The Language of Understanding. Language-Poetic Aspects of the Teaching of Pilinszky’s Apokrif and the Key Competency of Native Language

Abstract

The changes in the teaching of literature in Hungary – the new National Basic Curriculum introduced in 2020 and even more so the new type of Hungarian baccalaureate exam that debuted in 2024 – have perhaps deepened the crisis that characterizes the teaching of literature even more. However, a separate aspect of the crisis may be the trend related to reading, information processing, data decoding, i.e. the rise of digital text processing (perhaps becoming increasingly dominant). This probably has a great impact on the setback of the traditional reading comprehension competencies of Hungarian students and the spread of functional illiteracy. The question is how the changes affecting the key competence of native language, the digital, fast, multitasking text processing and the methodology of teaching literature can be harmonized. A methodological practice that places the student, the understanding, the linguistic foundations of understanding at the centre of the learning- teaching process, and realizes the change in language abilities may offer a chance to deal with the crisis. However, in order to do this, in addition to acknowledging and considering the changed situation, it seems essential to look for answers as to whether it is sufficient to rethink the methodological frameworks known so far. Whether it is necessary to introduce completely new methods, now adapted to the text processing strategies of digitization. Or as a new task, is it necessary to make it obvious that this change is present as a negative, social problem in 2025.