One effect of the different domains that each of these addresses is that Education, as studied and taught in higher education, is regarded as a field of human activity which can be investigated from the standpoint of many different, well-established disciplines: history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, among others - and of course linguistics. Branches of Education include not only pedagogy (procedures for effective teaching), but curriculum design, policy, comparative education, and the traditional core disciplines of earlier teacher education (but now largely abandoned) of psychology, sociology, philosophy, and history of education.
Linguistic study impinges on Education through two main routes. First, it has been the core discipline in work on teaching languages, mostly foreign and classical, but to some extent mother tongues. Second, it provides a foundation for studies of communication in the general educational process, mainly in relation to (a) literacy, (b) social behaviour in formal educational settings, and (c) learning processes).