CFP: History of Foreign Language Teaching

[Francis Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

Call for papers: International Conference on the History of Foreign
Language Teaching, in Essen

"French, German and English: three languages in competition between
1850 and 1945"

Organised by the SIHFLES (Société Internationale pour l'Histoire du
Français Langue Etrangère ou Seconde) in cooperation with the GMF
(Gesamtverband Moderne Fremdsprachen) included in its National
Congress at the University of Essen (13-15th September, 2012)

In the second half of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th
century, France, Great Britain and Germany were known as three
populous countries competing in foreign policy with hegemonic
ambitions, which manifested themselves as colonial and imperialist
aspirations and occasionally resulted in wars. Moreover, they are
three economically developed countries whose industrialisation was
either already far advanced or developing in a dynamic way.
Furthermore, they perceived themselves as civilized nations with a
well-developed educational ideal among their middle classes and an
educational system that was continuously expanding in the period under
consideration, especially in sciences and modern languages.

Thus, there was rivalry in politics, economy, culture and science not
only between these countries, but also between their languages. It was
expressed in the international promotion of their own languages, not
only within the framework of direct political influence in colonies,
protectorates and mandates but also through the establishment of
cultural institutes. In this context, it is also important to consider
changes in the demand for foreign languages in schools, which can be
traced back to economic, and, in addition, purely political causes. In
almost all European countries French was undisputedly the most
important foreign language in the middle of the 19th century. However,
it was partly ousted from this predominant position by English after
the First World War, or in some countries only after the Second World
War. During the late 19th century and above all at the beginning of
the 20th century the German language temporarily gained a strong
international importance, without being able to attain a clear
international leading position.

Conference papers (consisting of a twenty-minute speech in English,
French or German) can deal with the following aspects of the
conference theme):
- the development of English and German as subjects in the French
school system, of French and English as subjects in the German school
system, or of French and German as subjects in the British or US
school systems (possibly focusing on particular periods or school
types );
- the development of German, English and French as school subjects in
other European and American countries or in a transnational context;
- the economic development of a language market with big companies
(e.g. Berlitz, Langenscheidt);
- the historical description of the working procedures of language
teaching institutions (e.g. the Alliance Française, the Foreign Office
and the Deutsche Akademie);
- the fact that British language policy has been reinforced by
American influences (which might also have operated in competition);
- the history of the development of academic disciplines (such as FLE,
Deutsch als Fremdsprache or TESOL studies) for training language
teachers to teach abroad;
- the role of religious orders becoming active in some countries - in
connection with missionary work - and entering into competition with
lay institutions in their language teaching.

Please submit your abstract of 300 words maximum by 1st April, 2012 to
Prof. Dr. Marcus Reinfried (marcus.reinfried at uni-jena.de).
Confirmation of acceptance will be given by 1st June, 2012. The
contributions will be subsequently published.

Information about registration for the conference, including programme
and hotel reservation, will be found on the homepage of the GMF
Congress in Essen, which will be available within the next few weeks
(htpp://www.uni-due.de/GMF2012/GMF). Participants of the conference
will also receive further details in a later e-mail message.

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