Serbian Language Teaching Research Articles

SLIKOVITA IMENOVANJA U KNJIŽEVNOM STVARALAŠTVU ZA DECU DEJANA ALEKSIĆA

Children’s literature represents a part of the overall literary creativity in a specific language, therefore it should not be viewed as an isolated artistic phenomenon. On the other hand, literary pieces for children have self-acquired characteristics compared to other artistic texts. The subject of interest in this paper is recent linguistic research into the language and style of Serbian literature designed for children. The corpus includes linguistic works dealing with Serbian children’s literature, which were published after the year 2000. The corpus does not include examinations dedicated to folklore literature, Serbian language teaching, contras- tive and translation topics. The aim of this review is: (1) to highlight the scientific topics that were dealt with by scholars of Serbian literary creativity for children in the selected corpus; (2) to note linguistic approaches and achieved scientific results. The analysis showed that: (1) in the recent linguistic research of Serbian children’s literature it was stylistic features that were primarily investigated; (2) the stylistic approach was applied most often, but other linguistic approaches were represented, too, such as psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic ones.

YOUTH ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND LITERACY: POSITIVE PEDAGOGY AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE

The paper explores media discourse on the topic of students’ achievements in Serbian language from the point of view of positive pedagogy. The results of the analysis are compared to the results of the research on how Bachelor students of the Faculty of Education in Jagodina (Class teacher study programme) perceive Serbian language classes, primarily grammar lessons. The paper examines the extent to which the proclaimed values of positive and encouraging attitude towards students’ academic achievements in Serbian language are present in public discourse. The analysis focuses on whether students’ achievements are treated with objectivity, impartiality and empathy or with sen- sationalism and depreciation. It has been shown that in Serbian language teaching, which is expected to improve communicative competencies and develop the love for the mother tongue, students expe- rience fear of communication, since they often encounter negative feedback from their teachers and negative reactions from their peers. At the same time, in the era of “clickbait media”, sensationalist media coverage contributes to creating an underestimating attitude of the public towards the actors of the teaching process.

METODIČKI MODELI TUMAČENjA LIRSKE PESME U MLAĐIM RAZREDIMA OSNOVNE ŠKOLE

The aim of this paper is a methodological approach to lyrical poems in classroom teaching with special emphasis on the place and role of students in its interpretation. This paper covers the methodological interpretation of lyrical poems through theoretical approach to lyrical poems, conceptual definition, division and characteristics of lyrical poems. The appearance of lyrical poems, both folk and authorial, shows the basic divisions and characteristics of the lyrical poem itself, as well as the characteristics of lyrical poetry. It includes the reception of a lyrical poem in teaching, the methodological approach to the interpretation of a lyrical poem through certain models of interpretation in teaching, where the goals and structure of the lyrical poem class are connected, the possible structure of the processing class of this literary type, and the examples of lyrical poems in classes from the first to the fourth grade, as well as a modern ap- proach to interpretation using selected models. A large number of lyrical poems are represented in Serbian language teaching, both folk and authorial. The peculiarity of lyrical poems among younger students is the development of love for the book, the experience of the poem, its interpretation, familiarization with former customs, highlighting the author’s observations, experi- ences and their transfer to students, encouraging them to start writing themselves and other important elements for the overall development of students. The interpretation of the lyrical poem is possible with different methodological models. Students find it more accessible and interesting to process lyrical songs by applying individualized teaching, problem teaching, integrative approach or process- ing through playful activities.

TEACHING SERBIAN GRAMMAR AND STUDENTS’ WELFARE

The well-being and emotional reactions of students are important issues in modern teaching. On the other hand, students’ deficient linguistic and functional literacy in Serbia is noticeable. Therefore, the main goal of this paper was to investigate attitudes of students ‒ preservice teachers ‒ towards teaching Serbian grammar from the aspect of their own emotions. The sample consisted of 40 second and third year undergraduate students (department Class teacher) from the Faculty of Education in Jagodina, University of Kragujevac. In the first phase of the research, the observational research method was applied, and in the second, group interviews were conducted together with discourse analysis. The results have shown that, from the students’ perspective, teaching grammar and orthography is neglected in secondary schools, and, unlike teaching literature, it is perceived as uninteresting and unstimulating by the majority of students at all levels of education. The respondents believe that the role of the teacher is crucial for students’ positive emotions. However, even when the teacher is approachable, when they themselves need to communicate in class, negative emotions prevail (discomfort, anxiety, even fear). The factor that most often leads to the lack of will to communicate is the fear of making a mistake and of teacher’s and peers’ reactions. Therefore, most respondents see their position in Serbian language teaching as passive and reactive, and their self-confidence is marked as low.

