Bilingualism in Hungary through school education

1
Bilingualism in Hungary through school education

• presented by
• Anna Várkuti

8th Summer School of Psycholinguistics May 29
June 3, 2005, Balatonalmádi
2
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

3
A short history of language use in education in
Hungary
-it reflects the education policy of the given
period and the relationship between the social,
institutional, and individual interests-

• 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

4

• 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 withdrawn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

5

• 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 1980s

6

• NEW TYPE OF DUAL LANGUAGE SCHOOLS from the
  1980s
• - 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

7

• 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
  199822)

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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
• ? Hungarys educational system is bilingual
  (with monolingual and bilingual schools)

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• 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 ones 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 languages
• What 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

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• 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 1990s - 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

11
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

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Diagram 2 Diagram 3
13

• 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)

14
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?

15

• 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

16
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)

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• 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

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• 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

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• 5. controlled highly coordinated special
  teaching programme (teacher,
  methodology, individual studies..
• 6. additive to ones 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

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• 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

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• References
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