Nyelvi erőforrások osztálytermi helyzetekben

Abstract

This time we have focused on classroom speech situations in a language other than a foreign language (or a broader environmental language), although the literature provides a plethora of research on this topic. In this paper, we have focused on the relationship between the state language/official language and the mother tongue, with special attention to the accessed linguistic resources. We have tried to organise our data along the following two questions: (1) What kind of relations can be observed in second language classrooms with respect to the first language? (2) In cases where the first language appears, what role does it play, what purposes does it serve, and what message does it possibly carry? In this analysis, we summarise our experience in the education systems of three countries, based on data collected in Hungarian-medium schools in Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania. Classroom observation and structured interviews formed the basis of our work. The paper is divided into four parts: a theoretical introduction is followed by a description of the research and an interpretation of the data and conclusions. From the classroom speaking situations presented, it can be seen that different language teaching paradigms result in specific classroom language use and scenarios. While in the Slovenian cases we have seen classroom situations of complementary and parallel use of L1 and L2, the Slovak and Romanian examples are more representative of the practice of L2 and the effort to keep communication in the target language. In the cases where mother tongue use did occur, it was mainly in a meaning-compensating role. The study highlights that differentiated curricula (in our case, the non-native curriculum being introduced in Romania), which is essentially a minority-centred adaptation of foreign language teaching strategies, also carries the classroom values of 'social justice', since it also sees the 'other' language as a value. At the same time, the classroom situations analysed also point to the educational challenges of awareness language behaviour, namely the phenomena of language attrition and monolingual inertia or comfort.