Microsoft Word - GRHE-V1N2-p140 Global Research in Higher Education ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 140 Short Research Paper Textbooks of English and Portuguese as a Foreign Language in Europe in the XIX Century Claudine Possoli Beltram1* 1 Instituto Federal de Educação Ciencia e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul, Faculty of English, Bento Gonçalves, Brazil *Claudine Possoli Beltram, Instituto Federal de Educação Ciencia e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul, Faculty of English, Bento Gonçalves, Brazil Received: June 27, 2018 Accepted: July 10, 2018 Online Published: October 17, 2018 doi:10.22158/grhe.v1n2p140 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v1n2p140 During centuries, Latin was the main way of communication concerning teaching, culture, religion and sciences in general. That is why the first preoccupation concerning learning a foreign language arose from Latin. According to Crystal (2003, p. 7), Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were much more powerful. Later on, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power, the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism. The international importance of the Catholic Church in Rome followed by the submission of a religious medieval world transformed Latin in a language without frontiers when culture, theology, education and sciences were concerned. The invention of the Press in the XV century strengthened the power of Latin by giving access to literary works. As Torre (1985, pp. 5-6) mentions, up to the XVI century Latin was still considered the language of international communication. To study Latin was indispensable for members of the Catholic Church, scientists and scholars to teach at universities. Later on, the result of this learning was a group of authors interested in publishing dictionaries and grammars aimed at learning foreign languages, mainly English. As a consequence, several textbooks were written by these scholars. On the other hand, as Protestantism arose, Latin was not considered the international Língua Franca anymore and vernaculars began to be seen as sources of research. During this period, vernaculars achieved a great prestige since Latin was no longer the international language of education. Besides that, many books started to be edited and published in English (See Torre, 1985, pp. 4-5). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 141 Published by SCHOLINK INC. The grammars published at that time were focused on memorization of rules and lists of bilingual vocabulary, rarely applying the language as an instrument of real communication. As a consequence, those grammars and their use marked the decline of Latin as an instrument of communication. However, Latin was going to serve as a model to teach foreign languages when the interest to learn those languages began. Among English grammars and dictionaries published in Portugal we observe, directly or indirectly, a clear inspiration on works previously published for the study of Latin (Torre, 1985, p. 7). In Portugal the interest to study the language of Shakespeare started only in the XVIII century thanks to the educational reforms promoted by Marquis of Pombal from 1759 onwards abolishing the sole use of Latin in the Latin grammar classes in Portugal and its Dominions (Kemmler, 2013, p. 8). The institutionalization of modern language teaching in Portugal did not take place until several years after the expulsion of the Jesuits and the creation in 1761 of the Royal College of Nobles (Real Colégio dos Nobles) which was set up to teach young noblemen. The educational reform introduced by Marquis de Pombal, still put emphasis on the teaching of Latin and Greek. However, the Real Colégio dos Nobles was one of the first official institutions to introduce the teaching of French, Italian and English (Santos, 2013, p. 64). Besides that, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightment, the Portuguese school system promoted the development of scientific learning/teaching in which the humanities and modern languages had a significant importance. Despite the institutionalization of foreign languages, English and German in addition to French as compulsory subjects at secondary level taking place during the nineteenth century, the foundations had been laid in the second part of the eighteenth century, based on the model of the Real Colégio de Nobles (Santos, 2013, p. 64). Each foreign language taught in the Portuguese education system during the nineteenth century (French, English, German) had moments of glory and institutional domination depending on several educational reforms. At the same time, English was also increasing in importance, especially because of foreign policy focused on bilateral relations between two colonial powers. The friendship between Portugal and Britain, particularly after the French invasions and the support provided by the British in expelling