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

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.