PIRLS 2006 Encyclopedia

The Slovak RepublicZuzana LukačkováAcademy of EducationEva ObrancováNational Institute for EducationLanguage and LiteracySlovak, the official state language of the Slovak Republic, is one of the Slavonic languagesfrom the Indo-European family. It has been in use for centuries and its development hasbeen established through historical documents and a rich folklore heritage. The officialform of the language was standardized in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although thelanguage of the common people, it was not officially recognized nor was its use allowedin schools until an independent Czechoslovakia was established in 1918.Although most students receive education and training in the Slovak language, incertain regions, instruction also is carried out in the language of minority groups, primarilyHungarian but also Ukrainian and German. In schools where a minority language is thelanguage of instruction, Slovak is included among the other subjects taught.Emphasis on LiteracyThrough placing an emphasis on forming positive attitudes towards literature anddeveloping the literary interests of the students, the Slovak Republic has quite a longtradition of various literary projects or contests, organized either at the national orregional level. However, although very important, these projects have been aimed mainlyat recitation or creative writing development.Projects specifically targeting reading activities have been adopted from abroad ordeveloped only in recent years. In particular, non profit organizations play an importantrole in supporting such activities. For example, the Orava Association for DemocraticEducation, which began its activities in the 1990s, offers various innovative teachertrainingprojects. Since 2002, it also has organized the Week of Reading Aloud, with thegoal of developing young readers’ interest in reading by means of adults reading aloudto children. The project has proven popular, since many parents, schools and librariesparticipate in it each year.Another successful project is the national reading contest called Reading withOsmijanko, established by the nonprofit organization Osmijanko in 2004. The contest isdesigned for 8- to 12-year-olds who, in the course of 6 months, try to find the answers toa number of questions in the contest workbook, based on what they have been reading.In the first year, approximately 10,000 students participated in this project.365