TOwaRDS ThE hISTORY Of ENglISh STUDIES IN lIThUaNIa

The paper is an attempt to give an overview of several periods in the development of English Studies in Lithuania from its establishment as an independent academic discipline in 1923 until now1. The notion of english studies, as has been noted by E. Balz (2000, 2), “is surprisingly difficult to define and it means different things in different places. In some countries, especially English-speaking ones, ‘English’ refers exclusively to the study of literature(s), not only English, but also American, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Black British and (as the euphemism goes) emerging ones. (...) Elsewhere, literature and linguistics are both integral parts of ‘English’ and, as this tends to be the case where English is a foreign language, applied linguistics and language learning will, to different degrees, belong to it as well”. It is also claimed (Haas 2000, 361) that in the former Eastern Bloc, linguistics, language teaching and methodology tended to have somewhat better chances than literary scholarship. another point that should be made clear at the very beginning is that it was only late that English Studies found full academic recognition. Here are a few dates of the establishment of the first chairs in Europe:

1 the article is not an exhaustive history of English Studies in Lithuania.As there has been very little research on English Studies as a discipline in Lithuania, the article is a sketch of some important points in the teaching of English in Lithuania, based on the sources available.apart from the sources quoted, the paper owes thanks to many colleagues who have given intellectual and personal support during its production.I am deeply indebted to Dr Nijolė Bražėnienė for encouraging me to write this paper, to Dr Laima-Erika Katkuvienė, who has been very generous with her time, advice and support and who has read and commented on the paper, to Dr Adolfas Laučka for providing invaluable comments and suggestions, to Dr Elena Kuosaitė for kindly agreeing to read the paper and generously sharing her reminiscences about English Studies in pre-war and post-war times, to Prof. Galina Baužytė, who has always been willing to help, to Dr Inesa Šeškauskienė for her insightful and invaluable suggestions on the text of the paper, to Dr Violeta Kalėdaitė for supplying information about English Studies in Kaunas University.
The study of English literature in England was introduced astonishingly late.For example, at oxford the School of English was founded in 1893, at Cambridge in 1917."In both universities it was the power and resistance of Classical studies that held the introduction of English as an independent subject, (…) the fear that English literature would be too easy a subject, one that could not be properly examined" (European English Studies 2000, 341).
the first instances of the full academic establishment of English Studies on the continent were closely connected with decisive political developments.In the 20 th century foreign politics and international relations had an even greater impact on the development of English Studies than internal politics (the consequences of the First World War, the declaration of independence in many European countries and the emergence of the USa as a great international power).
In Lithuania, the establishment of English Studies as an independent academic discipline followed more or less the same pattern as that in many other European countries although the first direct and indirect connections between the various realms of Great Britain (England, Scotland and the United Kingdom) and the Baltic, especially Lithuania (both the Grand Duchy and modern Republic thereof) can be said to stretch back for more than a millennium.Britons have been visiting Lithuania and Lithuanians England since the 14th century (Rowell 2006).
In 1390, Henry bolingbroke (who later became King Henry IV and ruled England between 1399 and 1413) travelled to Lithuania accompanied by a 300-strong platoon of the English knights.true, he marched with a gun in his hands and still as Duke of Derby Henry Bolingbroke.In this way he helped the Teutonic order to quell Europe's last pagans, despite the fact that Lithuania had been Catholic for four years.The most interesting fact is that Vytautas the Great, who was still fighting with his cousin Jogaila for the throne, marched together with the Teutonic order and the English Knights.It is generally agreed that Henry Bolingbroke's march and his personality inspired some motives in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury tales" (Bumblauskas 2006).
It is the British who were among the first wave of professors who came to work at Vilnius University founded by the Jesuits in 1579.one of them was adam brock, an Englishman, who was a graduate of oxford and who taught moral theology at the University of Vilnius for 20 years and later became Rector of the University (1602-1605).He wrote several times to the General of the order of Jesuits promoting the Lithuanian language and expressing a genuine interest in Lithuanian affairs: the division of the Polish Province and forming a separate Lithuanian Province, comprising Lithuania, Prussia and Livonia (Rabikauskas 2002, 259).
