This study is motivated by the search for new practices to enhance the teaching of <i>ab initio</i> Latin in UK universities. It arises out of a perception that traditional methods leave some students failing to achieve course aims, their own study goals, and, in the longer term, struggling to read Latin texts with understanding and engagement. At the outset of this research, there was little recent information on Latin pedagogy in UK universities or on student opinions on provision. Some scholarship expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of Latin reading skills attained, but little work had been done on defining the nature of desirable skills or in exploring how they might be attained or investigated. This study instigates progress in all these areas. To advance understanding of how Latin learning takes place and to investigate the potential benefits of existing conceptual and pedagogical frameworks, this study draws on modern language learning theories and teaching practices and explores the application of Vygotskian sociocultural theory to learning events taking place under a communicative teaching approach. Research methods were selected pragmatically, with quantitative methods deployed to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of current practice in UK universities, while the more complex areas of learning events and perceived benefits were investigated through a combination of participant observation, interviews and innovative reading and drawing exercises. The findings confirm that traditional <i>ab initio</i> Latin teaching approaches are not well-aligned with learners’ goals, establish the value of taking a broader approach to pedagogy and provide new ways of defining and investigating Latin reading skills. This research has the potential to enhance Latin pedagogy in UK universities and other institutions. It makes a seminal contribution to applying language learning theories to Latin and suggests innovative methods for aligning students’ needs and expectations with their learning experience.

Considering textbooks as cultural artefacts that both reflect prevailing paradigms and construct knowledge (Issitt 2004; Apple 2004), this research compares nineteenth-century Latin textbooks intended for pupils in England with those intended for pupils in Prussia in the light of their differing educational, linguistic and social contexts. This dissertation fills a gap in Anglo-German historiography for the nineteenth century from three intertwined perspectives: cultural history, the history of education and the history of linguistic ideas, by investigating how textbook authors treated Latin grammar in the light of cultural ideologies (including the role of Classics in elite education, education for empire) and developments in pedagogy and philology, at a time when formal education was just becoming established, and when curriculum design, educational administration, and educational philosophy in England were all heavily influenced by German scholarship. Using a corpus of 100 Latin textbooks used in nineteenth-century England and Prussia, textbook content was examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that nineteenth-century Latin textbooks intended for pupils in England and Prussia conveyed different cultural information to their respective audiences. Challenging popular belief, pedagogical findings from this research demonstrate that Latin textbooks included a range of innovative teaching methods and techniques. As Latin is a ‘dead’ language, it is commonly perceived to be linguistically static, but by analysing the linguistic presentation of the Latin language in nineteenth-century textbooks, we find that some of the most basic linguistic components of Latin, such as the alphabet and the noun case system, were reconsidered and altered. This research shows that, though foreign language textbooks are under-studied, they offer insight into cultural history, the history of teaching and learning and the history of linguistic ideas which can be found in no other source and, ultimately, contextualise the current state of foreign language teaching.