The development of the ability to communicate, which includes the ability to pronounce and spell, is the main goal of Slovene language lessons. A part of the ability to pronounce and spell is also mastering the pronunciation and notation of words with a semivowel. The role of the school in quality teaching of the spoken and written literary language is very important. In the area of the Pannonian dialect group, which also includes the Slovene-Gorica dialect group, errors occur in the pronunciation and notation of words with semivowel due to the influence of the dialect. At the teaching practice at the primary school in the area of the Slovene-Gorica dialect group, we detected wrong pronunciation and notation of words with a semivowel by learners. Fourth grade learners should have already mastered this, except for the pronunciation and notation of the semivowel before r. Within the Master’s thesis, we conducted a research with learners from two 4th grade departments from one of the primary schools in Slovene-Gorica. We tried to find out how learners pronounce and write words with a semivowel and if this improves after lessons about this topic. This was determined by an oral and written knowledge test before and after the lessons. We performed the lessons only with learners from one department in order to compare their improvement in knowledge with knowledge of learners, who did not participate in lessons between both knowledge tests. We found that the knowledge of learners, who participated in lessons, has improved, while the knowledge of learners, who did not participate in lessons, remained the same, slightly improved or slightly worsened. We were also interested in the attitude of teachers towards mastering the pronunciation and spelling of words with a semivowel in the literary language (hereinafter LL), the extent to which they pay attention to their own and the learner’s pronunciation and spelling of words with a semivowel, whether they point out the errors of learners in pronunciation and spelling and whether they think this is important at all. We checked their views with a survey questionnaire. We found that the majority of teachers consider it important to master the pronunciation and notation of words with a semivowel in LL, that they mostly or sometimes pay attention to their own and the learner's pronunciation and notation of words with a semivowel in LL, and that they mostly or sometimes warn learners about mistakes in pronunciation and notation of such words. Most teachers warn learners about the correct spelling and pronunciation of words with semivowel at all subjects, but some only at Slovene lessons. The teachers rated their knowledge of pronunciation and notation of words with a semivowel as medium, good or very good. The results of our research are useful for classroom teachers, as they can contribute to the awareness that a teacher's mastery of literary pronunciation and writing is very important, and that their example influences the adoption of LL by learners. We especially wanted to warn those teachers, who teach in areas of Slovenia, where learners have problems with the pronunciation and notation of semivowel in the LL due to the influence of the dialect.
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