Formaalinen ja funktionaalinen traditio kieltenopetuksessa : kieltenopetuksen oppihistoriallinen tausta antiikista valistukseen

Abstract

The development of language teaching from the Classical Period to the Age of Reason is described. The study is multidisciplinary in approach, and concerned with the history of ideas rather than subject-specific didactics. Language teaching is assumed to have developed as an alternation between two traditions - the formal and the functional. The main purpose of the study is to explain the factors influencing this alternation. The empirical data consist of printed sources dealing with the objectives, methods and basic theoretical principles of language teaching. The study attempts to describe how changes in objectives and basic theoretical premises are reflected in the content and methodology of language teaching and to what extent these changes explain the alternation between the traditions. Chronologically, the study is divided into four main sections: the Classical Period, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Age of Reason. With certain clarifications and qualifications, the findings support the hypothesised alternation between the traditions. In the history of language teaching, the Classical period is generally regarded as an age dominated by the functional tradition. The present study, however, assumes that the origins of both approaches can be traced back to the classical cultural tradition. The theoretical premises of the formal tradition did not develop until the second half of the Middle Ages, but the transition to formalism had already begun in the late Classical Period. The Renaissance is traditionally considered the period when the functional tradition became dominant. Analysis shows that two reform movements can be distinguished within the period; the first was initiated by the Humanists and religious reformers and the second by 17th century educational reform movements. However, in the Age of Reason the formal tradition re-emerged in what is generally referred to as traditional language teaching.