Favorite History of English Texts

[Herb Stahlke]

Given the focus of the course as James describes it, it sound made to
order for the Pyles&Algeo approach.  One of the great strengths of P&A
is probably the best workbook I've ever seen, offering a huge range of
choice for focusing student attention.  That said, the most successful
HEL courses I've taught have been based on Crystal's Cambridge
Encyclopedia of the English Language, a book students really enjoy
using.

Herb

On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 9:23 AM, Kathryn Remlinger <remlingk at gvsu.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Kathryn Remlinger <remlingk at GVSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Favorite History of English Texts
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The texts that have worked the best for my students (English majors with emphases in education or literature, and who've had at least an intro to lx course) are Crystal's The Stories of English and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Langauge, Graddoll et al's Changing English, Trudgill & Watts' Alternative Histories of English, Melcher and Shaw's World Englishes. I've used Algeo and Pyles, but students found it a little dense, and it also doesn't have the focus on variation and World Englishes that I include in the course. I've also used Fennel  and liked it, but some students thought it was too difficult.  I also have supplemented with articles from Machen and Scott's English in its Social Contexts.
>
> Best,
> Kate
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:52:19 -0400
> From:    James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject: favourite English history/general intro texts
>
> If you were teaching a course on the history and structure of the
> English language, basically an introduction to linguistics and the
> history of English for third- and fourth-year students for whom the
> course will likely be the only linguistics course they take, what
> text would you use? (I won't be, but someone I'm related to will;
> he's been out of academe for some time and so is brushing up on
> what's currently preferred for such uses, and I said I'd ask around
> too.) The one text I can think of is Algeo and Pyles, though I'm not
> sure whether the balance of focus in it is just right for the
> specific course in question. And O'Grady doesn't really cover
> history. Plus this is a one-semester course.
>
> Thanks,
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of ADS-L Digest - 29 Jul 2008 to 30 Jul 2008 (#2008-213)
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