Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1982 LDS Language Teaching and Learning: Highlights from 1830 to 1982 Cynthia L. Hallen Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Modern Languages Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hallen, Cynthia L., "LDS Language Teaching and Learning: Highlights from 1830 to 1982" (1982). Theses and Dissertations. 4745. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4745 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. P LL 14 LDS LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING highlights FROM 1830 TO 1982 A thesis presented to the department of linguistics and special languages brigham young university in partial fulfillment for the requirement for the degree master of arts by cynthia leah halienbalien august 1982 1 f this thesis by cynthia leah allenalienailenhallenhalien11 is accepted Iin1n its present form by the department of linguistics and special languages of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of arts n arthur henry king committee chairman vav0 alietlatt jliJL i C ray graham committee member zrar fzaz jbfusgjsf A rjcrac date jv rey laird depardepartmentmentmenc chairman typed by karen Tlaytonaytondayton carolyn tuitupouTui tupou and debra wallacewa I1 ac e ii TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments v chapter 1 introduction 1 purpose and significance 1 scope and delimitations 3 methods 4 2 REVIEW OF THE literature 5 3 scriptures AND EARLY HISTORY 8 scriptures 8 early history of LDS language interests 10 4 missionary LANGUAGE TRAINING 14 history 14 the MTC program and methodology 23 I1 5 FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT frigham3righamB R TGHAMI1 YOUNG UNJuniversityIERSITY 38 history of BYU foreign language programs 40 biuBZUBYU Langilalanguagesaes committees 53 6 ENGLISH AS A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE 56 7 conclusions aisalsANDTD suggestions 65 church publications 65 reasons for LDS language learning and teaching 69 iii chapter Ppagea ig e appendices A LANGUAGE PLANS FOR THE missionary LANGUAGE INSTITUTE 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 Is 0 73 B FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS AT THE BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY 182619211826 1921 74 C BYU FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES OF FALL 1981 9 AND WINTER 198-1982 0 0 0 0 & 75 D CHURCH LANGUAGE SURVEY 0 76 E RELIEF SOCIETY CULTURAL refinement LESSONS 197319821973 1982 0 0 f 0 9 0 Is 0 a 0 0 0 77 F REASONS FOR STUDYING FOREIGN LANGUAGES 0 78 G THE importance OF LANGUAGE STUDY FOR LDS CHURCHCHLJRCH MDIBERSMEMBERS 0 a 0 79 SELECTED bibliography 9 80 IV acknowledgmentsACRT OWL ED grinf ENT S I1 am grateful to arthur henry king to the moral studies group to all language teachers and learners to friends of other countries and cultures to all who provided resources for thithlthiss study to my family and to heavenly father chapter 1 introduction purpose and significancesignsaf4f1cancescance 0incesince the time of jojosephI1 seph smith and the estab14establishmentishmentashment of the lhchurchur ch of jejesusT SUS christ of latterlatterdayday saints in 1830 the lord has called for the learning and teaching of foreign languages by church leaders missionaries and members A knowledge of the world s lan-lan guages makes it possible to teach the gospel to all nations to translate sacred writings and church materials to prepare the vo ridcidnid wide membership to appreciate one another s cultures and to foster personal educational and professional growth in secular and spiritual areas As L grant shields explains in his dissertation on LDS translation allailanaaiaai explicit objective of the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdaylacterdatterlatbatuatter day saints is to lift the curse of babel and to overcome the barriers of language which have heritotoreheriherfheretoforetoloretotorez inhibitinhlbitinhibiteded the spread of the gospel on the earth the babel and the barriers include approximately 5687 efferentdifferentdllfferent languages 19561.956 in asia I1 174117411.741 in africa 103910394- in the pacific I1 29 863 in the americas 46 in europe and 42 in the middle east 11 r i G A L orantgantgrantA ant shields languagealanguage challenges facing the churchnl urch of jesus christ of latterlatterdaydaydaay saints in preaching the gospel to every nation phd dissertation brigham young university 1976 p 23023 abidbidlbid p 23 2 ninetyeightninety eight percent of the worlds population can be reached with about 158 languages but that population is growing much faster than our interests and efforts in language acquisition although the gospel has not yet been taught to every nation and tongue the results of the LDS language and missionary efforts have been extraordinary the 1830 church has grown from six members in america to five million members in eightysixeighty six different countries in 1982 the resulting international dimension of the church demands even more interest in and acquaintance with world languages new converts bring in great resources of knowledge gardinregardingreregardindegardin0 9 languages and culture that must be made use of not only does the respons- biliibilityaty to teach the rest of the world remain but also the necessity of educating and building sensitive relationships between those who are already converted questions such as those of F lamond tullis 1 have to be asked as barriers go down in any place where zizionziou0n isIsA being established whose language should be spoken here hachatwhat kinds of communication skills are required for preaching the gospel across the boundaries of language ancestral customs race 3 and nationalnationalityityl then the questions have to be answered and problems solved through hard work prayer study and wise use of available resources the benefits of language study are obvious in missionarymiss4onary work international understanding career advancement intellectual af3fF lamond tullis church development issues among latin americans mormonism A faith for all cultures provoprove uttUTUTI brigham young university press 1978 p 93 3 development social service and personal relationships however language training is often difficult expensive and time consuming and the openmindednessopen mindedness required for true intercultural communication demands all the love discipline and humility people are capable of As latterlatterdayday saints we are not alone in this endeavor because we believe in the gift of tongues interpretation of tongues and so forth article of faith 7 with the gifts of the holy ghost and a diligent effort to acquaint ourselves with languages we carcan continue taking the gospel to the whole world and bringing the gospel to our own hearts and minds the purpose of this paper is to documentdocurupnt what has been said and done thus far in the LDS church to promote foreignleo r e ig n language study scope and delimitations some of the priorities listed under language in church education include literacy english as a second or foreign language mission languages and translation sinces4saance1nce TL grant shields has written a dissertation just on LDS translation alone which he specifies is not exhaustive I1itltis obvious that one thesis cannot give a comprehensive picture of all LDS language learning and teachteaching1 ng the scope of this paper covers highlighthighlights0s of the LDS promotion ofofeoje study in languages other than one s native tongue it does not cover translation literacy native language study or 1literatureit e ra ttlr e in research and interviews several iriportcimportantMIC names flamtecameaateamle Bbylabyl1laalao 4 up that are not mentioned or adequately reviewed Fhawaiiai3i wa i 1 g a L I Bi language programsD r 0 r c i s melvinmeivinlvinivin1 J ballabailaballardbailardrd bruce browntrownrown orlen peterson 4 B H roberts and so forth these will have to wait for a future project the areas dealt with here in some depth are scripture references early history of LDS language study missionary language training BYU language resources church ESL and miscellaneous statements programs policies research and publications methods in february 1982 I1 began pulling together information about LDS language policy for a minireportmini report in my TESL research seminar the report was expanded into the term project and later to a thesis proposal because of its scope the information comes mainly from oral interviews and library research one source led to another until there was a representative range of statements and events to account for LDS language teaching and learning between 1830 and 1982 chapter 2 REVIEW OF THE literature to my knowledge a complete history exclusively on church language study has not been written but there are several major reference works which incorporate essential outlines or details of that history in the following chapters general information is drawn from those works and oral interviews covering the same material without extensive footnotingfoot noting unless a direct quote is ggiveniven in 1973 harold S madsen presented a paper entitled historical aspects of mormon language studies14 for the first annual conference on the language of the mormons held at BYU mormon IZ he first justifies interest in language in theologicalc1ca terms the nature of god and the son who speak directly