Abstracts of Submitted Papers 2015

Magyar nyelvű közoktatás és felsőoktatás a Felvidéken

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az előadás a felvidéki magyar nyelvű közoktatást és felsőoktatást veszi górcső alá. Ismerteti a közoktatási hálózatot, rámutat a kisiskolákat veszélyeztető folyamatokra, iskoláink működtetésével járó gondokra és az államnyelv oktatásának módszertani problémáira.
Foglalkozik a magyar nyelvű tanító- és tanárképzés hiányosságaival. Rámutat a tehetséggondozás és a felzárkóztatás megoldatlanságára. Javaslatokat fogalmaz meg a bezárásra ítélt kisiskolákkal kapcsolatban és kistérségi iskolák, ill.iskolaközpontok létrehozását szorgalmazza. A szlovákiai közoktatás tartalmi reformját, az oktatás módszertani megújúlását és a háttérintézmények kiépítését sürgeti.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Albert Sándor egyetemi professzor, a Nyugat-magyarországi Egyetem díszdoktora, a Selye János Egyetem alapító rektora, a kassai Ipariskola volt igazgatója, a komáromi Felnőttképzési Intézet igazgatója.

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Expanding Perspectives Beyond Borders for American Educators through Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad to Hungary and Eastern Europe

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Presentation focuses on two Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad conducted in Hungary in 1990 and 1991, organized and directed by Ruth G. Biro. Marta Pereszlenyi-Pintér served as co-director for the $50,000 six-week award for fourteen professors (from four Pittsburgh area universities representing different academic disciplines), held in Pécs, Western Hungary, and Budapest in May-June 1990. Julianna Nádas Ludanyi was co-director of the 1991 July-August $60,000 grant for fourteen F-H fellows (four faculty and three graduate-in-service teachers from Duquesne University and seven teachers from the Oregon International Council. Elizabeth Simon was the native informant for both years. The on-site Hungarian Leadership team was composed of three English professors from Janus Pannonius University(now University of Pécs).

The purpose, benefits, eligibility, criteria, personnel, pre-departure orientation, itinerary abroad, assessment, follow-up, outcomes, and outreach relating to the F-H GPA (CFDA 84.021 A) will be specified. Aspects of the 1990 and 1991 Duquesne University grants, now twenty-five years later, will be described in relationship and comparison with recent awards for Hungary (and Hungary in combination one or two other countries). Additionally, Eastern European nations bordering Hungary that have been the subject of F-H grants will be mentioned.

The potential for AHEA member(s) to develop and/or AHEA to sponsored a future F-H GPA application will be addressed. Principal Investigator role, Federal Register announcements, application packet procurement, priorities, deadlines, preparation (orientation, time frame, travel arrangements, accommodations, field trios, lectures, honoraria, debriefings, dissemination plans), along with online submission details, peer review, notification, and final reporting will be enumerated. Possible contacts, sites, topics, and activities will be discussed pertaining to a prospective proposal involving Hungary and/or one or two neighboring nations. American professors, teachers, and graduate students would have the opportunity to greatly expand their perspectives on Hungary and other Eastern European countries through a carefully planned overseas project designed to achieve the goals of the Fulbright- Hays Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act-- P.L. 87-256, 75 Stat. 527.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Biro holds a B.A. in Political Science from Chatham College, and a Master's in Library Science and a Ph.D. In Higher Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Now retired from Duquesne University, she taught courses in Children's and Adolescent Literature, Cultural Diversity, International Education, Multicultural and International Literature, Program Design, Holocaust Perspectives, and others in the USA and abroad. She was curriculum coordinator of the AHEA sponsored Ethnic Heritage Studies grant on Hungarian Americans in Pittsburgh, directed by Paul Body in FY 1980-81. With co-authors Miklós Kontra and Zsófia Radnai, Dr. Biro wrote the Hungarian Picture Dictionary for Young Americans (Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó, 1989). From 1996-2004 she was a Summer Faculty Associate at the Russian and East European Institute of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, under the auspices of the US Department of State and the US Office of Education. Her article "Refuge, Resistance, and Rescue in Hungary in WWII: Religious and Cultural Interactions," was published in Learn, Teach, Prevent: Holocaust Education in the 21st Century, Eds. Carol Ritter and Wendy Whitworth. (Greensburg PA: Seton Hill University, National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, 2010, 102-115.) Dr. Biro, a founding member of the AHEA, was the recipient of the Peter Basa Award of the American Hungarian Educators in 2012.