Napoleon’s troops from Portugal, as well as the growing importance of English in the economic level, played an important role in determining the language policies reflected in the nineteenth-century educational reforms (Santos, 2013, p. 66). Along with educational reforms on modern languages, thinking on educational practice and theory was being developed by language teachers. The language master emerged from the tradition of the private tutor presented in upper-class European families, gave way to the teacher of French, English or German. As Santos (2013, p. 67) points out, the professional reflection undertaken by these language practitioners led not only to modern languages acquiring the status of an independent discipline, but also encouraged them to engage in the production of language teaching resources (dictionaries, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 142 Published by SCHOLINK INC. grammar books, textbooks, courses, etc.). The publication of teaching materials contributed to the advancement of knowledge in terms of developing the formal descriptions of foreign languages. Many experienced with developing new methodological approaches to teaching foreign languages, bringing together linguistic analysis and reflection on language pedagogy. Such teacher-writers became capable not only of analyzing the target language but also of coming up with new and innovative ways of teaching it as described below. Designed to teach Portuguese to English Learners and as an English grammar for Portuguese learners, the first Grammatica Anglo-Lusitania or a Short and Compendious System on an English and Portugueze Grammar (Justice, 1702) should be regarded as the first grammar combining both Portuguese and English. It was published by Alexander Justice in 1702 containing all the most Useful and Necessary Rules of Syntax, and Construction of the Portuguese tongue; together with some useful Dialogues agreeable to common conversation. With a vocabulary of useful Words in English and Portuguese, designed for, and fitted to, all Capacities, and more particularly, such whose Business may lead them to those parts, where that Language is use (Justice, 1702). It was the first grammar of English printed in Portugal in 1705 immersed in an environment where English classes did not exist in the Portuguese Educational System at the time (Kemmler, 2013, p. 89). Shortly after, a second and more complete edition of the same grammar was published under the title Grammatica Anglo-Lusitania: Or a short and Compendious System of an English and Portuguese Grammar including a chapter called Familiar Dialogues in English and Portugueze (Justice, 1702, pp. 157-192) and a short thematic vocabulary called A Vocabulary in English and Portugueze (Justice, 1702, pp. 233-264). According to Kemmler (2012, p. 39) the bilingual grammar of Justice is the first grammar of Portuguese and English languages to an audience which English is their mother tongue. This compendium was destined to serve as a foreign language manual to self-assessment learning. From then on the adoption and adaptation of foreign materials mainly the Ollendorf and Ahn methods adopted in Portugal were presented in a boring, theorizing and consequently less efficient way. With the advent of the Berlitz Method a considerable improvement in methodology occurred especially considering motivational content of the texts (Torre, 1985, p. 25). Even though dictionaries have had an undeniable importance as instruments of access to the English language, its importance is nothing compared to grammars because almost every grammar published at the time presented a bilingual vocabulary combined into vocabulary areas according to communicative aspects of real life communication. Secondly, grammars aimed at offering readers the general acquisition of the language system, which was much more useful than the access to mere disconnected lexicon. There is much coincidence among grammars published in the XVIII century. The first part is fulfilled with phonetic aspects of the English language. The second part is preoccupied with sentence structure and the third part deals with syntax. It’s worth mentioning that the quality of the language varied from author to author, giving us the impression that the language depended on the sources in which the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 143 Published by SCHOLINK INC. authors looked for to get the selection of texts used on those grammars. Either way, beneath the didactic point of view, the dialogs presented on those grammars constituted the functional part of communication. Its main objective has always been to promote oral communication of the target language. According to Torre (1985, pp. 66-67) the English grammars at that time aimed at Portuguese learners and speakers of English. It’s interesting to observe that in almost every grammar two languages were introduced; Portuguese and English providing the bilingual