Bilingualism in Hungary through school education

presented by

Anna Várkuti

8th Summer School of Psycholinguistics

May 29 – June 3, 2005, Balatonalmádi

contents

A short history of language use in education in Hungary What is a bilingual schooling system? What is a bilingual

school? And what is bilingual education in Hungary? Types of bilingual schools in Hungary Essential language based conditions needed for

teaching subjects in the target language Some general linguistic concepts connected to

bilingualism in Hungarian dual language schools

A short history of language use in education in

Hungary

in the very first schools in the Middle Ages (11th c) LATIN only - the language of instruction and official communication (religion, public life) from the 15th c - in some schools Latin and Hungarian LATIN - in higher education HUNGARIAN and the languages of the minorities - in public schooling only

DIGLOSSIC CHARACTER

from the 16th c - the first Hungarian Spelling Books – official acceptance LATIN, GREEK - at higher social levels the languages of values modern languages: FRENCH, ENGLISH and GERMAN - as a language of

conversation, never as a language of instruction in teaching

from the 18th c - schools with other teaching languages (than Latin, Greek, Hungarian): FRENCH and GERMAN – for the needs of the aristocracy

-it reflects the education policy of the given period and the relationship between the social, institutional, and individual interests-

in 1777 - RATIO EDUCATIONIS – legalized dual language teaching by acknowledging the usage of the mother tongues lingua patria and lingua vernacula

- political intention: to replace Latin by German - • no Hungarian manuals → 60% Latin dominance in secondary schools -social needs (urbanisation, industry, technology) favoured German

in 1784 – GERMAN - the official language of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy - of Hungarian education → social revolt → withdrawn

LATIN – the first language of education again officially - not appropriate to the modernizing social conditions - pressure of Hungarian national ideology

in 1790 – HUNGARIAN - legalized as a language of teaching Diglossic character of Latin – Hungarian bilingualism eliminated

in 1844 – HUNGARIAN – official language of Hungary and first language of schools - poor institutional conditions • no manuals in Hungarian

• no methodology of teaching in Hungarian • no terminology in Hungarian - some politicians question the success of such a „barbarian language” in education

more attempts of German absolutism (Entwurt in 1849, 1854, 1855, 1856) to establish a German-Hungarian schooling system: two basic languages in the curricula of Hungarian schools

- political intention: assimilation by a language-shift to German - poor social and educational conditions: no schools, no teachers, no manuals,

30% of children illiterate → no significant impact on the Hungarian language acquisition

from 1883 – HUNGARIAN - the first language of education at all levels - national enthusiasm → language reform movement (linguistic innovation) →MODERNIZED and STANDARDIZED HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE - needs of the social, political and economic elite – for other languages of teaching

between world wars I and II - outstanding dual language schools (French, German, English, even Italian) (studied by Ágnes Vámos, 1993c)

in the first years of „social democracy” dictatorship • no need for western languages → dual language schools radically eliminated

• RUSSIAN introduced as a compulsory first foreign language- in 1974 one Hungarian-Russian secondary grammar school

• no other languages than Hungarian and Russian in schools

LINGUISTIC ISOLATION until the 1980’s

NEW TYPE OF DUAL LANGUAGE SCHOOLS – from the 1980’s - new political trend: „open to the west” •need for experts (economists, lawyers, artist etc.) who can speak western foreign languages

- great demand to create schools for minorities→ educational law of 1985 → DUAL LANGUAGE SCOOLS - for the minorities (based on a different mother tongue background) → HUNGARIAN – FOREIGN/TARGET LANGUAGE SCHOOLS - for

those who could not speak any foreign languages ●nation-wide experiment – • only secondary grammar schools of a „five year model” • 3 x of each of the languages: Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian

- in different parts of the country • five subjects (History, Mathematics, Biology, Geography, Physics) to be taught in the

target language - the same curricula as the ones in other secondary grammar schools

in the1987/88 academic year the new schools start their activities – 3 Hungarian – Russian – later closed due to lack of interest

3 Hungarian – English 1 Hungarian -Spanish 3 Hungarian – German 1 Hungarian - Italian

2 Hungarian- French - very popular since then: demanding entrance exams

from 1989 - increasing social demand and - individual ambition for learning foreign languages→ unstoppable increase in the number of bilingual schools at all levels

• in secondary grammar education • in vocational secondary education • in primary education → fast replacement of Russian to other languages in all schools Diagram 1: The number of the dual language schools in between 1985-96 (Vámos 1998:22)

11 4 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1

12

45 11

14 16 17 17 17 17

45

7 15 16 18 22 23 24

23

3 4 4 5 6 6 61

2 2 2 3 3 3 3 31 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

the

ratio

of t

he in

stitu

tions Spanish

Italian

French

German

English

Russian

What is a bilingual schooling system? What is a bilingual school? And what is bilingual education in

Hungary?

