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Educational Linguistics
Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir
Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir Editors
Language
Development
across the Life
Span
The Impact of English on Education and
Work in Iceland
Volume 34
Series Editor
Francis M. Hult, Lund University, Sweden
Editorial Board
Marilda C. Cavalcanti, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil
Jasone Cenoz, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Angela Creese, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Ingrid Gogolin, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Christine Hélot, Université de Strasbourg, France
Hilary Janks, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Claire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A
Constant Leung, King’s College London, United Kingdom
Angel Lin, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Alastair Pennycook, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and
language learning. The series is based on the idea that there is a need for studies that
break barriers. Accordingly, it provides a space for research that crosses traditional
disciplinary, theoretical, and/or methodological boundaries in ways that advance
knowledge about language (in) education. The series focuses on critical and
contextualized work that offers alternatives to current approaches as well as
practical, substantive ways forward. Contributions explore the dynamic and multi-
layered nature of theory-practice relationships, creative applications of linguistic
and symbolic resources, individual and societal considerations, and diverse social
spaces related to language learning.
The series publishes in-depth studies of educational innovation in contexts
throughout the world: issues of linguistic equity and diversity; educational language
policy; revalorization of indigenous languages; socially responsible (additional)
language teaching; language assessment; first- and additional language literacy;
language teacher education; language development and socialization in non-
traditional settings; the integration of language across academic subjects; language
and technology; and other relevant topics.
The Educational Linguistics series invites authors to contact the general editor
with suggestions and/or proposals for new monographs or edited volumes. For more
information, please contact the publishing editor: Jolanda Voogd, Senior Publishing
Editor, Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5894

Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir • Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir
Editors
Language Development
across the Life Span
The Impact of English on Education and
Work in Iceland
Editors
Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir
University of Iceland University of Iceland
Reykjavik, Iceland Reykjavik, Iceland
ISSN 1572-0292 ISSN 2215-1656 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-319-67803-0 ISBN 978-3-319-67804-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67804-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017956577
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
anguage Development Across the Life Span. English in Iceland:

L
From Input to Output�� 1
Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir and Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir
he Policies and Contexts that Frame English Education
T
and Use in Iceland�� 19
nglish Exposure, Proficiency and Use in Iceland�� 35
E
nglish Exposure and Vocabulary Proficiency at the Onset
E
of English Instruction�� 57
Ásrún Jóhannsdóttir
earning and Using English: The Views of Learners at the End
L
of Compulsory Education�� 79
Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir and Ásrún Jóhannsdóttir
cademic Vocabulary Proficiency and Reading Comprehension
A
Among Icelandic Secondary School Students �� 95
Guðmundur Edgarsson
erceptions of Relevance of English Education at Secondary
P
School�� 113
Anna Jeeves
sing English at University�� 143
U
imultaneous Parallel Code Use �� 163
S
v
vi Contents
niversity Instructors’ Views on Using Curriculum Materials

U
in English�� 179
Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir
riting English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP):
W
Personal Identity and Professional Voice �� 197
Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir and Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir
Conclusions�� 215
Language Development Across the Life Span.
English in Iceland: From Input to Output
Abstract The spread of English throughout the world is unprecedented in the scale
of its effects on communication across languages and cultures (Crystal 2003;
Seidlhofer 2011). Communities have also been affected by the spread of English.
More and more studies report increased translanguaging and use of Anglo-Saxon
cultural references and even the emergence of English varieties to serve needs in
linguistic spaces previously dominated by a local language (Blommaert 2013;
Shohamy et al. 2010; Higgins 2009). This book presents findings of a seven-year
research project on the influence of English on the changing linguistic environment
in Iceland. This chapter serves as an introduction to the book and its theoretical and
linguistic context. Each subsequent chapter presents findings of different studies
that make up the large-scale research project. The chapters range from examination
of English exposure on a national level to functions of English in education and the
work force. Together they provide a comprehensive description of the changing
ecology of a presumed monolingual community as it transitions to a pluri-lingual
society. The book focuses specifically on how massive exposure through popular
culture and social media in the everyday lives of Icelanders leads to high confidence
in English proficiency and the ramifications of that exposure and language confi-
dence in academic pursuits.
1 Introduction
The spread of English throughout the world is unprecedented in the scale of its
effects on communication across languages and cultures (Crystal 2003; Seidlhofer
2011). Communities have also been affected by the spread of English. More and
more studies report increased translanguaging and use of Anglo-Saxon cultural ref-
erences and even the emergence of English varieties to serve needs in linguistic
spaces previously dominated by a local language (Blommaert 2013; Shohamy et al.
B. Arnbjörnsdóttir (*) • H. Ingvarsdóttir

