Page 57 - Linguistically Diverse Educational Contexts

1966, new language education programmes were introduced in Poland. The aim of learning in a reformed secondary school was to develop the ability to use a foreign language in direct contact with speakers of that language. There was even also discussions on teaching language skills, the non- dominant role of the textbook, and how to activate students67. This was certainly conducive to the development of language education in Poland, and consequently also to the first visits of foreign guests to the country68. At that time, language education in Poland was taught by teachers, and linguistics or literary studies were taught by scientists.
It is possible that Rittel moved away from (linguistic) pedagogy and focused on linguistics due to the declining status of pedagogy as a science in Europe at that time. As Winkler (1994, p. 93) writes, the status of general pedagogy seems questionable primarily because of the ambiguity about what the discipline even is. Macke (1994, p. 52) shows in his research that there is a regression of general pedagogy, which gives way to other specific sub-disciplines. Krüger (1994, p. 121), on the other hand, draws attention to the shortcomings of issues concerning the differentiation of educational science, educational systems, or the field of pedagogical activity. The mentioned changes in Western Europe were caused by the development of detailed sub-disciplines having close links with practice and based on empirical methods of knowledge building, which started to develop faster than a science of pedagogy and have practical applications. These changes also took place in Polish pedagogy as a science (Muszyński, 1997)69.
3.2 Rittel's language pedagogy re-examined
The question I would like to ask is how Rittel's thoughts could be re-examined. Could her language pedagogy become a sub-discipline of a science of pedagogy today, or could it be incorporated into foreign language teaching?
It is worth noting that the English term "pedagogy", originally translated by Rittel (1992) into Polish as pedagogika, in her view referred to pedagogy as a science and described activities in the field of educational linguistics. Another question that arises is whether the authors of the English-language publications which Rittel referred to also had pedagogy as a science in mind.
3.2.1 Distinguishing between conceptual categories – the Anglo-Saxon tradition
In Anglo-Saxon countries, the term "didactic" is not used. Instead, pedagogy (Polish: pedagogia – the practical art of teaching) is used. In the 1970s, the German term didactics (die Didaktik) was replaced in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-American countries by the term pedagogic analysis, influenced by Paulo Freire's 1970 publication Pedagogy of the oppressed (Polish: Pedagogia uciśnionych)70. Language
67 Ibid., p. 24.
68 Ibid., p. 26. "The first guests arrive in Poland, who are finally allowed to contact schools and teachers. As early as in 1957, Zofia Bastgen reported on the stay, lectures, and visits to schools of British Council inspector, and Helena Majczyńska - a stay in Poland and meetings with teachers. The director of the International Centre for Pedagogical Studies in Sèvres".
69 See: Śliwerski, 2013.
70 When talking about education, Paulo Freire followed the critical theory traditions of the Frankfurt School. Critical pedagogy has its basis in critical theory, which is rooted in the work of Hegel and the critical philosophy of Kant. The translation of Freire's book into Polish as Pedagogia uciśnionych is most appropriate. However, the translation of pedagogy as pedagogika seems to me unjustified, since pedagogy does not have the status of a science. Critical pedagogies are a strand in pedagogy in the conceptual sense, concerned with education, but they are not a science. As McLaren (1998, p. 45) argues, critical pedagogy is a way of thinking about, negotiating,
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