Original scientific paper
Language competences of pupils in Croatian classes abroad
Dunja Pavličević-Franić
orcid.org/0000-0002-8844-4268
; Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Tamara Gazdić-Alerić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5035-1587
; Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Katarina Aladrović Slovaček
orcid.org/0000-0002-0706-9436
; Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Abstract
In the course of the project Developing Communicative Competence in the Early Discourse of Croatian (Faculty of Teacher Education, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, 2006-2010), a research on the proficiency in Croatian as the second language was carried out among the children of Croatian emigrants to Germany (Baden-Württemberg). Croatian was the only idiom or one of the two idioms the subjects who attend Croatian classes abroad had been exposed to in early childhood. Once they stepped out of the exclusively
family environment, with the kindergarten or school start, the German language became their primary means of communication. Consequently, Croatian became their second language (L2), although most students disagree with this view.
The aim of the research was to assess the subjects’ satisfaction with Croatian classes abroad and learn the most important reasons for attending them. Another aim was to establish the relationship between the self-appraisal of Croatian language by the students and their language competence on various language levels. Special attention was paid to research of the differences in the language competence of students on the lexical, syntactic and text levels and research of the relationship between the language input and the proficiency in Croatian as the second language. The correlation between the years of language learning and the level of proficiency in Croatian as the second language was researched on the sample of subjects (N=100).
Student satisfaction survey, test of Croatian language competence and pedagogical observation were used as the research instruments. The data were analysed and processed by the SPSS statistics software. The Chi-square test determined whether there is a statistically significant difference between knowing the correct meaning of the word and its correct use in the sentence, while the analysis of variance determined whether there is a statistically significant difference in the text competence results depending on the years of Croatian language learning. The Pearson correlation coefficient shows the relationship between the years of Croatian language learning and the selfappraisal of knowledge, while the point biserial coefficient shows the relationship between the years of learning and the results of lexical competence as well as the results on the syntactic competence level.
The research showed that the subjects were satisfied with Croatian classes abroad and that they needed Croatian to communicate in various situations when the knowledge of Croatian language was required. Most of the subjects had high opinion of their knowledge which was contradictory to the results of the test of their language competence on different language levels. The subjects showed to be the most successful on the lexical level and a bit less successful on the syntactic level, while they achieved the worst results in the test of language competence on the text level and the use of language on
the level higher than the sentence level, which had been anticipated at the beginning of the research.
The research results also show that the set dependent variable (development of communicative competence on the lexical, syntactic and text levels) is influenced by the independent variable (years of Croatian language learning) since the subjects who learn Croatian language over a longer period show statistically significantly better results on the language competence test, both on the lexical and the text level.
The results of this research will be used for analysis of the tuition of Croatian language as L2 abroad and for comparison of the process of mastering of the standard Croatian language as L2 abroad and in the Republic of Croatia.
Keywords
language competences; communicative competence; tuition of Croatian language abroad; acquisition of Croatian as a second language
Hrčak ID:
82869
URI
Publication date:
15.4.2012.
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