University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 1

B. Arnbjörnsdóttir, H. Ingvarsdóttir (eds.), Language Development across the Life Span,
Educational Linguistics 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67804-7_1
2 B. Arnbjörnsdóttir and H. Ingvarsdóttir
2010; Higgins 2009). Whether the phenomenon is called English as a Global lan-
guage, English as an International Language, English as a Lingua Franca, English
as a World Language or even “English as a Lingua Frankensteinia” (Phillipson
2008), the fact remains that English has had a profound effect on most of the world’s
language communities. Whatever the research stance, the field has matured in that
previously value laden research approaches have given way to recognition of the
sociolinguistic value of the opportunity to examine language contact as it happens
on a world-wide scale.
Despite numerous studies on the effect of English, few, if any, examine the
impact of language contact based on a full range of data from an entire speech com-
munity. This book does this in a unique way as it describes the uptake of an addi-
tional language by speakers who already have a fully functional language used in all
domains in a linguistic space that is clearly defined geographically, culturally, and
politically; namely Iceland. Iceland provides a unique laboratory in which to study
the spread of English as it affects a whole country from the grassroots level where
English is used as a lingua franca while at the same time facing demands of English
at the official level. The goal of this book is to provide a comprehensive description
of the changing ecology of a presumed monolingual community as it transitions to
a pluri-lingual society. The book focuses specifically on how massive exposure
through popular culture and social media in the every day lives of Icelanders leads
to high confidence in English proficiency and the ramifications of that exposure and
language confidence in academic pursuits.
Iceland is in many ways a microcosm of a modern society. Its 330,000 inhabit-
ants speak a national language that has been preserved despite hundreds of years of
colonial rule by Denmark when the main language of administration and commerce
was Danish (Hauksdóttir 2015). In many ways, Icelanders have traditionally defined
themselves by their language and literature (Pálsson 1989) resulting in strong pres-
ervation efforts and robust institutional support of the national language which is
used today in all domains. The preservation of Icelandic was also aided by geo-
graphical isolation for centuries and even though communication with the outside
world was frequent, this was limited to the few who could afford to travel or obtain
an education abroad. The first modern foreign language which was taught in schools
was Danish. Towards the end of the twentieth century, English replaced Danish as
the main foreign language spoken by Icelanders. Educated Icelanders, as in other
countries, also spoke other foreign languages as the study of three to four languages
was compulsory in secondary education. The linguistic context of Iceland began to
change during WWII when Iceland was occupied by English speaking forces that
numbered almost a quarter of the population of the island at the time, and then in the
sixties by the Anglo Saxon cultural revolution and finally by the internet for the last
two decades or so. Iceland is a modern society with open borders and the highest
internet use in Europe (Statistics Iceland 2015). English is spoken by a large number
of Icelanders, used in business and education and is the language used almost exclu-
sively for accessing information through the internet. This has led to dramatic
changes in the Linguistic Landscape of Iceland that will be outlined in this book.
Language Development Across the Life Span. English in Iceland: From Input to Output 3
The seven-year research project reported in this book examined the rich daily
exposure to English, the resultant acquisition of English by Icelanders from youth
to adulthood and the functions English serves in Icelandic society. The project
examined the impact that massive exposure to English as a World Language has on
the development of the linguistic repertoire of modern day Icelanders, specifically
the local appropriation of English at the grassroots level on the one hand, and on the
other hand, its function in education where the use of English as an Additional
Language with ENL norms is expected. The book is thus of importance to anyone
interested in the spread of English whatever their theoretical stance. A central objec-
tive of the project was to gather evidence to inform educational policy in the
Expanding Circle of English use (Kachru 1985). In this effort, a main focus was to
document Icelanders’ exposure to English from an early age and examine the rela-
tionship between the nature and level of input and the functions, or output, neces-
sary to obtain further education in Iceland where academic proficiency in English is
assumed. The different studies that make up this project thus document English
input at different times during the lifespan1,2 and output at different levels of the
Icelandic education system. Ultimately this book describes language contact in the
Expanding Circle of English use and illustrates its effect within a speech commu-
nity with a full national language.
The project incorporates several studies that utilize a mixed methodology. Data
were collected about general English exposure of Icelanders through national sur-
veys, interviews, diaries, and proficiency tests with the participation of over three
thousand Icelanders over a 7 year period. A team of researchers, including profes-
sors and graduate students, conducted the different sub-studies that make up the
project. Each chapter in the book describes the findings of the different sub-parts of
the research project on the effects of the spread of English and use of English as it
relates to the life-long (bi-/multi-lingual) development of speakers in Iceland. This
includes cross–sectional self-report studies of exposure to both naturalistic (extra-
mural) and instructed English, cross-sectional self-reports on proficiency and func-
tions of English, and experimental tests on proficiency at different education levels.
The overarching question is how the type and amount of English Icelanders encoun-
ter in their daily lives serves the functions that are required in education. The
research project illustrates the expansion of individuals’ linguistic repertoires as a
result of the spread of English. The project also provides a comprehensive descrip-
tion of how English as a World Language affects a whole linguistic community.
1
Input/ouputInput in second language learning and use means the language that the learner/user
hears or reads. Output refers to the production of language through speaking and writing.
2
Lifespan is used here to refer generally to the age range of the participants in this cross sectional
study. As the focus is on education, infants are excluded and older people only participated in
national surveys of exposure and views of proficiency. Educational impact of the exposure focuses
mostly on younger people, students at all three levels of education from primary to tertiary.
2 Motivation and Purpose of the Book
This study was undertaken to examine how the spread of English as a World
Language3 affects language proficiency and use at the local level. Specifically, the
aim was to examine in some detail the effect of English on the linguistic repertoires
of a community of speakers and the functions which English serves in modern soci-
ety, specifically in education. It is also an effort to shed light on an apparent discrep-
ancy between official language and educational policies of nations that promote
fully fledged national languages while the linguistic reality of their citizens is some-
thing entirely different and multilingual. The spread of English as a World Language
has come through the back door in many countries, including the Nordic countries,
and taken hold along side a national language, seemingly without acknowledgement
or reaction from language and educational authorities. Iceland provides a good lab-
oratory to examine the whole cycle from input to output of English as a World
Language while in progress. The study has applications to most of the countries of
Northern Europe, especially the Nordic countries as well as theoretical implications
as linguists struggle to explain the effect of the spread of English world wide.
The Nordic countries, including Iceland, are open societies and have tradition-
ally had an easy access to English especially after the Second World War. A com-
mon Nordic policy encourages use of English parallel with local languages in
domains such as academia, business and diplomacy (Deklaration 2006).
Simultaneously, the Nordic countries have fully fledged national languages that are
strongly supported institutionally and at all levels of society. There is, however,
massive exposure to English in the Nordic countries and even a preference for using
English as a lingua franca rather than using their mutually intelligible native lan-
guages when people from the different Scandinavian countries encounter each
other. The assumption is that Nordic peoples’ linguistic repertoires include near
native levels of English to the point that they can choose which language to use in
different functional domains. This includes being able to study in English at their
local universities where increasingly, the medium of instruction is English and the
bulk of textbooks are written for native speakers of English. This ideology is
expressed in the Common Nordic Language Policy (Deklaration 2006) and seen in
language policy and practice in Nordic universities and in the workforce. The lin-
guistic context of Iceland pertains directly to the other Nordic countries and studies
of the spread of English are directly applicable to other Nordic educational
contexts.
This multilingual ideology expressed in the Common Nordic Language Policy is
contested by several studies of English use at tertiary level that show that students
struggle with English despite reporting generally good English skills (Hellekjær
2005, 2009; Pecorari et al. 2011; Brock-Utne 2001; Arnbjörnsdóttir and Ingvarsdóttir
3
The term English as a World Language is not meant to indicate a research stance although the
term English as an International Language was rejected because of the effects English has had at
the local level.
2010). Officially, English is still a foreign language in the Nordic countries accord-
ing to official curriculum guidelines and instructional practices which reflect that
status (Folkeskole. Subjects and Curriculum). Yet, Nordic universities require near
native fluency for their proliferating EMI programs and use textbooks written for
native speakers of English. The disparity between ideology and practice in Nordic
Universities is well documented by Hultgren et al. (2014).
The situation in Iceland is a good example of how the official status of English
seems to be at odds with sociolinguistic reality. English has traditionally been con-
sidered a foreign language in Iceland. The Icelandic educational system is three
tiered. Primary education (compulsory education) begins in the first grade when
students are 6 years old and ends when they are 16 in the 10th grade. The secondary
level begins when students are 16 years old and they leave at 19 years old.4 National
Curriculum Guides for Teaching Foreign Languages from 2011 stipulate that
English language instruction begin in the 4th grade, with permission for schools to
start instruction earlier (p. 5). Despite recognizing the special nature of English in
Iceland, the National Curriculum Guide outlines the same goals and benchmarks at
the end of each year for all students for all foreign languages, including English.
English is officially taught as a foreign language. The underlying assumption is the
traditional notion associated with foreign language instruction that children come to
class as a linguistic Tabula Rasa – all begin at the same level and move forward in
the same way with the main input being the classroom, the textbook etc.
(Arnbjörnsdóttir og Ingvarsdóttir 2007).
The sociolinguistic reality of English exposure and English use in Iceland, and
all the Nordic countries, is very different from the one reflected in official policy
documents. The difference between a second and a foreign language situation lies
in the type and even more so in the amount of input (language exposure) the learner
has from the Target Language and both have consequences for the kind of profi-
ciency the learner attains. Extramural exposure to English in Iceland is to an infor-
mal language register, and this has consequences for the uptake, i.e. the type of
language learners learn, and consequently the purposes for which it can be used.
Icelandic children seem to acquire English from their environment through TV,
computers, and foreign travels which is reinforced in school as formal instruction
emphasizes communicative everyday English (Kristjánsdóttir et al. 2006). However,
English proficiency varies greatly and may be overestimated (Ingvarsdóttir 2004;
Kristjánsdóttir et al. 2006; Arnbjörnsdóttir 2007; Lefever 2010). One manifestation
of this dichotomy is that for some years now, the faculty of the English Department
has recognized that the English skills of students entering the program have been
shifting from competencies in reading and writing that characterized students’ pro-
ficiency in earlier decades to current students’ better facility with oral language
expression, especially with regards to informal conversational language proficiency.
Yet, at the same time English is increasingly used in higher education and the work
force (Arnbjörnsdóttir and Ingvarsdóttir 2007; Arnbjörnsdóttir 2009).
4
Secondary education has traditionally been 4 years in Iceland, but in 2015 it was changed to
3 years.
Exposure to English in Iceland is also varied both in type and amount of English
input. Some children come to school already fluent in English and others with little
more than a few phrases and exclamations. Most children fall somewhere between
these two extremes. Formal English instruction begins at different ages in Iceland
but the trend is to start this instruction earlier and earlier. Within a decade, some
students will be entering secondary school having had formal English instruction
from the age of five and others from the age of nine, depending on the emphasis of
individual primary schools. This proficiency gap can only widen as the most profi-
cient expand and fortify their skills, while others are learning the basics. Most of
these children comprehend more than they produce in line with the nature of the
exposure which is mostly through media. Proficiency in receptive language skills
may lead to an overestimation on the part of teachers and, even more critically, of
students themselves as to the level of their English skills. Kristjánsdóttir et al. report
that when their primary school students were asked to evaluate their English profi-
ciency, 75% of boys and 66% of girls in the 9th and 10th grade considered their
English to be rather good or very good (p. 14). The vast majority (84%) believed that
their English proficiency was adequate for study and work later on. Students further
reported being bored and unmotivated and did not see the relevance of studying
English in school when they already knew enough English. Instructional practices
seem to reinforce the very same receptive skills that students attain extramurally.
The distinction between informal conversational language skills and academic
language skills lies at the heart of the need to examine the status of English in
