Old English Core Vocabulary: STARIS Development 2024-25

Project Co-ordinator: Dr Christine Rauer

Project Members: Ekin Çotuk, Eleanor Thomas, Ethan Phillips, Georgina Parbrook, River Stilwell, and Tom Rippon

The Old English Core Vocabulary list is an open-access webpage which lists some 500 words of Old English, which perhaps form the most important vocabulary (‘Core Vocabulary’): https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~cr30/vocabulary/

The list is intended for use on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate Old English modules at the University of St Andrews. It is also used by many teachers and students of Old English around the world. Additionally, the site also attracts a huge amount of internet traffic from members of the public interested in linguistic matters.

With the help of funding from the University of St Andrews under the STARIS scheme during the academic year 2024-25, this core vocabulary was developed further, namely with a set of official digital flashcards which are to be made available to any user of the vocabulary list. Here some information on STARIS: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/academic/internships/staris/

Latest Project News:

Our new cards were successfully published in December 2024. The completed set of official, open-access digital flashcards for the vocabulary list are now available on the Quizlet website:

Old English Core Vocabulary St Andrews Flashcards

Using the flashcard works best, though, via the Quizlet app. Within Quizlet, search for 'Old English Core Vocabulary St Andrews' (589 cards), posted by weardunhiore. Use of the flashcards is free of charge; more advanced study options may require a paid subscription.

The next and final stage of the project (January - March 2025) will involve the roll-out and trial of those flashcards in a classroom environment, on modules EN3111 Beowulf, and EN5020 Old English, and a number of promotional events in the university.

History of the Project:

Phase 1, Summer 2024

Ekin Çotuk, Eleanor Thomas and Christine Rauer

1. Revision of existing vocabulary list; removal of some 40 redundant words; to be completed by 1 June 2024. Link to draft list of words for removal.

2. Preparation of digital flashcards for the remaining list of Old English words. These flashcards will be updatable so that further words can be added later; to be completed by 1 September 2024.

Phase 2, Autumn 2024

Ethan Phillips, Georgina Parbrook and Christine Rauer

1. Identification of additional technical vocabulary from the fields of Anglo-Saxon political and social history for inclusion in the list; completed autumn 2024.

2. Addition of these historical terms to the set of digital flashcards prepared during Phase 1; submission of updated set by December 2024.

3. Internet publication and celebratory launch of updated core vocabulary list and official set of digital flashcards on 28 December 2024.

Phase 3, Winter/Spring 2025

River Stilwell, Tom Rippon and Christine Rauer

1. Production of a student-friendly information factsheet / instructions manual for the use of the Old English flashcards; to be completed by 5 January 2025.

2. Coaching (e.g. information meeting and/or email helpline) offered to students using the flashcards on modules EN3111 and EN5020, during period 26 January 2025-20 February 2025.

3. Gathering of feedback from EN3111/EN5020 students on using the flashcards, during period 20 February 2025-9 March 2025.

Conclusion: Summer 2025

Various team members

Preparation of final report at the end of the project.

Background

Our collaboration will help team members develop graduate attributes in the following fields:

• Language learning and transcultural relations. Students of English and Medieval History can find it difficult to develop their CVs with evidence of linguistic activity, and this project will help provide evidence for such expertise.
• Public-facing life-long education; contributing to the heritage sector. The required tasks foster engagement with the adult education sector and a sense of responsibility towards our global cultural inheritance.
• Userfriendly data presentation and digital dissemination. The resulting digital products (online vocabulary and flashcards) will be of use to future generations of language learners.
• Project-based teamwork; critical evaluation of learning tools for varying audiences. Good communication and flexible adaptation towards groups of learners other than one’s own will be required at the outset of the project and will then be further developed.

Contact

Dr Christine Rauer, School of English, University of St Andrews, KY16 9AL, Scotland, cr30@st-andrews.ac.uk