Pirmsskolēnu latviešu valodas apguves rezultāti Latvijā: Kurzemē, Rīgā un Latgalē

Abstract

The issue of state language skills has been crucial in the Latvian education system since the renewal of the national independence in 1991, and important decisions have been taken in recent years, which could contribute to the learning of the Latvian language in the educational process. The main point is that minority pre-school education institutions should implement a bilingual learning methodology to ensure that children are able to speak Latvian in daily communication and successfully start learning at least bilingually in the first grade. The Cabinet Regulations No. 716 “Regulations Regarding the State Guidelines for Pre-school Education and the Model Pre-school Education Programmes” adopted 21 November 2018 and in force since 1 September 2019 (MK 2018, Nr. 716) state “to provide a child with a possibility to prepare for the acquisition of basic education” (section 3.5) and explain the differences in the content of pre-school education implementation programmes included in the pre-school education programme of the minority pre-school education programme, the special pre-school education programme, and the special pre-school minority education programme (see section 4). One of the tasks for pre-school language researchers in the sub-project No. 8 of the National Research Programme “Latvian Language” was to test Latvian and minority children’s real Latvian proficiency by performing the pre-school children’s Latvian proficiency test and analysis, taking into account the regional distribution, differences in pre-school education groups by the language of instruction and in children’s mother tongue. From 2018 to 2021, 1) a Latvian language proficiency test for children of pre-school age and its results’ assessment system were developed, 2) pre-school children’s language records were made in Kurzeme, Latgale, and Riga pre-school education institutions, 3) knowledge of Latvian and its usage skills were analysed and compared: a) for children with Latvian as the mother tongue, b) for minority children who attend pre-school groups with Latvian as the language of daily communication, c) for minority children who attend pre-school groups with Russian as the dominant language. During the study, in conversations with parents, the authors found out that in families of minority children whose knowledge of Latvian was insufficient, communication takes place in Russian, and in minority children’s groups in pre-school education institutions with Russian as daily communication language, Russian dominates in communication with children and their parents and visual information. The results of analysis of children’s language: Pre-schoolers who attend an educational establishment’s group with Latvian as daily communication language demonstrate good knowledge and skills of Latvian and are prepared to learn in Latvian at school. The Latvian proficiency of minority children attending pre-school education groups with the dominant Russian language is insufficient and does not comply with the requirements specified in the Cabinet Regulation No. 716 of 2018, that children should be prepared to start learning at school in Latvian or bilingually. This conclusion is not dependent on the region where the children live. Minority children who attend the groups with Russian as the dominant language have limited vocabulary, underdeveloped language of dialogue, impaired fluency of speech amplified by very minimal knowledge of grammar, and children’s reading skills do not meet the national requirements. Minority pre-schoolers are well able to imitate another language because in all regions studied, minority children have the best results in Latvian pronunciation. Insufficient Latvian language skills, in general, can be explained by insufficient daily use of Latvian. For minority children in pre-school age to successfully learn Latvian, it is not enough to have only a few Latvian language lessons a week; it is necessary to create a real bilingual language usage environment (communication, games, visual features, etc.) in pre-school education institutions.