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.

Mary Hayes is Associate Professor of English and the Director of Medieval Studies at the University of Mississippi, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses including two versions of the History of the English Language.

Allison Burkette is Associate Professor of Linguistics as well as the director of undergraduate and graduate programs in linguistics at the University of Mississippi.

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