Pluricentricity in foreign language teaching: The case of English and German in the Hungarian education system

This book investigates the role of English and German pluricentricity in the Hungarian education system. The underlying research question was: What role does the linguistic diversity of English and German play in language education in Hungary? Three hypotheses were put to the test:

(1) Pluricentricity plays a marginal role in the legal-institutional framework of language education in Hungary.

(2) Teachers pay little attention to this aspect of language teaching. As learners are more open to differing norms than their teachers, there is a discrepancy between the beliefs of learners and teachers.

(3) There is a general predominance of dominant varieties over non-dominant ones.

The first and third of the above hypotheses are fully confirmed: there is a predominance of dominant varieties. However, the confirmation of the second hypothesis is only partially achieved, since the interview data provide several counter-examples to refute the first part of the hypothesis. The findings in this book convey a message for the Hungarian education system as a whole, including teacher training, curriculum and textbook development, as well as the everyday classroom practices of teachers.