Page 14 - Getting of the fence

Chapter 1
1.2 Dutch context
A historic overview of the position, relevance, and focus of foreign language education in the Dutch secondary school context reveals that the shifting focus between the literary text and foreign language development has been the centre of discussion for over 150 years. Based on how both literature and language development were viewed and interpreted, we distinguish three major periods, which will be discussed in more detail below.
1.2.1 1863 – 1967 (Period 1)
In order to aquire a respectable position within the school curriculum, the way Greek and Latin were taught was the model for the EFL curriculum in Period 1. Especially Latin, the language of religion, literature, and science, represented a ‘higher culture’ and was seen as exemplary (Kwakernaak, 2014). Traditionally, Greek and Latin education consisted of reading and translating canonical texts where the texts were analysed lexically and grammatically. In other words, literary texts were used to serve a language learning purpose. Achieving this desired respectable position lasted throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, which is not surprising, considering the fact that French, German, and English only received an official academic status in 1921 (Kwakernaak, 1997a).
Although the focus was primarily language acquisition, Wilhelm (2005) provides an example of a course book from 1808, where the practical motive of language learning was combined with a cultural motive. This rise in the interest in literary history and the actual literary texts themselves in foreign language teaching was further testified by the publication of several literary histories and anthologies. Foreign language teaching halfway the 19th century saw a change from a purely utilitarian aim with an emphasis on learning to read English through approved authors to a utilitarian aim complemented with a cultural aim (Wilhelm, 2005). That this shift was supported, is evidenced by a government report, the so- called Report concerning the State of Higher, Secondary, and Primary Schools (in Dutch: Verslagen nopens den Staat der Hoogere, Middelbare en Lagere Scholen), of the schoolyear 1855 - 1856, which stated that “Education in the foreign languages remained generally sufficient, although the treatment of the grammatical rules could be more scientific and more literature could be used in the practice of languages” (Kwakernaak 1997a, p. 110).
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