Simon Coffey
Biographic Data
| ID | 6490016 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simon Coffey |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simon |
| FAMILY NAME | Coffey |
| SIGNATURE | COFFEY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1225-9015 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
‘That grammar grudge not our English tong’ . Linguistic nationalism in early modern England and the discursive shift from apologia to assertion
Early modern humanism brought about profound psychological shifts in the perception of vernacular languages, which increasingly became important symbols of emerging national identities. Yet Europe’s languages were not equal. In England – newly isolated from the continent both politically and diplomatically – the imposition of English as the language of state and church aimed to consolidate insular unity and cultural identity, despite it lacking t…
English language and nationalism throughout the ages
Why “Real men don't speak French”
Guided by Foucault's concept of “discursive formations,” the study reported here draws on primary archival and secondary source material to examine how French has been discursively shaped in England and in relation to English. Unpacking sociohistorical constructions of sameness–difference offers a productive frame to explore ideological positionings in new, interdisciplinary ways that have thus far been underdeveloped in applied linguistics. The …
Brian Street - Thinking Through Practice And Working With Theory
Brian Street joined King’s College London as Professor of Language Education in 1996. For the best part of twenty years Brian was an enthusiastic and tireless colleague and teacher in the School of Education, Communication and Society. Already a well-established scholar, he continued to develop and extend his ideas in language and literacy theory and practice throughout his time at King’s. He drew on his intellectual grounding in cultural anthrop…
The history of language learning and teaching I
This new set of volumes provides a welcome addition to the field of the history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT). The editors, Nicola McLelland and Richard Smith, have been instrumental in
Patriotism and patriarchy as obstacles to the adoption of reform methods in the English school system
The Reform Movement has often been framed as a “[...] remarkable display of international and interdisciplinary co-operation [...]” (Howatt 1984: 169), yet adoption of the Movement’s core principle that “[...] the spoken language should be emphasized [...]” (Howatt and Smith 2002: ix) met with considerable opposition in the teaching of modern languages in English schools and universities. In this paper I consider how the aims of the Reform were c…
Périodisation et bornes disciplinaires dans l’historiographie de l’enseignement du français en Angleterre
Cet article retrace, dans les grandes lignes, les éléments épistémologiques et méthodologiques qui ont façonné l’historiographie de l’enseignement du français en Angleterre. Ces éléments recouvrent la sélection de sources documentaires et de périodes traitées, deux facteurs qui sont inextricablement liés aux constructions disciplinaires du français. Dans un premier temps, sont présentées les périodes prédominantes dans l’historiographie de l’ense…
Understanding agency and constraints in the conception of creativity in the language classroom
In this paper we investigate the ways in which creativity is understood and enacted by language teachers. Although the term ‘creativity’ has gained enormous traction in language pedagogy, and in education more generally, we suggest that the concept remains a floating signifier carrying different personal connotations that are shaped by wider institutional and professional constraints. We report on interview data with practising language teachers …
French grammars in England 1660‐1820
This paper presents an analysis of a corpus of grammars written for learning French in England from 1660 to 1820, a period sometimes referred to euphemistically as the “long century” which saw language teaching evolve in response to broader social and epistemological developments, namely the increased codification of vernacular grammar against a backdrop of scientific rationalism and, in England, the greater institutionalisation of school-based p…
Choosing to Study Modern Foreign Languages
In this paper I present the widely reported crisis of modern foreign languages study through a discourse perspective. I review the ‘problem’ of languages uptake in English schools and then present a qualitative study for which groups of 14 year-olds from different schools were asked to discuss their choices either to continue studying or to drop modern languages. To interpret findings I drew on Bourdieusian social practice theory and Foucault’s n…
The Narrative Construction of Identities in Critical Education
Strangerhood and intercultural subjectivity
An increasingly salient justification for the study of foreign languages is the value of language learning for developing intercultural competence, and in particular for showing how interculturality meshes with widespread aims of equity and acceptance of the stranger in new contexts of global diversity. In this article I consider intercultural experience of language learning through the model of strangerhood, a concept first advanced by Simmel as…
Stories of Frenchness
This paper reports on life-story accounts used to gain insights into the symbolic value language learners attach to French. The concept of ‘interpretative repertoires’ is used to show how participants situate personal narratives in broader cultural discourses (a ‘Francophile repertoire’) to construct their experience of Frenchness. Data from three life narrative case studies – British adults who have studied French to a high level – illustrate ho…
Stories of Frenchness
This paper reports on life-story accounts used to gain insights into the symbolic value language learners attach to French. The concept of ‘interpretative repertoires’ is used to show how participants situate personal narratives in broader cultural discourses (a ‘Francophile repertoire’) to construct their experience of Frenchness. Data from three life narrative case studies – British adults who have studied French to a high level – illustrate ho…