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Hungarian Language Maintenance in Cleveland, Ohio

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper focuses on the situation of Hungarian language maintenance in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to the history of Hungarian language instruction, I will give a detailed account of actual Hungarian language teaching based on interviews, a questionnaire and published materials as well as an outline of my own experience.
Cleveland is one of the most important centers of Hungarian Americans in the USA. The Hungarian population of this very significant American city is about 150,000. For the Hungarian Americans it is important to preserve their language, culture and traditions. In this question three major themes emerge: the value of speaking Hungarian as a sense of identity, the impact of parenting on language maintenance, and the influence of friends and peers through organized events in the Hungarian community, mostly through the scouting movement.
The first Hungarian schools were organized in the Roman Catholic, Reformed and Greek Catholic Churches built in the 1890s by the Cleveland Hungarian community on Buckeye Road. St. Emeric Parish in the near west side area, established in 1904, also provided Hungarian instruction. Presently this church is the home of the Hungarian School and scouting activities.
Founded in 1958, the Hungarian School or Magyar Iskola is attended by students in addition to their regular schooling. The origin of this school may be found in scouting by recognizing the need for a weekend-type school. Since 2002 the Hungarian School is also offering conversational Hungarian classes for adults in different levels.
The history of Hungarian studies in higher education reach back to Hungarian cultural courses at Western Reserve University. In 1960s the center of Hungarian studies has shifted to Cleveland State University and after a long pause it has recently been reestablished in the Department of Modern Languages.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rita Gárdosi is currently in residence in the Department of Modern Languages at Cleveland State University, in the status of a Fulbright Visiting Professor in Hungarian language and culture. She graduated in 2007 from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, with Masters Degrees in Hungarian Language and Literature and Hungarian as a Foreign Language. She worked for six years at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III as Hungarian lecturer and assistant professor in Hungarian linguistics. While in Paris, Rita Gárdosi earned a doctorate in Linguistics and Language Teaching, graduating in 2012.

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Teaching Diversity in Hungary

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Teaching a foreign language involves more factors than teaching words and grammar. One factor is most certainly culture. Disability is a phenomenon which strongly determines lives all over the world; consequently, how people react to the phenomenon reflects in cultures. Therefore, teaching a foreign language proves an excellent resource to go beyond borders.

As a teacher of English and researcher of cultural disability studies (CDS), I feel privileged to assist students to discover segments of the target language culture. These segments include knowledge of and attitudes to disability recently present in various English language coursebooks and seem inspiring sources for learning/teaching paradigms beyond political correctness.

Being a vision impaired teacher of English as a foreign language (TEFL), I not only welcome the diverse nature of disability amongst the topics of language teaching, but also do my utmost to provide literary texts to help my students identify their own relations to disability, whether they are disabled or non-disabled. Since I believe that understanding disability is based on understanding various perceptions of the world, I offer disability memoir as a medium of learning/teaching diversity in the hope of motivating, inspiring my disabled and non-disabled students while they learn the language of diverse cultures. In Hungary we need to improve understanding and attitudes to disability; the aim of the paper is to highlight what perspectives CDS and TEFL share to go beyond borders.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rita Hoffmann is a freelance teacher of English as a Foreign Language and a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Her current interests are perspectives of cultural disability studies in higher education, disability life writing and literary representations of disability with special regard to the representations of disability in the works of contemporary Catalan writer, Jaume Cabré. In the spring semester of the academic year 2011/2012, Rita Hoffmann was a Fulbright researcher at the English Department of the University of California at Berkeley.

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Diaspora Program - Outline of a Project at the University of Pécs

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The presentation introduces a project plan of the University of Pécs (UP), which intends to reinforce the institutional cooperation with Hungarians living in the world. In line with the Hungarian government's efforts aiming to involve those who are interested, the UP wants to connect not only with Hungarian local organizations abroad, but also to link them culturally through education and learning at the University of Pécs. (Pécs was the European Capital of Culture in 2010.) Educational training programs based on the needs of Hungarian foreign communities provide the basis for the professional program. Under the Diaspora Innovative Program English and Hungarian languages can be used in distance learning curriculum packages (e-learning, m-learning, blended learning). Short courses, training courses take place in the following priority areas: Hungarian as a foreign language; Hungarian history, culture, folklore and traditions; Hungarian legal system. The courses fit the Bologna system, the European Qualifications Framework to ensure interoperability among the courses, training areas and institutions.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit Huszti is the director of the Foreign Language Centre of the University of Pécs. As the test developer of the ECL examination system she has been dealing with test construction and assessment. She worked for several years as member of the Hungarian Accrediation Board for Foreign Language Examinations. She was involved in projects developing blended learning materials in Hungarian language (Mig Komm, Imed Komm). Her publications are in the field of different areas of language testing – communicative aspect of testing, aligning tests with the CEFR, test takers with disabilities.

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Revealing Multiple Identities: Research into Hungarian EFL Teachers' Beliefs about Using Stories

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The talk explores Hungarian EFL teachers’ beliefs about the educational value of stories and it examines how these beliefs are linked to teachers’ multiple identities. Despite the widely accepted cognitive, affective and linguistic benefits of telling and listening to stories (Bettelheim, 1991; Bruner, 1996; Elley, 1989; Schank & Abelson, 1995; Webster & Mertova, 2007), the convention in most Hungarian schools is to regard narratives as a decoration, instead of exploiting its potential as a context for imaginative and meaningful learning. Data gained from classroom observation and teachers’ narratives reveal a mismatch between current learning theories and teachers’ educational practice and they highlight the need to see teachers’ professional identities as shaped not only by their community of practice, but also by their specific cultural and educational traditions. It also appears from the research that learners’ development cannot be conceptualized without teachers’ growth: they are parts of the same complex, relational process which is indissociable from the social context, and from participants’ personal, professional and cultural history.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I started my career as a primary and secondary school teacher of English, first in Transylvania (Romania), then in Hungary. In the past 20 years I have worked as a teacher trainer at the University of Pécs in Hungary, teaching courses on how to apply narratives in TEFL, on integrating language and content (CLIL) and on exploring teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. I have published in English mostly on the role of educational culture in language learning and teaching, on teachers’ beliefs and on the role of narratives in children’s meaning making and in teacher cognition.

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The Influence of Brassai's Life-Work on Hungarian Culture and Science Within and Beyond Borders

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
At the centre of Brassai’s life-work, which influenced his whole life and his scientific work, was his research into the methodological principles of teaching. In his long life he was engaged in the sciences; he fought for education in the Hungarian language eagerly and successfully. Besides jurisprudence he was very good in almost every science; excellent linguist, natural scientist, philosopher, critic, mathematician, musician, teacher and headmaster, essay writer, university professor, and a regular member of the Academy of Sciences.
The presentation relies mainly on facts in the monographs about Brassai; on the contemporary periodical reviews and publications published in Kolozsvár; on the writings of Sámuel Brassai; on the documentary data, on the history of foreign-language teaching, on his influence at home and abroad, as well as on the development of the Direct Method and its methodological background.
His works had a great influence on the scientific life of our country. With his achievements, scientific researches, writings and teaching he contributed to the development and spread of the Hungarian culture and science. Sámuel Brassai’s teachings are so fundamental and deep that they are substantial even today for all Hungarians within and beyond borders.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Erzsébet Molnár is Senior Lecturer at the University of Miskolc, Hungary. She received her Ph.D. from Pannon University in Veszprém, based on a dissertation about the great Transylvanian-Hungarian Polymath, Sámuel Brassai (1797-1897). She has been working at the Department of English Linguistic and Literature at the University of Miskolc. Her specialty is language pedagogy and the main issues of foreign language teaching. Her publications include half dozen textbooks, three dozen related articles in English and Hungarian, as well as a book on the topic of her dissertation, Sámuel Brassai. The Last Transylvanian Polymath (2008). She is a frequent participant at various international conferences, including those in Great-Britain, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Malta, Canada, and the United States.

