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1500
XV Century
It started to growing awareness of national identity facilitated by developments such as the invention and spread of printing. Also, in this century, the education was set for what might have been a major educational shift away from Latin and towards the vernacular languages. There was a revival of interest in the history and culture of the ancient world. -
1582
A Champion on Vernacular Languages
One of the earliest champions of the vernacular in England was a teacher called Richard Mulcaster who spoke up eloquently for the use of English in his First Part of the Elementary. He said that English was the language of ‘our liberty and freedom’’. In his book, it sets out a program for the codification of the English language as a necessary prerequisite for any serious system of vernacular schooling, offering a set of rules and principles which contribute to the spelling system. -
1620's
During this decade, Wolfgang Ratke an educational reformer opened the first German mother tongue school at Koethen in Saxony, it eventually failed through lack of sensible practical planning. -
The ''Methodus'' book
Ratke published this book, in which his basic principle has been restated in different guises by educational innovators. This principle basically says that the mother tongue should be studied and teach everything through the mother tongue. -
'Great Didactic'
In this book, Comenius underlined the central role of the mother tongue in the child exploration of meaning. -
John Locke
He elaborated an essay which contains supremely sensible advice on a modern system of education to replace the horrors of the grammar schools, called 'Some Thoughts Concerning Education' -
Joseph Aickin
He stressed the importance of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction throughout the education system. -
Daniel Duncan
In his plea, he expressed in public what many must have felt in private ‘’The learning of dead languages is a yoke that neither we nor our forefathers could ever bear when we were children’’… -
Robert Lowth
‘Short Introduction to English Grammar’, is a prescriptive grammar that the twentieth century loves to hate. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
He also published in that year ‘Emile or Education’ that is about teaching, learning, and childhood. This book is considered as a bible for liberal educationalists. -
XVIII Century
The formal education in Europe consisted almost exclusively of the teaching of foreign languages such as Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. -
Object Lesson
This method was created by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi during the XVIII that consists of using a physical object or visual aid as a discussion piece for a lesson. -
Friedrich Frobel
He created the concept of Kindergarten and also the first school for young children. -
Natural Method
Gottlieb Heness and Lambert Sauveur founded ‘The Natural Method’ of language teaching. Later they opened a school of languages in Boston. -
Direct Method
The ‘Direct Method’ was used initially in the school of Berlitz, the first of which was opened in nearby Rhode Island. -
XIX Century
The broader trends of educational change served to reinforce the view that foreign languages were unsuited to the needs of mass elementary education and should be confirmed to the secondary level of schooling where they would do the least damage. -
The Linguistic Minorities
A large scale of population has resulted in substantial linguistic minorities in countries where they did not exist before. -
Foreign Languages in the Elementary School
A psychologist called William Penfield appeared to answer the call in a paper which supported the view that pre-adolescent children were particularly well – suited to the acquisition of foreign languages since their responses were still flexible enough to cope with the demands of new speech habits. This research helped to launch a series of initiatives in American elementary schools known as FLES programs. -
1960's
Very little changed until the early years when the absence of foreign languages from most of the state education sector was seriously questioned. -
The Experiment
A small but highly publicized experiment to teach French to primary school children was carried out by a native – speaking teaching in Leeds. -
FLES
The FLES program continued with some success. -
1970's
Before this decade, in Britain, foreign languages were reserved for bright adolescents, he top 20 per cent or so who passed the entrance test to the grammar schools.
