Learning Upper Sorbian. The problems with minority language education for non-native pupils in the Upper Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen/Budyšin

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the attitudes of German-speaking pupils towards Sorbian-language education and the problems these pupils indicate as an obstacle to becoming bilingual through educational settings. Based on the research carried out in the Upper Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany) combining a statistical survey, in-depth interviews with pupils and participant observation of pupils language practices, this paper discusses the case study of a school with a three-type education programme of Upper Sorbian language: immersion, bilingual, and teaching it as a foreign language. The paper contributes to the discussion on the effectiveness of bilingual and foreign minority language learning in a situation of unequal bilingualism in a territory inhabited by a small minority language community. The text presents these problems from the German-speaking pupils’ viewpoint and concerns: the teaching methods and their effectiveness; possible language contacts as a factor of acquiring a minority language; attitudes of native pupils and teachers to learners; the ideology of language ownership and speakers legitimisation. These aspects are presented in the context of different types of minority language speakers: ‘learners’, ‘new speakers’ and ‘native speakers’ and is presented against the background of the discussion on minority language education in the process of Upper Sorbian language revitalisation.