Iceland and other Nordic countries. Exposure to and uptake of informal language in
the environment is typical of a second language situation, where colloquial speech
is available to be “picked up” and appropriated by the learner. Numerous studies of
second language proficiency demonstrate that children of immigrants learn basic
language skills quickly and with minimal effort given enough input in their environ-
ment. This is not the case for academic language skills where ENL standards apply
(Collier 1989). Unlike learners in a typical second language situation who acquire
receptive and productive conversational language skills, Icelandic children seem to
acquire receptive skills and very highly contextualized colloquial English. Clearly,
those traditional definitions of a learner’s linguistic environment as an ESL or an
EFL context do not adequately describe the situation in Iceland. A brief survey of
the national curriculum guidelines of the amount of English instruction of students
in the natural science track in the secondary schools (from 16 to 20) shows that
students receive only nine credits or three semesters (out of eight) of English instruc-
tion and that advanced English courses are heavily literature based. The implication
that Icelandic students come to school proficient in colloquial English and that this
type of proficiency is reinforced at school contrasts seriously with the language
demands made of those students once at University or in the workplace. This issue
becomes even graver as students have an unfounded confidence in their overall
English proficiency.
At universities and other higher education institutions which depend on English
language textbooks and increasingly EMI instruction, students must rely on
academic language skills. Many Icelandic students who believed in secondary
school, and in front of their computers or TV screens that their English proficiency
was adequate, find themselves having difficulty comprehending English textbooks
in their university courses. English language university textbooks are not written
with the second language user in mind and require a high level of literacy skills. The
fact that many of these students seem to speak English with some fluency and are
able to use near-native-like colloquial speech, tends to mask their lack of academic
reading and writing skills.
Increasingly, Icelandic companies use English as their primary language of com-
munication. Of the 24 respondents in Óladóttir’s (2005) survey of Icelandic profes-
sionals, only one stated that he/she had not used English at all during the previous
week. Twelve wrote that they used English many times each day, and 13 used either
written or spoken language at work many times each day (p.76). Iceland’s Chamber
of Commerce’s 2004–2005 report, Visions of the Future, suggests that Icelanders
become bilingual in Icelandic and English as English is the international language
of commerce and industry (Iceland’s Chamber of Commerce 2005). It is difficult in
Iceland to get an education, work in large companies, follow developments in one’s
profession, read manuals etc. or acquire any kind of information on the web without
being proficient in English (Jeeves 2013). Yet they seem to struggle with many of
these tasks (Kristvinsson 2012; Jónsdóttir 2011).
To summarize: The spread of English in the Nordic countries has led to wide
discrepancies between official policies and assumption about the English skills of
Nordic peoples that seem largely unfounded. Studies as to the amount, type and
nature of exposure to English in the Expanding Circle, are both lacking and criti-
cally necessary, as is research on the actual use of English as a language of instruc-
tion and the language of instructional materials at the secondary and tertiary level at
international universities. What is clear, however, is that English today does not
have the same status as other foreign languages taught in schools in the Nordic
countries. The reexamination of the status of English in Iceland has implications for
all Nordic educational contexts as it calls for a new model of what constitutes a
linguistic environment for learning.
3 Theoretical Framework
Although this is essentially a descriptive project that may be situated within the
purview of Applied Linguistics, the studies that make up the project also have theo-
retical implications and have been informed by current theory. During the 7 year
phase of this project, the research field that examines the intense spread of English
has matured with many different theoretical approaches. Ultimately, however, the
spread of English is a sociolinguistic phenomenon that has helped revolutionize
how languages and their ecologies are evolving and how they are studied (Haugen
1972; Árnason 2005; Kramsch 2003). Due to the mobility of people across linguis-
tic boundaries and the explosion of the use of English as a Lingua Franca over the
internet, a new linguistic ecology of the world has been created that has called for a
paradigm shift in the way we view languages, language learning and language use.
But there is yet to be developed a predictive and holistic theoretical framework that
can account for the multilayered and multilingual uses of English throughout the
world, especially in the Expanding Circle of English use.
This project has been informed by the English as a Lingua Franca Approach.
ELF provided an alternative to views that depicted the spread of English as a preda-
tory language driven by neo-colonial Anglo-Saxon market forces (Phillipson 2008).
The ELF movement affected the project in such a way as to free us to study English
and its uses without it being juxtaposed and analyzed in terms of its negative effect
on Icelandic and Icelandic use. It allowed a more objective examination of the status
of English in Iceland that could inform the current sociolinguistic discussion that
tries to make sense of a new super-diverse world (Vertovec 2007; Blommaert and
Rampton 2011). The paradigm shift involves moving from a static view of language
and language use to a dynamic view of speakers’ linguistic repertoires and the vari-
ous functions they serve in a world where English has indeed become a Lingua
Franca among speakers of other languages in different historical, social and cultural
and educational contexts.
The paradigm shift has affected Applied Linguistics in profound ways. The proj-
ect has been influenced by the recent challenges to the notion of what constitutes a
target language for learning English. Is it Standard English? What is Standard
English and what is not, and which should be taught in Expanding Circle countries
(Kachru 1985, 1992; Jenkins 2007)? The notion of what constitutes native English
proficiency has been up for debate as studies have found that near native speakers
may surpass native speakers in grammaticality judgements about English grammar
and that non-native use of English is as legitimate as use of English by native speak-
ers (Hyltenstam et al. 2014; Birdsong 1999; Brutt-Griffler and Samimy 2001, Cook
1999, Jenkins 2000). Questions have been raised about what is the driving force
behind the spread of English – whether it is linguistic imperialism (Phillipson 2008)
or driven by the economic and social needs of education, business and or industry at
the local level. Traditional second language research methodology has been criti-
cized for studying what learners cannot do (Firth and Wagner 1997), and Brutt-
Griffler (2002) advocates the study of macro-acquisition by groups rather than the
traditional study of individual learners’ errors. Finally a more dynamic view of lan-
guage questions the traditional categorization of languages as discrete and bounded
entities to viewing language proficiency of all the languages a user can employ as
his linguistic repertoire with translanguaging as a label for multi-use of different
languages in multiple contexts. The new paradigm essentially legitimizes the use of
English by speakers of other languages. There are few studies that examine the
relationship between English as a Lingua Franca at the grassroots level and the
demands of English at the “official” level, in this case, education.
The changing status of English in the Expanding Circle (Kachru 1985) from
essentially a learner language to a lingua franca that serves local functions as much
as it serves in communication across cultures, calls into question the relevance of
the traditional dual distinction used to define a learner’s target language learning
environment: namely, that language learning takes place either in a second language
situation, where the learner learns the target language in the target culture, or in a
foreign language context where the target language is learned in the learner’s native
language culture with exposure primarily in the classroom. This dual distinction is
reflected in national and European curriculum guidelines as well as in instructional
practices around the world with the very different instructional approaches to sec-
ond language education of immigrants and foreign language education of native
students (Jenkins 2007). The dual distinction no longer applies in contexts where
the space that English takes in the linguistic landscape of the world is ever expand-
ing. We need studies that describe this expansion and its effect at the local level, in
this case at a national level within a specific domain, that of education. This book
describes such studies that together present a convincing overview of how the spread
of English affects a country.
We believe that this project has implications for the development of an explana-
tory and predictive model for the expansion of English world-wide based on
Schneider’s early model for post colonial countries (2007). Throughout this project,
the work has been guided by Kachru’s influential three concentric circle model of
English use (1985) where the Inner Circle represents countries where English serves
as a national language, the Outer Circle the Englishes in former colonies, and
Expanding Circle the Englishes in countries that traditionally consider English a
foreign language or a learner language. Kachru’s groundbreaking work served to
clarify the different development of Englishes depending on the context of that
development. Canagarajah (2006) introduced a more dynamic perspective on
Kachru’s Model in order capture the different historical and development contexts
that forged different varieties of English around the world.
In 2007 Schneider presented an initial effort to account for the development of
Englishes in postcolonial contexts in the Outer Circle (Schneider 2007). His Dynamic
Model of the Evolution of Postcolonial English accounts for the creation of a local
variety of English in five phases (2007, p.29): They are briefly mentioned before we
move on to the evolution of his model. For the interested reader please confer
Scheinder (2007). The original phases were: (1). Foundation when English is intro-
duced into a territory (as it is colonialized) (Schneider 2007: 33–36) (2). Exonormative
stabilization phase (Schneider 2007: 37–40) when bilingualism emerges and a
hybrid identity begins to develop in the colony. (3). Nativisation (Schneider 2007:
40–44) when a common identity of the two groups begins to emerge. (4).
Endonormative stabilization (Schneider 2007: 48–52) which follows independence
and creation of a national identity. (5). Differentiation. By this final phase (Schneider
2007: 52–54), the former colony becomes a stable young nation, and the existence
of the new variety of English is accepted. Each phase is seen from the perspective of
the colonists and the colonized. However, the model in this form is strictly applica-
ble to Outer Circle contexts. Each phase has four interconnected parameters that
Schneider later amended in an effort to capture the development of English in
Expanding Circle countries without a colonial past. Schneider (2014) also excludes
the Foundation phase in this version as it applies only to former colonies. Schneider
(2014) applies his new model to emergent contexts like China and Japan but calls for
further research to adapt his model to Expanding Circle situations (2014, p.28).
Others have applied Schneider‘s model to Expanding Circle countries, but not
convincingly (Kirkpatrick 2007). Buschfeld (2013) was first to suggest that colonial
spread could be replaced with econo-cultural spread. Edwards (2014) in a compre-
hensive study, measured the status of English in the Expanding Circle, in the
Netherlands, against Schneider‘s revised model. She reintroduces the Foundation
phase as “Foundation through globalization”. In her model, language contact
appears in the ever growing exposure to English through the internet, travel, and
popular culture rather than through colonization (Edwards 2014, p. 190). Buschfeld
and Kautzsch (2016), in an effort to account for the heterogeneity found in both
colonial and non- colonial contexts further expand on the new “Foundation through
globalization” phase to include any factor entering the country from outside, and
add the possibility that intra-territorial forces that operate at the local, regional, or
national level can influence the cultural and linguistic development from within
(p. 10). These could be forces such as liberal language and foreign policies and
openness to the world. They introduce a role for the education system including the
nature of curricula, onset of formal English education, number of EMI programs
etc. that affect different groups of speakers differently (p. 10). But the model is still
“primarily varieties based” i.e. they explain how a new English variety may develop
in different post colonial contexts. They do not examine some of the ways in which
language exists in other parts of the Expanding Circle (Buschfeld and Kautzsch
2016, p. 1). The model does not clearly account for the emergence and role of
English in the Nordic countries.
While the Foundation phase may very well be substituted by massive exposure
to the new language online or face to face as a lingua franca, the notion of ‘merged’
identity construction in phases 2–5 in Schneider’s model may also be problematic
when applied to Expanding Circle countries. Buschfeld and Kautzsch (2016)
suggest
…that the issue of identity rewritings also plays an important role in the development of
non-PCEs since absorbing a ‘foreign’ language to such a high degree, that is, making it part
of one’s individual language repertoire, becoming highly proficient and fully bilingual, as
well as speaking a nativized form of English that is characterized by local features, does
certainly not come without a rewriting of identity constructions, most likely in the form of
a ‘local-cum-English’… identity (p. 15).
The notion of ‘local cum English’, English as an additional language that operates
parallel to the local language, is relevant to this study and in accounting for the
status of English in the Nordic countries. Rather than applying to a local emerging
variety of English it may be necessary to amend the model to include local language
cum local English cum ENL (English as a Native Language) standards. We suggest
that this model needs to be revised again to account for situations that may never go
beyond the second phase, where English is used to serve specific functions, namely
to communicate with the outside world and access information and education.
While previously this was a domain dominated by a handful of people who saw it as
using English as a foreign language, today with more exposure, more people are
adopting more English for more purposes. The globalization forces, strong as they
are, also encounter resistance in the form of strong national languages and strong
national identities. This is somewhat of a contrast to the multilingual context such

