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The history of language learning and teaching in Britain
Open accessAbstract
This article provides an introduction, based on the most recent research available, to the history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in Britain. After an overview of the state of research, I consider which languages have been learnt, why and how that has changed; the role of teachers and tests in determining what was taught; changes in how languages have been taught (and why); and the emergence of the modern infrastructure of language teaching policy and practice. I conclude with case study of the contribution of Walter Rippmann, a key figure, in the period 1895 to ca. 1920, a time of professionalisation of language teaching and of efforts towards innovation and change, which set the agenda for many of the major developments of the twentieth century, including a call for scientifically based language teaching and a greater emphasis on the spoken language.
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“The key purpose of the reform was to move away from the putatively popular approach generally referred to as grammar translation (a cover term for a range of practices, see McLelland, 2018) which directly implicated the use of students' first or own language.”
From Translanguaging and the Transdisciplinary Framework for Language Teaching and Learning in a Multilingual World (2019) · cites this paper as McLelland, 2018
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LEUNG, C., & VALDÉS, G. (2019) · The Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12568 · Cited by 205
Metadata
- Authors
- McLelland, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Corresponding author
- McLelland, Nicola
- ORCID
- McLelland, Nicola
- Venue
- The Language Learning Journal
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-01
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 6-16
- ISSN
- 0957-1736 (ISSN-L)
- 1753-2167
- OpenAlex
- W2789386106
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 32.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Language Learning Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Nottingham ePrints (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- British Academy
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/I021930/1, 2014)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Historical Linguistics and Language Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Historical Education Studies Worldwide
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Keywords
- history of language teaching, language learning, language teaching policy, language teachers, language assessment
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