Some Aspects of Teaching Latvian Grammar at School

Abstract

The Latvian language as a subject has been a taught language since the 1st grade till 12th grade in both minority schools and schools, where the Latvian language is the language of instruction. In recent years the country has also been implementing the education reform within the framework of which the content and its acquisition methodology has been improved, but the students’ level of the Latvian language as state language skills is declining in various aspects. The topicality of the problem to be researched stems from the results obtained by analyzing the scientific research implemented in the country (2007–2021) and other research on language competence of basic and secondary education students. The aim of the research is to analyze the content and methodology of grammar teaching in basic school and in secondary school for students’ language competence. The methodology of the study is based on linguistics, linguistic didactics, cognitivism and sociocultural theories. The empirical data have been obtained by analyzing the Latvian language learning process and the quality of the essays (content analysis of 409 essays of the 12th grade secondary school students in School Year 2018/2019 according to the previously developed criteria based on theories). The results of the research show that students learn the grammar rules mainly formally, without linking them to a specific communicative purpose. More attention should be paid to students’ work with authentic texts, pupils’ own texts as well as study texts used for the acquisition of the content of other subjects. In the didactics of the Latvian language more attention should be paid to the students’ sense of language as the ability to perceive, emotionally recognize and evaluate the use of language. The significance of the results lies in the aspect that they reveal the real situation and enable us to develop recommendations for the improvement of the Latvian language learning process.