PhD dissertation
Project promoter: SLORI-Slovene Research Institute
Project performer: dr. Maja Mezgec
The research results show the first data about the level of functional literacy skills of the Slovenians living in the Triest area and their ability to communicate and work in Slovenian. This results represent a challenge and a base for the development of practical proposals aiming to improve the level of functional literacy in the Slovenian language. Indeed, the conservation and the development of a language are of vital importance for a minority to survive.
Each individual is functionally literate in the Slovenian language, once s/he has developed such reading and writing skills in Slovenian, that allows him/her to use this language in all life contexts, anywhere, both in Slovenia end in the cross-border area, in the private and in the public sphere. The main assumption is that the minority members, especially those, who have completed the studies in a school with minority medium language, have gained a good level of functional literacy in both languages, the minority and the majority one. Nevertheless, the limited opportunities of using the Slovenian language in public and working place strongly inhibit the use and the development of the functional literacy skills in Slovenian and offer more opportunities to develop the language skills in Italian.
The empirical research is based on literacy tests in Slovenian. The dynamics of functional literacy development has been measured in two case studies: the first is about adults, who have attended Slovene medium school and live in a mixed Slovenian-Italian environment, the second concentrates on students, who are about to conclude their high school studies in a school with Slovenian as medium language.
The differences in the tests scores confirm the initial hypothesis and allow the analysis of the factors, which influence the raising and/or the fall of the literacy levels in Slovenian. The research includes the empirical analysis and a theoretical framework with the most recent findings about literacy, functional literacy and the development of bilingual speakers.