as Cyprus, Gibraltar and Namibia that the model has previously been measured
against.
Locals in Expanding Circle countries, rather than usurp the language of colonists
forging a new merged identity, may expand their linguistic repertoires as knowing
and using English becomes part of an extended or rewritten local identity. English
is no longer a foreign learner language to be mastered, but a utility language, a nec-
essary skill to survive. This is true for Iceland and possibly the other Nordic coun-
tries (Rindal 2012). The possibility that non-colonial countries may never reach
beyond the third stage is mentioned by Buschfeld and Kautzsch (2016, p 16), but
Edwards (2014), concludes that this does not apply to the Netherlands as “Dutch
English does not serve as a target model” and “does not appear to be recognized at
all as a potentially legitimate variety” (Edwards 2014, p.184). However, we suggest
that it is quite possible that two Englishes may co-exist in the Netherlands as we
surmise, in Iceland; one possible local variety and another ENL standard variety
used for formal situations in education and commerce both having become part of
the local speakers’ linguistic repertoire and local identity.
These modifications to Schneider’s Dynamic Model are still varieties based
although they also try to account for speakers’ or groups’, attitudes, roles and func-
tions in the language space under investigation (Schneider 2014). Phase 3 of the
model seems to suggest that eventually, English will be adopted into the linguistic
repertoire of the locals and across domains for all levels of communication. There is
also the possibility of ENL and EFL versions coexisting alongside a local variety in
the same space (Schneider 2007; Buschfeld 2013; Edwards 2014).
However, it is quite possible even likely, that local varieties of English are devel-
oping in the Nordic countries and English is clearly already part of a Scandinavia’s
young persons’ linguistic repertoire (Rindal 2012). These models account for the
transposition of English to a new space and eventual development of a local English
variety, but may have to be adjusted to account for the coexistence of Englishes in
the Nordic countries; one for colloquial use that may in time develop its own char-
acteristics (Edwards 2014; Jeeves 2013) and another for parallel language5 use or
simultaneous parallel code use6 that demands ENL standards in Education and the
workforce. These type of English functions have received attention in the literature
(Hultgren et al. 2014; Fabricius and Preisler 2015; Dimova et al. 2015). The linguis-
tic repertoires of Nordic peoples may thus include a variety of English appropriated
for use colloquially and another more formal ENL standard English that functions
in education and professionally. This duality characterizes the use of English in the
Nordic countries. The misconception in Iceland, and we suggest other Nordic coun-
5
The use of parallel languages refers to a situation in which two languages are considered equal in
a particular domain, and where the choice of language depends on what is deemed most appropri-
ate and efficient in a specific situation (www.cip.hum.ku.dk).
6
Simultaneous parallel code use refers to a situation where students work with two languages at
the same time. e.g. reading in English while taking notes or reporting in Icelandic (see chapter
“Simultaneous Parallel Code Use”, this volume).
tries, is the assumption that the widespread receptive colloquial English attained
and used at the grass roots level suffices to meet the ENL standards required for
functioning at the professional level and in education.
4 Contributions
The editors are an educator and an applied linguist and the main contribution of this
book is the description of a holistic overview of the cycle of English use in an
Expanding Circle country from input in contexts in and out of school to output in
educational contexts. The study is also of theoretical importance to scholars inter-
ested in language contact as it provides a microcosmic view of the effects of the
spread of English on a previously monolingual community. We believe it has rele-
vance to the development of a predictive model, based on Schneider’s (2007) semi-
nal work, of the effects of the spread of English world-wide. The practical
contributions of this book are that collectively the chapters provide a comprehensive
profile, from initial exposure, instruction, acquisition, and finally function of English
in a previously presumed monolingual country. A major practical contribution of
this book is the ways in which it informs, not just local policies, but international
educational and language policy. Furthermore the book provides an empirical basis
for Icelandic and Nordic educational and language planning, English curriculum
design, initial teacher education and professional development to meet the needs of
students in a changing linguistic context of the world, and aligning them with the
linguistic realities of modern Northern European societies. The book thus meets a
dire need for sound empirical research on the type and amount of English exposure
and use on a nation-wide level across the life span.
The empirical contributions:
• provide a profile of the level and nature of English proficiency of students at all
educational levels through self-reports and actual measurements of proficiency at
the onset of instruction at the primary level, the secondary level, and tertiary
level
• demonstrate how attained proficiency at each education level serves the students
in the transition to the next level
• provide an overview of instructional practices and curriculum guidelines with a
view to measure to what extent they meet the actual linguistic needs of students
• outline to what extent English is used for oral and written communication in
Icelandic
• describe the lack of English language preparation and lack of genre awareness
and formal academic language skills of university students and instructors in
Iceland
• clarify the connection between instructional policy and practice
• inform current theoretical and policy discussions about the extent and effect of
the use of English as a lingua franca in countries of the Expanding Circle.
Although this study began with the goal to inform educational policy and prac-
tice, it inevitably has manifold theoretical implications and contributes to theory
building in a changing world of language. The study informs the current theoretical
debate about the nature and effect of the learning context for languages that are
neither second nor foreign languages and suggests that the learning context is more
complex than previous dual categorizations imply. This study illustrates that English
as a World language can indeed function in different ways at the local level; as a
colloquial language used freely in translanguaging with cross cultural references,
and on another level as a formal language demanding ENL standards. Mollin (2006)
refers to these as the “grass roots domain” vs. the “official domain”. Official implies
official status, which in Iceland is not the case. Instead we might use ‘formal
domains’.
This study clarifies and illustrated the gap between the grassroots and official
domains as it is assumed that the former can function equally in the latter’s linguis-
tic space and demonstrates how a language can simultaneously function in a wide
range of internal instrumental, and interpersonal functions beyond the international
lingua franca functions to which English is typically restricted in the ideological
discourse in countries of the Expanding Circle (Buschfeld 2013; Edwards 2014).
This is the first comprehensive study of the spread of English and its effect on a
national level in a country in the Expanding Circle (Kachru 1985). The study illus-
trates the effects of English from exposure to functions. Previous studies in the
Nordic countries have focused on attitudes toward English, and appropriations of
English for use at the local level by specific groups or subcultures often with a view
to examine the emergence of English as a local variety. These studies include Erling
for Germany (2008) and Preisler (2003) and Thögersen (2007) for Denmark. Other
studies have been part of an effort to develop a predictive framework to account for
the spread of English worldwide. These include Edwards (2014) for the Netherlands,
Schneider (2014) for China and Japan, and Buschfeld and Kautzsch (2016) for
Namibia. The focus of these studies is to determine to what extent a local variety of
English has emerged. Hellekjær’s pioneering studies examine the connection
between secondary school English education and the demands of university studies
in Norway (2005, 2009) and Breivik (2015) and Rindal (2012) examined attitudes
and use of English by Norwegian youths. This project expands on those studies.
Rather than focus on the consequences of the spread of English as a new language
variety, this study, although not denying that a local variety may be emerging in
Iceland, focuses on the adoption of English as a utility language that operates along-
side the national language. Although the study begins by measuring exposure to
English through popular culture, it goes on to examine how the English Icelanders
are exposed to serves them in the functions which are needed in each given situa-
tion. This volume offers a comprehensive view of the cycle of English exposure and
function within and across domains.
This study is also a contribution to the discussion of the effects of the adoption
of English in Academia. The numerous studies of the effect of the transition to
English at tertiary level throughout the world tend to center on the challenges and
advantages of EMI programs (Dimova et al. 2015; Hultgren et al. 2014, Coleman
2006; Evans and Morrison 2011). Fewer studies focus on the relationship between
students’ actual English proficiency and preparation before they enter University.
Most studies, even in education, describe restricted contexts at the tertiary level
(Hultgren et al. 2014 & Dimova et al. 2015; Fabricius and Preisler 2015). The work
of Hellekjær and his team (2005, 2009, 2016) at the University of Oslo is a noted
exception. The project described in this book is an effort to narrow this gap and to
inform and illuminate the discussion about the causes of the identified struggles
documented by students and faculty in EMI university programs by pointing out the
gap in knowledge created by the dual language functions of English in Nordic soci-
eties. Furthermore the book outlines the lack of awareness and acknowledgement of
this gap by students themselves, instructors and university and education offi-
cials which prevents students from receiving the type of support that they need to
study at their local universities that demand increased EMI programs and English
ENL standard output. The presumption is that the grassroots English can also func-
tion in education.
Finally, we hope that this study informs Sociolinguistics and the study of lan-
guage contact. The suitability of existing static models and discreet categorizations
of languages has been called into question (Blommaert and Rampton 2011; Vertovec
2007). This study shows that rather than viewing English as a global language, as
simply a language that is taking over domains previously served by local languages,
English can and does exist on many different levels, depending on the characteris-
tics of the local speech community. The linguistic repertoires of Nordic peoples
may thus include a variety of English appropriated for use colloquially and another
more formal ENL Standard English variety that functions in education and the work
force. This duality characterizes the use of English in the Nordic countries and must
be accounted for in predictive models of the spread of English world-wide.
5 Structure of the Book
The authors of the chapters in this book were part of a team that examined the nature
of exposure, use and proficiency in English by native Icelanders over a seven year
period through multiple studies with a special emphasis on its implications for edu-
cation. The first three chapters provide the demographic and general background
information about the linguistic ecology of Iceland. In the second chapter,
Arnbjörnsdóttir describes the amount and type of exposure Icelanders hear and
use daily, weekly and monthly based on a national survey. The chapter illustrates the
enormous amount of English that is part of everyday life in Iceland, so that it can no
longer be defined as a simply a foreign language. The chapter “English Exposure,
Proficiency and Use in Iceland” describes cross sectional studies of the exposure
and use of English by children and examines whether the nature of English use is
changing over time from receptive to productive use with the coming of web 2.0 and
subsequent increase in interactive communication through social media.
The chapters “English Exposure and Vocabulary Proficiency at the Onset of

