AILA Research Network for History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT.net) - November 2021 update

Convenors:
Prof. Giovanni Iamartino, University of Milan, [email protected]
Prof. Richard Smith, University of Warwick, [email protected]
Committee members:
Prof. Sabine Doff (University of Bremen), Dr. Tim Giesler (University of Bremen), Prof. Rachel Mairs (University of Reading), Dr. Karène Summerer-Sanchez (University of Leiden),
 
Recap of our symposium at the 2021 World Congress of AILA
Our symposium on 20 August focused on the often neglected role of women in the history of language teaching as learners, teachers, methodologists, and so on. The symposium included the following papers:

• Sabine Doff (University of Bremen) (featured speaker) Teaching living languages as political statement: female teachers in 19th century Germany
• Raf Van Rooy (KU Leuven) A female student of Greek in the Renaissance: The case of Ippolita Sforza
• Ariane Ruyffelaert (Granada) The role of women in the reflection on French grammar and the teaching of the French language
• Rachel Allan (Mid Sweden University)  English for foreigners: a study of female-authored textbooks for immigrants in early twentieth century America
• Irmina Kotlarska (University of Zielona Góra) Women’s role in promoting English culture through English-language education in Poland (the first half of the 20th century)
• Polina Shvanyukova (University of Udine) First women authors of English language teaching materials in Italy
• Maria Grazia Giulia Chiappori (Sapienza University of Rome) Gemma Harasim intellectual and teacher
• Layenne De Oliveira (Federal University of Minas Gerais) Race and English teaching: discussing narratives of black female teachers in the Brazilian context

 
Additional recent events and publications

• HoLLT.net supported book launch for The History of Grammar in Foreign Language Teaching (ed. Simon Coffey), hosted by Amsterdam University Press, 2 July 2021
• HoLLT.net Online Colloquium on Women in the History of Language Learning and Teaching, Friday 17 September 2021: a follow-up to the AILA Symposium, including 11 presentations. See programme: https://www.hollt.net/uploads/7/3/1/6/7316005/women_program_hollt_.pdf
• HoLLT.net supported 14th CIRSIL Conference on Language Teaching: Pedagogy and Ideology, University of Pisa, 23-25 September 2021 (23 presentations).
• HoLLT.net has supported publication by Nicola McLelland and Simon Coffey of open access material that helps language teachers reflect on language teaching practice and policy from historical perspectives. See their blog post here: https://www.hollt.net/blog/october-19th-2021

 
Ongoing research and opportunities for collaboration
·       HoLLT.net will continue to bring together and network researchers worldwide in a continuously consolidating field. A major focus in the coming years will be to further develop collective publication opportunities, for example in the form of edited thematic volumes. 
·       There will be a HoLLT.net supported conference on Colonial contact and the history of learning and teaching non-European language in Leiden, 8–10 June 2022. CfP forthcoming.
·       There will be a HoLLT.net strand of papers (for any topic in the history of language learning and teaching) at the forthcoming Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas conference in Leuven, 20–22 September 2022. CfP forthcoming.
 
Renewal as a Research Network of AILA
We have submitted an application for renewal for a further period of three years, following on from our seven years in existence to date. Following a meeting open to all present at our 17 September event, the committee came up with the following list of aspirations for the coming three-year period (2022–2025): 

· construct a freely accessible online bibliography of pertinent publications;
· build up our electronic distribution list
- improve opportunities for networking via development of a wiki containing affiliations, email addresses and main historical interests
· hold an annual meeting
· edit and publish papers from the ReN symposium at the AILA 2021 Congress and from other events
- start a webinar series to showcase recent historical research
- develop a constitution

If anybody would like to help us with any of these activities, or to suggest other activities, please contact the convenors. Please continue, also, to advertise HoLLT-related events and publications and to raise topics for discussion in our email discussion list, at any time: [email protected]. 

Contact information
Website: https://www.hollt.net. The convenors can be contacted via the email addresses above.

We are delighted to announce the launch of new teacher training materials under the theme of Language Teaching: Learning from The Past whose publication has been supported by HoLLTnet and other partners. We hope you will find them useful both in initial teacher training and in Continuous Professional Development. The five packages use examples from the history of language learning and teaching to help language teachers reflect on their language teaching today. As you can see from the list below, the materials tackle five themes that are already core to teacher training (particularly in the UK).

Each unit takes a key theme, with a short introductory video (8-12 minutes), a handbook of activities which you can pick and mix from, and a facilitator’s handbook with extra guidance. They are very flexible: you could select one activity, e.g. for a warm-up activity, or use a full package for up to a half-day session. Each handbook also includes a short historical overview and some reading suggestions. You definitely don’t need to be an expert in history to use these materials! Our facilitator’s handbook gives you all the information you need to lead a session confidently.

We warmly welcome your feedback through this link (which you can also find bottom right on the project page), about what works, what could be improved, but also ideas for further topics, etc. Please do also spread the word about the materials!

​Our five themes are:

1. Differentiation and Diversity in the language classroom How have teachers recognized that learners have differing backgrounds, abilities, and needs, and reflecting e.g. on assumptions made about language learning ability, about gender and language learning, representation of ethnicity in language teaching, social class and language learning?
2. Teaching Culture What cultural knowledge do we teach – or should we teach – students about the target culture? What view of the target culture is projected, and why, e.g. emphasizing similarities or differences with the learners’ home culture, high culture and/or everyday culture? And what are we teaching without even realizing? For example, historical language teaching materials often send signals about the expected class, gender and ethnicity of the “typical” language learner. What signals do we send today to our learners?
3. Teaching Grammar: The teaching of grammar has recently regained prominence in language teaching, after period where the emphasis was more on communicative effectiveness than on accuracy and metalinguistic knowledge. This unit shows teachers different ways in which grammar has been taught, and why, to help inform their own decision-making about teaching grammar today.
4. The Target Language and (m)other tongue use: Another contested topic is to what extent we should use the target language and minimize the use of English (or the L1( in the classroom? How do we draw acknowledge, and draw on the expertise of, students who are already competent bilinguals, speaking another language besides the language of instruction?
5. Making the Case for Languages: Policy and Advocacy. Teachers increasingly find themselves playing the role of language champions in their schools and communities. This unit therefore gives teachers an understanding of key policy initiatives over time, and examples of arguments that have been shown to be effective (though sometimes taking a long time).

 
The project is an AHRC-funded collaboration between the University of Nottingham and King’s College London, and we owe its successful completion to our excellent Postdoctoral Fellow on the project, Dr Lina Fisher.

Nicola McLelland (University of Nottingham) and Simon Coffey (King's College London)
 
 
 

with AILA Research Network for History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT.net) news

Here is an update about forthcoming HoLLT.net activities for network members and others interested . Please send the link to this post to others you think might be interested in joining HoLLT.net (anyone with a research interest in the history of language learning and teaching can do so for free, via our website: https://www.hollt.net/join).

HoLLT.net symposium on Women in the History of Language Learning and Teaching, 20 August 2021

Our symposium will focus on the often neglected role of women in the history of language teaching as learners, teachers, methodologists, and so on. The symposium will include the following papers

• Sabine Doff (University of Bremen) Teaching Living Languages as Political Statement: Female Teachers in 19th Century Germany
• Raf Van Rooy (KU Leuven) A female student of Greek in the Renaissance: The case of Ippolita Sforza
• Ariane Ruyffelaert (Granada) The role of women in the reflection on French grammar and the teaching of the French language
• Rachel Allan (Mid Sweden University) English for Foreigners: A study of female-authored textbooks for immigrants in early twentieth century America
•  Irmina Kotlarska (University of Zielona Góra) Women’s Role in Promoting English Culture through English-language Education in Poland (the First Half of the 20th Century)
• Polina Shvanyukova (University of Udine) First women authors of English language teaching materials in Italy
•  Susana Fontes & Sónia Coelho (University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro) A gramática das criancinhas: an innovative project of the educator Virginia Gersão 
• Maria Grazia Giulia Chiappori (Sapienza University of Rome) Gemma Harasim Intellectual and Teacher
•  Layenne De Oliveira (Federal University of Minas Gerais) Race and English teaching: discussing narratives of black female teachers in the Brazilian context