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Magyar tannyelvű oktatás megszervezése egy soknemzetiségű kikötővárosban, Fiumében a 19-20. század fordulóján

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az előadás célja, hogy bemutassa, miként alakult a dualizmus kori Magyarország gazdasági, kereskedelmi életében fontos szerepet betöltő, sajátos földrajzi elhelyezkedésű, soknemzetiségű adriai kikötőváros, Fiume magyar iskoláinak és tanulóinak sorsa különös tekintettél a közép- és felsőfokú szakiskolákra. Fiume oktatási viszonyainak áttekintésével egyrészt arra kerestem választ, hogy az állam által oly fontosnak tartott magyar tannyelvű oktatás megvalósult-e a mindennapi gyakorlatban. Fiume Magyarországhoz történő visszacsatolása után (1868) a többség által beszélt olasz, horvát és német nyelv kiegészült a magyarral, amit a magyar kormány a magyarosítás és egyszersmind az általa vágyott asszimiláció eszközének tekintett. A magyarosítás egyik elsődleges eszköze és színtere az iskola volt. A városban tannyelv és önmagában a nyelvoktatás kérdése a provizórium időszakában mindvégig komoly vitákat és indulatokat váltott ki. Bár a magyar kormány sorra alapította a magyar állami intézményeket és a községi városi iskolák estében is törekedett a magyar nyelv tantárgyként való oktatásának bevezetésére, azonban a diákok tanulmányainak előrehaladását nem hátráltató magyar nyelvű oktatás gyakorlati megvalósítása kevéssé valósult meg. A kormány erőteljes magyarosítási törekvése szinte minden iskola esetében megmutatkozott, azonban az 1910-es évektől egyre többen vélték úgy, hogy az erőszakos magyarosítás nem vezet eredményre, egyúttal jelezve, hogy a diákok ugyan tanulják a magyar nyelvet, de nem használják, utalva arra, hogy Fiumében a közigazgatás és egyúttal szóbeli kommunikáció nyelve az olasz, melynek elsajátítása létkérdés szemben a magyarral.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Adrienn, Nagy received her Masters Degree in History and History Education, University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities (2007), and Ph.D in Educational Sciences, University of Pécs, Education and Society Doctoral School of Education, Doctoral program in the History of Education (2015). 2011–2014 Assistant Professor, University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, Institut of Education, Department of History of Education and Culture, Pécs, Hungary (Courses taught: History of Education, Methodology of Educational Sciences Research, Comparative Education). She is currently in residence in the National Archives of Hungary, Departement Coordination of Methodology, Education and Records Manegement Supervision, in the status of the archivist. Her research is focused on the history of rural and the commercial secondary schools during the dualism in Hungary.

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Templom és iskola - 200 éves a bukaresti magyar nyelvű oktatás és református egyház

