Influence of teaching methods on pupil motivation and attitude towards Croatian as a school subject

Polaskom u školu započinje sustavno institucionalno učenje hrvatskoga standardnoga jezika kojemu tijekom školovanja pripada i najveći broj nastavnih sati. No unatoč tome, istraživanja ukazuju na nisku razinu temeljne pismenosti hrvatskih govornika i činjenicu da materinski jezik dijeli posljednja mjesta na ljestvicama omiljenih nastavnih predmeta (Miljević-Riđički i sur., 2004). Istraživanjem se željelo odgovoriti na temeljno lingvodidaktičko i komunikacijsko, ali i pedagoško-psihološko pitanje: u kojoj je mjeri potrebno mijenjati načine poučavanja hrvatskoga jezika kako bismo motivirali učenike da zavole materinski jezik te da ga uspješnije i lakše usvajaju. Važnu ulogu u procesu učenja i poučavanja, te u poticanju ozitivnoga stava prema materinskome jeziku imaju učitelji hrvatskoga jezika. Stoga je primarni cilj ovoga rada bio - ispitati motivaciju učitelja (N=150) i načine poučavanja u nastavi hrvatskoga jezika, te ispitati stav učenika (N=200) prema hrvatskome jeziku kao nastavnome predmetu. Kao instrumenti ispitivanja korišteni su anketni upitnici. Podaci su analizirani i obrađeni u SPSS programu za statistiku (F-test, t-test, X2-test).When they start school, children begin to learn the standard Croatian language which takes up most of the school hours during their education. Despite that, research has shown a low level of basic literacy in Croatia as well as the fact that the Croatian language is one of the two least liked subjects among the pupils (Miljević-Riđički et al., 2004). This research strived to answer a basic linguodidactic and communicational as well as a pedagogic-psychological, question: to what extent does one need to change the methods used in the teaching of the Croatian language in order to motivate pupils to start loving their mother tongue and to acquire it more successfully and more easily. Teachers of Croatian have an important role in the teaching process as well as in encouraging a positive attitude towards the mother tongue. Hence, the primary goal of this paper was to investigate the motivation and teaching methods of teachers of Croatian (N=150) and to investigate pupils’ attitude towards the Croatian language as a school subject (N=200). The instruments used in the research were questionnaires. The data was analysed in the SPSS statistical software (F-test, t-test, X2-test)