The case of the first professor of mathematics of Vilnius University James Bosgrave became especially renowned.At Vilnius University James Bosgrave carried out geographical measurements of the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed the basis for the first accurate and most famous Lithuanian map.In 1580 James Bosgrave returned to his Motherland and was arrested as a Catholic.The Ruler of Lithuania Stephen Bathory wrote letters to Elizabeth concerning James Bosgrave and stating that Vilnius University and science suffered a great loss without such an eminent professor and wondered that such a pious person was arrested because of his faith.Stephen Bathory assured Elizabeth I that all her subjects in Poland and Lithuania enjoyed freedom irrespective of their faith and expressed hope that Catholics would be tolerated in England.This had an effect -James Bosgrave and some other Catholics who had been arrested were saved from execution and set free (Bumblauskas 2006).
among the other illustrious British teachers at the Jesuit academy in Vilnius was a Scottish philosopher, john Hay sj, who was the first librarian of Vilnius University and compiled the library's first catalogue (Rowell 2006, 27).
There were some British students at the University too.It seems that it was in Lithuania, as far back as in the times of Shakespeare, that they created the first English verses."Four Scottish students feature among those members of the academy who wrote verse in 1604 in honour of the canonization of St Casimir.British students at the academy were among those who welcomed King-Grand Duke Sigismund III Vasa to Vilnius in 1609.A piece of verse composed by a British student and published in the record of his visitation, Gratuliationes a studiosa iuventute Academiae Vilnensis Societatis Jesu facte, is the first English poem known to have been published in Lithuania" (Rowell 2006, 27).
at the time of the foundation of the University in 1579, Latin was a vehicle of culture and scholarship in Europe.Latin remained the dominant language at the University and in secondary schools throughout Lithuania until the reform of the Educational Commission (1773).The introduction of Polish as the language of instruction in secondary schools was one of the initial measures of the Educational Commission.at the Principal School of Lithuania, however, it was only after 1781 that the odd professor started using Polish, initially in his public lectures.Jędrzej Sniadecki started giving a course in chemistry in Polish to students.It earned him a certain amount of displeasure from the Rector, Marcin Poczobutt, who doubted the capacity of national languages in general to express the concepts of science and feared that the use of national languages might cause the isolation of scientists of different nationalities (Vilniaus universiteto istorija 1994, 113).Polish was declared the official language of instruction by the Statute of 1797. the majority of lectures, however, continued to be given in Latin and, in some cases, in French.the use of Latin was supported by foreigners teaching at the University, whilst professors of Lithuanian extraction showed little enthusiasm for the promotion of Polish (A Short History 1979, 80).
Modern foreign languages were introduced at the beginning of the nineteenth century (German, French-in 1801-1802, English-in 1810-1811) at the University of Vilnius.on the whole, at the beginning of the nineteenth century Vilnius was a city of many languages, nationalities and religions (Vilniaus universiteto istorija 1994, 62).In the early nineteenth century the University of Vilnius equalled the most progressive European universities not only in its research schools and the level of studies, but also by its influence on society.English was introduced due to the interest in English literature.In 1810, a famous artist Joseph Saunders came to Vilnius and started reading not only a course in art history, but also a course in English literature.The Rector's Office appointed Benjamin Haustein, a lecturer of German language and literature, to teach English to the students willing to learn English.The lecturers unfortunately have not left any significant work behind.The lecturer of the German and English languages Haustein published what was most probably the material used in his lectures: Geschichte des Ursprungs und Fortgangs der deutschen Litteratur (Vilnius, 1819) and Sammlung deutscher auserlesener Stücke (Vilnius, 1810) as well as Sposób latwy uczenia się czytać po angielsku podług reguł Sheridana i Walkera z niektóremi kawałkami prozą i wierszem (Wilno 1806).The textbook of English is devoted to the pronunciation of English sounds, and is fairly primitive and didactic (Vengrienė 1964, 238-239).
The history of English Studies in Lithuania is not very long.As an independent academic discipline it was introduced as late as 1923 in Kaunas University, even then it was first established within a larger unit -that of Germanic languages and literatures at the Faculty of Humanities.
