Changing tendencies in the UK: Teaching dialects in schools and standardization

This paper investigates the case of diglossia in Shetland, northern Scotland: the use of dialect and its implementation in pre-school and school educational curriculum. In particular, this article is aimed at revealing methodology and educational programs used in teaching the dialect in order to protect the local language traditions. The article examines teaching materials used in pre-school and school curricula in Shetland to establish in what ways teaching dialect is carried out and what methods are used to involve children most effectively in the dialect learning process. The current article is based on the research project carried out on the territory of the Shetland Islands, therefore, all the data and materials used are authentic and up-to-date. The results of the research presented in the article argue that while in some areas of the British Isles dialects are dying out, the local citizens of the Shetland Islands have found a way to protect and spread their local language variety. Moreover, the Shetland language case study demonstrates that the Shetland dialect implementation in pre-school and school curricula has, first of all, proved the bottom-up management effective and, secondly, revival and standardization of a local variety possible. © 2016 Minasyan-Bareid.