There will also be a short business meeting for Research Network members. All members, whether attending the AILA Congress or not, are invited to send ideas, comments and matters for possible discussion to either Giovanni Iamartino or Richard Smith (HoLLTnet co-convenors) in advance of the meeting (email addresses below). 

Other forthcoming HoLLT-net-supported events 

* Histoire des idées didactologiques en didactique des langues: 1945-2015 / History of Language Teaching Research and Theorization: 1945-2015. Joint conference of APHELLE, CIRSIL, SEHL and SIHFLES, supported by HoLLT.net. Tours (France), 9-11 juin / 9-11 June 2021. Further information and registration

* HoLLT.net-supported book launch for The History of Grammar in Foreign Language Teaching (ed. Simon Coffey), hosted by Amsterdam University Press, 2 July 2021. Further information

·* HoLLT.net Online Colloquium on Women in the History of Language Learning and Teaching - beyond AILA, Friday 17 September 2021. Call for papers (open until 1 July 2021). There will be another short business meeting of the Research Network during this free-to-access event.
 
Members' publications

Please continue to send details of your recent publications in the field of HoLLT to the mailing list via [email protected]. 

Details of publications to date are here:  https://www.hollt.net/publications.html

HoLLT.net will continue to bring together and network researchers worldwide in a continuously consolidating field. A major focus in the coming years will be to further develop collective publication opportunities, for example in the form of edited thematic volumes. A long-term goal is the establishment of a journal for the history of (foreign) language learning and teaching.
 
Ongoing research and opportunities for collaboration

Members of the HoLLT network are engaging in various projects, including an overall initiative to explore the role of women in the history of language learning and teaching and an incipient international project to investigate the history of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages through oral history accounts.

Those interested in becoming involved or in publicizing further projects, opportunities or events should contact either one of the convenors in the first instance. Researchers willing to use social media may be interested in joining our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/hollt/), while all are invited to join our email list, via https://www.hollt.net/join.html
 
Committee members

The HoLLTnet committee currently comprises the two co-convenors Giovanni Iamartino (Milan) and Richard Smith (Warwick), together with Sabine Doff (Bremen), Tim Giesler (Bremen), Rachel Mairs (Reading) and Karène Summerer-Sanchez (Leiden)

Contact information
Website: https://www.hollt.net.
The convenors can be contacted via the email addresses below:

Giovanni Iamartino (Milan): [email protected]
Richard Smith (Warwick): r.[email protected]

​

AILA Research Network for History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT.net) News
 
Recent events
 
​The Direct Method in Language Teaching​. Joint conference of APHELLE, CIRSIL, Henry Sweet Society and SIHFLES, supported by HoLLTnet. University of Granada (Spain), 16–17 May 2019.  Programme and abstracts available here: https://www.hollt.net/events.html

Institutions and Second Languages in Italy: A Historiographical Approach (Lingue seconde e istituzioni in Italia: approccio storiografico): CIRSIL conference, supported by HoLLTnet, Varese, Italy, 22-23 March 2019.  Website: https://www.uninsubria.eu/events/cirsil-conference
 
Preparations for the AILA World Congress 2020

In preparation for our symposium at the AILA World Congress in Groningen, HoLLTnet members are investigating the often neglected role of women in language teaching as learners, teachers, methodologists, and so on.

Ongoing research and opportunities for collaboration
 
With a view to the November 2019 conference in Bremen, we are facilitating a closer look at the interplay between (institutional) contexts and language teaching; integrating perspectives from curriculum studies with analysis of repercussions of curriculum on language teaching (methodology).
 
