Comparison between the Slovenian literature teaching methods in the fourth grade of elementary school in Slovenia and the elementary school with the Slovene language in Italy

The Slovenian schools in Italy have developed in a different way than the schools in Slovenia, because of historical and geographical reasons. The documentation, on which the schools are based, is different for both types of schools, as well. The Italian laws and guidelines for teaching in the elementary schools do not provide educational aims for the Slovenian language. For this reason teachers that teach in the elementary schools with Slovene educational language in Italy base their teaching on the aims for the Italian language and adjust them for Slovenian purposes. This is not the same as having specific guidelines for the Slovenian language. The lessons of Slovene in the elementary schools with Slovene educational language should be almost the same as the lessons of Slovene in the elementary schools in Slovenia, considering at the same time the differences in the learners' language ability and the Italian laws and guidelines. For this reason the research about the similarities and the differences in the Slovenian literature teaching methods was conducted in the fourth grade of an elementary school in Slovenia and of an elementary school with Slovene educational language in Italy. Firstly the history of the (elementary) schools with the Slovene educational language in Italy was described. Furthermore, the methodology of the Slovenian literature and the phases of school interpretation of a text were presented. Eight syllabuses of fourth-grade teachers in different Slovene schools in Italy, the Slovenian syllabus for the Slovenian literature in the fourth grade and the Guidlines for the Italian language, published by the Italian ministry of education, were analysed and compared in the theoretical part, as well. In the empirical part, the observation of Slovenian literature teaching methods of two teachers, teaching Slovenian literature in the fourth grade (one in Slovenia and one in a Slovene school in Italy), were analysed and compared. The fourth grade was chosen in order to provide less impact of the students' knowledge of the Slovene language on the research. In the Slovene schools in Italy students from non-Slovenian families do reach a quite good level of Slovene, which allows teachers to teach Slovenian literature on a higher language level, which is similar to the level of schools in Slovenia. Besides, interviews with the two teachers were conducted and analysed. I found out that both teachers were teaching the Slovenian literature in a very similar way: they both planned their lessons considering the phases of school interpretation of a text and they both asked more lower level questions than higher level questions. In addition, both teachers usually propose texts from the textbooks (in both cases are textbooks from Slovenia) and add texts from other sources. I noticed much more differences in the guidelines, on which the functioning of both schools is based. In fact, the biggest difference is that there is no one single and unique syllabus for the Slovenian language, and for this reason each teacher has to write it on his own. Besides, I found out that the teaching aims and contents, written in the syllabuses of teachers in the Slovenian schools in Italy, are more general than the aims and contents of the Slovene syllabus for the Slovene language and that there is no clear distinction between the literature and the grammar teaching aims