Vieglās valodas loma mazākumtautību skolotāju darbā

Easy language research in Latvia is developing, as is the use of Easy language
in pedagogy is also being studied. There is a tradition to use Easy language in special
education; however, in general education, we still encounter prejudices and concerns
that Easy language will deplete the literary language and students will avoid reading
complex fiction. Nevertheless, teachers can benefit from using Easy language.
From April to May, a teachers’ awareness questionnaire was conducted. The
questionnaire was answered by 500 respondents, 47 of whom represented national
minorities. The results showed that 34 % of teachers knew what Easy language is and
used it in their work. 23 % of teachers had never heard of Easy language, and 24 %
had heard of the term but did not know its meaning. Similar results were obtained
among the national minorities’ teachers – 30 % used it in their work, 26 % had never
heard of Easy language, but 28 % had heard of the term without understanding it.
These results were also discussed during the professional development courses for
national minorities’ teachers.
Besides adapted materials in Easy language, there are several principles that
can be applied to teaching on an everyday basis, e.g., explaining the task in an
understandable manner, splitting the task into smaller tasks, rephrasing if a student has
not understood, giving the information in a structured, logical way. The only principles
that for national minorities’ teachers were not as important as in the general data set
were the use of proper standard language and avoiding foreign words.
This year, Riga Education and Information Method Centre offered a further
education programme for minority schoolteachers “Methodological support for
minority primary school teachers for the transition to teaching in the national
language”. During the programme, it was observed that almost half of the participants
did not have sufficient knowledge of the Latvian language – they could not find
synonyms, create shorter word forms, and occasionally understand the meaning of the
words. This problem should be addressed in the near future.
In recent years, various activities have laid the foundation for new directions
in using Easy language. Although Easy language cannot be considered a universal
solution to all the problems in education, it can provide significant support not only in
special but also in general, minority and adult education.