Linguistic pluricentricity has been a widely researched area in sociolinguistics since the early 1990s, and has important implications for language teaching. The present dissertation investigates the role of English and German pluricentricity in the Hungarian education system in the context of a complex research project. More specifically, the legal-institutional framework (i.e. curricula and examination requirements) and textbooks are analysed in terms of the presence of pluricentricity in them, which is followed by an empirical investigation of teachers’ and learners’ beliefs, based on a questionnaire survey of 484 teachers and learners, as well as 37 interviews.
The basis of the study is the following research question: What role does the linguistic diversity of English and German play in language education in Hungary? In order to answer this question, the following three hypotheses are put to the test:
(1) Pluricentricity plays a marginal role in the legal-institutional framework of language education in Hungary.
(2) Teachers pay little attention to this aspect of language teaching, consequently, as learners are more open to differing norms than their teachers, there is a discrepancy between the beliefs of learners and teachers.
(3) There is a general predominance of dominant varieties over non-dominant ones.
The first and third of the above hypotheses are fully confirmed, indicating that there is an undoubted predominance of dominant varieties over non-dominant ones, and a clear need to incorporate pluricentric presence in the aforementioned legal-institutional framework. However, the confirmation of the second hypothesis is only partial, since the questionnaire survey shows that students are indeed more open to pluricentricity than teachers, nevertheless, the interviews provide several counter-examples to refute the first part of the hypothesis, according to which teachers generally do not pay enough attention to pluricentricity.
The findings of this dissertation convey a relevant message for the Hungarian education system as a whole, with all its levels and components, including primary, secondary and tertiary education, teacher training, curriculum and textbook development, as well as the everyday classroom practices of teachers and students alike
