Teaching Greek as L1: Curriculum and Textbooks in Greek Elementary Education

Abstract

This article outlines and critically examinesthe assumptions underlying the basic approachesto the teaching of Greek as mother tongue thathave been designed and implemented within thepast 20 years (1982–2000) at the elementarylevel of the Greek educational system. Evidenceis drawn from two main sources of data. Theseconsist, first, of the curricula (the old andthe new) that have been designed for teachingGreek as L1 at the elementary level ofschooling and, second, of the actual languagetextbooks that have been in use from 1982 inelementary Greek classrooms. The informationdrawn from this culture-specific set of data isexpected to contribute to the discussionconducted worldwide on the nature of L1teaching, the relation between orality,literacy, and schooling, and the role thattextbooks play in fostering specific approachesto literacy learning. Interestingly, the Greekdata reveal an inconsistency between generalaims, on the one hand (as these are outlined in thecurriculum), and the way these aims aretranslated into actual practice, on the other. As shown below, while in the Greekeducational context, the curricula designedtend to reaffirm certain widely acknowledgedpremises – which basically suggest thatliteracy pedagogy should be concerned withdeveloping children's ability to produce andinterpret various, contextually appropriatetext types – the material actually included inthe textbooks and the way in which thismaterial is organized tend to negate this setof assumptions. This inconsistency is discussedin detail and alternative suggestions toeliminate the gap between theory and practiceare brought forward.