This essay is an attempt to explain how the students' linguistic
competence is not only a useful tool for the comprehension of Anglo-Saxon texts but a basic one. The article describes a teaching experience
with students in their final year who, for reasons which are not relevant
now, had had no previous contact with Old English grammar. The
students, however, had quite a good level of linguistic competence, and
the results of the experience show the way in which this fosters a wider
range of class participation and a more profound and lasting knowledge of the texts.
