Linguisticism among practicing and prospective teachers of Hungarian in the four countries of the Carpathian Basin

Abstract

There is a paucity of research on dialect awareness among teachers, particularly in Hungary. The aim of our research was to demonstrate the presence of, linguistic discrimination. The research involved more than 500 Hungarian Language and Literature teachers and teacher trainees from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine.

Data were collected primarily through a technique similar to matched-guise tests (MGT); however, the method of the present research had some additional complexity. The research clearly supported the assumption that linguistic discrimination was widespread in pedagogical evaluation. Student performances were rated differentially depending on content and language variety, with the performances using the standard (and/or elaborated code) being rated the most positively. Performances using a vernecular dialect (or restricted code) were always rated negatively, even when in terms of content the performance was free from shortcomings.