Less known than his linguistic and anthropological research is the work developed by Rudolph Lenz (1863-1938) in relation to the teaching of Spanish as a first language in Chilean educational system. He focused on two fundamental problems of great importance for curriculum and program design. First, the question of what "literary language" would be taught, that is, in today's terms, which properties should belong to the standard language. Second, the problem of how instruction should be conducted in high schools, and, particularly, the role of grammar in this process. In both cases, Lenz departed from the tradition of Bello's ideas. In addition to theoretically and empirically substantiate his proposals, Lenz spread his ideas in public opinion to influence curriculum design and training of future teachers of Spanish. He also sought to reform the teaching of grammar in Chile. All this was done in an environment that was not conducive to ideas that criticized the doctrines of Bello.
Keywords:
Rudolf Lenz, Educational Linguistics, History of Linguistic Ideas, Standard Language
Soto, G. (2016). Rudolf Lenz and the teaching of Spanish as a first language in Chile. Boletín De Filología, 51(1), 211–238. Retrieved from https://boletinfilologia.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/42106
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