In the first phase of its existence as an academic discipline, English Studies was characterized mainly by a literary paradigm. 2In 1923, the Council of the Faculty of Humanities made a decision to establish the Department of Philology where English literature, the history of English literature, the history of England and the history of the English language as well as Lithuanian literature were taught.The head of the Department was Pranas Augustaitis, who read a plethora of literature courses: on Byron, Shakespeare, English drama, the critical history of English literature, English Renaissance, the novel of North America, an overview of English literature, the contemporary English novel, the twentieth century modern English literature, courses on Swinburne, Shelley, Tennyson, Butler, etc. Augustaitis was the only qualified expert of English literature at that time, therefore he was made head of the department, although as a scholar he was not very prolific.In fact he did not leave any significant published material (Jonikas 1972, 439).
It is interesting to note that in 1934 when a post for a lecturer in English at the Department of Germanic Languages was advertised, there were 12 applications for the post 3 , among them was a graduate of Oxford Adrian Paterson, who was awarded the post and worked in Kaunas University in 1934-1935 and is best known for his translation of Old Lithuanian Songs, the introduction to which was written by another Oxford graduate Martin Lings, who replaced Paterson in 1935 and worked in Kaunas until September 1939.Martin Lings, who died just a couple of years ago (2005) at the age of 96, was an extremely interesting personality, world-renowned Islamist scholar. 4Shortly after the Soviet Union returned Vilnius and the region of Vilnius to Lithuania in 1939, a decision was made to move the Faculty of Humanities from Kaunas to Vilnius.In 1940, however, Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union.The Soviets at once started reforming the University according to the model of Soviet universities.Student organizations were closed while the dismissal of several professors was politically motivated (the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Prof. Vincas Mykolaitis Putinas was replaced by Prof. P. Augustaitis).
In 1941, Lithuania was occupied by the Nazis.At the beginning of the Nazi occupation, all Jewish professors and students were expelled from the University.The staff of the University who were active during the Soviet period were dismissed, too.The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Prof. Pranas Augustaitis was ousted in 1941 and died three weeks later at the age of fifty-eight.
English Studies continued even during the war.One of the lecturers who taught English, English literature and lectured on Anglo-Saxon was Magdalena Avietėnaitė , an outstanding personality, highly educated woman, an extremely high-ranking diplomat in pre-war Lithuania, one of the most influential women in pre-war Lithuanian history, an elegant, attractive woman.5 3 See: VDU Humanitarinių mokslų fakulteto Tarybos posėdžių protokolai.1930 I. 27-1936.IX.13.  4 Lings was born in Burnage, Lancashire, but spent his early childhood in the United States, where his fa-Lings was born in Burnage, Lancashire, but spent his early childhood in the United States, where his father's work had taken him.On his return to England, he went to Clifton College, Bristol, where he became head boy, and read English at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he became a close friend of CS Lewis.In 1935, he went to Lithuania to lecture on Anglo-Saxon and Middle English.Apart from the introduction of Old Lithuanian Songs he also wrote a two-part book entitled "The Lithuanians' Book of English" (1937).In the summer of 1939, Martin Lings went to Cairo to visit Paterson.At that time he had a lectureship in Lithuania and therefore planned to return to Lithuania after his visit.While he was in Cairo, however, war broke out, and he was forced to stay in Egypt.This was only the first of several major events that would change the course of his life.A year later, when he and his friend Paterson were riding in the desert, Paterson was thrown from his horse and killed.Lings was offered the post at Cairo university.It was at about this time that he converted to Islam, and was soon imbued with the Sufi dimension of the religion.He became world-renowned, prolific Islamic scholar.
5 She was born in Lithuania (in the hamlet of Brazavas, county of Marijampolė), but lived in the USA from the age of seven.After graduating from the Classical High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, she studied literature and philosophy at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and then at the request of President Smetona came to Lithuania to work at the Ministry of Foreign With World War II drawing to an end and the painful and horrific memories of the repression of 1940-1941 when a considerable part of the Lithuanian population were deported to Siberia still alive, a number of professors and students of the University left for the West.With the seizure of Vilnius and the re-occupation of the country by the Red Army in the summer of 1944, Lithuanians lost their hope to regain independence.The University of Vilnius was solemnly opened on 7 November, the eve of the celebration of the 27th anniversary of the October Revolution, and turned into a standard Soviet school of higher education.The traditions of European universities that had been fostered for years and were based on non-interference of the state into the internal affairs of the University, its autonomy and academic freedom, were rejected, and all ties with the Western world were severed.
