Existentialism and Pragmatism in the Class

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TESOL Philosophies

How I might implement the traditional philosophies in my teaching would be in this manner: idealism would be used to teach students that they should strive for something higher, some goal that is an ideal, a virtue, a good -- something like perfection, for example. It may not be possible, but by striving for it, we tend to achieve more than would otherwise be possible. Realism would be used in conjunction with ensuring that students nonetheless remain grounded in reality; for example, a student may want to be able to write a novel by the end of the year. This kind of thinking can be promoted along with idealism, but realism would be employed so as to not cause the student to be disappointed when the end of the year comes and the student cannot write a novel -- in this sense, I would say, "Yes, write a novel -- but make it a short novel; it does not have to be long." This makes the goal still ideal but somewhat more realistic now. For neo-scholasticism, I would encourage immersion in grammar and the traditions and customs of language that have given us this language today; it would prompt investigations into why we speak the way we do, and how grammar changes and what it means.

The basic philosophic issues inherent in existentialism are based on the question of why we are here and what it means. It essentially drives at the heart of existence -- what is this experience about, and what can I learn from it, and how can I use it to propel myself forward towards the ideals I am striving to reach.

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Existentialist issues are issues related to existence, to life, to why we live and how to make life livable. The issues inherent in pragmatism are related to more practical concerns. If existentialism asks us to approach the issue of life from the angle of the big questions so as to provide us with a better framework by which to approach life, pragmatism asks us to approach life from a practical angle: what do we need to do to get through the day, to get through the next lesson, to be prepared to meet the challenges of the year, to do well in school. The why is not so much an issue (as it is in existentialism); in pragmatism, the big issue is the how: how are we going to learn this language; how are we going to improve; how are we going to survive. Existentialists ask why we should survive. Pragmatists ask how (Knight, 2008).

What I have adopted from behaviorism and from humanism in my philosophy of education and my methodology of teaching (which is extremely limited as of this moment) is that the ideas of the subjective nature of experience are important from a humanist point-of-view and when we remember this as teachers we can help to empower students be validating their own experiences and affirming for them that they do not all have to experience the same thing; they are each….....

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