vocabulary support that later on were to replace dictionaries. The Grammatica anglo Lusitania & lusitano angelicas ou Grammatica Portugueza e Ingleza de J. Castro, teacher and translator of both languages, published in London in 1751 is considered the first attempt to teach Portuguese as a foreign language. As Cardim (1929, p. 169) points out, this grammar forms one volume with a second edition of the English-Portuguese Grammar of 1731. This grammar aimed at giving credit to the relation between Portuguese and English languages. As Torre (1985, p. 58) mentions, its most important theme were the commercial relations due to the proximity between Portugal and England at the time. Besides that, J. Castro grammar must have been applied to teach English to Portuguese students and Portuguese to English students. This grammar aimed at giving credit to the relation between Portuguese and English languages. The English Grammar of J. Castro introduces the English Alphabet; explaining the sound of each letter and establishing rules. It explains prosody, parts of the sentences and concludes with small dialogues translated word by word and also by a selection of English and Portuguese verbs to exemplify everyday actions. Torre (1985, p. 59) wisely mentions that the presence of dialogs at the end of grammars in the XVIII and XIX centuries may indicate an attempt to search for a better functionality when teaching the English language, which meant, at the time, repetition and memorization of sentences talking about greetings, meals, clothes, climate, shopping, games, trips, money exchange and laws in England. All those sentences were memorized and repeated by students. J. Castro also worried about oral communication presenting Familiar Dialogues. All dialogues were based on a conversation between two people performed as a quiz game of questions and answers and a topic at random. Again Torre (1985, p. 64) refers to the way classroom situations were presented to students. All learning situations were created having in mind adults even when the themes were more appropriate to children or teenagers reality. Its main objective though was the use of oral skills. It is observed that the themes highlighted by Castro (1759, p. 355) for example expressions to consent, deny or appreciate were of great use in the Pequenos Dialogos para Principiantes which were everyday conversations with prosaic topics. As Torre (1985, p. 56) demonstrates these dialogues seem to have the objective of carry out “communicative functions in typical situations by the time they were written”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 144 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Castro produced a brief anthology having in mind the spread of English as a second language in Portugal and always placing the commercial context of the language. The Grammatica ingleza ordenada em portuguez por Carlos da Silva Teles de Menezes (1762) is a very poor work, widely and incorrectly based on French models. See Castro (1759, p. 173) for more details. The Brief anthologies of the XVIII century followed the Grammar Translation method. Torre (1985, p. 67) also mentions that the XIX century will be characterized by a strong presence of translation as a solution to apply grammar rules that the grammars provided. The grammar-translation derived from the teaching of classical languages and the materials included a few books of prose and unseen translations, a few anthologies but mostly, grammar books (Santos, 2017, p. 68). The most well-known authors from the XIX Century were Ahn, Ollendorf and Berlitz whose methods were adopted and adapted in Portugal by Jacob Bensabat with great popularity in Portugal. The study of this period is indispensable to the complete history of teaching English in Portugal. Santos (2017, p. 68) illustrates that in Portugal foreign language teaching at secondary level in the nineteenth century was provided by teachers with limited academic and pedagogic training. Nevertheless, anthologies, versification guides and language methods such as the Ollendorf method and the Ahn method became an important part of Portuguese educational publishing for French, English and German and contributed to the promulgation of a number of foreign languages all across Portugal, in public and private education and also outside the school system (Santos, 2009). Some of the forerunners in the XIX century sprang up in Germany: Franz Ahn (1796-1865) and H. G. Ollendorf (1803-1871), and the USA: Maximilien D. Berlitz (1852-1921). Their revolutionary methods or textbooks are the following: - Ahn, F. (1834). Praktischer Lehrgangzurschnellen und leichten Erlennung der französischen Sprache. Cologne, Dumont-Schauberg. - Ollendorf, H. G. (1835). Nouvelle Méthode pour apprendre á lire, á écrire, et a parler une langue em six moins, appliquée á l´Allemand. Paris, the Author. - Berlitz, D. M. (1882). Méthodepourl´enseignement de la langue françaisedanslesecóles