Initiatives on Spanish Language Teaching in Mexico at the end of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

From a political and pedagogical perspective, this paper analyzes the initiatives on Spanish language teaching in late nineteenth-century Mexico, a period in which the federal (national) government managed to resume the constitutional principles of public instruction. Educators critical of rote-learning  practices published a series of initiatives in local newspapers and magazines aimed at modifying the teaching of reading and writing in primary and normal schools. Publishers contributed to disseminate the institutional agreements of intellectual groups located in different cities of the country as well. The article highlights the political interests, pedagogical thinking, and methodological resources underlying the different perspectives that attempted to create a national program for the teaching.