English Instruction”, “Learning and Using English: The Views of Learners at the
End of Compulsory Education”, “Academic Vocabulary Proficiency and Reading
Comprehension Among Icelandic Secondary School Students” and “Perceptions of
Relevance of English Education at Secondary School” focus on the impact of
English on primary and secondary education. In her chapter “English Exposure and
Vocabulary Proficiency at the Onset of English Instruction”, Ásrún Jóhannsdóttir
outlines the new linguistic reality of 4th graders as they begin English instruction.
In this chapter, based on her doctoral study, Jóhannsdóttir describes how 10 year
olds’ English lexical proficiency and the factors that influence the young learners’
English development along with the role English plays in their current and future
lives. In their chapter entitled “Learning and Using English: The Views of Learners
at the End of Compulsory Education”, Ingvarsdóttir and Jóhannsdóttir present find-
ings of their study of the views and expectations of secondary school students at the
end of compulsory education. They describe learners’ attitudes to learning and
using English now and in the future and how they view their own proficiency. In the
chapter “Academic Vocabulary Proficiency and Reading Comprehension Among
Icelandic Secondary School Students”, Guðmundur Edgarsson reports findings of
measurements of actual lexical knowledge that formed part of a larger study of stu-
dents’ academic English proficiency at the end of secondary level. In her chap-
ter “Perceptions of Relevance of English Education at Secondary School”, Anna
Jeeves describes the views of young people in secondary school, at university and in
the work force about the relevance to their lives of their English language learning
experiences while in secondary school. The chapters “Using English at University”,
“Simultaneous Parallel Code Use”, “University Instructors’ Views on Using
Curriculum Materials in English” and “Writing English for Research and Publication
Purposes (ERPP): Personal Identity and Professional Voice” center on the impact of
English at the tertiary level. In their chapter “Using English at University”,
Arnbjörnsdóttir and Ingvarsdóttir report findings of a mixed method study examin-
ing university students’ views on using English for academic purposes. In the next
chapter “Simultaneous Parallel Code Use”, the construct Simultaneous Parallel
Code Use (SPCU) is introduced. SPCU refers to the process where students who are
English users and not learners of English must negotiate meaning between two
codes when the input is mostly in one language, English, and the output/evaluation
is in another language. In her chapter “University Instructors’ Views on Using
Curriculum Materials in English”, Ingvarsdóttir describes university instructor’s
views on using English in their academic pursuits. The chapter “Writing English for
Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP): Personal Identity and Professional
Voice” examines the challenges of academic staff having to compete with native
speakers of English to get their papers published in peer reviewed journals and the
consequences of having to present research in a different language than the one in
which previous academic training was conducted. The final chapter presents
conclusions and implications of the findings of the study for Iceland, other educa-
tional contexts and for the study of the spread of English as a World language
including the implications for language and educational policy and for instructional
practice.
Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank The Icelandic Centre for Research and The
University of Iceland Research Fund for supporting this project. We would also like to thank our
colleagues, Ph.D. students, MA students and our BA classes for their collaboration. Finally we
thank the thousands of Icelanders who participated in one way or another in this project.
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The Policies and Contexts that Frame English
Education and Use in Iceland
Abstract This chapter provides an overview of the social, linguistic and educa-
tional policies that frame the use of English in Iceland. Icelanders have had easy
access to English in their everyday lives, especially since WWII. English education
begins early and, by the time of graduation from secondary school, Icelandic stu-
dents have had up to ten years of English instruction. Educational and language
policies are seen as dissonant with the complex language ecology of Iceland as they
do not reflect the substantial presence of English in Iceland. National Curriculum
Guides which categorize English with other foreign languages may constrain prac-
tice. The chapter begins with a short historical overview of contact with English.
The historical account is followed by an introduction to prevailing Nordic and
Icelandic language policies. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to educational poli-
cies, specifically, the National Curriculum Guides for English instruction for chil-
dren at primary and secondary level. The chapter ends with a brief overview of
studies on instructional practices and the educational outcomes of the policies and
practices described. Findings suggest that children acquire much of their English
proficiency outside the classroom.
1 Introduction
The linguistic repertoires of Icelanders are not well understood and nor are the lin-
guistic spaces within which they function. This chapter provides a backdrop for the
rest of the chapters in this book on the findings of the longitudinal project ‘English
in a New Linguistic Context in Iceland‘, specifically those that pertain to attained
proficiency and function of English (see Jóhannsdóttir, this volume; Ingvarsdóttir
and Jóhannsdóttir, this volume; Jeeves, this volume; Edgarsson, this volume).
Icelanders, although geographically isolated, have a tradition of language learning
and foreign language encounters that goes back generations. In recent decades,
English has been easily accessible and Icelanders’ general English proficiency is
B. Arnbjörnsdóttir (*)
University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 19

