Two Languages in the Classroom: The Inconsistency Between National and Local Objectives of Formal Education in Cyprus

Sophocleous, Andry

doi:10.1080/15348458.2011.598129

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Scholars have identified the central role that the educational system of Cyprus plays in engendering positive attitudes towards SModGr and negative attitudes towards CyGr (Ioannidou, 2009(Ioannidou, , 2012Ioannidou & Sophocleous, 2010;Papapavlou, 2010;Papapavlou & Pavlou, 2004, 2005Sophocleous, 2011;Sophocleous & Wilks, 2010;Yiakoumetti, 2006Yiakoumetti, , 2007. The Ministry of Education and Culture accepts SModGr as the only variety to be used for instruction at all levels both by teachers and by students.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Cygr and Smodgr In Cyprusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot community

Καρατσαρέας

2018

International Journal of Bilingualism

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AimTo investigate whether the positive attitudes towards Standard Modern Greek and the mixture of positive and negative attitudes towards Cypriot Greek that have been documented in Cyprus are also present in London's Greek Cypriot community. ApproachUnlike previous quantitative works, the study reported in this article was qualitative and aimed at capturing the ways in which attitudes and attitude-driven practices are experienced by members of London's diasporic community. Data and AnalysisData were collected by means of semi-structured, sociolinguistic interviews with 28 members of the community. All participants were second-generation heritage speakers, successive bilinguals in Cypriot Greek and English, and successive bidialectal 2 speakers in Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. The data were analysed qualitatively (thematic analysis).

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Section: Attitudes Towards Cygr and Smodgr In Cyprusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot community

Καρατσαρέας

2018

International Journal of Bilingualism

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“…In this context, bilectalism is used to characterize the linguistic situation in Greek-speaking Cyprus: Children of Greek Cypriot parents, with CG-speaking family and friends, grow up with CG from birth and yet, are exposed to SMG from an early age. This usually comes first through children's programme on TV, for example, and later through formal language instruction and interaction in public schools in all levels in SMG (though not necessarily in reality, as shown in Sophocleous, 2011 ; see also Leivada et al, 2017 ), thus enforcing exposure to SMG in a systematic way. Consequently, we further believe that language development in a bilectal context differs from very early on (Taxitari et al, 2015 , 2017 ), both from monolinguals and bilinguals (Antoniou et al, 2016 ; Grohmann and Kambanaros, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sentence Repetition as a Tool for Screening Morphosyntactic Abilities of Bilectal Children with SLI

2017

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The clinical significance of sentence repetition tasks (SRTs) for assessing children's language ability is well-recognized. SRT has been identified as a good clinical marker for children with (specific) language impairment as it shows high diagnostic accuracy levels. Furthermore, qualitative analysis of repetition samples can provide information to be used for intervention protocols. Despite the fact that SRT is a familiar task in assessment batteries across several languages, it has not yet been measured and validated in bilectal settings, such as Cypriot Greek, where the need for an accurate screening tool is urgent. The aims of the current study are three-fold. First, the performance of a group of (Cypriot) Greek-speaking children identified with SLI is evaluated using a SRT that elicits complex morphosyntactic structures. Second, the accuracy level of the SRT for the identification of SLI is explored. Third, a broad error analysis is carried out to examine and compare the morphosyntactic abilities of the participating children. A total of 38 children aged 5–9 years participated in this study: a clinical group of children with SLI (n = 16) and a chronological age-matched control group (n = 22). The ability of the children to repeat complex morphosyntactic structures was assessed using a SRT consisting of 24 sentences. The results showed that the SRT yielded significant differences in terms of poorer performance of children with SLI compared to typically developing peers. The diagnostic accuracy of the task was validated, since regression analysis showed that the task is sensitive and specific enough to identify children with SLI. Finally, qualitative differences between children with SLI and those with TLD regarding morphosyntactic abilities were detected. This study showed that a SRT that elicits morphosyntactically complex structures could be a potential clinical indicator for SLI in Cypriot Greek. The task has the potential to be used as a referral criterion in order to identify children whose language needs to be evaluated further. Implications for speech–language therapists and policy-makers are discussed.

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“…Schools teach the standard language of the speech community, SMG (but see the study by Sophocleous (2011) and related studies). The role of formal education is considered an important contributing factor for L2 acquisition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This just happens to grow stronger through increased input. Since formal schooling is carried out, by law, in the medium of SMG (but see Sophocleous, 2011), it is around the entrance into the school system that the SMG grammar becomes stronger, perhaps even dominant at times. We will turn to this next.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquiring Clitic Placement in Bilectal Settings: Interactions between Social Factors

2017

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This article examines the development of object clitic placement by children acquiring Cypriot Greek. Greek-speaking Cyprus is sociolinguistically characterized by diglossia between two varieties of Greek, the local Cypriot Greek and the official Standard Modern Greek. Arguably as a result of this situation, clitics may be placed postverbally (enclisis) or preverbally (proclisis) in the same syntactic environment; while the former is a property of Cypriot Greek and the latter is typically considered an effect of the standard language. The following issues are investigated here: (a) how such bilectal speakers distinguish between the two Greek varieties with respect to clitic placement; (b) how the acquisition of clitics develops over time; (c) how, and which, sociolinguistic factors determine clitic placement; and (d) how schooling may affect clitic placement. To address (a)-(d), a sentence completion task was used to elicit clitic productions, administered to 431 children around Cyprus ranging from 2 years 8 months to 8 years 11 months. The C5.0 machine-learning algorithm was employed to model the interaction of (socio-)linguistic factors on the development of clitic placement. The model shows that speakers acquire the relevant features very early, yet compartmentalization of form and function according to style emerges only as they engage in the larger speech community. In addition, the effects of sociolinguistic factors on clitic placement appear gradually.

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Two Languages in the Classroom: The Inconsistency Between National and Local Objectives of Formal Education in Cyprus

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot community

Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot community

Sentence Repetition as a Tool for Screening Morphosyntactic Abilities of Bilectal Children with SLI

Acquiring Clitic Placement in Bilectal Settings: Interactions between Social Factors

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