User:Umimmak/sandbox/MLA

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The Modern Language Association of Great Britain,[a] or just Modern Language Association (MLA),

Its headquarters in 1972 was in 2 Manchester Square, London W.1.[2]

Founding[edit]

The MLA was founded in 1892.[3][4][5].

The MLA's inaugural meeting was held 22 December 1892 in London. It included university dons like Karl Breul of King's College, Cambridge and Victor Spiers of King's College London, and various schoolmasters including Annesley Somerville of Eton College, Louis Moriarty of Harrow School, Otto Siepmann of Clifton College, and W. Stuart Macgowan of Cheltenham College.[6] Representatives from Clifton College and the Manchester Grammar School were also in attendance.[7]


The Journal of Education, in its coverage of the MLA's first meeting, anticipated that the organization would "exert a powerful influence on school curricula, methods of study, and examinations".[8] Max Müller, who was the Chair of Comparative Philology at Oxford, was the MLA's first president.[6] The MLA's conferences and journals provided a venue to discuss language, literature, philology, phonetics, and teaching methods.[6]

Its goals were "To obtain for modern languages the status in the educational curricula of the country to which their intrinsic value, as instruments of mental discipline and culture, entitles them apart from their acknowledged commercial and utilitarian importance."[5][8] It also included "the unification of methods of teaching".[7]


Its aims specifically entailed being an analogous organization to the Modern Language Association of America and the Neuphilologenverein of Germany.[7] This was around the time of the formation of the Modern Language Association of Ontario, the Modern Language Association of America, and the Verband der deutschen neuphilologischen lehrschaft.[3]

Some of its early specific goals included getting the University of Oxford,University of Dublin, and University of Durham to offer an honours degree in Modern Languages and Literature. While Cambridge had such a program since 1884, Oxford at the time had even lacked an honours degree in English language and literature.[9] They had achieved this goal by 1911.[10]

The MLA also thought modern languages should be taught as "living languages", and as such also promoted the use of oral examinations. In 1894, they formally petitioned Victoria University to make sure its newly-established school of modern languages would have viva voce exams.[7]


The MLA's early years focused on the "chief foreign languages", viz., French and German.[7]

The MLA set up a subcommittee in 1913 to investigate the nationality of professors of modern languages teaching at English universities; with the start of World War I, anti-German sentiment made the topic more salient. Its 1916 report found that eight of the 23 university professors of modern languages in England were British; it also recommended that professors should be British-born.[11] This lead to a similar discussion on schoolteachers in 1918.[11] Otto Seipmann, who was involved in the founding of the MLA, withdrew in protest due to rising anti-German sentiment during World War I.[12]


In 1961,

In 1972, Reinhard Hartmann described the MLA as having "great influence among school teachers".[2] It continued to be the primary professional organization for British modern language teachers until its closer in 1990.[9]

The MLA recommended in a policy statement from February 1983 that each local education authority should ensure students have "a variety of choice" of languages to study.[13][14]

Membership and growth[edit]

At its first general meeting in December 1894, the MLA had nearly 170 members.[7]

By 1910 it had almost 900 members.[7]

The MLA had more than 1,000 members by 1911.[15]

By 1972, it has 2,700 members and 20 regional branches.[16]

Publications[edit]

Modern Languages[edit]

The MLA's first publication was called Modern Languages. Its first issue was published in November 1894, and its two final issues were published in 1895. J. J. Beuzemaker was the editor.[17]

Modern Language Quarterly[edit]

In 1897, the MLA established The Modern Language Quarterly. The MLA's journal was renamed in 1905 to Modern Language Teaching.[4] These journals provided the opportunity to discuss the practice of teaching modern languages.[4] Walter Rippmann and Karl Breul were co-founders of Modern Language Quarterly, and Rippman was the journal's editor throughout its publication.[18]

The Modern Language Quarterly incorporated The Modern Language Teachers' Guide.[19]

The first issue was issued in July 1897. It was devoted to the study and teaching of medieval and modern languages, including English. Issues had sections for modern language teaching, observations, reviews, as well as a list of recent publications. Articles included: "Spenser and Puritanism", "Pre-Malorean Romances", and "Sketch Portraitures of Far Eastern Languages".[20]


