of change; conscious vs. unconscious variation; stability vs. instability; standard vs. nonstandard; language difference and identity. The chapter then presents a series of sample inquiries and resources for foregrounding these issues in teaching practice. It concludes with a summary set of practical observations about teaching outcomes for promoting greater discourse awareness through HEL, and the potential scope for further theoretical elaboration in HEL teaching.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language |
Subtitle of host publication | Pedagogy in Practice |
Pages | 59-69 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780190611040 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Oxford University Press 2017. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Critical theory
- History of the English language
- Linguistics
- Literary theory
- Pedagogy
- Philology
- Teaching
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Arts and Humanities
- General Social Sciences