12 - Sociocultural, Political, and Educational Aspects of Teaching English in Polish Schools in the Interwar Period (1918–1939)

Summary

Abstract

This essay aims to uncover the history of the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language in Poland from 1918 to World War II (1939). English first came into the curriculum in the developing school system then. The main investigated phenomena are the links between teaching and learning procedures of English language teaching (ELT) at state schools and the social, cultural, intellectual, and political context of foreign language teaching in interwar Poland. The analysis investigates how the purposes of English language education given in curricula are reflected in textbooks. Therefore, this chapter makes a comparison between curricula and textbook content. To analyse the materials as comprehensively as possible, professional journal articles printed at that time are considered as well.

Keywords: History of ELT; English language education in Poland; the interwar period; textbook analysis

“Through school, we need to change our attitude towards the state”: Educational Reforms in Poland after the First World War

This study offers an overview of external factors influencing English language education in Poland in the interwar period, i.e. from 1918 to 1939. Its main objective is to track how modern language teaching goals projected in curricula and theoretical publications are reflected in the content and methods used in English language schoolbooks. The interwar period is a time of intense discussions on the place of modern foreign languages in Polish schools. In a country that had just regained independence, the necessity of their universal education was emphasized. The education reforms carried out at that time included both organizational and ideological changes. The English language, which became a school subject for the first time in the history of Polish education, became the subject of these discussions and reforms alongside the traditionally taught German and French. The foreign language teaching programs from the beginning of the analysed period emphasized linguistic proficiency, which was understood as the possibility of efficient use of the language in speech and writing. With time, the emphasis shifted from practical to educational purposes. The educational goal meant paying attention to the values typical of a given foreign culture, which can be assimilated for the benefit of the reborn Polish state.