Competence-levels and Their Assessment state draft standard, which is available on the website of the Ministry of Science and Education for public discussion

To L. Hrynevych
Minister of Science and Education of Ukraine

On the Ukrainian as a Foreign Language:
Competence-levels and Their Assessment
state draft standard, which is available
on the website of the Ministry of Science and Education
for public discussion

Dear Madam Minister!

Upon reviewing the Ukrainian as a Foreign Language: Competence-levels and Their Assessment state draft standard, which is available on the website of the Ministry of Science and Education for public discussion, on behalf of the language teachers of the Transcarpathian Association of Hungarian Pedagogues and the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute we declare the following.

Foreign language competences are currently assessed in Europe on the basis of uniform criteria: the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment (CEFR).

We welcome the fact that the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine plans to adopt the Ukrainian as a Foreign Language: Competence-levels and Their Assessment state draft standard based on modern requirements and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

According to the aforementioned international document, there are different levels of foreign language competence. The Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine, in accordance with the Framework of Reference, defines the foreign language competence levels required upon the completion of certain educational milestones (the fourth, the ninth and the twelfth grade). However, the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine does not specify the level of language competence for the students of minority schools required by the end of the fourth, the ninth and the twelfth grade. Thus, the Transcarpathian Hungarian children are required to acquire the Ukrainian language on the level of a native speaker (level C2, or at least C1 on the CEFR scale). However, we think that this is a linguistic and educational nonsense.

In Ukraine, the requirements of learning Ukrainian as a foreign language have already been worked out in accordance with the CEFR; the State Standard will be adopted soon. However, these criteria are not applied to the state standards and educational plans for minority-language schools/classes, even though Ukrainian is the second (non-native) language of the national minorities. This is why we suggest specifying the Ukrainian language competence levels for the Hungarian educational institutions required for the completion of the fourth, the ninth and the twelfth grade, in accordance with the criteria of CEFR. The language-teaching in the schools takes place during the language classes, thus a Hungarian student has to be taught Ukrainian during the Ukrainian language classes.

According to the Ukrainian as a Foreign Language: Competence-levels and Their Assessment state draft standard we suggest determining the following Ukrainian language competence requirements for Hungarian students:
– by the end of elementary school (fourth grade) – А1 (beginner level);
– by the end of primary school (ninth grade) – А2 (basic level);
– by the end of secondary school (twelfth grade) – В1 (intermediate level).

In order to apply the aforementioned approach to the teaching and assessment of the Ukrainian language competence in Hungarian schools/classrooms we suggest modifying the name of the document. Instead of the “Ukrainian as a Foreign Language: Competence-levels and Their Assessment” our suggested version of the name is “Ukrainian as a foreign (second, non-native) Language: Competence-levels and Their Assessment”. Modifying the name of the document and making some changes in its Foreword (Introduction) will make it possible to apply the State Standard to the non-native Ukrainian citizens who study Ukrainian as the state language of Ukraine, along with the foreign citizens learning Ukrainian.

Sincerely:

President of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Ildikó Orosz
Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute

President of the Hodinka Antal
Linguistic Research Centre István Csernicskó