Pregledni rad
Croatian as the Language of Instruction and Language Policy in Burgenland from 1921 onwards
Andrea Zorka Kinda-Berlakovich
Sažetak
The author discusses the status of
Croatian as a teaching language in Burgenland in the
20th century from 1921, after the collapse of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire when the majority of Croatian villages became part of
Austria. The development of bilingual education, it’s ups and downs, are
important prerequisites for understanding the complex situation in which
Croatian schoolchildren are facing today. On the basis of written sources
(mainly from archives) as well as with the help of empirical studies
(interviews with witnesses of the period under review) the paper analyses the
general background and conditions of Croatian as the language of instruction
for Croats in Burgenland. Because of the prevailing political and
socio-economic situation Croatian teaching decreased in terms of quantity as
well as quality. Between the World Wars there were Croatian and bilingual
primary schools, the latter mainly belonged to models that only existed for a
short time and were assimilated to existing ones. During the Nazi regime from
1938-1945 Croatian was forbidden as a language of instruction. In the
Post-War period the number of compulsory bilingual schools was reduced to 50%
due to the law of school organization of 1962. All secondary higher schools
had to use only German as the language of instruction. A minorities school law
came into effect in 1994. Until the '90ies measures in connection with
language policy prevented real language protection programs and thus
contributed to a suppression and assimilation of the Croatian language.
Ključne riječi
teaching language; bilingualism; bilingual education; mother tongue; official language
Hrčak ID:
10575
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.9.2006.
Posjeta: 3.535 *