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
"Csak anyanyelvemen lehetek igazán én." - mondta Kosztolányi Dezső, s meg kell találnunk a saját Én-ünket, ahhoz, hogy valóban részei legyünk a sokszínű európai (és nem csak) kulturális világnak, amelyben - szintén Kosztolányit idézve, ”Erős várunk a nyelv”. Ezekkel a gondolatokkal köszöntöm a 40. AHEA-konferencián részt vevő tanárokat, diákokat és minden érdeklődőt azon események iránt, amelyeken különös hangsúlyt fektetünk itt a Kárpát-medencében, a magyar nyelv, kultúra és oktatás megőrzéséért, ápolásáért és fejlesztéséért, hiszen Nagy László szavaival élve: ”Nem elég magyar anyanyelvűnek születnünk, tanulnunk kell magyarul a sírig”.
Előadásomban szó lesz a 200 évvel ezelőtt megalakult bukaresti református egyházról és magyar nyelvű oktatásról, annak sikereiről és nehézségeiről, fontosabb történelmi pillanatokról, kiemelkedő személyiségekről, pedagógusokról és diákokról, valamint más érdekességekről.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Nagy Éva 2010-től Államtitkári Kabinetigazgató a bukaresti Tanügyminisztériumban és magyar tanár (külső munkatárs) a Bukaresti Tudományegyetem-Idegen Nyelvek Fakultása-Hungarológia Tanszékén, ahol 2008-ban fejezte be PhD tanulmányait, a nyelvészet/média-kommunikáció terén. Témavezető dr. Murvai Olga professzor volt. Tizenhárom évig a Román Rádió illetve a Román Televízió bukaresti Magyar Adásainak szerkesztő-bemondója volt, öt évig sajtó-referens a bukaresti Magyar Nagykövetség Kereskedelmi Kirendeltségének-ITD-H Irodájában. Két évig Parlamenti Kapcsolatokért felelős igazgató volt a bukaresti Tanügyminisztériumban és több éven át tanár (külső munkatárs) a bukaresti Ady Endre Líceumban, valamint a Bukaresti Tudományegyetemen.

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“End the University as We Know It”: Global – Tech – Academe

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The title echoes Mark Taylor’s article that appeared in The New York Times about the reasons of the current crisis of universities. In this paper I will address one aspect of this crisis, the technological leap that landed us in the information age and its consequences for higher education. With the ubiquitous mooc-s (massive open online courses) and ever more scarce funding higher education is sliding into the digital realm. As education budgets are continuously cut in Hungary and 16 members of the European community(1), digital education is a constant issue of discussion, as it was in the 2013 global summit of graduate education held in Budapest http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/deanknuth-attends-global-summit-graduate-education-hungary titled “Graduate Education and the Promises of Technology.” New technological media challenge the traditional, grammar-centric concept of intellectual activity (i.e. the superiority of written language as opposed to spoken language), as scholars are confronted with a broad diversity of cultural expressions that cannot simply be reduced to words (written or spoken). “Computer technology is creating a new kind of public, a cyberculture with all its utopian and apocalyptic possibilities”(2)
Higher Education in Hungary:
In Hungary the population that participates in higher education has quadrupled since the system change in 1990 (http://mta.hu/data/cikk/13/10/36/cikk_131036/BeracsJozsef.pdf) in spite of the fact that birthrates are in steady decline and that the costs of higher education now are split between the state and the students. Changes in the financing and structure of higher education in Hungary, in addition to the Bologna process, whose “framework for common efforts to reform and modernize […] higher education systems” (Bologna Process Implementation Report 2012) are two main factors that influence the benefit of higher education to an individual. I will elaborate on the strength and weaknesses of the current system in Hungary contextualized by borderless education opportunities in the EU. I will elaborate on several aspects of the implementation of the Bologna accords and how they affected the nature of higher education in universities, such as ELTE, JATE, and Corvinus. Moreover, I will address in my paper the academic crisis of higher education to which I alluded earlier, namely the ransformation in our understanding of what constitutes “knowledge” and how it affects the system of higher education in Hungary.
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1 Garben. Sasha. “The Future of Higher Education in Europe.” ww.lse.ac.uk/europeaninstitute/leqs/leqspaper50.pdf
2 Tofts, Darren and Murray McKeich. Memory Trade: A Prehistory of Cyberculture. Newark, NJ: Gordon & Breach
Publishing, 1998. p. 4.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Silvia Nagy-Zekmi is a professor of Hispanic and cultural studies, and director of the Cultural Studies Program at Villanova University (Philadelphia). She publishes on a wide array of subjects ranging from Latin American, postcolonial and cultural studies, in addition to literary and cultural theories. Her latest publications include: Global Academe: Engaging Public Intellectual Discourse (2012) and Truth to Power: Public Intellectuals In and Out of Academe (2010 -with Karyn Hollis) Perennial Empire (2011) and Colonization or Globalization? (2009 - with Chantal Zabus), Moros en la costa: Orientalismo en America Latina (2008), Paradoxical Citizenship: Edward Said (2006, 2008); the award winning Democracy in Chile: The Legacy of September 11, 1973 (with Fernando Leiva, 2005), Le Maghreb Postcolonial (2003). She is currently working on a manuscript titled: The Postcolonial Condition: Eurocentric Discourses in Latin America. More information: www.wix.com/snzekmi/cv , or www19.homepage.villanova.edu/silvia.nagyzekmi/

