Abstract:

The study analyses organization and the first phase of realization of the scientific project Language Competence in Roma Pupils in First Year of School Attendance in the Slovak Republic that has been supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Academy of Sciences. The objective and purpose of the study is presentation of the project, its scientific basis, objectives and description of the used methods including field data collection. The objective of the study on language competence in Roma pupils is to identify changes in the extent of Slovak vocabulary in Roma pupils at the beginning and the end of the first year of school attendance based on comparison with non-Roma pupils. The secondary objective is to identify the relationship between the extent of the Slovak vocabulary and the extent of the Romani vocabulary, which will show relationships between both languages in the process of acquiring the Slovak language by Roma pupils. Roma pupils will be also differentiated into groups by the type of settlement in which they live: municipal concentrations; the settlements spatially remote or separated by a natural or artificial barrier; and the Roma living sparsely. The novelty of the research is in identification of the extent of the selected Slovak vocabulary (in Roma and non-Roma pupils) and the extent of the selected Romani vocabulary in Roma pupils; in testing Roma pupils in the Slovak and Romani language, more precisely in the mother subdialect of the Romani language of each speaker, a pupil in the first year of school attendance; and in identification of the relationship between knowledge of lexicon in Romani and Slovak language and the type of settlement Roma pupils come from. These findings will show the relationships between both languages (Romani, Slovak) in the process of acquiring the Slovak language by Roma pupils. In Slovak and international linguistics and linguodidactics in terms of research of vocabulary and communication skills in Roma pupils with the Romani language as a mother tongue, research is rare. Internationally, the issue was presented by the psycholinguist Hristo Kyuchukov whose studies are inspirational for us, particularly in their findings. Our scientific project reflects the current state of the issue and responds to current requirements of pedagogical practice in education of Roma pupils with the Romani language as a mother tongue.

Keywords:

Roma pupils, Roma Language, First Year of School Attendance.