Untitled

saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
III. Second language is learnt either in relatively informal situation through imitation of implementation
of specific communication acts, or through formal teaching in educational system. According to specialists,
learning in informal situation is faster, deeper and achieved results are more stable over time than the knowledge
of second language acquired at school through curriculum subject or special teaching situations.
With the support of Rustaveli Fund the project of “Georgian, as Second Language Curriculum for Elementary
School Pupils, in Non-Teaching Conditions” was implemented in D. Uznadze Psychological Institute
in 2008-2009. We became interested in studying the attitude of the representatives of the language minorities
(language mood) towards state (Georgia) and other languages.
With the aim to research the language situation a questionnaire was developed, which comprised two
main parts.
The first part consists of ten questions with the purpose to receive general information: which languages
are preferred by respondents in everyday life; knowledge of which language is necessary in professional activity
or education; in which language they have to communicate with the state agencies. In addition, we thought
it important to identify the knowledge of which language is considered necessary by respondents in the future;
learning which languages they wish for their children; which language they want to use in relationships with
various nationalities in the community; if they consider the knowledge of state (Georgian) language by all
citizens of Georgia mandatory.
For the purpose of identification of attitude not only towards different languages, but towards various
people and cultures, we used projection method – respondent should imagine themselves in the center and
align listed languages (Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Azeri, Turkish, Greek, English, French, German, Chinese)
in concentric circles. The same should be repeated for different people and cultures.
Through questions in the second part we desired to determine the attitude of the respondent towards
learning Georgian: whether school teaching is sufficient for mastering the language; to what extent the quality
of textbooks is satisfactory along with teacher qualification and number of teaching hours; except for school,
where it is possible to learn Georgina and which learning methods are preferred by the respondents (traditional
methods, trainings, special programs, private teachers, etc.). We also tried to identify situation in terms of
Georgian language knowledge. We asked the respondents to answer the following questions: how fluent they
are in Georgian at present (know well; know insufficiently; know at elementary level; do not know at all); if
family members know Georgian (all, some, one member, none); in their opinion, representatives of which
generation know Georgian better (elderly, middle or young).
We selected target groups from teachers, parents and pupils in Tbilisi public schools (Armenian and Azeri),
Akhalkalaki and Marneuli public schools. In addition, teachers of Georgian sector were questioned along
with employees of state agencies in Marneuli (local administration, notary, hospital, kindergarten).
To sum up the total of 463 respondents were interviewed (163 teachers, 108 parents, 192 pupils).
The analysis of data shows the prominent significance and value of Georgian language to non-Georgian
speaking population both in everyday life and professional activities or business relationships with state agencies
in Tbilisi and regions compactly populated by ethnical minorities (Kvemo (Lower) Kartli, Javakheti),
namely:
� In addition to Georgian Russian is being still used for inter-nationality relationships (the necessity
of Russian is especially conspicuous in Akhalkalaki). Mother tongues are on the third place (in
our case – Armenian and Azeri);
� English earns more and more solid positions. It is not an inter-nationality relationship language
yet in everyday life or in state agencies (although such possibility was mentioned by
respondents), but 13.5 % of the interviewed indicated the importance of English language knowledge
for career;
� Georgian is the most important language for education and career (68.8 %). It is followed by
Russian (40.7 %) and mother tongues. It should be mentioned that the necessity of English language
knowledge has increased four times (13.4 %) and interest towards Turkish has activated, although at
minimal level and only in parents (1 %);
� For the future the runner up to Georgian language is English and not Russian. On the question
which language their children should study in the future one third of the pupils (30 %) named English
and other European languages. We should mention with regret that the pupils consider the knowledge
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