The classroom and other platforms: Teaching methods at the turning point of Hungarian language and literature instruction

Abstract

The study presented in this paper looks at current issues concerning the teaching of Hungarian literature and language and its attendant dilemmas and problems from the aspect of the practical needs of final year undergraduate students and master's students at the Department of Hungarian Studies in Novi Sad, and also considers the significance of these issues for the methods of Hungarian language and literature instruction. The Department has been educating Hungarian language teachers for sixty years. In that time, including the past twenty years that we have been teaching teaching methods at the Department, a paradigm shift has occurred in the teaching of literature, and a new era of literature studies has also reshaped the methods of literature instruction. A similar paradigm shift has occurred in language teaching. Thus, for instance, the so-called new Hungarian grammar has introduced significant changes to the teaching of syntax, while at the same time theoretical teaching of pragmatics, semantics, rhetoric and textual studies has been foregrounded. Moreover, there have been changes stemming from contemporary didactic ideas, the implementation of ICT, and the changing role of the teacher. The study focuses on the work of teaching specialists to date and on the activities of the workshop at the Department of Hungarian Studies in Novi Sad and the discursive challenges of teaching a minority first language. It also examines the extent to which students have received training in didactics and teaching methods during the current pandemic, without the possibility of observation and teaching practice in schools.