Learning grammar in eighteenth-century Russia

Abstract

In eighteenth-century Russia, Latin was the main language of tuition in Church seminaries and the grammatical approach played a very important role. In schools for nobility, the word ‘grammar’ was hardly used for living languages. Early grammar teaching was combined with translation, dialogue memorization, reading, etc. The shift in focus towards more grammar in French and German classes had likely begun by the middle of the century, and was related to the general proliferation of the grammatical approach. A greater emphasis was placed on analysing grammatical form. These changes mark a shift away from the syncretic language learning approach of the Age of Enlightenment towards a new age characterised by the increasing separation of the aspects of language learning and the erosion of the links between them.