The Unifying Aspects of Cultures

SECTION:

The "general human right" in Multilingual Elementary Education

Susanna Pertot (SLORI - Slovenski raziskovalni institut/Istituto sloveno di ricerche, Trieste/Trst)
Slovene Kindergartens in Italy: An Observational Study of Slovene Language Acquisition in Pre-School Children

During the observance of the problems of Slovene kindergarten in Italy we come often across the question of socialization and of the linguistic code in which this takes place. Theoretically it is possible to advocate the hypothesis that linguistic code and series of group dynamics are not necessarily connected. Therefore the investigation will analyse how and to what extent the type of interaction among children affects the development of a certain linguistic code. It will also examine the relation of the environment of communicative competence in a lesser used language of the minority of children with the learning difficulties and psychological problems they face in the course of their development. Data was (and still is being) collected in the Slovene minority's kindergartens in Italy via parent's interviews and intensive observation of pre-school children's play interaction. The observations are discussed mainly from a psychoanalytic perspective. The discussion examines a) the communicative nature of the tongue the family child's care has been taken place and the power of input it has on others children's language choices in the context of free peer play; b) whether and to what extent the quality of the dynamics in the kindergarten affects the choice of the communication code among the observed. The results show the great impact the psychological trans-generational transmission of language role in minority-majority relations has on children's peer communication as well.

THE UNIFYING ASPECTS OF CULTURES

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