The scanty intelligentsia that stayed in Lithuania had to revitalize the activities of the University under the severe circumstances of the post-war period and experience harsh spiritual and physical terror.Highly qualified specialists had to pass the degrading 'examination of loyalty', were persecuted and checked in many different ways and forced to 're-educate themselves' (Bumblauskas et al. 2004).Many distinguished professors were sacked, among them Professor Pranas Zdankus, the first chairholder of English, which in 1944 had been established in its own right.In the autumn of 1945 Zdankus was deported to Siberia, where he spent two years in an Archangelsk camp/gulag but was released as his guilt could not be proved.Due to the KGB persecutions he could never again pursue his professional career.
In 1944-1945 there were three departments of foreign languages and literatures: the Department of English Language and Literature, the Department of German Language and Literature, the Department of French Language and Literature.But as early as 1945-1946 due to a considerable lack of qualified staff they were reorganized into two departments: the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of World Literature (the Ministry of Higher Education of the Soviet Union intended to discontinue the studies of Classical Philology and foreign languages at the University.The authorities of the University, Marcelinas Ročka, Leonas Valkūnas and others were fighting fiercely to save the studies and succeeded).The situation started to improve in the late fifties, and the Department of Foreign Languages was split into two departments: the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Romance and Germanic Philology, the latter being further subdivided in 1962 into the Department of the English Language, the Department of the German Language and the Department of the French Language.In 1968 the Department of the English Language was reorganized into the Department of English Philology (training specialists of English language and literature) and the Department of the English Language (teaching English to students of other faculties).In 1976, the Department of the English Language was further divided into two departments: the Department of English for the Humanities and the Department of English for Natural Sciences.In 1989 the Department of English for the Humanities was further divided into the Department of English for the Faculties of Economics and Law and the Department of English for the Humanities, while in 1999 a new institution, the Institute of Foreign Languages, was set up, which caters for the needs of the students of all faculties with the exception of students majoring in English. 6he Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Vilnius was the first institution in post-war Lithuania to offer academic studies of English.The first lecturers at the Department were: Pranas Zdankus, a graduate of two American universities, who was the first acting head of the Department of English Language and Literature in 1944-45; Vaclovas Baravykas, 7 who started lecturing at the university in 1944 and stayed there till 1951 when he was ousted because of ideological reasons, and Irina Karsavina, a lecturer of immense erudition, graduate of the Sorbonne.In 1946 Rachilė Aprijaskytė-Valdšteinienė, a prominent phonetician, founder of the school of pronunciation in Lithuania, 8 whose courses in theoretical phonetics and teaching aids in pronunciation helped to consolidate students' pronunciation skills, started her teaching career together with Neda Kameneckaitė, a brilliant scholar and lecturer, who made an outstanding contribution in the development of English Studies in Lithuania and whose lectures are still cherished in the memories of her students.In 1948, Elė Pareigytė, a graduate of Vilnius University, started her teaching career at the Department of Foreign Languages.In the fifties many young English language specialists, mainly graduates of the University of Vilnius, joined the staff of the Department offering a number of theoretical courses: Alfonsas Laučka taught the history of the English Language, the introduction to Germanic Philology and in 1954 defended the first post-war doctoral thesis in English linguistics; Albertas Steponavičius lectured and published extensively on the history of the English language, Laima Zabulienė taught phonetics and carried out research into Old English, Dalija Tekorienė read courses in lexicology, lexicography, English grammar, defended her habilitation, became a professor, and at the same time acted as a translator. 9In the sixties the Department was joined by Laimutis Valeika, who delivered courses in English grammar, syntax and semantics, became a professor and supervised a great many (as many as seven) doctoral dissertations; Gražina Rosinienė and Gražina Karpuvienė, who focused mainly on semantics, Lionginas Pažūsis, who taught English phonetics, read courses in the theory of translation and translated both Lithuanian poetry and prose, 10 Olimpija Armalytė, who taught theory and practice of translation and worked as a translator, 11 Emma Geniušienė, one of the most distinguished professors of the Department, a prolific linguist, whose main area of interest was semantics and morphology and who has achieved international reputation and published extensively in the West 12 ; Laima Katkuvienė, who offered courses in theoretical morphology and research design, initiated and developed an academic writing school in Lithuania; Augustina Stungienė, who lectured on English grammar.In the seventies the Department continued to grow still further: Petras Anusas started teaching phonetics, Marija Liudvika Drazdauskienė taught English stylistics and defended her habilitation in English linguistics; Ligija Kaminskienė -English grammar and got her habilitation in educology.
