In Porabje, bilingual education is provided in two elementary schools. In the elementary school Monoster the pupils have the possibility to learn Slovenian as a subject. However, both bilingual schools lack bilingual staff. Due to the lack of bilingual teachers and the absence of use of Slovenian outside of school, pupils lack motivation to speak Slovenian, resulting in low knowledge of the Slovene language among pupils. Nowadays, in order to improve the Slovenian language skills of the pupils, Slovenian pedagogical assistants are employed in kindergartens and schools.
In the theoretical part of the master thesis we described the development of the educational system throughout history and its role in the present. Then we compared the Slovenian and the Hungarian bilingual school systems. We described the communicative activities and the art of languages. Finally, we described bilingualism and the factors that influence it.
In the empirical part of the master thesis, we conducted the quantitative study. First, we wanted to determine the improvement in speaking, listening and comprehension in Slovenian among first graders enrolled in bilingual classes. Second, we sought to determine the differences in speaking, listening, and comprehension between first grade pupils with bilingual education and second grade pupils without bilingual education. For the purpose of the study, we designed written and oral exam for 1st and 2nd graders. The exams were adapted to the knowledge level of each class. The information about the topics learned was given by the preschool teacher assistant for 1st grade and by the Slovenian language teacher who taught the pupils in 1st grade (now 2nd grade). A total of 18 pupils participated in our project, six from the 1st grade and 12 from the 2nd grade. In addition, the 1st grade pupils participated in two months of bilingual instruction after the first exam. The 2-month bilingual education in 1st grade was conducted by an assistant teacher (author of the study). The second graders came into contact with the Slovenian language only in the context of classes of Slovenian language and culture. After two months, the same exam was repeated in both classes. Pupils in both classes scored better on the second exam. The improvement in Slovenian language comprehension was greater in the 1st grade. There was a visible difference in speaking between the classes, with the 1st grade pupils improving by 38,68 % better than 2nd grade pupils. Based on our study, we can conclude that for efficient language learning in a class, contact with the language is of great importance for stages of learning.
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