Language attitudes of preschool and primary school children

Abstract

Research on children's linguistic attitudes can provide important contributions to the field of mother tongue education and linguistic sensitization. This paper presents the development of the concept of language attitudes and the scientific methods used to carry out research on language attitudes, with an emphasis on studies of language attitudes of children. The notion of language attitude dates back to the 1960s and its research became popular in the 1970s. The main task of language attitude research is to explore the opinions and attitudes of the participants. Various direct and indirect methods can be employed , of which one of the most popular is the so-called agent method. This method has also been adapted for measurements with children. Although research on language attitude is present in the national academic community, the language attitude of preschool and primary school children is an underresearched topic.