ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses only a few aspects of the emergence and redefining of English as a school subject. The circumstances involved indicate a rejection of the more simplistic explanations of curriculum change. The teaching of English as a foreign optional subject in the Norwegian common school started in the 1870s on a wave of pragmatic utilitarian interests. Experiments with the teaching of English in the common school had two different objectives in mind: the teaching of English in the common school for general contact purposes, and the teaching of English in primary education as a prerequisite and foundation for secondary education. The need for certain skills in foreign languages and especially English was apparent. It also stressed the importance of practical skills of reading, understanding and making oneself understood at the cost of skills in writing and knowledge of grammar.