B. Arnbjörnsdóttir, H. Ingvarsdóttir (eds.), Language Development across the Life Span,
Educational Linguistics 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67804-7_2
20 B. Arnbjörnsdóttir
comparatively high. Iceland ranks among the top ten highest achievers on the 2015
international TOEFL exams (TOEFL 2016, pp. 14–15). English education begins
early and, by the time of graduation from secondary school, Icelandic students have
had up to ten years of English or even longer. This is in addition to massive exposure
outside of school (see next chapter). Massive English exposure is reflected in stu-
dents’ facility with understanding conversational English at a young age as shown
by the studies reviewed in this chapter. However, language and education policies
do not reflect this presence of English in Iceland and nor do National Curriculum
Guides which categorize English with other foreign languages whose exposure is
restricted to the classroom. The disconnect causes tensions that affect the imple-
mentation of English instruction and effectiveness of instruction in meeting the
needs of students. This dissonance between language and educational policy and
linguistic reality is the topic of this chapter which begins with a very brief historical
overview of the presence of English in Iceland.
2 The Presence of English in Iceland
2.1 A Brief Historical Overview
Language contact in Iceland is not a new phenomenon despite the island’s geo-
graphical isolation. Contact with the outside world is well documented from the
time of settlement in the ninth century. First, mutually intelligible varieties of a
common Nordic language, Old Norse, were used to communicate with other Nordic
people’s and even with the inhabitants of the British Isles and beyond. Danish
became a second language in Iceland from the thirteenth century until it was
replaced in the latter part of the twentieth century by a more distant Germanic
cousin, English.
Iceland was a colony of Denmark from the last part of the thirteenth century up
until independence in 1944 and Danish was to some extent the language of higher
education, government and commerce in Iceland. Initially, the intense contact with
Danish may have had some influence on the Icelandic language and its use. However,
in the middle of the nineteenth century, under the influence of the Romantic move-
ment, a fierce nationalism developed and successful efforts were made to “purify”
Icelandic and bring it closer to the “classic models of Old Icelandic” (Hilmarsson-
Dunn and Kristinsson 2009, p. 365). Icelandic was a written language from early on
and most of the official government documents were written both in Danish and in
Icelandic. A majority of the educated classes in Iceland had their schooling in
Denmark and commerce was largely conducted in Danish. Danish was, in effect, a
second language in Iceland for centuries although some doubt exists as to the extent
to which the general population, especially outside trading posts, spoke Danish
(Hauksdóttir 2013). Nevertheless, up until the 1990s, Danish was the first foreign
language taught in Icelandic schools, popular magazines read by adults and children
The Policies and Contexts that Frame English Education and Use in Iceland 21
were mostly imported from Denmark (written in Danish), as were movies.