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Vitalizing a Minority Language: A Study of Critical Family Bilingual Strategies

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This qualitative study explores the key issues cited by Hungarian heritage language speakers who grew up immersed in majority cultures and languages other than Hungarian. The challenge of acquisition, retention, development and enhancement of the minority language in the face of continuous demands of the dominant language are explicated from the inner vantage point of lived experience. Data from extensive retrospective interviews with adults who grew up in households where the desire of both Hungarian parents was that their children maintain their heritage language will be discussed. The data show a complex mix of children’s evolving needs, interests and abilities as they are impacted by shifting demands and priorities, parental commitments and limitations and the changing valuation of the heritage language over time.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Martha Nyikos is Director of World Languages & ESL Teacher Education Program at Indiana University. Her research is in language learning strategies.

Katalin Nyikos, Georgetown University; Currently conducting research on comparative emergent reading and child language acquisition

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On the Cultural Aspect of Teaching Hungarian as a Foreign Language

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As culture, the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group, (Webster, p. 314) is transmitted through language, it should be taught accordingly. Consequently, teaching a foreign language is inseparable from incorporating the teaching of the culture of the target community into the curriculum.
Language use does not only mean linguistically correct use of discourse, it is also of importance that language be used in a culturally correct way. To this end, the cultural competence of the foreign language learner should be developed from the first day of instruction. This is even more so if the foreign language is taught in the host country, and the language learner needs to communicate with native speakers from the very beginning.
Hungarian as a foreign language is no exception in this respect. In my talk, based on my experience of teaching foreign students at the University of Debrecen for several years, I would like to argue that language and culture are intertwined. This is manifested in my coursebook for beginners: Hungarian Language and Culture. After a brief overview of the structure and the language content of the book, I will discuss how the cultural literacy of students coming from a variety of cultures can be developed in a way that helps them master Hungarian as a second language and its culturally correct use. I will demonstrate how various aspects of Hungarian culture are presented in the coursebook.

References:
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1987.
Rácz, Edit. Hungarian Language and Culture – A Coursebook for Beginners. Debrecen: Debrecen University Press, 2012.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I earned my first MA degree in Hungarian and English studies at the University of Debrecen, and twelve years later my second MA in General and Applied Linguistics at the same university. After a period of nine years as head teacher in a local secondary school, I became a language instructor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (University of Debrecen), which meant a major shift in my teaching career, and thereafter a focus on business English. In order to improve my professional knowledge in economics, I earned my third (MSc) degree in Business Administration. Since the beginning of my career, I have been teaching Hungarian as a foreign language at Debrecen Summer School and in the past decade at my faculty. My professional fields of interest include Hungarian and English as foreign languages, both for general and specific purposes. I have taught a wide range of courses: Business English, Business Hungarian, Business Communication, Translation, Hungarian as a second language. I have written several coursebooks; the first was a video workbook published by Debrecen Summer School in 1991, then an ESP coursebook (Basic and Intermediate Level English in Commerce, 1998). I co-authered a Business Hungarian coursebook and workbook for intermediate learners (Magyar Üzleti Nyelvkönyv and Munkafüzet a Magyar Üzleti Nyelvkönyvhöz, 2004, 2005). I wrote a chapter in a teaching material sponsored by the British Council (Communicating in a Changing Europe,2004). My most recent textbook is Hungarian Language and Culture – a coursebook for beginners published in 2012.