Dynamic changes in dual language schools • some disappeared • new ones appeared with a diversity of profiles, of levels, of structuring, of languages and their ratio in the process of instruction

→ need for their typology - to set up criteria for them

-the conceptual background of educational policies had to be created → terminology had to be

defined

different bilingual educational programmes in other countries (weak and strong bilingual models, submersion, structured immersion, two-way programmes etc) defined by their local ethnic, social, economic etc backgrounds (Bognár 1999)

- based on • international experiences and • Hungarian realities → the general terminology applied

Bilingual schooling system – different languages are used in the process of teaching at any levels or any types of its schools

→ Hungary’s educational system is bilingual (with monolingual and bilingual schools)

Bilingual school –if any of its grades/groups of any of its years has more than one teaching language (can have monolingual classes as well)

Bilingual class – if its students or groups of students study different subjects in different languages during certain years (= dual language class)

→ heterogeneity within one’s schooling years - In a paradoxical way someone who studies in a bilingual school can remain monolingual !! → Vámos (1993c) proposes:

BILINGUAL EDUCATION - if a student studying within it, either in an ascending system or examined at certain points of its studies, learns simultaneously in two

languagesWhat is the purpose of bilingual education? according to linguists: the acquisition of balanced bilingualism – when students

reach the same language competence and cognitive capacities in both languages

officially the general purpose of Hungarian bilingual education (differs from the expectations of

linguists):

● increase the effectiveness of acquiring of a foreign language (target language) ● remain competitive during the entrance exams to higher education in all

subjects, including the ones instructed in the target language

BUT: Hungarian-foreign language based education is not simply an improved method of language teaching - Its special methodology is closer to the methodologies of subjects

In bilingual education, the purpose of students who master Hungarian as a mother tongue is to acquire the chosen target language at a high level by using it as a means of communication in studying different subjects.

Concerns it may have harmful effects on the mother tongue usage it may decrease the general achievement of students Is the existence of dual language schools beneficial at all?

• in the early 1990’s - many achievement evaluation studies and - research on testing the effectiveness of bilingual schools

Conclusions - Bilingual students (compared to monolingual control classes) showed: • a higher foreign language competence • no difference in school subjects (Franyó 1992, Vámos 1992, 1993, Hansági

1993)

• outstanding results in other fields requiring cognitive capacities – eg. -success at international baccalaureate in Mathematics

-accepted by famous foreign universities as scholars -winners of different subjects’ competitions -on the top lists of the entrance exams to higher education…. (Bognár 200a, 200b, Czuczor 1994)

Types of bilingual schools in Hungary

in 1989 – all the existing middle level secondary bilingual schools (32) classified based on internationally used criteria: (Vámos 1989)

1. according to the purpose of the teaching process: a. secondary grammar schools of minorities (8) – to teach in their mother tongue as well

b. dual language secondary grammar schools (23) – to teach in a foreign language ●

c. secondary grammar schools for children of Hungarians living abroad (1)

2. according to the roles of languages (Hungarian - another language): a. the basic language is Hungarian – the foreign is the target language (1/b) b. the basic language is Hungarian – the mother tongue is the target language (1/a) ? 1/c the basic language and the target language is also Hungarian (+ a second language)3. according to the length of studies: a. schools of 5 years b. schools of 4 years c. schools of 4.5 years

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Bilingual secondary grammar schools with different languages in 1988/1989

8

5321

4

2

2

1 3 1

H-English

H-German

H- French

H-Italian

H-Spanish

H-Russian

Slovakian minorities

Serbo-Croatian minorities

Romanian minorities

German minorities

Hung.for abroad-born

All secondary grammar schools in 1988/89

89%

3% 8% 0%

other secondary grammar schools

Schools for minorities

Hungarian-foreign dual language schools

Schools for Hungarians born abroad

from 1989 – individual programmes allowed →significant differences in the ratio of the target language use in the process of teaching according to:

• the type of the subjects

• the number of the subjects

• code-switching in the class activity

database of year 1994/95: Atlas of the languages of instruction in Hungary (Vámos 1999)eg. Table1- Analysis of the target language usage in the classroom when teaching subjects

English French German Italian Russian Spanish

uses only the target language 78 77 89 95 74 100

usually uses the target language but

teaches the subject in both languages 18 11 10 0 21 0

the main language is Hungarian but

gives the terminology in the target language 4 5 1 5 5 0

today: ~ 100 bilingual schools for minorities (at all levels)

~ 70 primary and secondary bilingual schools

since 2003 –any secondary school can star a „0” year intensive foreign teaching programme – their option to continue as bilingual schools (limited by basic conditions)

Essential language based conditions needed for teaching subjects in the target language

experiences from

DUAL-LANGUAGE SCHOOL BALATONALMÁDI

• one of the first Hungarian –English bilingual schools (from 1987)

• of the 5 year model →students entering do not have to speak English

• no monolingual Hungarian classes

• number and type of subjects instructed din the target language

- has been chancing depending on the availability of teachers

- at the moment: Mathematics, History, Biology●, American and British Civilization

• small school of ~ 320 students (~70 students/ /year - in two classes)

personal experience supported by other teachers of bilingual schools

→ What are indispensably necessary for teaching a subject in a target language?

The required language based conditions are:

1. Students with ● high mental capacities – (selection at the entrance exam) ● motivation (personal pursuits) - the most significant factors → make the system very effective despite the deficiencies

2. Teachers who master the ● target language and ● the subject at a high level ● can adapt general subject methodology to special needs - basic condition → the lack of teachers limits the spread of bilingual schools - attempts of training teachers

3. Teaching circumstances, teaching materials, manuals

● teaching organized in small groups, language preparatory year („0” year, special courses), local curricula - supplied at institutional level according to its pedagogical

programme

● teaching material: adapted, made or bought ● manuals in the target language not provided - great demand for them → local initiatives of teachers to write and publish manuals

Some general linguistic concepts connected to bilingualism in Hungarian dual language schools

What is bilingualism? - generally, it is the social phenomenon that one uses at least two languages → diversity

Characteristics and types

dichotomous types of bilingualism based on different criteria (Göncz 1985)

1. early and late 2. Ronjat-bilingualism (lingualism) and glottism 3. balanced/symmetric and dominant/unbalanced/asymmetric 4. coordinate and compound/subordinate - also "pure" and "mixed" bilingualism 5. spontaneous/natural and controlled 6. additive and subtractive (semi-lingualism, if no complete language competence in

any of the two) 7. elite and common/vernacular

In addition, some more types of bilingualism ( after Kiss 2002, Bartha 1999)

8. individual and social 9. endogenic and exogenic 10. bilateral and unilateral 11. active/productive and passive/perceptive 12. monocultural and bicultural (decultural, acultural) 13. complete/perfect and incomplete/partial - threshold theory • low level - poor knowledge (balanced or unbalanced) → negative cognitive effect • high level – (balanced) - the purpose of bilingual education in an ideal case -

→positive cognitive effect

• middle level - one language not known at the expected level→ neutral

What type of bilingualism is attained by the Hungarian bilingual education?

Characteristics of the language use of students in a dual language school

basic language: Hungarian - in the everyday life of their larger community - in the smaller community of their school

the target language - only in the language classes -in small groups - classes of the subjects in the target language - in groups - occasionally (foreign visitors, travel abroad) can practice their target language knowledge and skills freely

• perception mainly, less language producing (writing, speaking)

• sphere of communication is limited by the subject • a lot of code-switching during the class • individual studies - enormous energy input.

Analysis of bilingualism gained in Hungarian dual language schools based on the criteria presented → conclusions - some not applicable

- sometimes obvious of which type is - sometimes deeper studies necessary to clarify the type

-some other criteria should be set up

CHARACTERISTICS OF "SCHOOL BILINGUALISM” 1. late 2. glottism – foreign language is successive 3. unbalanced – but improvement during school studies 4. coordinate or compound ? seemingly coordinate • but some topics of a subject learned in the target language first (or parallel) → compound • the "pure" and "mixed" kind of relationship between the two language systems may

coexist → deeper studies needed

5. controlled –highly coordinated – special teaching programme (teacher, methodology, individual studies..

6. additive to one’s language competence

7. elite – motivated by personal ambition and social appreciation

8.social - but only in a small community, limited in time and sphere of communication

9. exogenic – connected to the school that provides the small community for language use

10. bilateral or unilateral ? unilateral, but not really applicable to school bilingualism

11. active/productive – the goal of instruction is to improve all their abilities

12. monocultural – goal of education: to increase interest in the culture of the target language-speaking nation (civilization –subject)

13. incomplete/partial – the target language competence is under improvement

→ tends to balanced bilingualism (not reached in all spheres of communication)

studying a subject in a foreign language → highly motivating to learn the language !!

→ deeper studies needed

DYNAMISM – the most significant factor in school bilingualism → a new criterion of grouping based on the changes of one's bilingualism in time. (school period, life time etc.)

Considering the direction/tendency of the change comparatively → three categories:

progressive bilingualism it is characteristic to school bilingualism stagnant/stabilized bilingualism regressive bilingualism (not be confused with language shift)

monolingual students - start the bilingual school → advanced level of target language

What is the contribution of a science taught in a target language to this progress?

Research in a psycholinguistic approach may help us to get closer to the answer

References:

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