engleski

What Mother-Tongue Language Teachers Think about Multilingualism: an example from Croatia

Studies on multilingualism in educational system predominantly deal with the questions of multilingualism and intercultural competence in a foreign language classroom (e.g. Petravic, 2016, Goebbel, Helmke 2011, Byram & Feng 2006), while the studies on development of multilingualism and intercultural competence in the majority language classroom are still seldom investigated topics. Thus, current global trends and mobility of people made multilingualism one of the central features of a modern educational system, even in countries that are predominantly monolingual, such as Croatia. The Republic of Croatia is perceived as a monolingual country with over 95% of its inhabitants being the native speakers of the Croatian language. However, that perception is rather deceptive for three reasons: 1) language diversity and the ratio of the speakers of majority and minority language at the local administrative level, i.e. in counties, municipalities and cities (see Cvikic 2014, 2016, Jelaska & Cvikic 2012), 2) the increasing number of Croatian L2 speakers integrated in Croatian educational system (Jelaska & Cvikic 2012, Turza Bogdan & Ciglar 2013, Cvikic 2014, Cesi, Cvikic & Milovic, 2012) and 3) the fact that a foreign language is a mandatory course from the first grade of primary education. Therefore, the educational system in Croatia should be considered as a multilingual and multicultural environment (Cvikic 2014, Cvikic, Novak Milic, 2015). This paper deals with the topic of preparedness of mother-tongue teachers for teaching in a multilingual and intercultural classroom. On the basis on research conducted at the bilateral Croatian-Slovenian project Linguistic and Cultural Identity of the Students Regarding the Languages of Education this paper will focus on following questions: How well are Croatian language teachers prepared to work in multilingual settings? What are teachers' believes and attitudes toward multiculturalism? What are the main factors that influence teachers’ attitudes and believes?

teachers' attitudes and believes, Croatian as L2, language of education

Predstavljeni rad rezultat je istraživanja na bilateralnome hrvatsko- slovenskom projektu "Jezični i kulturni identitet učenika s obzirom na jezike obrazovanja u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji" (2016-2017)