[Xmca-l] Re: "English" as a school subject

[Peter Smagorinsky]

Thanks Greg for the prompt reply. English Education is actually my field, so I'm pretty familiar with the American version, which has long rested on the tripod of literature, writing, and language study as a school subject. Literature is getting shortchanged these days because of the Common Core, but for the most part the subject has been intact for some time now. p

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Greg Mcverry
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2016 6:31 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity (xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu) <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: "English" as a school subject

Peter,

I have always heard colloquially that English became a subject first in India where imperial government officials feared their children were being deanglicized by the locals. No idea if it's true.

I also think English as a subject is evolving with the rise of disciplinary literacies as a lens. It is no longer cast as the class where you learn to read and write.

Greg

On Tue, Aug 16, 2016, 6:26 AM Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote:

> Hi, I'm writing mainly to my colleagues who are familiar with public 
> school, pre-university (what we call K-12 in the US) education 
> systems, with a question.
>
> In English-speaking nations, there is a school subject called "English"
> that involves the study of literature (much from English-speaking 
> authors, rather than "world literature" which may have its own 
> separate course), writing (or now, multimodal composing), and language 
> study (of the English language, often in the form of grammar 
> instruction). This subject is not ESL, EFL, TESOL, or other way of 
> describing learning the language of English by speakers of other languages.
>
> My question: I know that in Russia there are school subjects of 
> Russian literature and language; in the Netherlands there is the following:
> The Study Dutch Language & Literature (Dutch: Nederlandse Taal- en
> Letterkunde) can be found at each Dutch university. Formerly you 
> studied linguistics and literature, from about 1975 a third component 
> was
> introduced: Taalbeheersing (Dutch for language skills, especially 
> writing and argumentation). Nowadays the studies have new names, like 
> Dutch Language and culture
>
> Do other nations dedicate a school subject to this discipline 
> (literature, writing, language study in L1 and generally nationalistic in curriculum)?
> If so, what is it called, and what does it comprise?
>
> Thx,Peter
>
>