Education paper by Váradi, Krisztián
Bilingual Attitudes and Language Learning Motivation of Philology Students in a Multilingual Environment (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentationAbstract (max. 250 words):
The aim of this research was to shed light on the bilingual attitudes and language learning motivation of students majoring in English, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and German language and literature at the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education in Ukraine. The topic is particularly relevant because Transcarpathia is a multilingual region with more than a hundred ethnic minorities, based on the data of the last official census (2001), and philology students as prospective teachers will be responsible for the development of the native language, state language and foreign language skills of the Transcarpathian youth. In order to investigate their attitudes toward bilingualism and language learning, an online attitude survey was completed by 185 participants, followed by three focus group interviews with 12 participants altogether. The main conclusion from the results is that philology students have positive attitudes toward language learning and the Transcarpathian dialect of the Hungarian language, but the concept of additive language teaching was unknown to the majority of students. Therefore, it would be advisable to introduce the main principles of language teaching in an additive approach to all prospective teachers, paying special attention to the appropriate handling of the conflict between dialects and standard language variants at school. The findings are of great importance for the development and planning of teacher training courses in multilingual areas. The present study was supported by the Collegium Talentum Program of Hungary.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Krisztián Váradi is a second year PhD student at the Multilingualism Doctoral School, University of Pannonia, Hungary. He is also a teacher-trainee at the Department of Philology of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education. Previously, Krisztián finished both the English and the Hungarian language and literature Master of Arts courses at the Rákóczi College. His main research interests include bilingualism, Transcarpathian language use, and Slavic loanwords in the Transcarpathian variety of the Hungarian language. As a member of the Termini Association, he is an editor of the Termini Online Dictionary and Database.