Propaedeutic value of Esperanto


The propaedeutic value of Esperanto is the utility of Esperanto as an introduction to foreign language study and its benefit on the teaching of subsequent foreign languages. Several studies, such as that of Helmar Frank at the University of Paderborn and the San Marino International Academy of Sciences, have concluded that one year of Esperanto in school, which produces an ability equivalent to what the average pupil reaches with European national languages after six to seven years of study, improves the ability of the pupil to learn a target language in comparison to that of pupils who spent the entire time learning the target language. For example, studying Esperanto for one year and then French for three years results in greater proficiency in French than when someone would only study French for four years. This effect was first described by Antoni Grabowski in 1908.
Springboard to Languages, a project of the Esperanto Association of Britain, summarizes the propaedeutic case for Esperanto with these words:

Language teaching introductory effect

The preparatory teaching conducted by Institute of Pedagogic Cybernetics at the University of Paderborn in Germany prepares students to become aware of the essential characteristics of languages, using the international language Esperanto as a model, a language with a clear and simple structure, almost completely regular and, thanks to its agglutinative character, detachable into combinable morphological elements; this model is easy to assimilate and develops aptitude for the study of other languages.
Even before the experiments conducted by Prof. Helmar Frank in Germany, similar research was conducted in Hungary by I. Szerdahelyi of the University of Science in Budapest. A group of native Hungarian speakers, after having studied Esperanto for two years in the third and fourth grade of elementary school, were divided to study their learning of Russian, German, English, and French.
According to the results, preliminary Esperanto study led to a 25% improvement in acquiring Russian, 30% for German, 40% for English, and even 50% for French. In other terms, children who had received preparatory teaching obtained notably better results than their peers who had not had an analogous introduction to the study of foreign languages.
This system of preparatory instruction was put into practice in Germany, with a greater number of students, but with the sole aim of finding a way of facilitating the learning of English. The results showed that after two years of linguistic orientation using the International language, the advantage was about 30%.
The experiments conducted and repeated many times at Paderborn went much further, finding that 145 hours of Esperanto is enough, for a French speaker, to reach a level about equivalent to 1500 hours in English or 2000 in German; showing Esperanto is learned 10 to 13 times faster than other languages.
Some researchers who study cybernetics applied to pedagogy and foreign language instruction advise that:
  1. Language study should begin with elementary school, starting at 8 years of age and with two years of Esperanto.
  2. After the introduction of the foreign language, Esperanto should be used in teaching a determined subject, such as geography, as an interscholastic means of communication.
  3. There should be efforts to coordinate the steps necessary in all European Community countries to ensure a simpler linguistic communication between citizens.

    Pedagogic experiments (propaedeutic value)

Many teaching experiments have been conducted over the years. Those that follow are the most significant.

Girls' Middle School in Bishop Auckland (GB)Reports: Dr. Alexandra Fischer, ''Languages by way of Esperanto''. "Eksperimento farita en Bishop Auckland (GB) en la jaroj 1918–1921" in ''Internacia Pedagogia Revuo'', 1931.

Those who began with Esperanto achieved a better "passive knowledge" and those who began with French acquired better "active use."
Note: the experiment took place under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruction.
It is characterised by the introduction to the study of foreign languages, uses children from 8–10 years old and is based on comparison between languages, using Esperanto as a reference. Since it is perfectly adapted to children, it turns out to be extremely effective from the pedagogic point of view.
Scientifically measured, the results
confirm that such instruction of linguistic orientation:
In Italy, where Esperanto received positive treatment in a 1952 memo from the Minister of Public Instruction, Segni, there have been various experiments in the use of Esperanto, above all in the cities of Cesena, Cagliari e Genoa. The experiment cited here took place at the "Rocca" Elementary School in San Salvatore di Cogorno.
From the project's summary: "In 1994 the Government of the State of Victoria proposed that every primary school should begin to teach at least one LOTE for at least 2.5 hours per week... It was clear from Esperanto experiments in Europe that Esperanto helped learners make a good, quick start in learning their second European language. However no research had been done on whether the early learning of Esperanto helped with the later learning of East-Asian Languages. The situation unfolding in Victoria seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to do some research on that idea."
To see whether previous study of Esperanto would assist children in the subsequent learning of East-Asian languages.

Wellesley College, Department of Psychology (Massachusetts, USA)Report: Christian Rudmick, ''The Wellesley College Danish-Esperanto experiment''.

Columbia University, New York (USA)Report: Edward Thorndike, ''Language Learning''. Bureau of Publications of Teachers College, 1933. http://www.interlingua.org/. Helen S. Eaton, "The Educational Value of an Artificial Language." ''The Modern Language Journal'', #12, pp. 87–94 (1927).

Note: the experiment was organised on order by the IALA by Dr. Edward Thorndike, director of the psychology section of the institute for pedagogic research at Columbia University.
For the Hungarian children, the coefficients of the result, in terms of preset educational goals, turn out to be the following: 30% for Russian, 40% for German, 60% for English, and 130% for Esperanto. "Such indications perfectly confirm the initial observations made by Prof. Barczi: in scholastic language instruction circumstances, Esperanto is the only foreign language for which educational goals can be met.".
Some studies had both aims - to explore the propaedeutic effect and the quicker learning of Esperanto. See above, e. g.: