Ágoston Berecz: The politics of early language teaching

Ágoston Berecz: The politics of early language teaching

THE POLITICS OF EARLY LANGUAGE TEACHING 
Hungarian in the primary schools of the late Dual Monarchy

 

Agoston Berecz is a Doctoral Candidate at the Central European University, Budapest

Disseminating knowledge of the state language to the non-Magyar half of the citizenry was a policy priority of the government of the Hungarian Kingdom between the 1870s and the First World War. Drawing on a wide array of sources, The Politics of Early Language Teaching provides an in-depth look at how Hungarian was taught to ethnic Romanian and German children in the south-eastern tracts of the Habsburg Empire. The monograph covers the ever-harshening legislation from the period, reconsidering the role of state supervision and exploring the contemporary methodological debates as well as taking a closer look at classroom practices.

Not only does the book throw much light in comparative mode on one of Europe’s great early experiments in linguistic engineering; but it provides many new insights into Dualist Hungary’s competing national ideologies and the limits of their efficacy on the ground.

Contents : EDITORIAL PREFACE INTRODUCTION 1. METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 2. THE CONTEXT 2.1. The Linguistic Scene 2.2. The Political Scene 3. CONFESSIONAL SCHOOLS 3.1. Their General Features 3.2. Romanian Confessional Schools 3.3. Romanian Border Guard Schools 3.4. Transylvanian Saxon Schools 3.5. Roman Catholic Schools in Non-Magyar and Mixed Environments 4. THE SPREAD OF LITERACY 5. PATTERNS OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 6. REGULATIONS ON THE TEACHING OF HUNGARIAN AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT 6.1. Teaching Teachers Hungarian 6.2. The State Supervision of Non-state Schools 6.3. The Last Pre-war Years 7. STATE SCHOOLS 8. HUNGARIAN COURSES FOR ADULTS 9. TEACHING METHODS 9.1. Background 9.2. Speech and Mind Exercises—Problems 9.3. Reading and Writing—Manuals 9.4. The Status of the Mother Tongue 10. DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES 10.1. Reversing Language Shift 10.2. Szatmar Swabians and Their Schools 11. CONCLUSIONS 12. EUROPEAN PARALLELS ADDENDA BIBLIOGRAPHY PLACE-NAME INDEX


2013
284 pages, paperback 
ISBN 978-963-8853-88-2 
$29.95 /€24.95 / £22.99

Source: http://www.ceupress.com/books/html/PoliticsofEarlyLanguageteaching.htm