Around the debate on language education in the periodical Nuovi Doveri (1907-1911)

Abstract

The article traces the early development of a modern approach to Language Education in Italy, focusing on the debate at the beginning of the 20th century between Giovanni Gentile and Giuseppe Lombardo Radice. This intellectual exchange significantly influenced Tullio De Mauro’s later formulation of Educational Linguistics as a new scientific field. A central part of the discussion is devoted to Lombardo Radice, a key figure in Italian pedagogy between the Giolitti era and the Fascist period. While initially aligned with Gentile’s actualism, he developed an original pedagogical model by integrating it with elements of Deweyan educational activism. Although he shared with Gentile the idea of education as a deep interaction between teacher and student, he diverged by placing greater emphasis on practical teaching experience. His broader vision of education extended beyond schooling to encompass a wider civil and cultural mission aimed at forming responsible citizens. The article further explores Lombardo Radice’s reflections on language education, which he considered the foundation of the entire educational process. These ideas were developed not only in his books but also through periodicals he founded, such as Nuovi doveri and Educazione nazionale, where he promoted wide-ranging debates across all levels of education. Finally, the study focuses on a specific debate published in Nuovi doveri, involving Giulio Augusto Levi, Gemma Harasim, and Giovanni Gentile on the teaching of written Italian and its theoretical underpinnings. This analysis helps reconstruct the intellectual context in which Lombardo Radice later developed his methodological model of Language Education, particularly in his Lezioni di didattica.