Hello, everybody. Are there any textbooks whose design reflects the
application of modern linguistic studies to the teaching of beginning
reading skills in Icelandic?
I am familiar with only four textbooks:
1. Gordon-Taylor, _Introduction to Old Norse_
2. Valfells-Cathey, _Old Icelandic: An Introductory Course_
3. Barnes, _A New Introduction to Old Norse_
4. Einarsson, _Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary_
Unfortunately, none of these is designed to teach reading skills
efficiently. Their focus is on one or more of the following:
historical grammatical analysis, contemporary grammatical analysis,
translation from Icelandic to English and/or from English to
Icelandic, and production exercises.
The most efficient design for such a textbook, i.e., one that does
not waste the students' time by helping them develop skills that have
little to do with reading comprehension, is one that includes dozens,
even hundreds, of graded RECOGNITION exercises in vocabulary and
grammar.
Although translation from Icelandic to English is a necessary part of
a beginning reader/grammar, since students do have to have some idea
of what the Icelandic words and phrases mean, the goal for beginnning
students is to help them learn to read without their having to
translate. Therefore, translation exercises should not be included.
They are a waste of time. The time is much better spent on graded
exercises that help students RECOGNIZE the meanings of words and
phrases in context.
Nor are EXERCISES in analyzing the grammatical features of a word or
phrases necessary. It is a waste of time for students to be asked
again and again to identify number, case, person, tense, voice, mood,
etc. I do not do this when I read a foreign language. Although I do
have to recognize the function of a word or phrase in context
(subject, direct object, etc.), I don't have to LABEL it as such in
order to understand what I am reading.
Nor are exercises in production necessary, e.g., Form the plural of
the following nouns: jarl (jarl__), vikingr (viking__), skald
(skald__). Such exercises are appropriate and helpful for students
who wish to learn to WRITE in the language (i.e., produce it) but not
for those who wish to learn only to read (i.e., recognize it). When
I am reading Icelandic, I see the forms already there; I am not asked
to produce them. All I have to do is to RECOGNIZE their meaning in
context.
What I have said applies to the reading not only of Old Icelandic but
also of all the so-called "archaic" languages (Latin, Greek,
Sanskrit, Old English, Old High German, etc.). If one's goal is to
READ the literature written in these languages, then one needs a
textbook that focuses on that goal alone. This means a minimum of
grammatical analysis and translation from the language into English;
lots and lots of graded exercises in the recognition of words,
phrases, and sentences in context; graded vocabulary lists; and
cultural notes as appropriate; but NO translation from English into
the foreign language, NO exercises in grammatical analysis, and NO
exercises in production.