John Russell, head of the King Alfred School, London, said in 1901 that The Modern Language Quarterly was comparable to the best of similar journals in other nations.[20]

Walter Rippmann was the editor of the Modern Language Quarterly and then Modern Language Teaching from 1897 to 1911.[21]

Modern Language Teaching[edit]

The MLA's journal was renamed in 1905 to Modern Language Teaching.[4] Rippmann stepped down in 1911 to become the editor of the Simplified Spelling Society's journal, but he still contributed to Modern Language Teaching.[18]

Modern Languages[edit]

Modern Languages was the main journal for teachers of modern languages in Britain for many years.[22]


Modern Language Review[edit]

It was at an MLA meeting that W. W. Greg and others established the journal The Modern Language Review. The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) at some point took control of running the journal, but the MLA continued to provide annual grants even after it was no longer the official organization behind the journal. In addition many MLA members were also on MHRA.[23]

Other groups=[edit]

The MLA was affiliated to the International Federation of Modern Language Teachers. It was also one of six associations represented on the Joint Council of Language Associations.[16]

Association for Language Learning[edit]

The MLA is seen as the "precursor" to the Association for Language Learning (ALL).[4] In 1989, the MLA, the British Association for Language Teaching, and other organizations for the teaching of specific languages merged to form ALL. The Language Learning Journal is ALL's main publication; in 2000 the British educational theorist Colin Wringe described it as "an academic and professional journal of considerable international standing and readership".[22]


List of presidents[edit]

The presidents of the MLA were:[24][25][26]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Some sources refer to this association as the Modern Language Association of Great Britain and Ireland.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ E.g., Goldstick 1928, p. 191; Hooper 2020, p. 64.
  2. ^ a b Hartmann 1972, p. 1817.
  3. ^ a b Goldstick 1928, p. 191.
  4. ^ a b c d e McLelland 2018, p. 9.
  5. ^ a b Phillips & Filmer-Sankey 1993, p. 12.
  6. ^ a b c Radford 1985, p. 217.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Hooper 2020, p. 64.
  8. ^ a b Radford 1985, p. 217; J. of Education 1893, p. 248.
  9. ^ a b Howatt & Smith 2002, p. xxii.
  10. ^ McLelland 2017, p. 73.
  11. ^ a b McLelland 2017, p. 68.
  12. ^ Whitehead 2009.
  13. ^ Phillips & Filmer-Sankey 1993, p. 33.
  14. ^ Tumber, Margaret A. (28 October 1983). "Why German". The Times Educational Supplement. No. 3, 513. p. 38.
  15. ^ McLelland 2018, p. 9; Rippmann 1911, p. 11.
  16. ^ a b Hartmann 1972, pp. 1816–1817.
  17. ^ Anderson 1920, p. 202.
  18. ^ a b McLelland 2015.
  19. ^ Hooper 2020, pp. 64–65.
  20. ^ a b Russell 1901, p. 492.
  21. ^ McLelland 2018, p. 13.
  22. ^ a b Wringe 2000, p. 471.
  23. ^ Sisson 1955, p. 25.
  24. ^ The School World 1904, p. 16.
  25. ^ Waterhouse 1920, p. 190–191.
  26. ^ Smalley, Alan, ed. (1989). "The Modern Language Association 1892–1989". Souvenir Section. Modern Languages. 70 (4): 238–239.
  27. ^ Paulin, Roger (19 May 2011). "Breul, Karl Hermann (1860–1932), German scholar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61616.
  28. ^ Coatman, J.; Cuthoys, M.C. (23 September 2004). "Paton, John Lewis Alexander (1863–1946), schoolmaster". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35412.
  29. ^ Bradby, H.C.; Cuthoys, M.C. (23 September 2004). "Vaughan, William Wyamar (1865–1938), schoolmaster". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36635.
  30. ^ Russell-Wells, Sydney (February 1922). "Sir Sydney Russell-Wells' Presidential Address: Languages Dead and Living". Modern Languages. 3 (3–4): 69–82.
  31. ^ Kenney, Catherine (1991). "Crisis in Christendom". The Remarkable Case of Dorothy L. Sayers (Pbk. ed.). Kent State University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-87338-458-2.
  32. ^ Gilmour, Ian (23 September 2004). "Butler, Richard Austen [Rab], Baron Butler of Saffron Walden (1902–1982), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30886.
  33. ^ Travis, J. E. (1947). "The Use of the Film in Language Teaching and Learning". ELT Journal. 1 (6): 147. doi:10.1093/elt/1.6.145.
  34. ^ Falconer, Isobel (23 September 2004). "Mott, Sir Nevill Francis (1905–1996), theoretical physicist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63195.
  35. ^ Swales, Martin (27 May 2010). "Willoughby, Leonard Ashley (1885–1977), German scholar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62526.
  36. ^ Paulin, Roger (27 May 2010). "Bruford, Walter Horace (1894–1988), German and Russian scholar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52636.
  37. ^ Bennett, Philip E. (23 September 2004). "Vinaver, Eugène [Yevgeny Maksimovich Vinaver] (1899–1979), literary scholar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65488.
  38. ^ T.E.H. (1976). "Stephen Ullmann (1914–1976)". French Studies. 30 (2): 245–246. doi:10.1093/fs/XXX.2.245.

