“Now, is this how we are going to say it?” Comparing teachers’ language practices in primary and secondary state education in Cyprus

Abstract

This study compares teachers’ language use and covert language attitudes in primary and secondary state education in Cyprus. The Ministry of Education and Culture encourages the systematic use of Standard Modern Greek in the formal learning environment of the classroom. Yet, our class observations and teacher interviews demonstrate that the Greek Cypriot Dialect cannot be absolutely eliminated from teachers’ language practices. The findings surfacing from the study illustrate a complex and multidimensional conflict between the two language varieties, where the dialect is used vis-à-vis the standard to different extents depending on the occasion of communication in the classroom, teacher's dialect and their covert language attitudes. Despite their differing language attitudes and language use, teachers in primary and secondary school settings commonly employ various correction techniques to promote use of more acrolectal variants in ‘standard-dominated’ occasions.