Innovation in Language Learning

Linguistic varieties are complete language systems like standard languages (cf.Kontosopoulos 1997, Ntinas&Zarkogianni 2009). Teaching different linguistic varieties of a standard language (Tzakosta et al. in press) gives pupils the possibility to a)be acquainted with the treasures of the expressive means of their mother language, b)embody it in a broader cultural and historical context and c)discover the grammatical adjacency of dialects and standard languages. The above can be achieved only if there is active interaction between pupils and educators. 

Aim of our project is the design, construction and organization of the Digital Museum of Greek Oral History (DiMuGOHi) as a research and educational tool available to pupils and educators. Goals of the project are a)the training of Primary and High School pupils on methods of language data collection and processing, b)the collection, processing, filing and preservation of dialectal linguistic data, and, c)the design of authentic didactic/pedagogical material used for the teaching of dialectal varieties. DiMuGOHi will have the form of a digital platform in which the collected data will be available.

Here, we we illustrate the major axes on the bases of which the platform is designed, and the CLIL principles underlying the suggested pedagogical/didactic activities. DiMuGOHi is expected to contribute to the educational procedure in direct and indirect ways. A first direct outcome is the pupils’ sensitization regarding dialects, their linguistic properties and structural adjacency with standard Greek as well as the role of the dialects in the preservation and diffusion of local and national cultural heritage. In addition, DiMuGOHi will accentuate issues of environmental education, social sciences, geography, local history (cf.Thompson 1978). Some indirect outcomes are that, first, it will facilitate the improvement of metalinguistic awareness regarding the cretan dialect, second, it will enhance knowledge that dialects have complete linguistic systems, just like the standard language, third, it will improve stylistic and sociolinguistic awareness, namely the conscious knowledge of the linguistic contexts in which dialectal material is used, and, fourth, it will preserve the linguistic treasures of different linguistic varieties.