Prednosti i ograničenja primene e-udžbenika u nastavi srpskog jezika iz perspektive učitelja i budućih učitelja

Electronic textbook as a product of digital technology has a potentially important role in the learning and teaching process. The authors examine the opinions of teachers (N = 266) and future teachers (N = 176) regarding (a) the advantages and (b) limitations of the use of e-textbooks in the Serbian language teaching in younger grades of elementary school. The research findings show there is an agreement in the assessment of positive and negative aspects of the use of this textbook format in teaching. Multimedia, interactivity and hypertextuality are recognized as the most important advantages, and as the most important limitations - the weakening of direct communication between pupils and teachers, screen reading and the impossibility of its application to certain teaching contents. Effectiveness and efficiency of the use of e-textbooks in teaching and learning is determined both by the characteristics of its structure and content and by the way they are used. In that sense, a significant role in achieving the potential developmental and formative impact of electronic textbooks on students is played by a teacher, who is responsible for creating an optimal learning environment.

Lokalni govor učenika osnovnoškolskog uzrasta iz Vranja i nastava gramatike srpskog jezika

Creative, modern teaching of Serbian language actualizes the issue of the place of local speech of students in grammar teaching. When adopting a language standard, it is necessary to start from the local speech of the students and compare these two language idioms. Accordingly, the subject of this paper is the local speech of elementary school students from Vranje in teaching Serbian grammar. The aim of this paper is to determine the degree of presence of certain linguistic traits in dialect form in the speech of students and their representation in the Serbian language curricula (grammar teaching) for elementary school. For the purpose of this paper we determined the frequency of using dialect forms of certain linguistic traits by calculating the frequency index, in accordance with the methodology of sociolinguistic studies, and then we analyzed the Serbian language curricula. The obtained results show which linguistic traits do not cause major problems in adoption, which has to be taken into account in Serbian language teaching process. According to the obtained results, possible directions of curriculum innovation are indicated in line with the speaking habits of students from Vranje. The analytical framework proposed in this paper offers a model of students' local speech research, which could be applied in some further extensive research of student speech in the wider area of Prizren-Timok speech area. The research following this model could contribute to the innovation of the Serbian language curricula in elementary school and their adaptation to the Prizren-Timok speaking area.

Individualizacija u nastavi - konceptualno-metodološki izazov za didaktičku teoriju i nastavnu praksu

The paper presents the results of the theoretical analysis of the scientific (original scientific papers, reviews, and short scientific papers) and professional papers investigating the problem of individualization in teaching, that were published in the Teaching Innovations journal from 1983, when the first issue of the journal was published, until the last published issue No. 4 in 2020. The aim of the research in this paper was to critically inspect how the problem of individualization in teaching was treated in the research papers published in the journal and to draw lessons about the conceptual and methodological approaches and implications for teaching practice in modern terms. The units for theoretical analysis were: the number of the relevant papers in relation to the total number of the papers by the year of publication of the journal, the type of the papers according to the current classification of papers published in the journal, theoretical aspects from which the authors consider the problem of individualization in teaching, and methodological approach. The results of the research show that during 33 years of publishing the Journal, 63 papers have been published that research the problem of individualization in teaching; the majority of the papers are professional papers; analytical approach prevails in the research (literature analysis and analysis of specific classes). The authors usually start from a general didactic approach, while methodological aspect is most common in the treatment of individualization in the Serbian language teaching and mathematics teaching. Based on the results of the analysis, some implications are pointed out from the aspect of development of student competencies and professional competencies of teachers.

