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2.  The vast majority of the population speaks Hungarian as
the mother tongue, whereas the most important ethnic
minority groups speak German, Croatian, Rumanian,
Slovakian and Roma.
 For centuries, Latin was the official language and
Hungarian did not assume this role until the middle of the
19th century. Traditionally, the most important foreign
language has been German but in l949 Russian became a
compulsory foreign language in state schools from the age
of ten through secondary and the first two years of tertiary
education. This tradition changed drastically in 1989 when
foreign language learning became liberalised. Since then
German and English have become dominant in state
education, but the popularity of these languages dates
back to the late 1960s.

3.  Primary education starts at the age of six, but prior to the first year in
school all children are expected to attend kindergarten for at least a year.
 Although recently children can begin their secondary education at the ages
of 10, 12 or 14, most of them follow the traditional track and at 14 enter one
of the three types of secondary schools:
1. grammar schools: require students to study two foreign language, take an
exam in a foreign language as part oftheir school-leaving examination.
2. vocational schools: require one
3. trade schools: usually offer none, although some have recently introduced
foreign language courses.
 Compulsory education lasts 10 years, and the earliest age of leaving
school is 16; the majority finishes school at the age of 18.

4.  The general objectives of the National Core Curriculum for foreign
languages focus on the development of oral and written communication
skills, and the document requires the teaching of at least one foreign
language for the purpose of practical use. From the point of view of foreign
language education, the document represents a step backwards: the old
curriculum introduced a foreign language in grade 4 (age 10), the new one
a year later in grade 5; and previously two modern languages were
mandatory in state education, now only one, except for grammar schools.
 Despite the fact that officially foreign languages are to be introduced in
grade 5, reality is different, as parents put a lot of pressure on schools to
start earlier. Children in early language programmes receive an average of
one to two lessons of 45 minutes a week or three to four lessons in
specialised classes.

5.  The pressure on schools is enormous: most parents want their children to
start learning a foreign language as soon as possible. Folk wisdom also
supports the general assumption: “The sooner the better.”
 about 5% of the children learn two foreign languages: one from the first,
second or third grade and a second foreign language from the fifth or
seventh, but there is a lot of variation in programmes depending on
availability of teachers and resources. In these cases the first foreign
language tends to be taught in intensive courses. Altogether 21% of
schoolchildren attend intensive courses at primary school.
This means two to three classes a week in the first three or four grades
and four to five classes from grade 5.
 As German is not only a foreign language but also the language of an
ethnic group in Hungary, a specific development must also be mentioned.
As has been pointed out, the German language has played a special role
in Hungarian education. The reasons are historical, geographic, ethnic
economic.

6. Four different types of foreign language teaching degrees exist in Hungary:
 five-year single or double major university degrees qualify teachers to teach
at any institution, most importantly in secondary schools. This is the most
prestigious teaching degree, but in most of the cases trainees do no primary-
school practice, though they can teach young learners;
 four-year double major college degrees qualify teachers to work at primary
schools and teach foreign languages in grades 5 to 8;
 three-year single major college degree holders are qualified to teach across
the range of educational institutions. This is the most recent teaching degree
type;
 four-year lower primary college degrees with a language specialization allow
teachers to work in grades 1-6, but most frequently they are hired for grades
1-4.

7.  The most serious problem is that there are not enough appropriately
qualified teachers in the right posts.
 Teachers with prestigious degrees find well-paid jobs in business or the
private sector, while teachers qualified to teach in primary schools work in
secondary institutions, thus they have to upgrade their degrees to keep
their jobs.
 In 1991/92 less than half of the teachers of English had a teaching degree.
Schools were so much in need of teaching staff; they allowed people of
other professions or teachers of other subject areas to teach a foreign
language with an intermediate-level language certificate. Since then the
situation has improved: almost 5,000 teachers of Russian and of other
subjects have graduated from three-year re-training in-service programmes
at universities and colleges and new pre-service teacher-training
programmes have been implemented.

8.  Publishers are offering a smorgasbord of attractive teaching
materials and resources, and Hungarian teachers have access to
these at bookshops, conferences and workshops regularly held by
experts and publishers all over the country.
 Unfortunately, the availability of resources cannot counterbalance all
shortcomings in the classrooms. Very few teachers supplement
officially suggested course books or exploit replica, authentic and
student-made materials. They find it hard to make their choice from
among the colorful teaching packages, and do not realize that their
learners’ needs are hardly ever considered as materials are
designed for an international market.

9. When in 1996 Hurts, Derda and Lawson conducted research into what materials
lower primary teachers used they identified the following major tendencies:
 The vast majority of teachers relied exclusively on published courses
 Many teachers “over-taught” course books: materials designed for one year
were exploited for 3-4 years, thus making progress very slow with a lot of rote
learning, testing and intensive study of every word
 Some schools used a completely different course book each year, for example
Splash, Chatterbox, English Today, Tip Top and Wow consecutively in grades 2
to 6
 In a number of cases three different Level One books were used in the same
school
 Often course books teachers used with particular groups did not match the age
they were designed for, for example they used Project English in grade 3
 Most of the published materials teachers used were British publications with
Hungarian course materials lagging way behind.

10.  A new in-service teacher development project was
launched in 1998 for all teachers in Hungary. Teachers
are obliged to participate in refresher credit courses
every seven years to be able to keep their jobs.
 Such professional teacher development courses could
offer attractive alternatives for teachers of young
learners to update their communicative competence and
teaching methodology, but as foreign language teachers
have received a lot of opportunities and support over
the last decade, heads of schools now must give other
subject teachers priority.

11.  Hungarians’ general attitudes towards learning and knowing foreign
languages are favourable.
 A peculiar indication of this phenomenon is the fact that almost 60%
of the children get private tuition during their primary-school years,
most frequently in modern languages.
 This high percentage has two reasons:
1. some ambitious parents are extremely keen on their children
progress at school, so they hire private tutors to give pupils special
opportunities.
2. Others pay for extra classes because their children need special
attention to be able to fulfill school requirements.
In both cases parents are obviously dissatisfied with what free state
education can provide.

12.  Language teaching may begin very early, its aims may be
appropriate concerning the length of instruction and
students’ needs, butlong-term success will not be
available unless later programmes build on early language
study.
 What children learn in early years must be maintained and
further developed to be useful for them as adults.
Unfortunately, despite all the encouraging achievements, in
many cases a waste of effort and energy is one of the
characteristics of early language education in Hungary.

13. The reasons are manifold:
 early language programmes show a lot of variation and it is often impossible to
stream children with similar language learning histories into homogenous groups
within primary-school programmes;
 secondary schools rarely integrate children’s previous language experience in their
programmes, and a lot of children end up as false beginners and become
demotivated;
 children often start a brand new foreign language in secondary schools as they are
given no opportunities to continue their first foreign language;
 many primary-school teachers apply inappropriate methodology, come up with
unrealistic demands and frustrate learners at an early stage;
 parents often have unrealistic expectations and want immediate results;
 sometimes minimal educational requirements are neglected: children get very
short periods, like twenty minutes a week; classes are often inappropriately
scheduled into the daily routine of children: they “study” while their peers have
playtime; classes are held in tiny rooms or impossible places, like dining halls or
changing rooms, where physical activities are limited.