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‘Writing by the Rules’: Composition Teaching in Elementary Schools in Bohemia after 1774 as a Tool of Linguistic Socialisation

Authors: Stráníková Jana

Year: 2025

Type of publication: ostatní - přednáška nebo poster

Page from-to: nestránkováno

Titles:

Language	Name	Abstract	Keywords
eng	‘Writing by the Rules’: Composition Teaching in Elementary Schools in Bohemia after 1774 as a Tool of Linguistic Socialisation	"This paper examines the transformation of instruction in written expression at elementary schools in Bohemia following the educational reform initiated by the General School Ordinance of 1774 and Ignaz Felbiger’s methodological handbook of 1775. Composition (understood as the ability to write correctly, neatly, and according to rules) was conceived not only as a means of acquiring linguistic competence, but also as an instrument of state-driven socialisation, discipline, and the formation of loyal subjects. Based on an analysis of the General School Ordinance, Felbiger’s handbook, the composition textbook published in Vienna in 1775 for use in reformed schools, other normative sources, as well as Czech-language correspondence by individuals with elementary literacy who had begun attending school after 1774, the paper focuses on four thematic areas: • how the 1775 textbook defined the norms of epistolary culture, and how these differed from the actual practices found in vernacular Czech correspondence at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; • the official requirements for composition teaching – its objectives, methodology, and position within the curricula of trivial and main schools; • the broader context of the scholarisation and alphabetisation of the rural population, with particular emphasis on the role of the school as a tool of linguistic and civic normalisation; • the socialising function of composition teaching, particularly in relation to the definition of politeness norms in the context of contemporary gender and social distinctions. The paper offers insights into the expectations and frameworks surrounding composition instruction in Bohemia during the 1770s–1790s, highlighting the interplay between language standardisation, the emerging structures of state administration, and the social functions of literacy. Several aspects will be presented in a condensed form in the oral presentation; a more detailed discussion will be provided i	"1774, General School Ordinance, school reform, composition, elementary education, literacy, composition textbooks, scholarisation, alphabetisation, politeness norms"