An interview-based investigation of cross-lingual communication in Transcarpathian secondary education

Abstract

The present study deals with the rapidly spreading practice of cross-lingual communication in educational settings. Over the past fifty years an increasing number of international research projects have been conducted on its key elements, such as the common underlying proficiency (CUP) (Cummins, 1981), the cross-linguistic influence (CLI) (Odlin, 1989), cross-lingual pedagogy (AlJuhani, 2024) or translanguaging (Williams, 1994). However, Ukraine, and within it one of its most linguistically diverse western regions, Transcarpathia, is falling behind in terms of research that studies teachers’ practices in this context. To address this gap, the present study investigates how English and Ukrainian language teachers working in Transcarpathian secondary schools with Hungarian language of instruction build on their pupils’ multilingualism.

The research on which this article is based consisted of a series of interviews conducted in the spring of 2025 in Transcarpathian secondary schools with Hungarian language of instruction. The interviewees were English and Ukrainian language teachers working with Grades 10 and 11. The research instrument was a set of 16 interview questions, which were available in Hungarian and Ukrainian, although it was ultimately used only in Hungarian. The questions were organised around various topics: teaching experience, best practices, and the regulations governing their work. Following the data collection process, a systematic process of thematic analysis was employed to transform the verbal accounts into a structured framework of conceptual findings.

The findings of the research indicate that cross-lingual communication is already present in the classroom, and it is used by the teachers to motivate their pupils and provide them with a safe linguistic space in which to acquire new material. However, this involves a great deal of invisible preparatory work on the teachers’ part. In order to manage the needs of a cross-lingual classroom, teachers need diversified lesson plans and additional teaching materials. To acquire the knowledge required to produce these, the teachers must attend courses on their own initiative. However, this is offset by the fact that pupils are much more active, whether working individually or in groups, when they can draw on their mother tongue and their own culture whilst completing tasks. Although they currently have little time to carry out all the tasks they have planned due to the constant air raid alerts, they are hopeful that this will change soon.