On 19 April 2024, the Italy ELT Archive will be presented at the 2024 Colloquium of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas to be held at the at the University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London.
In their paper presentation, Luciana Pedrazzini, Andrea Nava, and Emanuela Tenca will outline the criteria for sampling the sources in the Archive as well as the categories adopted to organise their digital entries. These, for instance, identify the methods and approaches informing the materials while emphasising the authors’ professional background (e.g. teacher, teacher trainer, or academic) and the local teaching context.
University of Westminster (Photo credits: By Sabotage1 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0.)
The critical impact these elements exerted on materials design will be demonstrated by providing an example of how the archive could be used to investigate the local take-up and adaptation of a language teaching method. To this end, two popular books among Italian teachers in different periods of time will be presented as case studies: the coursebooks Corso di Lingua Inglese Moderna (Hazon 1933) and Got the Message? (Elviri et al. 1982).
During the presentation, it will be emphasised how the Italy ELT Archive can support teachers in critically evaluating current teaching methods, approaches, and practices, whilst paving the way for innovation in the EFL classroom.
To find out more about the Colloquium, including information about the program and registration, please visit the website of the Henry Sweet Society.
The Henry Sweet Society, founded in 1984, promotes the study of the history of all areas of linguistic thought, from both a theoretical and applied perspectives, also including non-European traditions. You can find more information about its activities here.