Berlitz. Boston: Schoenhof. With E. Dubois. In order to provide a clear picture of their methods, two secondary sources have been consulted: Howatt and Widdowson (2004, pp. 159-162) for Ahn and Ollendorff and Rius (2010, pp. 78-79) for Berlitz. Ahn’s Method was presented as a new and easy method. The use of the grammar-translation method was more consistent and self-effacing. His principal market was the private learner for whom a grammatical description and a bilingual approach were essential. There was a brief introduction to pronunciation and a grammar summary, usually in the form of a paradigm, and about a dozen new vocabulary items, followed by a set of sentences to translate into the mother tongue. There were also sentences to translate into the foreign language, and no new teaching points. Ahn’s grammatical notes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 145 Published by SCHOLINK INC. required only a minimum knowledge of grammar terminology: singular, plural, masculine, feminine, etc. It provided useful vocabulary on the whole. The practice sentences were short and easy to translate. Ollendorff’s Method promised to teach a language in six months. His books were massive, two-volume manuals. Exercise examples were always given in the learner’s mother tongue for translation into the foreign language. His method offered two original features of interest: a system of interaction on which he based all his exercises (question/answer) and a system of linguistic grading. Questions and answers were in the learner’s mother tongue for translation into the foreign language. Berlitz’s Method was an intuitive and essentially practical method. It offered a maximum stress on the oral language and a systematical rejection of translation. No grammar explanations were given before learners reach a minimum knowledge of the new language. It gave priority to the question-and-answer technique and to conversation. Besides that, native teachers were requested to teach the language and teachers were provided with an accessible and easy guide to use. From the above descriptions, one can deduct that the then Grammar-Translation Method was facing some new versions as in the Berlitz Method. All but Berlitz regard translation as the main basis to learn a foreign language. All the others would fit into the translation-grammar typology. That is to say, translation exercises as the required practice to learn a language (Caparrós, 2015, pp. 97-98). In relation to Foreign Language Teaching materials (FLT) there were significant changes with the previous centuries: Phrasebooks disappear and were converted into language guidebooks which became very popular among travelers, especially in the second half of the XIX century. The market diversified learning materials (graded course books towards the end of the XIX century, pronunciation manuals, literary anthologies and translation or practice books). According to Caparrós (2015, pp. 105-106), ELT further developed through the XIX century in Europe and English teaching materials evolved towards a more practical turn (see Ahn, Ollendorf description of methods above), where translation was a fundamental part of the teaching and learning process. References Caparrós, A. L. (n.d.). The Historiography of English Language. Cardim, L. (1929). Estudos de Literatura e de Linguística. Porto: Faculdade de Letras. Castro, J. (n.d.). Grammatica Anglo-Lusitanica & Lusitano-Anglica: Ou, Gramatica. Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. Cambridge Univeristy Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486999 Crystal, D. (2005). La Revolución del Lenguage. Madrid: Alianzaensayo. Howatt, A. P. R., & Widdowson, H. G. (2004). A history of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Justice, A. (1702). Grammatica Anglo-Lusitania: Or a Short and Compendious system of an English and Portugueze Grammar containing All the most useful and necessary rules of the Syntax and Construction of the Portugueze Tongue. In Together with some Useful Dialogues and Colloquies, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 146 Published by SCHOLINK INC. agreeable to common conversation with a vocabulary of Useful words in English and Portugueze Designed for, and fitted to all capacities, and more especially such whose Chance or Business may lead them into any part of the World, where that language is used or esteemed. Kemmler, R. (2012). A primeira Grammatica Anglo-Lusitania (Londres, 1701) eas suas edições. BSEHL, 8(2012), 23-42. Santos, A. C. (2018). A history and historiography of foreign languages teaching and learning in Portugal. The Language Learning Journal, 46(1), 62-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2017.1382057 Torre, M. G. (1985). Gramáticas inglesas antigas: Alguns dados sobre aHistória dos estudos ingleses em Portugal até 1820. Trabalho complementar a dissertação de doutoramento apresentado à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Porto.