In Hungary, around 20,000 students are offered a chance to learn various subjects in foreign languages in bilingual, minority and international education in more than 120 secondary schools each year. Across these dual language programmes, Geography has been taught in 10 languages (Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovakian and Spanish), including those of protected minorities. This linguistic diversity is a less-studied yet valuable feature of Hungarian public education. Unfortunately, the status and prestige of Geography as a subject is declining in general, therefore the relevance of foreign language Geography education is given even less attention._x000D_
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Nationwide, foreign language Geography teaching shows a decentralised spatial distribution, involving a variety of school types and teachers with an average experience of 13.5 years spent in teaching relevant to the study. Though these programmes differ in their demographic context, pedagogical aims, methodological background and subjects offered in foreign languages, Geography has maintained its position as a common choice to teach. In spite of the drop in its relative significance, Geography has been – regardless of language – the most popular optional subject since the 2005 introduction of the two-tier matura exam system, demonstrating the effectiveness of geographical skills development via language learning tools._x000D_
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This overview is based on a variety of resources including spatial and statistical data published by schools and educational authorities, publication review, job shadowing visits, several interviews and a recent survey among 72 teachers involved in foreign language Geography teaching. As no such subject-specific investigation has been concluded in Hungary for decades, research findings may provide new perspectives on the integration of content and language, contributing to the general research of Geography teaching, both within the Hungarian and European context.

János KAPUSI
secondary school teacher, PhD student (Doctoral Program of Earth Sciences, University of Debrecen, Hungary)

 
ID Abstract: 203