Beyond assimilation and ethnocentricity: Teaching Modern Greek as a foreign

and/or second language prepared

by

Gerente Eva & Stoyiannidou Haroula

Scope/Rational of the Study

• Compare and contrast the experiences of students and teachers of Modern Greek as a 2nd language in two different settings: – The USA: Greek Immigrant communities– Greece: new immigrants and historic

minorities

Introduction

• Observations: – Methods and materials used to teach Greek as a 2nd

language originated primarily in the USA and in response to the needs of Greek immigrants abroad (examples of books from the early 20th century to mid-1980s)(also foreign university students in Greece).

– These methods and materials were used in an ad hoc way to respond to the learning needs of a growing number of new immigrants in Greece attending schools and adult literacy programs (mid- to late-1980s).

Research Questions

• What are the actual methods and materials used in Greece and the USA to teach Modern Greek as a 2nd language?

• How are they used in the classroom level? • To what extent classroom realities of

teaching/learning Modern Greek as a L2 promote ethnocentric, assimilationist, and/or pluralistically diverse ideologies of language and schooling? (Pavlidou, 1991; Trudgill, 2000; Zambeta, 2000).

Theoretical background

• Literature on ideologies of language and schooling (Bloomaert, Gee, Gal, Ricento, Wiley, Woolard, others).

• Literature on linguistic human rights specifically for the European Community (Skutnabb-Kangas and R. Phillipson, eurolang.net, etc.).

• Literature about the question of language and schooling in Greek communities in past and present times (Ferguson, Hasiotis, Kiliari, Pavlidou, Trudgill, Zambeta).

• Comparative Educational perspectives on textbook analysis (Kelly, Fragoudaki, Xochelis).

Research Methodology

• Discourse analysis (Cazden, Dijk, Fairclough).– Classroom discourses and their relationship(s)

to overlapping and interrelated communities of Greek speakers (e.g., foreign nationals of Greek origin living abroad; Greek nationals living in Greece; historical minorities living in Greece).

– Textbook analysis; focus on stereotypes for Greek-speakers and non-speakers).

Teaching Greek as L2 in the USA

• Greek-American communities– 1880s to 1950s (2nd and 3rd generational immigrants)– 1950s to 1980s (2nd wave of 1st generation immigrants)– 1980s to today (no more 1st generation immigrants)

• The Greek Orthodox church• The Greek Government • The European Community and other partners

(higher education in the USA, Greece, and elsewhere).

Teaching Greek as L2 in Greece

• The case of Slavs and Turks (threatening to Greek nationalists; Trudgill, 2000:252))

• The case of Albanians and Vlachs (non-threatening)• The case of Armenians • The case of Ladino or Spanish-speakers in

Thessalonica. • The case of Greek Roma (10,000)• The case of new immigrants from different

countries (Eastern Europe, Russia, other).

Implications

• Renewed interest in the development of methods and materials to teach Greek as a 2nd language as manifested in Greece and abroad.

• Partnerships between the Church, the Greek State, Greek and Foreign Universities, and the targeted communities (e.g., seminars organized by the University of Crete).

The missing connection

• Balanced bilingualism – The need for authentic literature to represent

targeted communities in their complexity and diversity (e.g., Albanians living in Greece).

-Literacy development in minoritized languages in Greece among the targeted communities and the society at large.

Suggestions for Future Research

• Classroom ethnographies• Auto-biographies and focus group discussions on

– language diversity and schooling

– Identity formation for learners of Modern Greek as a 2nd language

– Inter-cultural perspectives (stereotypes) for Greek and non-Greek speakers.