Péter Medgyes

The non-native english speaking EFL/ESL teacher's self-image: An international survey

Abstract The issue of native and non-native speakers of English, relevant to a large number of questions in Applied Linguistics, is mainly important if related to native and non-native English-speaking teachers of English as a second or foreign language. The aim of the study was to place this issue in an international setting, including English teachers from ten countries, in order to verify if the two kinds of teachers perceive differences between their teaching and how this perception influences the teaching behaviour and attitudes of the non-native speaking teachers. A questionnaire was administered to 216 subjects, ESL/EFL teachers in ten countries. The analysed data show that differences perceived by non-native speaking teachers bias their self-image and attitudes to teaching.

The Language Situation in Hungary

This monograph reports on the language situation in Hungary, a largely monolingual country, where nearly 98% of the population speak Hungarian as their first language. Therefore, the primary focus of the study is on the Hungarian language as used by some 10 million people within the national borders of Hungary, and less attention is paid to either Hungarian as a minority language spoken mostly in the neighbouring countries, or the language of ethnic minorities living in Hungary. At the same time, conscious of the fact that the Hungarian language is of limited use outside Hungary, Hungarians have always attached great importance to foreign language learning. The secondary focus of this monograph, therefore, is placed on issues concerning foreign language instruction. While the language situation of Hungary is examined from a historical perspective, the main emphasis is placed on the presentation of recent developments, especially those occurring since the fall of communism in 1989.

The National L2 Curriculum in Hungary

Hungary is a small landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over ten million. The official language, and the mother tongue of the vast majority of the population, is Hungarian. Belonging to the Uralic language family, Hungarian is unrelated to any other European language except Finnish. In order to minimize the effects of their linguistic isolation, Hungarians have always attached great importance to the learning of foreign languages.

Innovative Second Language Education in Central and Eastern Europe

For several decades, many people in the West were underinformed about life behind the ‘iron curtain’. They viewed the countries of central and eastern Europe as look-alikes, with hardly any national or local traits worthy of note. This misconception seems to hold even today though the number of nation states has more than doubled since 1989-90, creating one of the most multi-faceted communities in the world.

Research in foreign language education in Hungary (2006–2012)

In the past quarter century, Hungary has offered fertile ground for innovative developments in foreign language (FL) education. The appropriate, albeit disparaging, label applied to Hungary in the mid-1970s – ‘a land of foreign language illiterates’ (Kollő 1978: 6) – no longer applies. In the wake of the dramatic changes of 1989, the number of FL speakers rose quite rapidly. As a beneficial side-effect, applied linguistic and language education research, areas which used to be relegated to the lowest rung of the academic ladder, began to be recognised as legitimate fields of scientific inquiry, offering young researchers the opportunity to embark on an academic career. As a result, Hungarian authors are now regular contributors to distinguished journals, and researchers from Hungary are welcome speakers at international conferences. However, Hungarian authors often choose to publish their research studies in local journals and volumes which are not easily accessible to the international research community, especially if written in Hungarian. The aim of this review, therefore, is to give an overview of such studies to demonstrate the breadth and depth of recent research conducted in Hungary.