A Slovenian minority lives in Italy.
This minority has the opportunity to learn in their own language at Italian schools where Slovenian is the language of instruction. These schools are located in the regions of Trieste and Gorizia. In the Udine region, there is a bilingual school in Špetar. In these schools, teaching is conducted in Slovenian and the curriculum adheres to the guidelines of the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit. At the bilingual school in Špetar, instruction takes place in both Italian and Slovenian.
An increasing number of children from Italian families and mixed Italian-Slovenian families attend Slovenian schools in Italy. However, many children are abandoning the active use of the Slovenian minority language in favour of the Italian majority language.
I am interested in the level of Slovenian language proficiency in minority schools, and whether this depends on parents' language use, Slovenian use during free time with peers, reading books and writing in either the minority or majority language.
Data for the study was collected through a short survey and the 2023 national Slovenian language proficiency test for Year 7. Students from Italy performed worse on the Slovenian language test than their Slovenian peers, with students from the bilingual school in Italy achieving the lowest scores. The results were widely dispersed — a few high-scoring students raised the average, while most scored below it. Students whose parents speak Slovenian, who mostly speak Slovenian with their friends, and for whom Slovenian is the most frequently used language achieved higher results. No differences in Slovenian language proficiency were found based on the language preferred for reading, writing or listening to music. Students who reported better proficiency in Slovenian achieved higher scores than those who considered themselves more proficient in Italian.
The sample structure shows that just over one-third of the students come from families where both parents speak Slovenian. The majority have one Slovenian-speaking parent and one parent who speaks Italian or another language. Twenty-eight per cent of students have parents who do not speak Slovenian. These findings suggest that Slovenian schools in Italy are becoming truly multicultural institutions, bringing together individuals of Slovenian, Italian and other nationalities.
The predominant language spoken at home is Italian, followed by Slovenian and then both languages equally. Overall, the most commonly used language among students is Italian, followed by Slovenian. However, certain specific patterns can be observed in individual schools which alter the general picture when examined separately.
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