Teaching the Language, Learning the Nation: State Language Acquisition in Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

The paper explores practices of state language acquisition in educational settings in Vojvodina by minority Hungarian language speakers in contemporary Vojvodina, Serbia. The research is based on fieldwork material, including interviews with students, teachers and parents and observations in secondary schools in several locations in Vojvodina, mainly in classes of Serbian as a second language but also at less formal occasions where Serbian language is learned and used. The paper deals with issues such as students' motivation, strategies, costs and benefits of learning Serbian as well as factors that influence these. The paper discusses how those who due to their ethnolinguistic identification do not fit into the dominant national frame navigate the relationship between majority and minority, ethnicity and citizenship.