THE TOPIC OF DIALECTS IN SOME SECONDARY SCHOOL BOOKS IN HUNGARY AND ONE IN VOJVODINA

Abstract

More than half of the Hungarian children have dialectal background (Kiss 2001), a fact that cannot be ignored by the teachers of Hungarian language. In the teaching of mother tongue the norms the standard variety are preferred, but it is also intended to point out the meaningful role of the dialects and to develop a positive attitude in children towards them. Pupils can acquire knowledge about the standard and the dialects as language varieties from their teachers and their school textbooks. Textbooks at the same time provide support for the teachers, too. The subject of the paper is the appearance of the topic of the dialects in secondary school textbooks. We examine the theoretical knowledge and practical exercises they contain, and if the textbook contributes to positive attitude towards the dialects. Our study covers the most commonly used secondary school textbooks in Hungary and Vojvodina.