Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences
Spring 5-17-2019 Methods of Teaching Latin: Theory, Practice, Application Morgan A. Nicoulin Washington University in St. Louis
Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Applied Linguistics Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Commons, and the Semantics and Pragmatics Commons
Recommended Citation Nicoulin, Morgan A., "Methods of Teaching Latin: Theory, Practice, Application" (2019). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1748. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/1748
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
Department of Classics
Methods of Teaching Latin: Theory, Practice, Application by Morgan A. Nicoulin
A thesis presented to The Graduate School of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
May 2019 St. Louis, Missouri
© 2019, Morgan A. Nicoulin Table of Contents
List of Figures iv Acknowledgments v Introduction 1 1. The Tradition of Language Pedagogy: Latin’s Role 5 1.1 Origins of Language Teaching in the West 5 1.2 Latin Among the Romance Languages 9 1.3 The Revivification of Classics and Latin Pedagogy 13 1.4 The Fight for Classics in a Changing World 18 1.5 Conclusion 24 2. Theories of Language Acquisition and Pedagogy 26 2.1 The Development of Modern Language Acquisition Study 26 2.2 Key Questions in Second Language Acquisition Theory 29 2.2.1 How Does Biology Affect Language Learning? 30 2.2.2 What Is the Role of the L1 in Acquiring a Foreign Language? 34 2.2.3 What Psychological Factors Affect Language Learning? 39 2.2.4 How is Language Acquired? 52 2.2.5 The Role of Grammar 60 2.3 SLA in the Classroom 62 2.4 Implicit and Explicit Learning in the Latin Classroom 64 2.4.1 Input and the Goals of Latin Instruction 65 2.4.2 “Reading”? 67 2.4.3 A Happy Middle 74 2.5 Conclusion 79 3. Latin Pedagogical Philosophies and Practices 82 3.1 The Benefits of Language Learning 83 3.2 The Particular Challenge of Latin: Goal? 84 3.3 Pedagogical Practices 90 ii 3.3.1 Grammar and Translation Method 90 3.3.2 Reading Method 92 3.3.3 Comprehensible Input Method 94 3.3.4 Tradition and Innovation 96 3.4 The Modern Latin Classroom 97 3.4.1 The Grammar and Translation Method 100 3.4.2 Reading Method 109 3.4.3 Comprehensible Input 117 3.5 The Modern Proposal: A Combined Approach 129 4. Factors Influencing Instruction 134 4.1 Curricular Environment 135 4.1.1 The Elective 135 4.1.2 The Religious Curriculum 149 4.1.3 The Classical Curriculum 151 4.2 Textbooks 155 4.2.1 Textbooks Aiding Instruction 156 4.2.2 Textbooks Hindering Instruction? 158 4.3 Conclusion 164 Conclusion 165 Bibliography 167 Appendices 175 A. Latin Instructor Survey 175 B. IRB Approval 240 C. IB Classical Language Subject Brief 241 D. IB Language B Subject Brief 243 F. AP Spanish Course Overview 247