Irrespective of the breadth or depth of Icelanders’ Danish proficiency, Danish was a
constant presence in Iceland up until the middle of the twentieth century.
The first mention of English use in Iceland appears in diary entries and descrip-
tions from the eighteenth century of meetings with visitors and explorers who trav-
eled in Iceland (Einarsdóttir 2001; Agnarsdóttir and Stephensen 2010). Previously,
commerce had flourished between the English and Icelanders during the 15th cen-
tury, called the “English Century” by scholar, but no sources are available about the
use of language while trading. The need for English proficiency grew around the
middle of the nineteenth century as trade with Britain and British fishermen who
fished in Icelandic waters increased again and more frequent steam ship visits
brought more foreign travelers. As in other countries, increased trade with Britain
enhanced the need to know English and Icelandic merchants found it advantageous
to send their sons to Britain to study English language and culture. At home, adult
education began to include English studies especially for those catering to British
trade (Einarsdottir 2001). Emigration to America began in the 1870s, which
strengthened familiarity with the English language in Iceland. The first Icelandic
English dictionary was published in 1896 and an English bookstore was established
in Reykjavík in 1927 (Jónsson 1976). By the turn of the twentieth century, Icelanders
frequently sought their education in England. The consequences of the First World
War, resulting in greater Anglo Saxon cultural influences throughout the world,
extended to Iceland as well (Einarsdóttir 2001).
Contact with English amplified with the arrival of British soldiers in Iceland in
the Second World War, especially in the geographic areas of Iceland occupied by the
British. During WWII, around 25,000 English speaking soldiers became part of
everyday life in Iceland followed by over 42,000 American servicemen. After
WWII, the American presence continued until 2006. The British and American sol-
diers needed services and local business owners and shop assistants soon learned
some English (Erna Vigfúsdóttir, personal communication). At the time, Iceland
only had about 120,000 inhabitants (Kjartansson 2002, p. 220), so the influence of
the occupation on everyday life in Iceland during the war was extensive. The
American military base in Keflavík had its own radio and television stations that
broadcast entertainment in English that Icelanders also listened to and which facili-
tated the spread of English and American popular culture until 2006 when the base
was closed (Kvaran and Svavarsdóttir 2002). The next wave of English contact
came in the fifties and sixties with the spread of Anglo-Saxon pop culture and goods
worldwide. In Iceland, British and American movies, music, fashion and consumer
goods quickly replaced Danish cultural influences and English replaced Danish as
the perceived “threat” to Icelandic language and culture. Youth culture in Iceland,
especially, reflects cultural references, translanguaging and general preference for,
and familiarity with, Anglo-Saxon norms, values and behaviors. The sustained and
intense presence of English language and culture over the last decades is reflected
in Icelanders’ and other Nordic peoples’ confidence in their English skills (see the
chapter “English Exposure, Proficiency and Use in Iceland, this volume”) and this
22 B. Arnbjörnsdóttir
assumption has found its way into policy documents. Language policies common to
all the Nordic countries are presented in the next section followed by Icelandic lan-
guage policies.
2.2 A Common Nordic Policy
Given the presence of English in the Nordic countries, there is a prevailing ideology
that Nordic peoples generally speak English well and that they are able to use
English alongside their first language especially in business, education and scien-
tific pursuits (Nordic Council of Ministers 2008). A Common Nordic Language
Policy from 2007 asserts that the “Nordic countries are a linguistic pioneering
region” (p. 95) with a rich tradition of learning multiple foreign languages. English
has a special status in the Declaration, which advocates the parallel use of languages
depending on circumstance. It states: “Nordic residents … have especially favour-
able conditions for developing skills in the parallel use of English” and local lan-
guages (pp. 93–94). The Declaration further encourages business and labor-market
organizations “to develop strategies for the parallel use of local languages and
English” (p. 94).
The positive view of multilingualism expressed in the non-binding declaration is
problematic for at least three reasons. The first is the underlying assumption that
Nordic residents have adequate English skills that enable them to choose which
language to use for different linguistic practices is not supported by research. This
is especially true for formal registers used in business and academic communication
(Hultgren et al. 2014; Dimova et al. 2015). The second issue is the lack of clarity
about what constitutes “parallel language use” making it difficult to support empir-
cally. Hultgren (2016) points out that despite its universal acceptance it is not clear
whether the term refers to practice, competence, policy, or individual or systemic
language use (p. 2). Clearly any future investigation into parallel language use
requires consensus about parallel language use means. Until this has been clarified
it will prove difficult to develop effective national language and educational policies
that aim to steer linguistic behavior of citizens (Hultgren 2016). In fact, and this is
the third major issue, the progressive view of language reflected in the non-binding
Declaration is not represented in current national policies making it unlikely to be
realized (Hultgren et al. 2014). This is especially true for Iceland, a country with a
long history of conservative language policies and practices aimed at steering lan-
guage behaviors to protect the national language.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
officer in charge of the Arsenal, joined us. After we had taken tea
and had a pleasant chat with him we were given the very unusual
privilege of taking several photographs of different parts of the
garden, among them one or two of a group, which included the
General himself.
The Katsura-no-Rikyū, or Katsura Summer Palace, was formerly a
retreat made for a Princess of the Imperial family by this name. It is
now one of the four so-called “Palaces of the Mikado”—more
properly speaking there are two palaces and two villas,—in the city
and suburbs of the ancient capital. Permits must be obtained from
the Department of the Household, in order to visit any of these
palaces; and when I was first in Japan, in 1892, they were much
more difficult to secure than they are now. Through Marquis, then
Count, Matsukata, who was at that time Prime Minister, the
necessary permission was obtained; and the same kindly service
furnished me with a letter to the Governor of the District of Kyoto,
who sent his private secretary to act as an escort to all the four
palaces. This was particularly good fortune; for this gentleman, in his
youth, had served on the side of the Mikado’s forces in their contest
against the forces of the Shōgunate; he was thus able to point out
many details of interest—among them, the defacements of the
decorations of the Nijo Palace, that “dream of golden beauty within,”
which were made by these young patriots, who thought in this way to
show their contempt for the Shōgun, and for ancient art, and their
devotion to the cause of the Mikado and of progress.
“WINDING PATHS OVER RUDE MOSS-COVERED STEPPING-
STONES”
The garden of the Katsura Summer Palace represents the style of
the art which was practised by Kobori Enshū and his “School.” These
men were as aristocratic in their tastes as they were enthusiastic in
teaching and practising their theories of the arts. According to their
canons, everything was to be exceedingly plain and simple; and all
the other arts were to be combined in the celebration of the cha-no-
yu, or tea ceremonies. Indeed this garden, and all the buildings and
other structures in it, may be said to be planned for use in the
highest kind of style belonging to such æsthetic enjoyment. Its
exceedingly plain summer-houses are, accordingly, so placed as to
look out on modest pools and artificial streams, on plain rustic
bridges and winding paths over rude moss-covered stepping-stones,
brought from the two extremities of the Empire. Everywhere there
are trees of various species and trained in manifold artificial shapes;
there are also moss-clad hillocks and a goodly store of antique
lanterns; and in the lake there are islets deftly placed. The lake itself
is full of the water-plant Kohone, which here has red flowers as well
as the usual yellow ones.
It is not necessary to describe or even refer to the more celebrated
of the temple gardens, such as Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji, in Kyoto; or
the groves surrounding the Tombs of the Shōguns in Shiba and at
Nikko; or the park at Nara, and other nearly or quite flowerless
specimens of the art of gardening in Japan; for has not everyone
who has spent not more than a single week in the country seen them
all; and are they not all sufficiently described in the guidebooks?
The more beautiful of the modern gardens in Japan, while retaining
the most admirable features of the native art, have succeeded in
adding something which it formerly lacked and in avoiding more fully
its suggestion of pettiness and of artificiality. This they have
accomplished by allowing a larger freedom from ancient conventions
and conceits in the way both of modifying the native traditions and of
introducing foreign elements. And since in the best private gardens
there has been a most judicious selection and combination of natural
resources and æsthetical ideals, there are some examples of the art
of landscape-gardening in Japan, which are not excelled, if indeed
they are equalled, by anything else of the kind.
I do not expect ever to see again a landscape, prepared and
cultivated by human skill, quite so perfectly beautiful as was the
Imperial garden at Aoyama, on the afternoon of November 16, 1906,
when the annual “chrysanthemum party” was given there to His
Majesty’s guests. The rainy weather of the days preceding had
prevented the Imperial party from attending the festivities in person.
But it had added something to the customary charm of the
landscape; for the showers had freshened all the colours of ground
and foliage and sky, and the moist haze was now producing that
exquisite softness and blending of them all which is so characteristic
of the “atmosphere” of Japanese natural scenery and of Japanese
pictorial art. The size of the garden and the manner of its artistic
treatment render it, in some of its features, more like an English
deer-park than are any of the gardens of the more purely Chino-
Japanese style. There were large pines and maples and autumn
camelias of wonderful growth. There was great variety to the
surface, both natural and helped out by art; and on such a generous
scale as nowhere to suggest artificiality or pettiness. The hills were
real hills, and worthy of the name; they made the assembling guests
climb their sides and gave them new and extended views as a
reward when they had reached their tops. There were also many
ponds and winding streams, with picturesque curved bridges
crossing the streams. But most conclusive of all the proofs of the
highest æsthetical skill was the arrangement of all the larger and the
minuter features, from whatever point of view one held them in
regard. The most brilliantly coloured maples, of the cut-leaf variety,
were planted singly rather than in groups; and every detail of their
delicate shapes was carefully brought out against a background of
the dark green of pines or the golden yellow of the jinkō tree. As one
strolled up any of the several winding paths that led to the high
plateau on which the show of chrysanthemums was placed, one
could stop at almost every step and admire the change of far-
reaching vistas or nearer views; and over every square yard of the
whole, not only each tree and shrub, but each twig and leaf, seemed
to have been made an object of loving care.
To speak of the show of flowers, the entertainment, and the friends
we met on this occasion would savour more of gossip about garden
parties than of description of the art of landscape-gardening. But a
word about the flowers. I am of the impression that while we raise in
this country as fine, or finer, individual chrysanthemums, the
Japanese excel us in the culture and development of the whole
plant. For example, some of the specimens shown at this Imperial
garden party had as many as 985 flowers on a single stock, making
a plant fourteen feet in circumference; and others had no fewer than
fifty-five varieties growing from one stock. The more properly artistic
character of the show, however, was maintained by the elegant and
simple arrangement of the single flowers as to colour and other
kindred effects.
Among the private gardens in Japan which have combined the
excellences of the native art with certain modifications introduced
from abroad, may be mentioned those of Count Okuma and Marquis
Nabeshima. The former seems to me to have been more influenced
by English examples; it has a remarkable collection of Japanese
maples,—more than one hundred varieties in all. The Count is also
quite justly proud of his chrysanthemums, which are as fine as any in
Japan. On the other hand the Marquis’ garden has the appearance
of having been under the influence of Italian examples,—not, indeed,
of the older and more artificial style, but of the sort surrounding the
more beautiful of the modern villas.
I have already referred to the fondness of the Japanese for
exceedingly minute representations of large natural objects, or even
of extensive natural scenes. Hence those single specimens or
collections of Bonsai, on which certain wealthy æsthetes have spent
thousands of yen, and which may render their possessors as much
the objects of friendly or envious rivalry as were the rival cultivators
of rare species of tulips, in Holland some decades of years ago.
Some of these aforesaid Bonsai are tiny pines or other trees, only a
few inches in heighth, but of years mounting up to a half century or
more. Such specimens require more tender and intelligent cultural
care than the majority of human beings are wont to receive. One of
the most delightful and benevolent and widely useful of Japanese
ladies never travels from home even for a single night without taking
along her choice collection of bonsai, which she cares for daily with
her own hands. This same lady presented to my wife one of the
products of this art, which consisted of scores of tiny pines growing
out of the sand and so arranged that the eye could look through the
grove as though upon the distant sea,—a fairly complete picture in
miniature of a celebrated view in Kiushiu, along the seashore near
Fukuoka.
In Japan every national festival and, indeed, almost every form of
social gathering or species of entertainment partakes more or less of
the character of a garden party. At the remotest and meanest tea-
house in the mountains or by the sea, if the weather permits, you
take your cup of tea where you can look upon a scene which nature
or man has made into a work of art. If you call upon a native friend,
you must enjoy the refreshment which is always offered, either in the
garden or in a room or on a verandah, which looks out upon a
garden. At every dinner party, when the season is favourable, either
before the meal, or afterward in the moonlight, the guests are
expected to wander over the grounds of the host or of the tea-house
where the entertainment is given, enjoying its natural beauties. Of
the various forms of excursioning, the pleasure of which implies an
appreciation of nature,—such as mushroom-gathering, snow-
viewing, etc., I have already spoken.
Garden parties are not infrequently given by the more wealthy
Japanese at an expense of thousands of yen. The programme of
one of the most elaborate of those given in Tokyo in the Autumn of
1906, included not only the inspection of the gardens and extensive
museum of the host, music and refreshments, but the exhibition of
Japanese histrionic performances and dances, in which actors and
scenic apparatus were as good as could be seen in the very highest-
class theatres. The most elaborate of these histrionic performances
bore the title of “Urashima,” the Japanese Rip Van Winkle, and
employed a dramatis personæ and orchestra of twenty-one persons.
The description in the programme of the First Scene reads as
follows: “In the depths of the broad expanse of the Ocean, stands
Ryūgū, the seagod’s palace, bathed in serene moonlight which
shines bright upon the corals and emeralds. Young fishes swimming
about the palace add to the charm of the scene. The graceful
movement of the sea-bream, the lively evolutions of the lobster, the
brisk flouncing of the flounder, etc., are comically represented in the
Joruri.” Thus ran the description of the printed programme. The ill
condition of the weather,—for it had been raining steadily all day, and
the out-of-door part of the entertainment had to be much curtailed,—
did not prevent the several thousands of invited guests from
attending, or the feast from being spread in the large refreshment
tent, which was so arranged that its open side gave a view of a
fountain surrounded by chrysanthemums and a beautiful bit of the
garden beyond.
About the same time, another wealthy Japanese celebrated an
important birthday for which the out-of-door preparations were more
elaborate and unusual, if not so æsthetically refined. Mr. A—— had
reached his sixty-first year, a time when Heaven should be thanked
for prolonging one’s life beyond the customary span, and one’s
friends should be summoned to render fitting congratulations. This
time, also, the weather was most unpropitious; but the continued
downpour, the soaked grass, and liquid mud, did not deter several
thousands of guests from assembling. The entire wall surrounding
the extensive grounds was solidly covered with ground-pine and
diamond-shaped medallions of flowers set in at intervals,—the whole
outlined with the national colours, red and white. Boards raised and
spread with matting furnished dry paths from place to place inside
the garden, where numerous booths of bamboo and ground-pine
were cleverly distributed, from which the guests were served with tea
and many kinds of cakes, with fruit, and with tobacco and beer.
Hundreds of little maids in the gay dresses and with the painted
faces of the professional waitress, were running about everywhere,
ready to bring the various foods and drinks. In two large tents
“continuous performances” of fencing or of a theatrical and other
sort, were going on; and at the entrances of each stood scores of
boys with Japanese paper umbrellas, employed in escorting the rain-
bedrizzled crowd from one booth or tent to another. Several bands
were stationed here and there, some playing foreign music and
others performing on native instruments.
But the most astonishing attempt at the extraordinary by way of
entertainment took the shape of a miniature Fuji, which was more
than seventy-five feet in heighth, and which could be climbed by a
spiral path from the inside. In a clear day, a fine view of Tokyo and its
immediate and remoter surroundings, including the real Fuji, could
have been seen from the platform at the top. All the rooms of the
house on the garden side had been thrown into one, in which, on
tables and rows of steps were arranged the store of presents from
the guests. The greater number consisted of “katsebushi,” or fancy
wooden boxes filled with dried fish. But besides, there were many
rolls of white and red silk, for underwear, or for wadding kimonos in
the cold weather; numerous screens decorated with the appropriate
emblems of pine, bamboo and plum branches, or with cranes to
signify wishes for long life, and made of a variety of materials from
candy cake to bronze; a pair of rather more than ordinarily well-
modelled bronze camels, designed to decorate the grounds and
presented by four different banks in which the host was a director.
In each of the large tents a camp fire of charcoal was kept burning,
which softened somewhat the damp air; and if one was especially
honoured with a hibachi full of live coals at the back, one could sit to
see through a play with a fair amount of comfort. Of these histrionic
performances, the most interesting to me was one especially
designed to typify congratulations and wishes for long life, and
regularly performed at the period of the New Year’s festivities. In it a
priest figured as the guardian of a mystical bridge which led up to
Paradise; and over the crossing of which a hermit from the
mountains contended with two devils, one with hoary locks and one
with long and tangled hair of brilliant red, who gnashed their tusks
and danced and stamped the ground with fury.
A very different garden party was that given, on a similar occasion,
by the Marquis and Marchioness Nabeshima. Although the date was
so much later, the fifth of December, the weather was all that could
be desired. The engraved and embossed card of invitation, literally
interpreted, asked us to do the host the honour of attending a “sixty-
first birthday wine-drinking party.” The Marquis was born under that
one of the twelve signs of the Japanese zodiac which is called “the
sign of the Horse!” It should be explained that the coincidence of the
Japanese reckoning of the periods of life by twelves with the
Chinese system of reckoning by periods of ten, affords a reason for
the pleasant fiction that, at sixty-one, a man begins life over again by
becoming a child as it were. It is therefore proper to give him
presents adapted to the improvement and pleasure and employment
of children. The guests who gathered on this occasion were the élite
of Tokyo; and the Emperor and Empress had signalised the occasion
by sending congratulatory presents. Some of the presents, sent by
the various friends, were simple offerings in wooden boxes, of food,
or of crape; but others were beautiful and expensive dishes of silver,
or bags of money resting underneath effigies of the “god of luck.”
From an edge of the garden, which overhangs a valley, Fujiyama
was to be seen in the distance. Returning to the house, we found
that the stage in the ball-room was being used for an exhibition by
two famous dancers of the old-fashioned kind (the older man said to
be the most famous in Japan), who were dancing to the music made
by six or seven samisen players and singers, seated above a chorus
of four or five others who were drumming and “yowling” after the
fashion of performers in the “Nō.” At a delightful collation which
followed, the speech of congratulation to the host was made in
English by Prince Ito, who had just returned to his own country, for a
brief stay, from his work as Resident-General in Korea. This garden
party became the more memorable, because it was while walking in
the grounds that I was summoned to meet the Prince, and receive
the first intimation of an intention, which culminated in the invitation
to visit Korea as his guest and “unofficial adviser,” the following
Spring. And now, alas! this great statesman has—to quote the words
of a native paper—“died for the Koreans at the hands of a Korean.”
It has been for several years the custom of Count Okuma to throw
open his beautiful grounds to garden parties, not only in the interest
of entertaining his many personal and political friends, but also in the
favour of an endless variety of good causes. Here rare roses, and
wonderful chrysanthemums, and various native exhibitions of
athletic, or musical, or histrionic skill, may be seen; here, also,
problems of state and plans of beneficence may be discussed.
“THE WORSHIP OF NATURE IN THE OPEN AIR”
It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that the enjoyment
of the Japanese garden in a social way is confined to the wealthy
and the nobles with their large estates. All over the country the
multitude of the people love nature and have it abundantly at their
command to enjoy in quiet ways. In Tokyo thousands of artisans and
common labourers and coolies, with wives and children, will trudge
for miles to view the plum or cherry blossoms, or to see the morning-
glories open at four o’clock of a Summer morning. The temple
groves on all the many holidays are thronged with crowds, who
combine their unintelligent and not even half-hearted worship with a
much more intelligent and heartfelt appreciation of the beauties of
nature. Indeed, with these multitudes, the worship of the departed
ancestor in the family shrine in-doors, and the worship of nature in
the open air constitutes their only religion.
How profoundly influenced is all the art and all the national life of the
Japanese by this love and æsthetical appreciation of all forms of
natural beauty, it is not necessary to say in detail. Gardens and
garden parties are not trifling incidents or accessories of man’s
existence, happiness, and progress, in Japan; for there, indeed, they
are taken very seriously, and as necessaries of living well and
happily at all.
CHAPTER VII
AT THE THEATRE
In Japan, as in most other highly civilised nations, the origin and

