Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language: Pedagogy in Practice

The History of the English Language has been a standard university course offering for over 150 years. Yet relatively little has been written about teaching a course whose very title suggests its prodigious chronological, geographic, and disciplinary scope. In the nineteenth century, History of the English Language courses focused on canonical British literary works. Since these early curricula were formed, the English language has changed, and so have the courses. In the twenty-first century, instructors account for the growing prominence of World Englishes as well as the English language's transformative relationship with the internet and social media. Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language addresses the challenges and circumstances that the course's instructors and students commonly face. The volume reads as a series of "master classes" taught by experienced instructors who explain the pedagogical problems that inspired resourceful teaching practices. Although its chapters are authored by seasoned teachers, many of whom are preeminent scholars in their individual fields, the book is designed for instructors at any career stage-beginners and veterans alike. The topics addressed in Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language include: the unique pedagogical dynamic that transpires in language study; the course's origins and relevance to current university curricula; scholarly approaches that can offer an abiding focus in a semester-long course; advice about navigating the course's formidable chronological ambit; ways to account for the language's many varieties; and the course's substantial and pedagogical relationship to contemporary multimedia platforms. Each chapter balances theory and practice, explaining in detail activities, assignments, or discussion questions ready for immediate use by instructors.

Table of Contents:
1. Mary Hayes and Allison Burkette, Introduction Part One: Reflections on Teaching the History of the English Language 2. John McWhorter, German, Handwriting, and Other Things I Learned to Keep in Mind When Teaching the History of English 3. Thomas Cable, Restoring Rhythm: An Auditory Imagination of the History of English 4. Rajend Mesthrie, Teaching the History of English: A South African Perspective 5. Sonja L. Lanehart, How Is HEL Relevant to Me? Part Two: The Value of Teaching the History of English: Rethinking Curricula 6. Matthew Giancarlo, Philology, Theory, and Critical Thinking through the History of the English Language 7. Seth Lerer, The History of the English Language and the Medievalist 8. Michael R. Dressman, English and I: Finding the History of the English Language in the Class Part Three: Research Paradigms and Pedagogical Practices 9. Leslie Arnovick, Historical Pragmatics in the Teaching of the History of English 10. Graeme Trousdale, Using Principles of Construction Grammar in the History of English Classroom 11. William A. Kretzschmar, Addressing 'Emergence' in a HEL Classroom 12. Jukka Tyrkkö, Discovering the Past for Yourself: Corpora, Data-driven Learning, and the History of English 13. David Denison, Word Classes in the History of English 14. Michael Adams, Dictionaries and the History of English Part Four: Centuries in a Semester: HEL's Chronological Conventions 15. Timothy J. Pulju, English Is an Indo-European Language: Linguistic Prehistory in the History of English Classroom 16. Mary Hayes, Serving Time in HELL: Diachronic Exercises for Literature Students 17. Haruko Momma, What Has Beowulf to Do with English? (Let's Ask Lady Philology!) 18. Joan Beal, Starting from Now: Teaching the Recent History of English Part Five: Including 'Englishes' in the History of English 19. Benjamin A. Saltzman, From Old English to World Englishes 20. Salikoko S. Mufwene, An Ecological Account of the Emergence and Evolution of English 21. Carol Percy, Researching World Englishes in HEL Courses: Neologisms, Newspapers, and Novels 22. Rakesh M. Bhatt, Situating World Englishes into a History of English Course 23. Allison Burkette, Incorporating American English into the History of English 24. Robert Penhallurick, Teaching Diversity and Change in the History of English 25. Matthew Sergi, Our Subject is Each Other: Teaching HEL to ESL, EFL, and Non-Standard English Speakers Part Six: Using Media and Performance in the History of English Classroom 26. Jonathan Davis-Secord, Approaching the History of English through Material Culture 27. David Crystal, Teaching Original Pronunciation (OP) 28. Natalie Gerber, Engaging Multimedia in the HEL Classroom 29. Philip Seargeant, Teaching the History of English Online: Open Education and Student Engagement Appendix C: Resources for Teaching Compiled and annotated by Mary Hayes and Allison Burkette General Bibliography Index