The Non-Formal Learning of English in the Interwar Period: Images of the OTHER in Self-Study Books and Magazines for English Learners

Abstract

The subject of this article is self-study books and magazines addressed to Poles learning English in the years 1918–1939. The typological description of the sources, embedded in the text linguistics, draws attention to their specificity (structure, pragmatics, and cognitive aspect) and role in promoting the knowledge of English in the then popular self-education process. Discursively profiled in-depth analyses are used to reconstruct the ways of perceiving a native English-language user based on the content presented in the source material. They showed that the OTHER is a bearer of desirable features, both socially (respect for etiquette, respect for tradition, precision in expressing yourself) and psychologically (self-control, perseverance, well-understood cleverness), and is a representative of a powerful cultural heritage. The image created in this way motivated people to learn English and strengthened the growing prestige of this language in Poland.