Strangerhood and intercultural subjectivity
An increasingly salient justification for the study of foreign languages is the value of language learning for developing intercultural competence, and in particular for showing how interculturality meshes with widespread aims of equity and acceptance of the stranger in new contexts of global diversity. In this article I consider intercultural experience of language learning through the model of strangerhood, a concept first advanced by Simmel as…
The Narrative Construction of Identities in Critical Education
Stories of Frenchness
This paper reports on life-story accounts used to gain insights into the symbolic value language learners attach to French. The concept of ‘interpretative repertoires’ is used to show how participants situate personal narratives in broader cultural discourses (a ‘Francophile repertoire’) to construct their experience of Frenchness. Data from three life narrative case studies – British adults who have studied French to a high level – illustrate ho…
Strangerhood and intercultural subjectivity
An increasingly salient justification for the study of foreign languages is the value of language learning for developing intercultural competence, and in particular for showing how interculturality meshes with widespread aims of equity and acceptance of the stranger in new contexts of global diversity. In this article I consider intercultural experience of language learning through the model of strangerhood, a concept first advanced by Simmel as…
The Narrative Construction of Identities in Critical Education
Choosing to Study Modern Foreign Languages
In this paper I present the widely reported crisis of modern foreign languages study through a discourse perspective. I review the ‘problem’ of languages uptake in English schools and then present a qualitative study for which groups of 14 year-olds from different schools were asked to discuss their choices either to continue studying or to drop modern languages. To interpret findings I drew on Bourdieusian social practice theory and Foucault’s n…
French grammars in England 1660‐1820
This paper presents an analysis of a corpus of grammars written for learning French in England from 1660 to 1820, a period sometimes referred to euphemistically as the “long century” which saw language teaching evolve in response to broader social and epistemological developments, namely the increased codification of vernacular grammar against a backdrop of scientific rationalism and, in England, the greater institutionalisation of school-based p…
Périodisation et bornes disciplinaires dans l’historiographie de l’enseignement du français en Angleterre
Cet article retrace, dans les grandes lignes, les éléments épistémologiques et méthodologiques qui ont façonné l’historiographie de l’enseignement du français en Angleterre. Ces éléments recouvrent la sélection de sources documentaires et de périodes traitées, deux facteurs qui sont inextricablement liés aux constructions disciplinaires du français. Dans un premier temps, sont présentées les périodes prédominantes dans l’historiographie de l’ense…
Understanding agency and constraints in the conception of creativity in the language classroom
In this paper we investigate the ways in which creativity is understood and enacted by language teachers. Although the term ‘creativity’ has gained enormous traction in language pedagogy, and in education more generally, we suggest that the concept remains a floating signifier carrying different personal connotations that are shaped by wider institutional and professional constraints. We report on interview data with practising language teachers …
The history of language learning and teaching I
This new set of volumes provides a welcome addition to the field of the history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT). The editors, Nicola McLelland and Richard Smith, have been instrumental in
Patriotism and patriarchy as obstacles to the adoption of reform methods in the English school system
The Reform Movement has often been framed as a “[...] remarkable display of international and interdisciplinary co-operation [...]” (Howatt 1984: 169), yet adoption of the Movement’s core principle that “[...] the spoken language should be emphasized [...]” (Howatt and Smith 2002: ix) met with considerable opposition in the teaching of modern languages in English schools and universities. In this paper I consider how the aims of the Reform were c…
Brian Street - Thinking Through Practice And Working With Theory
Brian Street joined King’s College London as Professor of Language Education in 1996. For the best part of twenty years Brian was an enthusiastic and tireless colleague and teacher in the School of Education, Communication and Society. Already a well-established scholar, he continued to develop and extend his ideas in language and literacy theory and practice throughout his time at King’s. He drew on his intellectual grounding in cultural anthrop…
Why “Real men don't speak French”
Guided by Foucault's concept of “discursive formations,” the study reported here draws on primary archival and secondary source material to examine how French has been discursively shaped in England and in relation to English. Unpacking sociohistorical constructions of sameness–difference offers a productive frame to explore ideological positionings in new, interdisciplinary ways that have thus far been underdeveloped in applied linguistics. The …
‘That grammar grudge not our English tong’ . Linguistic nationalism in early modern England and the discursive shift from apologia to assertion
Early modern humanism brought about profound psychological shifts in the perception of vernacular languages, which increasingly became important symbols of emerging national identities. Yet Europe’s languages were not equal. In England – newly isolated from the continent both politically and diplomatically – the imposition of English as the language of state and church aimed to consolidate insular unity and cultural identity, despite it lacking t…
English language and nationalism throughout the ages
Sociology (10 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies (6 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Art (3 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (3 works)