Those interested in any of the above projects, opportunities or conferences should contact either one of the convenors in the first instance. Junior researchers may be interested in joining our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/hollt/), while more established scholars and junior researchers alike are invited to join our email list, via https://www.hollt.net/join.html
 
Upcoming events

• HoLLTnet-supported panels on The Grammar-Translation Method and The Reform Movement in Language Teaching at the 2019 Henry Sweet Society Colloquium, University of Edinburgh, 5–8 September 2019.
• Valorizing Practice: Grounded Histories of Language Learning and Teaching. HoLLTnet Conference, University of Bremen, Germany, 14–15 November 2019. 
• HoLLTnet symposium on Women in the History of Language Learning and Teaching, AILA Congress, Groningen, Netherlands, 9–14 August 2020. Call for papers (deadline 15 July 2019): https://www.hollt.net/events.html

 
Contact information
Website: https://www.hollt.net
The convenors can be contacted here: 
Giovanni Iamartino, University of Milan, [email protected]
Richard Smith, University of Warwick, [email protected]

Here is an update about recent HoLLT.net activities for network members and others interested . Please send the link to this post to others you think might be interested in joining HoLLT.net via our website: https://www.hollt.net/.


New logo

Many thanks to Marco Pizzo for designing our new logo (above).


Three research questions currently being pursued in the HoLLT.net community:
 
1) What does historical research tell us about innovation in the field of language learning and teaching? (This was the topic of our AILA 2017 symposium – abstracts available via https://www.hollt.net/events; papers will begin to be prepared for publication in book form soon.)
 
2) What bilingual and multilingual phenomena have been evident in the history of language learning and teaching? (This was the topic of our 2018 international meeting at the University of Reading – abstracts available via https://www.hollt.net/events; papers are currently being prepared for publication as a special issue of the journal Language & History.)
 
3) How do grounded histories / histories of practice counteract received notions about language learning and teaching? (This will be the topic of our 14–15 November 2019 meeting at the University of Bremen. The call for papers has just been announced.
 

Publication
 
Autumn 2018 saw the long-awaited publication of a set of three volumes with the overall title The History of Language Learning and Teaching (Vol. I: 16th-18th Century Europe; Vol. II: 19th-20th Century Europe; Vol. III: Across Cultures). Edited by Nicola McLelland and Richard Smith and published by Legenda (Oxford) for the Modern Humanities Research Association, these volumes bring together current research in Europe and beyond and provide the first overview of research in the developing field of HoLLT. Volume I presents the history of how languages were learnt and taught across Europe, from Russia and Scandinavia to the Iberian peninsula, up to about 1800. Case studies deal with the teaching and learning of French, Italian, German and Portuguese, as well as Latin, still the first 'foreign language' for many learners in Europe in this period. Volume II presents case studies from the period when modern languages became established in school curricula and modern language teaching became professionalized in Europe. The chapters consider 19th-century innovations , including the Reform Movement and its precursors, as well as developments in policy and practice in the 20th century. Part I of Volume III (‘The Place of Culture in Language Teaching’) examines the history of how 'other cultures' have been presented to learners in language classrooms and language materials. Part II (‘Beyond Europe’) presents studies of the history of language learning and teaching beyond Europe, including the Middle East, China, Japan, India and New Zealand.
 
Further information about these volumes and other book publications by members of HoLLT.net is available via https://www.hollt.net/publications.
 

New collaborations that would not have been possible without this ReN
 
The network is bringing together scholars from different language traditions and different periods of specialisation, as well as with interests in different geographical locations and with different disciplinary backgrounds, within a new plurilingual, multicultural, interdisciplinary space. Interactions between European and Brazilian scholars were particularly noticeable at the 2017 AILA Congress in Rio de Janeiro, while HoLLT.net’s July 2018 event in Reading, UK, was remarkable for the extended time range covered by papers, from Ancient Egypt to late-twentieth-century Britain. At both events, neglected colonial histories of language teaching have begun to form an important part of overall HoLLT.net concerns.
 

