Original Research

English studies in an Afrikaans University*

J. A. Venter
Koers - Bulletin for Christian Scholarship/Bulletin vir Christelike Wetenskap | Vol 31, No 11 | a1487 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koers.v31i11.1487 | © 1964 J. A. Venter | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 11 February 1964 | Published: 11 February 1964

About the author(s)

J. A. Venter,, South Africa

Full Text:

PDF (273KB)

Abstract

University studies in English are a comparatively recent introduction at English universities. Cambridge, for instance, first established a Chair of English in 1911. The comparable dates for certain other subjects are as follows: Mechanics, 1875; Physics, 1871; Zoology, 1866. Cambridge was, in fact, the last of the senior British uni­ versities to establish a Chair of English. Edinburgh, ap­ parently, was the first, with its Chair of Belles-Lettres which was an off-shoot of the Department of Logic. The need for this Chair arose partly from the replacement of Latin as the medium of instruction by English. Nowa­ days one often finds that the practical study of English as a means of communication is rejected on traditional grounds as unacademic. It is rather disconcerting to find that for the first 135 years of its existence the oldest University Department of English devoted its energies at least partly to what we would call "Practical English.”

Keywords

No related keywords in the metadata.

Metrics

Total abstract views: 895
Total article views: 731

Reader Comments

Before posting a comment, read our privacy policy.

Post a comment (login required)

Crossref Citations

No related citations found.