Pupils' Speech Development in the Croatian Language from First to Fourth Grade of Primary School

Sa？etak This paper will investigate the speaking competence of pupils of the first educational cycle on a target group in the first and fourth grade, i.e. at the beginning of learning a standard language and in the fourth grade at the end of the first educational cycle. The research is based on the recordings of pupils' speech in designed speech situations. The empirical basis is comprised of records of tokens in children's language with regard to the number of spoken words and sentences, the use of dialect and speech language errors. The research was conducted with a view to identify the features of language-speech development of pupils of the first educational cycle, i.e. the change in the period from the first to the fourth grade