Access to Electronic Thesis

Access to Electronic Thesis Author: Louise Sorensen Thesis title: Teach Yourself? Language Learning Through Self-Instruction Manuals in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia Qualification: PhD Date awarded: 02 June 2010 This electronic thesis is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No reproduction is permitted without consent of the author. It is also protected by the Creative Commons Licence allowing Attributions-Non-commercial-No derivatives. If this electronic thesis has been edited by the author it will be indicated as such on the title page and in the text. Abstract To learn a foreign language from a self-instruction manual (teach- yourself book) is not as easy as the publishers will have us believe. Despite this, the genre has endured for many centuries. This thesis argues that the robustness of self-instruction language manuals is due to their ability to adapt to the personal circumstances of their readers. By surveying ordinary nineteenth- century Scandinavians, it is established that they turned to self-directed learning as a consequence of social and economic developments in the region. At the time, early globalisation was felt in terms of increased travel and trade. As a consequence, people needed to acquire foreign languages for the purpose of everyday communication. Because this area of second language acquisition was practical and took place outside formal education, it has not been accepted as part of the history of applied linguistics. I argue that ‘utilitarian language learning’ deserves to be included as an example of the current theory of autonomous learning. I also draw the conclusion that autonomy is actually one of the reasons why self-instruction manuals are not as effective as traditional language teaching, because the learners take charge of their own learning process and as a result often suffer from lack of motivation and opportunities to practise the language. I do, however, maintain that the works themselves are not inherently inept. The nineteenth-century methods were actually an improvement upon existing methods by focusing on the spoken rather than the written language. Finally, I investigate why abstract notions of language, culture and identity were not present in works that could essentially disseminate elitist ideas to the general population. I argue that because the genre was highly commercialised, the authors deliberately chose to exclude topics that had political undertones and the potential to alienate parts of the readership. Teach Yourself? Language Learning through Self-Instruction Manuals in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia Louise Munch Sørensen Ph.D. English Language and Linguistics School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics October 2009 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................2 1.1 Aims ......................................................................................................2 1.2 Globalisation and communication...........................................................5 1.3 The language learners.............................................................................7 1.4 Autonomy in language learning............................................................ 10 1.5 Teaching materials and learning process............................................... 15 1.6 Thesis outline ....................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2: Concepts, Methodology and Material ....................................... 19 2.1 Concepts .............................................................................................. 19 2.1.1 Popular language works.......................................................... 19 2.1.2 Practical language study.......................................................... 23 2.1.3 Utilitarian language learning................................................... 26 2.2 Historical methodology ........................................................................ 29 2.2.1 Alternative historiography....................................................... 29 2.2.2 The Annales School ................................................................ 31 2.2.3 History from below................................................................. 32 2.3 The Hannås Collection ......................................................................... 36 2.3.1 Torgrim Hannås...................................................................... 37 2.3.2 Overview ................................................................................ 39 Chapter 3: Foreign Languages in Society and Education ........................... 47 3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................... 47 3.2 Societal influences................................................................................ 49 3.2.1 Class reform ........................................................................... 51 3.2.2 Impact on popular language works.......................................... 56 3.3 Educational influences.......................................................................... 60 3.3.1 The education debate .............................................................. 61 3.3.2 Elementary school provision................................................... 63 3.3.3 Further education and English................................................. 69 3.3.4 Universities............................................................................. 74 3.4 Language popularity............................................................................. 79 3.4.1 The modern foreign languages ................................................ 80 3.4.2 The vernacular languages........................................................ 83 Chapter 4: Emigrant Phrasebooks............................................................... 87 4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................... 87 4.2 Overview.............................................................................................. 90 4.2.1 Historical background............................................................. 90 4.2.2 Motivation .............................................................................. 92 4.2.3 Integration .............................................................................. 98 4.3 America letters..................................................................................... 99 4.4 Language learning experience ............................................................ 102 4.5 America guides .................................................................................. 106 4.6 Case studies........................................................................................ 113 4.6.1 Selvhjelp i Engelsk (1892)..................................................... 116 4.6.2 The Little American (1887) ................................................... 121 4.7 Evaluation .......................................................................................... 125 Chapter 5: Travel Guidebooks................................................................... 128 5.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 128 5.2 Overview............................................................................................ 132 5.2.1 Historical background........................................................... 132 5.2.2 Perceptions of Scandinavia ................................................... 133 5.2.3 The concept of tourism ......................................................... 136 5.3 Tourism entrepreneurs........................................................................ 139 5.4 Case studies........................................................................................ 145 5.4.1 Historical and social observations ......................................... 146 5.4.2 Routes and destinations......................................................... 149 5.4.3 Customs, manners and traditions........................................... 150 5.4.4 The Stranger’s Guide through Sweden (1824)....................... 152 5.5 Evaluation .......................................................................................... 159 Chapter 6: Learning the Spoken Language............................................... 161 6.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 161 6.2 Second language acquisition............................................................... 162 6.2.1 A methodological change...................................................... 163 6.3 Autonomy in learning......................................................................... 166 6.4 The spoken language in popular language works ................................ 168 6.4.1 Systems of transcription........................................................ 171 6.5 The spoken language in linguistics ..................................................... 180 6.6 Same idea – different methods?.......................................................... 185 Chapter 7: Language, Culture and Identity .............................................. 187 7.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 187 7.2 National identity................................................................................

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