Speech Culture in Serbian Language Instruction

The paper looks at the status of speech culture instruction in the lower grades of elementary school. Given that some teaching content related to speech culture is aimed at adoption and development of speech culture, the main goal of this paper is to determine the level of representation of this language area in grammar textbooks for elementary school that are currently in use. It was therefore necessary to identify when exactly pupils encounter this type of content for the first time, how this teaching segment is approached in grammar textbooks and reference books for elementary school, and how this area is treated in the classroom, namely, what exercises and tasks are used to improve pupils’ communication skills from the perspective of speech culture. The author of the paper analyzed Serbian language textbooks for the lower grades of elementary school and selected the teaching units and exercises related to speech culture, including proper pronunciation, accent, and intonation. It was important to establish the level of representation of these areas in the textbooks, given that phonetics and accentology are taught in the higher grades, while intonation is not covered at all. Different exercises can be used to develop speech culture of pupils in the lower grades of elementary school. Bearing this in mind, the author, relying on the research and relevant literature, offers a possible solution for teaching speech culture.