Download The History of TEFL in Hungary

Introduction to Applied Linguistics
10th November 2004
Lecture 8
The History of TEFL in Hungary
Why is it important to know the history of TEFL?
 Not to repeat former mistakes in language teaching
 It is important to know people’s beliefs and misbeliefs in connection with learning
language  these must be taken into consideration
 In Hungary people’s attitude was negative toward Russian  their attitude
remained negative toward other foreign languages & language teaching in general
The situation of the knowledge of any language in Hungary:
 Nowadays the percentage of the knowledge of any language quite low (and
Russian is mainly excluded); only 15-20% of Hungarians speak at least 1 foreign
language
Universities for Hungarians in the neighbouring countries:
 There is a dilemma whether these should be only Hungarian
 Bilingualism should be developed, but university directors are reluctant to achieve
this
 Before 1959 Hungarian universities in Transylvania were merged with Romanian
universities and after 1959 Hungarian as the language of teaching ceased to exist
 Only in 2002 did they got back the possibility to tech in Hungarian
▼
it is essential to change the educational programme
Educational Reforms:
 Definition: it is a fundamental change in education in order to improve the quality
of learning
 An educational reform has many years to be carried out  there are few years of
preparation, then approximately 10 years in practice and after it 1-2 years of
evaluation
Real changes in language teaching:
 Six or seven years ago the learning of language became a single major  before,
another language must have been studied
 During the Socialist era public education provided the possibility of learning 2
languages, but with the introduction of the NAT this ceased to exist
▼
this was an educational policy change
As a result: - the knowledge of English has increased but not in a desirable quality and
quantity
- people know a little English but it is not enough
- at the beginning of the 1990s there were bad teachers  number of English
lessons increased, but the quality has not
Changes of the 1980s:
 in 1980 there was a conference about whether American or British English should
be taught  they agreed on both
 in 1982 there was another conference where it was agreed that only British English
should be taught because it is closer to Hungary geographically
 10 years later American English became more popular
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Introduction to Applied Linguistics
10th November 2004
Lecture 8
History of language teaching in Hungary:
 until the 1920s English teaching wasn’t present in Hungarian education  French
and German were taught
 between the two World Wars English was taught in Debrecen, but the English
department of Debrecen was closed in 1949
 after World War II only Russian was taught
 after 1957 some people were able to complete their English studies, because
Országh László re-established the English department in Debrecen
 in 1965 the department of English was founded in Szeged
 but there were not too many students of English all around the country (
approximately 60-70 students)
Teaching EFL in Socialism
 1974: IATEFEL ( British based teacher association) had a conference in Bp.
 English learning changed and became popular, before English was very unpopular
IEA
 Comparative in all kinds of topics all over the world
 In the 1970s participated in IEA among the communist countries
 IEA showed that the most efficient public education took place in Hungary and
Japan
 BUT IEA made tests on English -highschool students were efficient in speaking
but they “didn’t understand” the language
- listening & speaking skills weren’t on the
same level
 The reason: - educational history
- in the USSR there was a drive for teaching practical things
- that time the Soviets introduced the 5+1 system = 5 days of learning
and 1 day in the factory
- the aim was to boost speaking & to de-emphasise listening
▼
this became the requirement in the entire educational system
This is on reason why we should know the history of TEFEL
One must place equal emphasis on both skills
CETT
 From 1990 there were not very well trained English teachers
 CETT changed programmes in English departments  they introduced practical
lessons that helped teachers how to teach grammar, pronunciation, etc.
 There are CETTs in Bp., Debrecen & Szeged
 In CETTs students are required to teach 60 hours (30 in primary and 30 in high
schools)
 CETT is the mutual program of the Hungarian government & the British Council
 BUT in the late 1990s the programme of the CETT was stopped
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