The History of the English Language has been a standard university course offering for over 150 years. Yet relatively little has been written about teaching a course whose very title suggests its prodigious chronological, geographic, and disciplinary scope. In the nineteenth century, History of the English Language courses focused on canonical British literary works. Since these early curricula were formed, the English language has changed, and so have the courses. In the twenty-first century, instructors account for the growing prominence of World Englishes as well as the English language's transformative relationship with the internet and social media.Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language addresses the challenges and circumstances that the course's instructors and students commonly face. The volume reads as a series of "master classes" taught by experienced instructors who explain the pedagogical problems that inspired resourceful teaching practices. Although its chapters are authored by seasoned teachers, many of whom are preeminent scholars in their individual fields, the book is designed for instructors at any career stage-beginners and veterans alike.The topics addressed in Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language include: the unique pedagogical dynamic that transpires in language study; the course's origins and relevance to current university curricula; scholarly approaches that can offer an abiding focus in a semester-long course; advice about navigating the course's formidable chronological ambit; ways to account for the language's many varieties; and the course's substantial and pedagogical relationship to contemporary multimedia platforms. Each chapter balances theory and practice, explaining in detail activities, assignments, or discussion questions ready for immediate use by instructors.

1. Mary Hayes and Allison Burkette, IntroductionPart One: Reflections on Teaching the History of the English Language2. John McWhorter, German, Handwriting, and Other Things I Learned to Keep in Mind When Teaching the History of English3. Thomas Cable, Restoring Rhythm: An Auditory Imagination of theHistory of English4. Rajend Mesthrie, Teaching the History of English: A South African Perspective5. Sonja L. Lanehart, How Is HEL Relevant to Me?Part Two: The Value of Teaching the History of English: Rethinking Curricula6. Matthew Giancarlo, Philology, Theory, and Critical Thinking through the Historyof the English Language7. Seth Lerer, The History of the English Language and the Medievalist8. Michael R. Dressman, English and I: Finding the History of the EnglishLanguage in the ClassPart Three: Research Paradigms and Pedagogical Practices9. Leslie Arnovick, Historical Pragmatics in the Teaching of theHistory of English10. Graeme Trousdale, Using Principles of Construction Grammar in theHistory of English Classroom11. William A. Kretzschmar, Addressing 'Emergence' in a HEL Classroom12. Jukka Tyrkkö, Discovering the Past for Yourself: Corpora, Data-drivenLearning, and the History of English13. David Denison, Word Classes in the History of English14. Michael Adams, Dictionaries and the History of EnglishPart Four: Centuries in a Semester: HEL's Chronological Conventions15. Timothy J. Pulju, English Is an Indo-European Language: Linguistic Prehistoryin the History of English Classroom16. Mary Hayes, Serving Time in HELL: Diachronic Exercises for LiteratureStudents17. Haruko Momma, What Has Beowulf to Do with English? (Let's AskLady Philology!)18. Joan Beal, Starting from Now: Teaching the Recent History of EnglishPart Five: Including 'Englishes' in the History of English19. Benjamin A. Saltzman, From Old English to World Englishes20. Salikoko S. Mufwene, An Ecological Account of the Emergence and Evolutionof English21. Carol Percy, Researching World Englishes in HEL Courses: NeologismsNewspapers, and Novels22. Rakesh M. Bhatt, Situating World Englishes into a History of English Course23. Allison Burkette, Incorporating American English into the History of English24. Robert Penhallurick, Teaching Diversity and Change in the History of English25. Matthew Sergi, Our Subject is Each Other: Teaching HEL to ESL, EFL, andNon-Standard English SpeakersPart Six: Using Media and Performance in the History of English Classroom26. Jonathan Davis-Secord, Approaching the History of English through MaterialCulture27. David Crystal, Teaching Original Pronunciation (OP)28. Natalie Gerber, Engaging Multimedia in the HEL Classroom29. Philip Seargeant, Teaching the History of English Online: Open Educationand Student EngagementAppendix C: Resources for TeachingCompiled and annotated by Mary Hayes and Allison BurketteGeneral BibliographyIndex