Mikroplaniranje integrativnog pristupa u nastavi srpskog jezika

The basic concept of this paper is derived from the view that the openness and complex structure of the literary text provide an opportunity for achieving interdisciplinary integration. However, the implementation of interdisciplinary integration requires good planning. For this reason, the paper presents an innovative model for planning an integrative approach in Serbian language teaching. Specifically, it depicts micro-planning for the integrative approach to the children's book Bosonogi i nebo (A Barefoot Boy and the Sky) by Branislav Crnčević in the fourth grade of primary school that allows the Serbian Language and Literature course to be integrated with the following courses within a single school period: Math, Science & Social Studies, Civic Education, Art Education and Music Education. The presented micro-plan encompasses concretized outcomes of all previously mentioned courses, as well as planned activities that contribute to their implementation. Given that the integrative approach is insufficiently represented in teaching practice, one of the basic implications of this paper is to highlight the need for implementation and evaluation of this (and similar) models in teaching practice.

Правопис у настави српског језика (на примеру скраћеница)


 
 
 Будући да су скраћенице у комуникацији веома фреквентне, циљ рада и истраживања био је да се утврди колико свршени средњошколци познају правописна правила у вези са скраћивањем речи. Испитивање се вршило на основу анкете. У истраживању је учествовало 160 испитаника. Анализиране су скраћенице и у наставним програ- мима за основну и средњу школу и правописна правила у вези са њиховим писањем у Правопису српскога језика Матице српске. Покушали смо да утврдимо које се грешке јављају, зашто до њих долази и понудимо могућа решења која би утицала на то да оваквих грешака буде све мање.
 
 

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS IN SERBIAN LANGUAGE TEACHING PRACTICE

The subject of this paper is the implementation of theoretical knowledge in the processes of teaching practice realization, while the focus of the research is on identifying the causes of students’ most common mistakes during the realization of the course Professional (methodological) practice of Serbian language teaching at philological faculties. By analyzing the records and material (student portfolios for the realization of the teaching practice) from the exam classes provided by students of the Serbian language and literature from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš during four academic years (from 2015/16 to 2018/19), we found and analyzed characteristic beginner mistakes, and classified them into six categories: methodological mistakes in class realization, a lack of compliance with teaching principles, a lack of required class structure, unskilled application of teaching forms and methods, unskilled application of teaching aids (and technical aids) and mistakes in behavior and communication. The results obtained point to the complexity of teaching theory (developmental and pedagogical psychology and didactics), which needs to be linked to academic disciplines (linguistics, science of literature and the literary art itself) during the methodological formation of Serbian language and literature classes.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION IN SERBIAN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The importance of Serbian language teaching for the proper development and education of primary school students requires the teachers to act responsibly both regarding the learning goals and learning objectives, and regarding the contents used in the classroom to achieve these goals, but especially concerning the student activities that need to be properly assessed. The learning goals for Serbian language lessons and the final learning objectives depend on carefully designed activities that will help to develop students’ linguistic and speaking skills, and also to constantly monitor and assess the overall engagement both in and outside of the classroom. Classroom experience worldwide shows that the results of the teaching process in general, and in particular language teaching, are perceived through the students’ knowledge acquired and their behavior, their linguistic and speaking skills, interaction with each other, individual traits, interests, which all imposes the need for both formative and summative assessment in primary school, in order for student performance to be observed in a thorough and objective manner. Contrary to this, evaluation in Serbia is mostly numerical, except in the first grade of primary school where it is descriptive. This paper, among other things, explains how the fourth grade students perceive their teachers’ attitude towards evaluation, which contents of the Serbian language lessons he/she most often evaluates, the feedback he/she provides or does not provide and the importance that he/she does or does not give to feedback, as well as the “self-image” that students create based on the assessment and the grade given to them by their teacher.

