The sociolinguistics of English in Hungary: Implications for English language education

Ruth Emily Petzold, Purdue University

Abstract

This sociolinguistic study describes the role of English in the Hungarian context and Hungarian attitudes toward the language following the political changes of 1989. The profile focuses especially on Budapest. The study provides social grounding necessary for making relevant changes to English language education; draws implications for curriculum, teacher morale, model of English, and testing; and makes suggestions for renewal. The theoretical framework informing the research draws especially on work by Kachru (1983 and after) and Berns (1988 and after), which analyzes English use in non-native contexts. The sociolinguistic profile completed in this study also examines the social and educational systems and problems from a Hungarian perspective to better define the context. Triangulated data were collected over two years using a variety of qualitative methods. Primary data include: fifty-two guided interviews, two years' worth of field notes documenting observations on the role of English, the results from a questionnaire sampling English learners (n = 92) about uses, motives, and attitudes related to English; and data from a survey sampling the Budapest population (n = 630) on their experiences with English and their attitudes toward the language. Analytic induction and constant comparison were employed to categorize data. Typological categories taken from the theoretical framework or emerged from the data were identified, described, and sometimes enumerated to show the extent of the phenomenon. This study found that while English is a foreign language in Hungary, used especially by those who are young or well educated or both, its role is expanding. Its spread is encouraged because English knowledge facilitates restructuring and "catching up with Europe." Moreover, attitudes are generally favorable toward spread. Minimal intolerance relates to issues of linguistic purity, elitism, and potential Anglo-American cultural and linguistic domination. Discouraging the spread of English is the weak economy's impact on the education: a shortage of teachers, short-term focus on certificates rather than real knowledge, and the prohibitive cost of private English classes. Furthermore, expectations for English knowledge are still low in Hungary. Similarly, not all are aware of English's potential to improve their quality of life. Hungarian society may be served by renewing the English language curriculum and methodology to be more relevant to today's context. Implications from this study support (1) calls for sociolinguistic awareness in language teaching and (2) implementation of social needs in language teaching such as values education through critical pedagogy (e.g. Freire 1973, Kozol 1980, and Giroux 1983, 1988).

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Berns, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Language arts|Linguistics|Curricula|Teaching

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