Works cited[edit]

  • Bayley, Susan (1991). "Modern Languages: An 'Ideal of Humane Learning': The Leathes Report of 1918". Journal of Educational Administration and History. 23 (2): 11–24. doi:10.1080/0022062910230202.
  • Bayley, Susan N. (1998). "The Direct Method and modern language teaching in England 1880–1918". History of Education. 27 (1): 39–57. doi:10.1080/0046760980270104.
  • Gilbert, Mark (1953). "The Origins of the Reform Movement in Modern Language Teaching in England". Research Review: The Research Publication of the Institute of Education, University of Durham. 4: 1–9.
  • Gilbert, Mark (1954). "The Origins of the Reform Movement in Modern Language Teaching in England—Part II". The Durham Research Review: The Research Publication of the Institute of Education, University of Durham. 5: 9–18.
  • Gilbert, Mark (1955). "The Origins of the Reform Movement in Modern Language Teaching in England—Part III". The Durham Research Review: The Research Publication of the Institute of Education, University of Durham. 6: 1–10.
  • Goldie, David (2013). "Literary Studies and the Academy". In Habib, M. A. R. (ed.). The Nineteenth Century, c. 1830–1914. The Cambridge history of literary criticism. Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 46–71. doi:10.1017/CHO9781139018456.004.
  • Goldstick, Isidore (1928). "The Rise of a New Ideology and the Advent of the Modern Language Specialist (1883–1904)". Modern Languages in the Ontario High School: A Historical Study. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 183–217.
  • Hartmann, R. R. K. (1972). "The Organization of Linguistics in Western Europe". In Haugen, Einar (ed.). Linguistics in Western Europe: The Study of Languages. Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 9 (2). The Hague: Mouton. pp. 1795–1818. doi:10.1515/9783111684970-019.
  • Hooper, Kirsty (2020). "Ask the Experts: Spanish Studies and the Struggle for Authority". The Edwardians and the Making of a Modern Spanish Obsession. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 59–128. ISBN 978-1-78962-132-7. JSTOR j.ctv11vcf74.6.
  • Howatt, A. P. R.; Smith, Richard C. (2002). "Introduction to Volume IV". In Howatt, A. P. R.; Smith, Richard C. (eds.). Britain and Scandinavia. Modern Language Teaching: The Reform Movement. Oxon: Routledge. pp. ix–xxxiv. doi:10.4324/9781315012773. ISBN 0-415-25198-2.
  • MacMahon, Michael K. C. (2007). "The work of Richard John Lloyd (1846–1906) and "the crude system of doctrine which passes at present under the name of Phonetics"". Historiographia Linguistica. 34 (2–3): 281–331. doi:10.1075/hl.34.2.05mac.
  • McLelland, Nicola (2012). "Walter Rippmann and Otto Siepmann as Reform Movement Textbook Authors: A Contribution to the History of Teaching and Learning German in the United Kingdom". Language & History. 55 (2): 123–143. doi:10.1179/1759753612Z.0000000008.
  • McLelland, Nicola (28 May 2015). "Ripman [formerly Rippmann], Walter (1869–1947), linguist and educationist.". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105009.
  • McLelland, Nicola (2017). Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages: A History of Language Education, Assessment and Policy in Britain. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315624853.
  • McLelland, Nicola (2018). "The history of language learning and teaching in Britain". The Language Learning Journal. 46 (1): 6–16. doi:10.1080/09571736.2017.1382052.
  • Phillips, David; Filmer-Sankey, Caroline (1993). Diversification in Modern Language Teaching: Choice and the National Curriculum. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07200-X.
  • Radford, Harry (1985). "Modern Languages and the Curriculum in English Secondary Schools". In Goodson, Ivor (ed.). Social Histories of the Secondary Curriculum: Subjects for Study. Studies in Curriculum History. Vol. 1. London: Falmer. pp. 203–237. ISBN 1-85000-016-6.
  • Roberts, S. C. (1955). "'The Modern Language Review', 1905-1955". The Modern Language Review. 50 (4): 392–394. JSTOR 3719271.
  • Russell, John (December 1901). "Educational Periodicals in England". Educational Review. 22: 492.
  • Sisson, C. J. (1955). "1905–1955: A Retrospect: I". The Modern Language Review. 50 (4): 385–387. JSTOR 3719270.
  • Wheeler, Garon (2018). "The History of Language Teacher Associations". In Elsheikh, Aymen; Coombe, Christine; Effiong, Okon (eds.). The Role of Language Teacher Associations in Professional Development. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp. 3–12. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00967-0_1. ISBN 978-3-030-00966-3.
  • Whitehead, Maurice (8 October 2009). "Siepmann, Otto (1861–1947), teacher of modern languages". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36088.
  • Wringe, Colin (2000). "Journals". In Byram, Michael (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning (1st ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 469–471. ISBN 0-415-12085-3.
  • Rippmann, Walter, ed. (1911). "The Annual Meeting". Modern Language Teaching. 7 (1): 1–19.


