Programme title: Effectiveness in Teaching Language Usage and Correctness: Linguistic Characteristics of Hungarian Secondary School Students in Transcarpathia (Változó)
Year: 2000
Brief description: In a representative empirical survey based on a questionnaire, 675 Hungarian secondary school students from Transcarpathia completed a language-use questionnaire. The survey collected data on the perception and use of linguistic variables to which the Hungarian-speaking community responds particularly strongly. The analysis of data obtained from actual speakers in real-life language use revealed a significant discrepancy between actual language practices and the linguistic ideal codified in textbooks and language-cultivation manuals. The study also demonstrated that, given their current theoretical and methodological approaches, Hungarian-language schools in Transcarpathia are unable to adequately prepare students to adapt their language use to different communicative needs. One year before their secondary school leaving examination, when the teaching of Hungarian grammar has already been completed, a significant proportion of Hungarian secondary school students in Transcarpathia remain uncertain about the use of the standard Hungarian norm, which represents one of the means of achieving social advancement and recognition.
Within the framework of the Iskola 2000 (School 2000) research project, we conducted a study among tenth-grade students—that is, students one year before their secondary school leaving examination—at the educational institutions included in the survey. A total of 595 respondents were surveyed in 37 educational institutions across 26 Hungarian-inhabited settlements in Transcarpathia. The aim of the study was to map linguistic variables in Transcarpathian Hungarian. A linguistic variable is a linguistic unit that has more than one possible realization, with these different realizations constituting its variants. The language-use questionnaire examined variables for which one of the variants could be attributed, either partly or entirely, to the influence of bilingualism or could be regarded as being supported by the second language. The study also aimed to identify the frequency of dialectal features.
Research organiser/supporters: LIMES Social Research Institute, Ildikó Orosz, István Csernicskó
Publications:
Csernicskó István szerk. 2003. A mi szavunk járása. Bevezetés a kárpátaljai magyar nyelvhasználatba. Ungvár: PoliPrint.
Márku Anita 2002. A kárpátaljai magyar középiskolások és a suksük. Közoktatás: A Kárpátaljai Magyar Pedagógusszövetség lapja 9/3-4: 13-15.