Upcoming events (further details, including calls for papers: https://www.hollt.net/events)
 
The Direct Method in Language Teaching. Joint conference of APHELLE, CIRSIL, Henry Sweet Society and SIHFLES, supported by HoLLT.net. Granada (Spain), 16–17 May 2019. 
 
'Valorizing practice: Grounded histories of language learning and teaching'. HoLLTnet international meeting, University of Bremen, Germany, 14–15 November 2019.

Our symposium at the  AILA Congress, Groningen, Netherlands, 9–14 August 2020, will probably have the theme 'Women  in the  History of Language Learning and Teaching'' The call for papers will be issued in 2019.
 

Convenors: Dr Richard Smith, University of Warwick, UK ([email protected]) &
Professor Giovanni Iamartino, University of Milan, Italy ([email protected])

Here's a report on how things stand with HoLLTnet near the beginning of its 4th year (4th February 2018): 
 
The AILA Research Network (ReN) on History of Language Learning and Teaching ('HoLLTnet' for short) was originally approved as a research network of AILA in January 2015. HoLLTnet is dedicated to promoting and disseminating historical research into the following domains:

• how languages have been taught and learned;
• which languages have been taught and learned, and why;
• the sociology of language learning and teaching: who taught and learned in the past;
• what has been taught and learned;
• the history of how language learning and teaching have been theorized.

 
Our 2015–17 activities culminated in the organisation of a one-day symposium at the 17th AILA Congress in Rio de Janeiro in August 2017. Our symposium, on 'Innovation in historical perspective', featured 14 papers in all, the most of any ReN symposium, and included consideration of the history of language learning, teaching and assessment in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, the USA and global contexts. We will soon be putting in a proposal for publication of these papers. Details of this and our other events are elsewhere on the HoLLTnet website.

We have sought and gained approval for renewal of the Research Network for a further term of three years (2018–2020) and are now looking forward to our next event – a two-day international meeting on 'Bi/Multilingualism and the History of Language Learning and Teaching', 6–7 July 2018, at the University of Reading, UK. Please join us for this meeting if you can. The Call for Papers deadline is 23 February 2018. In the meantime, you might be interested in participating in a HoLLTnet-supported event in Siena, Italy, on 12-13 April 2018 (Call for Papers deadline: 15 February 2018): Maestri di lingue tra metà Cinquecento e metà Seicento (there will be a strand for papers on other periods).
 
In 2018 we also look forward to the publication of a set of three volumes by Legenda (Oxford) which has been edited by Nicola McLelland and Richard Smith, on The History of Language Learning and Teaching. These volumes feature papers first presented by many HoLLTnet members at the conference in 2014 in Nottingham where the idea of HoLLTnet was first mooted. Papers from a previous meeting, at the University of Warwick, on 'Histories of language learning and teaching in Europe', have just been published in Open Access form. 

Our ‘global’ network within AILA continues to be encouraged and supported by representatives of existing country- or language-based associations in this field, including:

• SIHFLES (Société internationale pour l'histoire du français langue étrangère ou seconde)
• APHELLE (Associação Portuguesa para a História do Ensino das Línguas e Literaturas Extranjeras)
• CIRSIL (Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca sulla Storia degli Insegnamenti Linguistici)
• HSS (The Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas)
• HISELT (Society for Historical Studies of English Learning and Teaching in Japan)
• HELB (História do Ensino de Línguas no Bresil)
• Matthias-Kramer-Gesellschaft für die Erforschung der Geschichte des Fremdsprachenerwerbs und der Mehrsprachigkeit
• PHG (Peeter Heynsgenootschap)
• SEHEL (Sociedad Española para la Historia de las Enseñanzas Lingüísticas)

 
Those interested can join our email discussion list (300+ members) and Facebook group for early career researchers (200+ members) via http://www.hollt.net/join.