Primary-ish[edit]

MLQ[edit]

  • Heath, H. Frank, ed. (1897). "By Way of Introduction". The Modern Language Quarterly. 1 (1): 1. JSTOR 41163364.
  • Heath, H. Frank, ed. (1898). "Reintroduction". The Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature. 1 (1): 1. JSTOR 41065351.

MLT[edit]

[p. 2, 11 for discussion on Ireland]


  • Modern Language Teaching 28(3): 117, September 1947). [obit?]
  • MLT: 14: 198[?]

ML[edit]

Others[edit]

  • Macgowan, W. Stuart (1893). "Modern Language Association". Vereine. Die neueren Sprachen. 1 (5): 282–283. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081639621. [Reprinted: Howatt, A. P. R.; Smith, Richard C., eds. (2002). "W. Stuart MacGowan 'Modern Language Association', Die neueren Sprachen, 1893, pp. 282–3". Britain and Scandinavia. Modern Language Teaching: The Reform Movement. Oxon: Routledge. pp. 103–106. doi:10.4324/9781315012773. ISBN 0-415-25198-2.]


  • "Modern Language Association". The Journal of Education. New Series. 20 (343 (Suppl.)): 68–72. 1898. hdl:2027/mdp.39015021780963.
  • Addison, Margaret (1999). O'Grady, Jean (ed.). Diary of a European Tour, 1900. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-1886-X. JSTOR j.ctt7zmds.
  • Modern Language Association (1916). "Report of the Committee on University Appointments". The Journal of Education. New Series. 38 (569, Supp.): 740–742. hdl:2027/coo.31924071542736.
  • Leathes, Stanley; et al., eds. (1918). "Should the Teachers of Modern Subjects be British or Foreign?". Modern Studies: Being the Report of the Committee on the Position of Modern Languages in the Educational System of Great Britain. London: His Majesty's Stationary Office. pp. 144–148. hdl:2027/mdp.39015059895964.
  • Waterhouse, Gilbert, ed. (1920). "Appendix I: Constitution, Objects and Achievements of the Modern Language Association". The Year Book of Modern Languages: 1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–196.
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