A language consumer

Marko Stabej

Summary:  The paper discusses the aims of language teaching in Slovenia and proposes a few general hypotheses on the subject. It raises a question about the usefulness of teaching normative textual patterns in schools because such patterns are of no use to speakers after they complete their education and do not contribute to their linguistic and communicative competence. We use the course book “Blaže in Nežica v nedelskej šoli” (1857), written by Slomšek, to demonstrate that teaching textual patterns in schools also helps to establish or maintain social hierarchy. School lessons in the Slovene language are highly ideological because it is the Republic of Slovenia’s first language. The paper suggests that the aim of language teaching should not be to create versatile and competent speakers, but language consumers.