Goldstone and Underwood, #149: Foreign Language Education

Another post based on: Andrew Goldstone and Ted Underwood , “The Quiet Transformations of Literary Studies: What Thirteen Thousand Scholars Could Tell Us”, New Literary History 45, no. 3, Summer 2014. Website: http://andrewgoldstone.com/blog/2014/05/29/quiet/

Topic 149 is interesting: language university students english education teaching study modern foreign school. That looks like foreign language education.
The temporal distribution is interesting as well – and it’s the only topic with this three-peak distribution (you can see thumbails of all topic distributions here):

That middle rise spans the 1950s and 1960s, the early decades of the Cold War. In 1957 the Russian’s put the first artificial satellite into earth orbit, Sputnik, and that spurred the government to put money into higher education.
Here we’ve got the top ten articles for the topic. Notice that they’re all from that middle period and that they’re all about foreign language education.

1. Paquette, F. André. "Developing Guidelines for Teacher Education Programs in Modern Foreign Languages." PMLA 81, no. 2 (May 1966): 3–6.
2. [Anon]. "English Teacher Preparation Study Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of English." PMLA 82, no. 4 (September 1967): 19–25.
3. Hook, J. N. "Project English: The First Year." PMLA 78, no. 4 (September 1963): 33–35.
4. [Anon]. "Qualifications for Secondary School Teachers of Modern Foreign Languages." PMLA 70, no. 4 (September 1955): 46–49.
5. [Anon]. "Modern Foreign Languages in the Comprehensive Secondary School." PMLA 74, no. 4 (September 1959): 27–33.
6. Walsh, Donald D. "The MLA FL Program in 1962." PMLA 78, no. 2 (May 1963): 20–24.
7. Mildenberger, Kenneth W. "The MLA College Language Manual Project: History and Present Status." PMLA 72, no. 4 (September 1957): 11–18.
8. Walsh, Donald D. "The Foreign Language Program in 1964." PMLA 80, no. 2 (May 1965): 29–32.
9. Shugrue, Michael F., and Thomas F. Crawley. "The Conclusion of the Initial Phase: The English Program of the Usoe." PMLA 82, no. 6 (November 1967): 15–32.
10. [Anon]. "The Preparation of College FL Teachers." PMLA 70, no. 4 (September 1955): 57–68.

The early years seem a bit of a hodge-podge, but, top 5 for 1889:

1. Joynes, Edward S., Calvin Thomas, Charles E. Fay, Prof. Cohn, Chas. W. Eliot, Prof. Grandgent, G. A. Bartlett, H. S. White, Prof. van Daell, President Lowell, Alonzo Williams, Louise Both-Hendriksen, Prof. Poland, and Dr. Bright. "Reading in Modern Language Study and Requirements in German and French for Admission to College: Discussion." PMLA 4 (January 1889): xlvii–lxii.
2. Easton, Morton W. "The Rhetorical Tendency in Undergraduate Courses." PMLA 4, no. 1 (January 1889): 19–23.
3. Grandgent, Charles H., Mr. Spanhoofd, Prof. Cohn, President Lowell, Dr. Bright, Professor Bell, Calvin Thomas, Prof. Joynes, and A. B. Lyman. "Vowel Measurements." PMLA 4 (January 1889): xxxiv–xli.
4. Primer, Sylvester, Edw. S. Joynes, Dr. Henneman, F. B. Stephenson, J. E. Matzke, and A. N. van Daell. "The Pronunciation of Fredericksburg, Virginia." PMLA 4 (January 1889): xxvi–xxxi.
5. Learned, Marion D., Kuno Francke, Henry Wood, and Dr. Henneman. "The Saga of Walter of Aquitaine: Discussion." PMLA 4 (January 1889): xxxii–xxxiv.

1 and 2 are about the teaching; 3 and 4 are about philology/linguistics, and 5 is literature.
The top 5 for 1902:

1. Brown, Carleton F. "Cynewulf and Alcuin." PMLA 17 (January 1902): xxx–xxxv.
2. Mead, W. E. "Conflicting Ideals in the Teaching of English." PMLA 17 (January 1902): viii–xxiii.
3. Hatfield, James Taft. "Scholarship and the Commonwealth." PMLA 17, no. 3 (January 1902): 391–409.
4. Thomas, Calvin. "The Amelioration of Our Spelling." PMLA 17, no. 3 (January 1902): 297–311.
5. Bright, James Wilson. "The President's Address: Concerning the Unwritten History of the Modern Language Association of America." PMLA 17 (January 1902): xli–lxii.

1 is literature; 2, 3, and 4 are about what the profession is doing; and 5 is historical reflection.
Here’s the top 10 for 2000:

1. Gilman, Sander L. "Learning a Foreign Language in a Monolingual World." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1032–1040.
2. Marks, Elaine. "Reflections and Recommendations." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1254–1256.
3. Bartholomae, David. "Composition, 1900-2000." PMLA 115, no. 7 (December 2000): 1950–
4. Cohen, Walter. "The Economics of Doctoral Education in Literature." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1164–1187.
5. Gundermann, Christian. "The Place and Placement of Foreign Nationals in English, Foreign Languages, and Comparative Literature." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1195–1199.
6. Shumway, Nicolas. "Preparing Graduate Students to Teach in the Major: Two Modest Proposals." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1193–1195.
7. Kramsch, Claire. "A New Field of Research: SLA-Applied Linguistics." PMLA 115, no. 7 (December 2000): 1978–1980.
8. Abram, Michael E. "Graduate Student Assistants and Collective Bargaining: What Model?." PMLA 115, no. 5 (October 2000): 1188–1191.
9. Renker, Elizabeth. ""American Literature" in the College Curriculum: Three Case Studies, 1890-1910." ELH 67, no. 3 (October 2000): 843–871.
10. Young, Karl. "1940: Foreign Languages." PMLA 115, no. 7 (December 2000): 1824–1825+1828–1829.

Notice that in this set we’ve got at least six articles that are about the nature and history of the profession, 4, 6-10.