As the University had been turned into a standard Soviet school of higher learning whose curriculum was mainly determined by the guidelines laid down by Moscow, the Department had very little freedom in choosing which courses to teach.Nevertheless, despite the unfavourable circumstances, the University of Vilnius succeeded in educating a number of outstanding researchers, teachers and specialists in a great many fields.
The last eighteen years have seen big changes in the curriculum and content of English Studies at the University.Since 1994 the University of Vilnius has been providing courses for interpreters and translators.Until 1997 the courses were offered by the Department of English Philology.In 1997 a separate unit -the Department of Translation Studies was established, which offers a two-year MA course and a one-year Diploma course.
Currently the Department of English Philology provides a wide variety of courses which can be roughly divided into the following blocks: the first block consists of language proficiency classes, which comprise the study of grammar, phonetics, academic writing, vocabulary enhancement, and translation.Considerable emphasis is placed on developing oral fluency and writing skills of the students.
The second block of courses comprises theoretical subjects such as Introduction into Germanic Linguistics, History of the English Language, Theoretical Morphology and Syntax, Stylistics as well as Lexicology and Lexicography.The latest developments in linguistic theory are discussed in courses on Semantic Syntax, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics.
Finally, the Department offers courses on Cultural Studies of English-speaking countries, which include exploration of history, geography, culture and civilization of these Apart from Vilnius University, there are other institutions in Lithuania which also offer English Studies. 13Although nowadays universities are quite free in designing their courses, there is some cooperation between similar departments of different institutions in restructuring and putting the courses together.
At present, however, English Studies are again at the crossroads.On the one hand, the challenges are essentially global with the world adopting English as its lingua franca and English Studies losing its traditional reference points, on the other hand, the Bologna Process is now well under way and the desire to cooperate in higher education beyond the current borders of the European Union poses new challenges, such as the need to communicate internationally about course contents, levels, etc. which necessarily implies a much more explicit design and description of curricula; the need to bring to the core of our attention the new ways in which students want to study; a new policy of recruiting students to English Studies programmes; a need for quality assurance (Mackenzie 2005).
The international external assessment of the study programmes in English Philology in Lithuania carried out this year revealed many problems that we all engaged in English Studies have to deal with.Some of the problems call for political action, such as the general education subjects or other peripheral courses absorbing too many credits, others, especially the ones connected with the course structure, content and study methods, rest with us, involved in the study field of English Philology.The Faculty of Philology initiated the introduction of the modular system in our university and this could hopefully lead to a better system and better quality of studies.
This paper is only a sketch of some important points in the teaching of English in Lithuania, based on the sources available, and the list of Lithuanian scholars who contributed to the development of English Studies in Lithuania should be made much longer, but the present paper focused on the pioneers of the field, those who stood at the birth of English Studies in Lithuania.There are many other names which deserve to be added, but this will be done in a further study.
Affairs.She served as director of the Lithuanian Telegraph Agency (ELTA) from 1924-1926 and as director of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1929 to 1940.In 1940 she had to leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then she was an instructor in English at the University of Vilnius during the Soviet German occupations from 1940 to 1943.In 1944 she fled to Germany and then returned to the USA where she worked in the library of the University of Detroit, taught sociology at Annhurst College from 1952-1953, and was a consulting librarian at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart from 1953-1965.

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