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Hungarian-American Families’ Perception on Heritage Language Literacy Practices through Media Technologies

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Despite the increasing number of linguistically diverse immigrants in the USA, more than 90 % of the population uses solely English for communication. Research also indicates that within three generations the heritage language (HL) is completely lost, often causing devastating consequences on immigrant children’s identities, family relationship, and academic accomplishments. Besides numerous well-researched factors, little attention was given to the effects of the use of media-technologies in families’ HL practices.
During the past decade technology has transformed our lives. The advancement and the availability of various media technologies has changed the way people live, work and communicate. Media sources have also been found beneficial for HL development. Among those are television programs in the HL, cartoons on video or DVD from the heritage culture, pop songs and audiobooks in the HL, video tapes for educational purposes, and the Internet (Cho & Krashen, 2000), DeCapua and Wintergerst, 2009, Park & Sarkar, 2007). In addition, media technologies such as email, social networking websites and Skype, a telephone and video calling service over the World Wide Web, carry new opportunities to connect immigrants with their families in the heritage country (Şenyürekli & Detzner, 2009). As a result, through becoming a part of each other’s virtual lives, immigrant families have enjoyed a day-to-day relationship with relatives and friends in the heritage country.
A study was conducted to delve deep into Hungarian – American families ' perceptions regarding the role media technologies play in their children's literacy development and maintenance of the Hungarian language in the United States. One hundred families participated in the on-line survey. Our analysis focused on the parents’ perception on the importance of HL maintenance, the barriers in this process and their perception on the use of media in HL maintenance. This presentation will report on the perceptions of Hungarian – American families on the use of media technologies in the maintenance of the Hungarian language and culture. For educators and families, regardless of their country of residence, this presentation will provide new insights into strategies and practices for maintenance of the Hungarian language and culture through the family members’ eyes.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Tunde Szecsi is a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL where she is the Co-Coordinator for the Elementary Teacher Education Programs. She earned her Master’s degrees in Hungarian, Russian and English language and literature in Hungary. For seventeen years she taught at high school and college level in Hungary. In 2003, she obtained her Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at University at Buffalo, and since then she has taught courses on elementary and early childhood education, teaching English as a second language. She served as coeditor for the 2007 and 2012 international theme issues and the Teaching Strategies column of the Childhood Education journal. Over the past decade, she has made numerous presentations throughout the world, and has contributed over forty articles and five book chapters in child development, multicultural education, culturally responsive teacher preparation, and humane education.

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Identities Between the Lines

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In my presentation I will focus on some guided compositions of students with Hungarian background and trace how their identity is implied between the lines of their essays.

The ECL language exam system offers language assessment of Hungarian as a foreign language. Candidates from all over the world try to pass this exam evaluating the candidates’ communicative competence of Hungarian. One of the exam skills is an essay to be written by the candidate. The length of the text is varying according to the level (A2, B1, B2 or C1 levels are offered). However, on each level in the assignment 4-5 topic elements are provided to make prompts about what to be written thus guiding the candidates to reach a certain degree of content complexity required by the level. That is to say it is a relatively free writing task framed by the restrictive prompts.

The guided composition task gives an opportunity for the writer to write about his/her personal life, opinion and view of the world segment defined by the prescribed topic. In an analysis of compositions of higher levels (B2, C1) I intend to reveal the students’ (of Hungarian origin) clear-cut references to their Hungarian identity and how these identity elements are mingled with the cultural features of their homeland they are presently living in. As an outcome I am going to show what are the most frequent areas of life where their Hungarian identity is utterly manifest.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Wéber currently works as a test developer in ECL Language Exam Centre, University of Pécs. She graduated in 1992 (Hungarian and English major), earned her doctorate in linguistics in 2012. Her major research fields are the Hungarian conjugations, language acquisition, foreign language assessment. She translated several books from English and Polish and worked as a literary editor.

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