Our principal aims for the period 2018–2020 (as stated in our recently approved application for renewal to AILA) are to: 

• identify research which has already been done worldwide and disseminate information about this;
• disseminate findings of new historical research as it is carried out;
• promote research in the area of History of Language Learning and Teaching – particularly by supporting new scholars in this field;
• investigate potential for new kinds of cross-disciplinary applied linguistic research, for example via links with cultural studies, history of ideas, social and economic history, as well as the better-established, contiguous fields of History of Linguistics and History of Education;
• create opportunities for research on similar aspects or periods across geographical regions;
• seek research funding opportunities for development of the network and for international research collaborations;
• promote discussion and development of appropriate research methodologies in this area of applied linguistics.

During 2018–20, we intend to pursue these aims by means of some or all of the following activities:

• development of our existing website;             
• establishment of a committee with international representation;
• construction of a freely accessible online bibliography of pertinent publications;
• building up our electronic distribution list;
• developing our Facebook page, specifically targeted at and encouraging sharing of concerns and networking among PhD students and early career researchers;
• hold an annual meeting;
• editing and publication of papers from the ReN symposium at the AILA 2017 Congress.

If you are willing to help, in particular with website development, development of a bibliography or other activities, online or otherwise, please get in touch, and please do contact us at any time if you have comments or further suggestions. 

Finally, we would like to pay tribute to the contributions of founder co-convenors Nicola McLelland and Friederike Klippel in helping to establish HoLLTnet during its first three years. Thank you, Nicola and Friederike!
 
Richard Smith and Giovanni Iamartino (HoLLTnet co-convenors, 2018–2020)
 
 

The HoLLTnet Symposium at the AILA Congress in Rio de Janeiro was successfully held on July 25. As planned, after a brief introduction by the two of us as HoLLT.net co-convenors and a few welcoming words from Francisco Gomes de Matos, the well-known Brazilian applied linguist (you can read the poem he penned for the occasion at the foot of this blog post), the different speakers regularly followed one another: 13 papers were read (only one had unfortunately to be cancelled). The audience – varying between 25 and 40 people during the different sessions – appreciated the variety of topics and methodological approaches, as evidenced by the lively discussions following the presentations. Our impression was that, despite the various languages and periods involved, all the speakers shared the idea that viewing foreign language learning and teaching through a historical lens could and did provide both interesting data per se and suggestions for present-day methodology and critical thinking on foreign language learning and teaching.
 
A key moment in the day was the mid-afternoon Research Network business meeting.

Everybody agreed on the idea of extending our network for another three years, which means that a new application to AILA will have to be submitted by October, and that hopefully we will all meet in the Netherlands (Groningen) in August 2020. It would be great, however, if we also met before that: we discussed the possibility of planning one or two workshops in 2018 and/or 2019, in order to strengthen our ties and possibly widen our group. This is also related to a proposal emailed to us, just a few days before the Rio congress, by Rachel Mairs, who would be ready to host us in Reading for a HoLLT  workshop. Also, Mariarosaria Gianninoto said she might consider organizing a workshop in Grenoble. Further proposals, and suggestions for topics welcome!

Our group also commented on other emails we had received before the congress. It would be a good idea to have a blog as an addition to our HoLLT website (we have taken this to heart, and this post inaugurates the new HoLLT.net blog!. If anybody would like to write a guest post at any time, please contact us!), and also an online bibliography: can one of us – or perhaps one of our PhD students – volunteer to set the ball rolling?

Though desirable, it is likely to be difficult to seek public or private funding for our activities: thanks to Richard and, particularly, Barry O'Sullivan, our Symposium was part-sponsored by British Council Assessment Research & Development, and we are very  grateful for that. But what about the future?

Finally, the possibility of making HoLLT.net into a more official, transnational organization, i.e. a formally constituted learned society, was considered but the group's general attitude to this was that, for now, we should concentrate on building the network as a relatively informal 'umbrella association' in its current form.
 
Giovanni Iamartino (Milan) and Richard Smith (Warwick)