earliest developments of the art of dramatic representation are
involved in much obscurity. But, according to Baron Suyematsu,
theatrical performances began to assume their present style about
three hundred years ago. Centuries before this time, however, there
were dances accompanied by singing and instrumental music, which
were for the most part performed in the Shintō shrines. The
differences between the two principal kinds which characterised the
Nara period (709-784 A. D.) were only slight; one of them being
somewhat more inclined toward the comic and the humorous than
the other. It was the elaboration of the poetic compositions, which
were adapted for accompaniments with the Biwa, and the
introduction of historical narratives, which chiefly determined the
style of the later theatrical performances. In the Ashikaga era these
dramatic performances became very popular with the upper classes,
and were patronised by the Shōgun himself. There then not only
arose a class of professional actors, but the gentry themselves
began to learn to sing and even to take pride in displaying their
dramatic talents as amateurs, in the presence of their friends. By the
more knightly of the samurai and daimyos, however, this was justly
regarded as a mark of degeneracy. But as compared with similar
epochs in other forms of the evolution of this art, there are three
things which are greatly to the credit of the Japanese. In the first
place, among the several hundred extant specimens of these ancient
plays, there is scarcely to be found, either in words or in the action,
the slightest taint of immoral suggestion; secondly, women were not
tolerated on the stage, in combined action with men. And whatever
we may think about the position of the professional actor, whether
from the moral or the social point of view, and as viewed under
conditions existing at the present time, it cannot be denied that it was
to the ethical advantage of the Feudal Era in Japan to have
professional actors excluded from so-called “good society.”
As to the literary character of the so-called Yokyoku, or written
narrative to be chanted or sung in these dramatic performances, of
which about three hundred are extant belonging to the Ashikaga
period, I am quoting the authority of Baron Suyematsu; although the
numerous examples which I have myself witnessed fully bear out his
high estimate of their literary merit. “They are not so long as are the
Greek or Roman dramas; although their construction has some
similarity, for the words uttered by the actors are not limited to
dialogues but contain descriptive parts as well. Thus when the actor
representing a certain character appears on the stage, he generally
announces who he is, why he has come there, where he is going to,
and such like things. The method of playing has a certain similarity to
the modern European opera, for the words uttered by the characters
are sung and not spoken all through. The general features of the
play show that these works were greatly influenced by Buddhism.
This is due, in the first place, to the fact that this religion exercised
much influence over the mind of the people at large; and in the
second place to the fact that the playwrights were mostly priests.
From the scholastic point of view, the sentences in these plays are
not free from defects, but they are strong in the poetical element;
and some parts of these works cannot be too highly praised. The
Yokyoku and Nō” (or the acting, which was in every minutest detail
adapted to the words and strictly, even inexorably prescribed) “may
be called the classical drama of Japan. They enjoy the favour of the
upper classes even to this day, in the same manner as the opera
flourishes side by side with the ordinary theatre.”
As respects the motif and the moral and religious significance and
influence of both the acting and the words, the dramas called by the
name “Nō” much more resembled the miracle plays of Mediæval
Europe than the operas of the present day. The literary merit and
artistic skill in acting of the Japanese form of the art is, however, far
superior. The Nō performances of the present day are, therefore,
well deserving of the separate consideration which they will receive
in another chapter.
From the dramas composed by the Buddhist priests in times when
the philosophical and religious conceptions of Buddhism were
profound, powerful, and effective, to the Shibai or Kabuki theatres of
the common people of Japan, the descent is in every respect
considerable. The origin of these theatres was of a distinctly lower
order. The Kabuki is said to have originated in the dancing and
singing of a woman named Kuni, performed among other shows on
a rude stage on the river side at Kyoto. While, then, the actors in Nō
often commanded a high personal regard and were admitted into the
houses of the nobility, the actors in the popular theatres were held in
very low esteem and were ostracised on both moral and social
grounds. In the earlier period of its development, the actors in the
Kabuki were chiefly women, who played the male as well as the
female characters. Afterwards boys and even grown-up men were
introduced; but the social evil resulting was, as is almost sure to be
the case among all peoples and at all times, so extreme, that the
Government intervened and the practice was forbidden by law. From
that period onward the profession of acting became confined almost
exclusively to men; although, as time went on, women began to act
again, but only in companies formed of their own sex.
The so-called Shibai was a marionette performance, a kind of
dramatic art in which the Japanese attained a high degree of skill. It
is, indeed, well worth the time of the modern tourist, if he can secure
the sight of some of the best-class of these puppet-shows. Even the
inferior ones may afford the intelligent foreign observer no little
insight into certain characteristics of the Japanese populace. “In the
beginning,” says Baron Suyematsu, “there were no professional
playwrights. Plays were chiefly written by actors or some one who
took an interest in the matter; and further, plays were even devised
by the actors impromptu and not written at all. Later on, the stage
began to have professional playwrights attached to each theatre.
Unlike the drama in Europe, these plays were never printed for
public circulation, but used only for acting at the time, and were often
written more to suit the performers than for literary excellence. And
again when an old play was acted, it was often subjected to
alteration for similar purposes; in other words, the dramatis personæ
are often reduced or increased in number, to suit the number or
ability of the actors. And, therefore, the texts of the Kabuki have not
much literary merit. Though it may look somewhat strange, it is in the
plays of the marionette theatres that we must seek the equivalent of
the European drama. The marionette performance originated about
the same time as the Kabuki. Previously, there had been a particular
kind of chanted narrative, the Jōruri, which name is said to have
come into use in a long chanting song consisting of twelve sections,
and telling of a love story between Yoshitsune and a maiden named
Jorurihime. This was written by a lady and was entitled ‘Jorurihime.’
Subsequently, many works of similar nature were written. And the
introduction of the Samisen (a three-stringed musical instrument)
gave much impulse to their development. To the chanting of these
songs the marionette performances were added. Various styles of
chanting were also gradually introduced.” In a word, the dramatic
performances of Japan have come to be divided largely according to
the distinction of classes. Or, to quote the distinguished authority of
Professor Tsubuchi: “The characteristics of these forms of
entertainment may be summed up by saying that, while the Nō is
refined, but monotonous and unexciting, the Joruri and Kabuki are
coarse and vulgar, but rich in incident and passion.”
The didactic and moral elements, which were, together with the
historical narratives and incidents that embodied and illustrated
them, the principal factors in the development of the Japanese
drama, are derived from the native form taken by the ethical and
political doctrines of Confucianism. The central and dominant
principle of these doctrines is the virtue of fidelity, or loyalty. So
overpowering has been the influence of this principle upon the
popular drama in Japan, and through the drama upon the opinions
and practices of the people at large, that it is difficult for the foreigner
to understand or to appreciate the Japanese without some
acquaintance with this form of their artistic development. In the
actual working out of this principle, there have been, as might
reasonably be expected, some good as well as some evil results.
There can be little doubt of the truthfulness of the opinion of my
missionary friend, Doctor De F——, that the popular theatre
exercised a very powerful influence on the preparation of the nation
for the Russo-Japanese war, by way of inspiring the lower orders of
the people with that spirit of unstinted and unquestioning loyalty,
which was one of the chief elements contributing to their success. It
should also be said that, although the Japanese stage treats the
relations of the sexes, both legitimate and illicit, with a frankness
which would scarcely be tolerated in the most “corrupt” of our
modern cities among the Western nations, from the native point of
view this treatment is quite free from any obscene reference or
salacious tendency. Indeed, the old-fashioned Confucian ethics did
not make the relations of the sexes a matter of much moral
concernment, except where these relations came under the
dominant principle of loyalty. I have already said that the dramatic art
of Nō is absolutely pure in this regard. It seems to me, therefore,
that, on the whole, the popular theatre in Japan, in spite of much
vulgarity and even obscenity, has been appreciably superior to the
theatre in Europe and America, with respect to its influence upon the
lowering of the standard of sexual purity, both in theory and in
practice. The same praise cannot, however, be given to it in certain
other important respects. For the moral principle of loyalty itself has
been so narrowly conceived, and so intensely and passionately put
into unreasoning practice, as to obscure in thought and confuse or
destroy in conduct, other equally important and sacred virtues and
duties of our mixed human life.
The development of the popular drama, under the influences just
cited, has been going on for several centuries. And now, even the
Japanese Kabuki theatres are usually well provided with stage
scenery and properties of all the various kinds in use in our theatres.
One arrangement in which they excel our theatres is the revolving
centre to the stage,—a contrivance which allows the stage
management to carry away an entire scene at once—actors,
scenery, and all—and to replace it with something entirely new,
without a moment’s waiting. Various modifications derived from the
form of the dramas and the theatres of Western nations have also
been introduced into some of the dramatic art and dramatic
performances of the New Japan. At my last visit, there was even a
proposal maturing to build a large theatre in Tokyo of thoroughly
foreign construction, and presumably for acting plays composed by
Japanese authors largely in the foreign style. But I choose to abide
with the hope expressed by Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, “that the
Japanese stage may remain what it now is,—a mirror, the only
mirror, of Old Japan.” And it is because I have myself looked into that
mirror, through eyes that were friendly and intelligent by reason of
long and intimate acquaintance with the mental and moral
characteristics and inner life of the people, and have had the
advantage of intelligent and sympathetic, but unprejudiced
interpretation by native friends, on the spot, that I venture with
considerable confidence to add some narrative of personal
experiences to illustrate and enforce what has been already said in a
more general way. At some time in my several visits, I have, I
believe, had the opportunity to study every one of the principal
existing styles of Japanese dramatic art.
The first opportunity afforded me to see a specimen of Japanese
dramatic representation was at the close of my lectures at Doshisha,
in the summer of 1892. The entertainment was the accompaniment
and the sequel to a dinner given to me by the President, Trustees,
and Professors of the Institution, in recognition of the service which
had been rendered to it. Everything was arranged and conducted in
purely native style. By taking down the paper partitions, the entire
second story of one of the largest native hotels had been thrown into
one apartment. The ladies and gentlemen greeted each other by
repeated bowing as they hitched themselves along the matted floor,
nearer and nearer to each other. The placing of the guests was
carefully ordered, with the principal guest in the centre of one end of
the hall and the others, in accordance with their varied claims to
distinction, on either side of him along the end and part way down
the sides of the apartment. Thus all were seated on the floor, in the
form of three sides of a hollow square. At the other end were two or
three screens, behind which the actors could retire for the necessary
changes of apparel or for resting between the several short plays
which they performed during the evening. There was no scenery,
except such as the descriptions of the actors led the audience to
create in imagination. The orchestra consisted of two players upon
the Koto (a sort of lyre or weak horizontal harp, which was evolved
from Chinese models and perfected in the first half of the
seventeenth century, and which is the most highly esteemed of the
Japanese musical instruments); and three Samisens, or banjos,—an
instrument now much favoured by the singing girls and by the lower
classes generally. The players, with one exception, were girls; and
all but one of them were blind. Acting, costumes, language, music,
and all, were in the most old-fashioned style; and, indeed, the most
learned of my friends among the professional staff had no small
difficulty in understanding for themselves, not to speak of interpreting
for another, what the actors said. In a word the entire entertainment
was as nearly a faithful reproduction of a similar function in the castle
of a Daimyō of three hundred years ago as the surroundings of a
modern native tea-house made it possible to procure.
A word as to the characteristics of the native music, such as I first
heard on this occasion but have frequently heard since, will assist to
a better understanding of the Japanese dramatic art, in connection
with which it is used either as interlude or accompaniment;—or
perhaps, more often, as an essential factor. In its origin, it is plainly,
to a very large extent, imitative of natural sounds. And since the
native scale is pentatonic, and handled with the greatest freedom by
the performer, who feels under no sort of obligation to keep strictly to
it, the whole effect is wonderfully well adapted for awakening those
vague and unclassifiable sentiments which correspond to some of
the more obvious of natural phenomena. For this reason the more
celebrated of the older musical compositions bear names descriptive
of processes or events in nature which are adapted to appeal to the
more common, if the weaker and less sublimely worthy, of the
emotions of man that are sympathetic with external nature. One of
the compositions played at this time was descriptive of the four
seasons, beginning with Winter. Subsequently, while being
entertained at luncheon by Count Matsudaira, we heard played in
the best native style, a piece entitled “The Flight of the Cranes,” and
a sort of musical lament or dirge over “A Pine Tree, Uprooted and
Fallen in a Storm.” Still other instances will be referred to in another
connection. At this first visit, and even after I had attended the
annual Exhibition of The Imperial School of Music, I was in despair
over the ability of the Japanese to learn the art of music as it has
developed so wonderfully in modern Europe; until I attended the
services of the Greek Cathedral in Tokyo, and listened to the superb
chanting of the Japanese men as they had been trained by the
Russian priests. And at my last visit I found how great progress the
nation has been making in the art of music as a development all the
more glorious and uplifting to the spirit of man, when set free from its
ancient partnership with the dramatic art.
The pieces acted on this occasion were selections from the Kyogen,
or comediettas, which were interspersed between the serious pieces
of the Nō, as a foil to their severity. The fun of these plays is entirely
free from any vulgarity or taint of lasciviousness; but it is so broad
and simple as often to seem childish to the mind of the modern
foreigner. To appreciate them it is necessary to remember that they
were composed for the common apprehension, as mild jokes or
satires upon the foibles of the different classes represented on the
stage in the earlier period of its development. The language in which
they are delivered is old-fashioned colloquial.
To give a few examples: In an interview between a Daimyō and his
confidential helper, or steward, the former is complaining that he can
get nothing properly done; and that, therefore, it is absolutely
necessary for him to be provided with a larger number of servants.
He suggests about one thousand as the requisite number; but the
steward succeeds in getting his master to reduce the number to fifty.
The first applicant for service is a so-called “musquito-devil,” who is
thrown into violent convulsions by the offer to employ him to water
the garden! On being questioned as to what he can do, he responds
that he can wrestle. When the steward declines to wrestle with the
new servant, and the master is not satisfied to employ him to
“wrestle alone,” the master himself undertakes a match with the
musquito-devil; and he is easily worsted. He then consults apart with
his steward, who tells him that musquitoes cannot bear the wind, and
that he himself will stand ready to assist his master with a fan. At the
next bout, accordingly, the musquito-devil is sent whirling off the
stage, behind the screens, by the blasts of the steward’s fan.
Another of these comediettas represented an old woman and her
nephew in angry conversation. She is scolding him for his idle,
spendthrift ways; and he is accusing her of a mean penuriousness in
not allowing him enough spending money. As a result of the quarrel,
he goes off, leaving her with a warning that an ugly devil has been
seen in the neighbourhood and that she may receive a visit from
him. After the departure of the nephew, the old woman locks the
house carefully and retires. There soon comes a rap on the door,—
and “Who is there?” The voice of the nephew replies, asking to be let
into the house; but when the door is opened, a devil enters with his
features concealed behind a horrible mask. The old woman pleads
piteously for mercy, but is finally induced to surrender the key of the
store-room where the saké is kept. She then draws aside to bury her
face in her hands and to pray,—being assured that if she once looks
up, she will be struck dead with the look. Whereupon the scamp of a
nephew proceeds to get drunk; and being discovered and
recognised in this helpless condition, he receives from his outraged
aunt the beating which he so richly deserves.
Still another of these childish comedies represented two rival
quacks, who were boasting the merits of their sticking-plaster. One of
these plasters would draw iron, and the other would draw horses.
Then followed various contests between the two rivals, with “straight
pull,” “sideways pull,” “screw pull,” etc.
My next experience with the Japanese theatre was of a quite
different order, but equally interesting and equally instructive. It was
gained by attending an all-day performance in one of the Kabuki
theatres in Tokyo, where a play designed to celebrate the old-
fashioned Samurai virtue of fidelity was having a great run, in spite of
the extreme heat of a hot July. The audiences were composed of the
middle and lower artisan, and other socially similar classes. It was
not to be expected, therefore, that the version of Bushidō which
appealed to them, and which won their enthusiastic applause, would
correspond throughout to the admirable description of this “spirit of
the knight” as given in the book of Professor Nitobé on this subject.
And, in fact, the play gave a representation of this most highly prized
of the Japanese virtues corresponding, in its substantial delineation
and literary style, to that which would be given of the most distinctive
virtues of our so-called Christian civilisation, on the stage of any one
of the theatres of the “Bowery” in New York City.
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 anguage Development Across the Life Span. English in Iceland:

 niversity Instructors’ Views on Using Curriculum Materials

Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir and Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir

B. Arnbjörnsdóttir (*) • H. Ingvarsdóttir

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 1

2 Motivation and Purpose of the Book

national identities. This is somewhat of a contrast to the multilingual context such

5 Structure of the Book

The chapters “English Exposure and Vocabulary Proficiency at the Onset of

Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World Englishes: Implications for international communication and

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 19

2 The Presence of English in Iceland

2.1 A Brief Historical Overview

were mostly imported from Denmark (written in Danish), as were movies.

2.2 A Common Nordic Policy

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