Early twentieth-century correspondence language courses : a case study: il poliglotta moderno

This paper will argue the pedagogical and prescriptivist value(s) of Il Poliglotta (1905-1907) as an example of early twentieth-century Italian correspondence educational courses for the teaching of, in particular, English, French and German. Through an in-depth analysis of the ‘mail’ section, and the evaluation of the metalanguage used by the instructor, it will take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages, and possibly the limits, of the new system, “facile and piano”, as devised by Mr Da Nova and his team.