SPEECH OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM VRANJE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF URBAN DIALECTOLOGY

This paper analyzes speech of children from Vranje, of preschool and school age, by the principles of urban dialectology. Primarily, a frequency of using of dialectical forms of certain language features was determined, by calculating the frequency index (FI), and afterwards was established in which extent was the frequency conditioned by non-linguistic factors – age, gender, education level of both parents, place of living, attending of kindergarten / school. The sample consisted of 40 examinees, preschool and primary school children, of both genders, with different levels of education of parents and different places of living. Analyzed results have shown corruption of dialectical foundation of Prizren-South Morava dialect type in speech of young people from Vranje. All analyzed features have shown variability of form – alternately used in dialectical and standard-language form. First dialectical feature that underwent alteration was doubling of the pronoun object. Large consistency is shown by dialectical placing of accent as well as use of general case. The feature that is most difficult to change in children’s speech is a future tense će-structure. There is, although insignificant, influence of non-linguistic factors on the frequency of dialectical forms. Age is the only non-linguistic variable that does not have an impact to the way of speaking of children from Vranje – different age does not reduce the use of dialectical forms of analyzed language features. The largest influence on the speaking of the examinees has an education of parents, while gender the least.Conducted research provides an insight into speech and language of children, of their speaking habits, and shows which language characteristics are not difficult to be adopted and which are harder to be adopted, which can contribute to an improvement of Serbian language teaching course. Furthermore, it appears as a justified one and significant for further research in the field of urban dialectology.

Lingvometodički tekstovi u nastavi srpskog jezika u četvrtom razredu - metodički aspekt

It is commonly and methodically functional to introduce the grammar of linguistic phenomena through the analysis of the starting or the linguistic text. In addition to having to be saturated with a certain language appearance, such texts sometimes needed to link content from different areas of Serbian language teaching. In this paper, we refer to the so-called related language textbooks found in grammar textbooks in the fourth grade of elementary school. These texts were studied from the point of view of the methodological principles and requirements, but also of the linguistic knowledge on which grammar and spelling is taught. The aim of the research was to determine the nature and function of the related linguistic texts and to present them in the selected textbooks for grammar teaching, as well as to determine the quality of a supporting methodology device that should link the concrete text and the definition of the concept.

Nastava srpskog jezika u funkciji podsticanja čitalačkih interesovanja učenika mlađeg školskog uzrasta

Identification and development of interest for reading at younger school age is important for developing affinity towards literature as a form of art. In the paper, the author focuses on the evalu­ation of Serbian language teaching as one of the factors that contribute to motivating, guiding and encouraging pupils to improve their reading skills. Teaching literature as an important factor in de­veloping not only motivation for reading, but also reading skills, continually gives rise to the issue of finding the ways in which pupils will gradually grow to like books and learn from them. The influence of teaching literature in the lower grades of primary school on pupils' reading interests was tested by interviewing primary school teachers (N=312) from 33 schools in the city of Belgrade and 10 administrative districts of the Republic of Serbia. The research tasks were designed to examine teachers' attitudes towards: (a) the influence of literature teaching on pupils' reading interests; (b) the contribution of text localization to fostering pupils' reading interests; (c) the con­tribution of the analyzing the genre particularities of texts to the development of pupils' reading preferences. The research results show the following: (a) teaching literature, in the opinion of teachers, affects pupils' reading interests to a lesser extent; (b) text localization contributes to a greater extent to encouraging pupils' interest in reading; (c) the interpretation of the genre particularities of the text contributes to a lesser extent to the stimulation of pupils' reading interests. Bearing in mind that the efficiency of educational work is assessed by the level of development of reading interests, it is neces­sary that all participants in the teaching process pay special attention to designing a creative and challenging environment which will, by knowing, encouraging and developing pupils' reading inter­est, satisfy their needs for development by reading and through reading.

Descriptive secondary predicate in the Serbian language teaching

The purpose of this paper is to point out the problematic status of the descriptive secondary predicate and the consequences in the Serbian language teaching that result from it. Students have difficulty in distinguishing between two semantically and structurally close constituents - the descriptive secondary predicate and the predicate adjective. After a thorough analysis of Serbo-Croatistic literature, a conclusion can be drawn that there are two reasons behind this: insufficient and inadequate coverage of the descriptive secondary predicate in textbooks and problematic examples and definitions. Since the problem is approached from a methodical point of view, it does not deal with the theoretical definition of the descriptive secondary predicate, but relies on existing literature. Certain similarities and differences in determining these constituents have been identified through comparison of definitions and examples, and proposals have been put forward how to teach the descriptive secondary predicate in the syntax course.

