Attitudes of students at teacher education institutions towards the standard language and deviations from the morphological norm

The paper presents the results of a research conducted among the fourth and fifth-year students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb and at the Faculty of Teacher Education, local branch in Petrinja. Research aim was to determine the attitudes of future class teachers and future primary and secondary school Croatian language teachers towards the standard Croatian language, as well as their level of knowledge of the morphological norm of the standard Croatian language and its successful application. Research results show that in all three groups, students possess a fairly high level of positive attitudes towards the standard Croatian language, but a fairly low level of knowledge of the morphological norm of the standard Croatian language and its successful application. Research results further indicate that there is a need for additional teaching of the morphological norm, especially in relation to the categories where the deviations are the most frequent, and, due to its effect on their future pupils, to the need for the development of the awareness among the students about the importance of acquiring the morphological norm of the standard Croatian language and its successful application.