Philosophical Schools of Education in English Language Teaching

The vital role of philosophy in all fields of study is quite clear. The philosophical schools in the course of history have emerged to uncover the vague dimensions of human knowledge. In education, different philosophical schools including idealism, realism, and so on have presented their insights in relation to education in general and any aspects pertinent to it. Theoretical foundation of English language teaching has undoubtedly been under the influence of philosophical thoughts stemmed in these schools. Regarding the importance of philosophy of education and its pivotal role in curriculum development, methodology, roles of teacher and learner and other relevant aspects in education process, the current study using a library research method deals with the connection between philosophical schools of education and English language teaching. The findings of this investigation shows the influence of philosophical foundations of each of the aforementioned schools in different methods and approaches of language teaching within past century and presently can be observed and discussed.