István Kozmács
Konstantin the Philosopher University, Nitra, Slovakia

The problem of exclusive use of the dominant standard in education in Slovakian Hungarian schools

My paper introduces the standard-centric language objectives in Slovakian schools with Hungarian as a medium of instruction formulated in curricular requirements and textbooks and their impact on the low prestige of the Slovakia Hungarian language variety. (Dárdai 2002, Vanco 2014, Kozmács 2014).

Both majority and minority language education in Slovakia uses the standard variety of the language used as the medium of instruction – using the Platonic ideal of language as a starting point and applying a structuralist perspective in dealing with it. This approach to language does not allow for students learning about and learning to accept variability in language, and to learn on their own variety of language (Tolcsvai 2014). From the point of view of the majority, this contributes to the continuing expectation that members of the minority should have a native-like proficiency in the majority language. Whereas, from the point of view of the minority, it disregards the mere existence of a contact variety of the language – interpreting it as language deterioration. This perspective cannot meaningfully deal with issues of the wide use of dialectal forms and linguistic phenomena, stigmatized in comparison with the standard (Vanco 2015). Education using this perspective does not contribute to the development of a positive attitude to one’s own region – despite the fact, that according to our survey, the most determining factor of the identity of the Hungarian-major teachers-to-be from Slovakia is their affiliation to their homeland (Kozmács–Vanco 2013).

References

Dárdai Ágnes 2002: A tankönyvkutatás alapjai. Budapest–Pécs: Campus Kiadó.

Kozmács István 2014: A legújabb szlovákiai magyar nyelvtankönyvek alaktani tananyaga. In: Kozmács István, Vanco Ildikó (red.) A kisebbségi magyar nyelvtantanítás kihívásai a 21. század elején. Nyitra: Konstantin Filozófus Egyetem,  141–154.

Kozmács István–Vanco Ildikó 2013: The desired image of identity and the everyday linguistic practice: Irrelationship between the identity and language attitudes toward mother tongue among young Udmurt people and Slovakian Hungarians. In: MinorEuRus Conference.: Language revitalization in a Russian and European context. Helsinki: University of Helsinki,  48–49.

Tolcsvai Nagy Gábor 2014: Nyelvszemlélet, személyiség-, közösség- és kultúraképzés a szlovákiai magyar nyelvtankönyvekben. In: Kozmács István and Vanco Ildikó (reds.) A kisebbségi magyar nyelvtantanítás kihívásai a 21. század elején. Nyitra: Konstantin Filozófus Egyetem,  99–117.

Vanco Ildikó 2014: A magyar nyelvtan tanításának tantervi követelményrendszere Szlovákiában. In: Kozmács István and Vanco Ildikó (reds.) A kisebbségi magyar nyelvtantanítás kihívásai a 21. század elején. Nyitra: Konstantin Filozófus Egyetem,  77–99.

Vanco Ildikó 2015:  Connections of modes of bilingualisation and identity. In: Ildikó Vanco and István Kozmács (reds.) Language Learning and Teaching: State Language Teaching for Minorities. Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.