Methodological problems in the curricular framework for learning the Latin alphabet as the second alphabet in Serbian language teaching

The Latin alphabet, as an alphabet of Serbian language, is taught in the second term of the second grade of primary school. The specificity of learning the Latin alphabet lies in the fact that pupils are already literate at this stage. The First Grade Primary School Curriculum (2004) allows teachers to choose one of the three methods of teaching letters - monographic, group or complex method. In addition, there is no specific order prescribed for teaching the letters of the first alphabet. The letters are grouped freely, in accordance with linguistic and methodological principles. The Second Grade Primary School Curriculum (2004) prescribes only one method of the Latin alphabet teaching and learning, including the order in which the letters should be introduced. The paper analyzes the syllabus contents related to learning the Latin alphabet. The syllabus frameworks for learning the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets have also been compared. There is an inconsistency between the prescribed order of introducing letters in the syllabus and the one presented in the textbooks. The paper offers suggestions for the improvement of the prescribed method of learning the Latin alphabet which amount to choosing one of the many methods of learning reading and writing in another alphabet. Group processing of letters must remain in the syllabus, but without the prescribed order in which the letters should be introduced. There is also a possibility of introducing complex methods of learning the Latin alphabet.

Integrative grammar teaching in the junior years of primary school

This paper aims to point out the importance of integrative teaching and thematic planning in the Serbian language teaching, with special emphasis on the teaching of grammar as a segment of Serbian language that characterizes abstractedly and difficulty adopting teaching content. This paper presents the advantages of integrated teaching and the opportunities that it creates for more successfull and higher quality mastering the content of grammar.

Zaharija Orfelin’s primer and its place in Serbian cultural history

The paper illuminates the enlightenment work of Zaharija Orfelin from the viewpoints of broader cultural and historical and narrower linguistic and didactic guidelines. In the social context of 18th-century Serbia, which cannot be considered one-sided, amidst the fusion of cultural values of the East and West, Orfelin conceptualized the key of national values in education. The Primer is more than the first book - it is a latent proclamation of the coming of the Enlightenment ideas. The aim of this work is point to the fact that in the cultural history of Serbia he was the precursor of modern Serbian language teaching long before it came to life in our modern teaching under the influence of foreign methodologists.

Attitudes of teachers about general standards of achievement for the advanced level in teaching Serbian

In Serbian language teaching greatest attention is focused on an average student with the aim is to reach middle level standards. With the aim to improve the quality of teaching and provide conditions for development of advanced students, it is very important to notice what the possibilities of reaching advanced level of standard are. In this paper, from methodical aspect, general standards of achievement for the end of the first cycle of education for the advanced level in Serbian language are analyzed. Methodical basis of the analysis include the effect of the advanced level of standard on planning and realization of teaching, on teachers' motivation for individualization of work and as students' stimulus for better results. Because of great teachers' role, it is important to hear their opinions about students' abilities to achieve advanced levels of standards. Two hundred teachers' opinions are presented in this paper about practical importance of achievement standards in classroom teaching on the basis of a questionnaire. The research results show that, according to teachers' opinions, larger number of students is able to reach the advanced level, and the advanced level in the field of language and lexicology is thought of as the most complex.

Books as a means for stimulating language development of junior primary-school students

The importance of the use of diversified literature for enhancing speech culture in school is recognized and highlighted in Serbian language teaching. In order to find out what selections of literature junior students make and whether free choice of literature results in acquisition of verbal contents and development of verbal expressiveness, we examined the retelling of a previously read text, since this form of verbal behavior is predominantly used for developing students? verbal expressiveness in primary school. The study was conducted on a sample comprising the first, second, third, and fourth grade students of an urban primary school (30 respondents in each group, total = 120). The aim was to register, during the students? retelling, the number and the production of newly acquired words and the correctness of the sentences used. The linguistic material used in the research contained fairy tales, fables, short stories and books that children had spontaneously selected. The analysis showed that books are a useful tool for enhancing both vocabulary expansion and elaboration of sentence structures. When analyzing the results of this type the distinction must be made between the attainment of students who only reproduce expressions and structures and those who productively use new words and structures. .