In his language memoir, Richard Watson's recounts the existential terror he felt at having to speak French, an emotional impression that "French sounds syrupy and effeminate" (1995, 58) and that "real men don't speak French". This cultural response has deep roots, and continues to shape attitudes both to French as a foreign language, and more specifically to speaking French. The Reform Movement of the late 19th century has often been framed as a "remarkable display of international and interdisciplinary co-operation" (Howatt 1984, 169), yet adoption of the Movement's core principle that "the spoken language should be emphasised" (Howatt and Smith 2002, ix) met with considerable opposition in the teaching of modern languages in English schools and universities. The study presented here considers how the aims of the Reform were circulated and debated in England through the newly established professional fora of conferences and journals and these aims are examined against the discursive and structural formations that inhibited the adoption of the Reform's advocated methods. In particular, I focus on the ideological premise that 'speaking' foreign languages was "unmanly, even unpatriotic" (Bayley 1998, 56; Cohen 2003) and on the concomitant institutional bias against native-speakers (McLelland 2018) as the teaching profession anglicized at the end of the 19th century (Radford 1985), consciously seeking to match the prestige of the classics through emphasizing modern languages as a liberal rather than a utilitarian discipline. I conclude that this ideological shift, with its enduring legacy, was coherent with the mores of late Victorian and Edwardian nationalism, a time of swelling imperial pride and increased militarism.
- Bayley, Susan (1998) The Direct Method and modern language teaching. History of Education 27/1: 39-57.
- Cohen, Michèle (2003) French conversation or "glittering gibberish"? Learning French in eighteenth-century England. In Natash Glaisyer & Sara Pennell (Eds.) Expertise Constructed: Didactic Literature in England 1500–1800. (pp. 99-117). Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Howatt, Anthony P. R. (1984) A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Howatt, Anthony P. R & Smith, Richard, C. (2002) Introduction to volume II. In Anthony P. R Howatt & Richard, C. Smith (Eds.) Modern Language Teaching: The Reform Movement. II. (pp. ix-xlviii). London: Routledge.
- McLelland, Nicola (2017) The history of language learning and teaching in Britain. Language Learning Journal 46/1: 6-16.
- Radford, Harry (1985) Modern languages and the curriculum in English secondary schools. In Ivor Goodson (Ed.) Social Histories of the Curriculum Subjects. (pp. 203-237). Lewes: Falmer Press.
- Watson, Richard (1995) The Philosopher's Demise: Learning French. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
