CULTURAL-ECOLOGICAL THEORY AND THE LANGUAGE EDUCATION OF ROMA CHILDREN

• Main Author: Hristo Kyuchukov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2017-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics
• Subjects: культурно-экологическая теория; цыгане; родной язык; десегрегация; Болгария
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/view/16589

The paper presents results from language testing of 70 Roma children from Bulgaria - pupils of grade 1, studying in one of the biggest Roma settlement’s schools in Sofia, “Fakulteta” district. The children were tested using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The test measures language comprehension and language production of the children at the beginning and end of the school year. Between the first and second testing, the teaching methodology in instruction for the children was changed - a Roma assistant teacher whose task was to use the mother tongue of the children as a communicative tool was introduced to the classes. The results of the children during the second testing were substantially better and they are discussed in the light of the theory of the American anthropologist J. Ogbu, who developed his cultural-ecological theory (CE) in the 1980s. The results of the children are analyzed via dispersion analysis using ANOVA. According to Ogbu’s CE theory, the school success of minority children depends on the attitudes of the society at large and the level of community support. The paper also briefly discusses the reason why the de-segregation of the Roma children and their integration into mainstream schools in Bulgaria has largely proved to be a failure.