Almost 20 years ago, the results of the first PISA study in Germany caused a furore: not only was the performance of German pupils below average. What was particularly shocking was the finding that educational success in this country correlates more strongly with social background than in almost any other. Children with a migrant background in particular - PISA links this to certain socio-economic circumstances - would have poor chances of success in the education system in Germany. One of the main reasons for this correlation was quickly identified: a lack of language skills.

Linguistic norms often remain implicit

However, Juliana Goschler, Professor of German as a Second Language and German as a Foreign Language, explains that it is not migration-related multilingualism that is the decisive factor in how well or poorly children and young people can cope with the linguistic demands of the classroom. Rather, it is about the so-called educational language skills. "The term 'educational language' distinguishes the language spoken in everyday life from the way it is spoken in educational institutions. And not all pupils have the same command of this linguistic register," says Goschler.

In addition, the linguistic requirements vary from subject to subject: "This can be a certain vocabulary, but certain sentence constructions or tenses are also typical for some subjects," she explains. For example, texts in history textbooks are often written in the past tense, while this tense does not appear at all in other subjects. In the natural sciences, on the other hand, you often find recipe-like formulations such as "If we want to calculate x, we have to ...". These linguistic norms are often implicit, criticises Goschler. On the one hand, this prevents pupils from understanding these linguistic patterns and learning to produce them themselves, but ultimately often also prevents them from learning specialised content.

Sensitising teachers to the importance of language

This makes it all the more important to sensitise prospective teachers to the importance of language in schools and lessons across all subjects, says Goschler. "This means dealing with their own subject and language of instruction and the teaching materials, recognising the linguistic abilities of the students and being able to build on them, and finally developing a critical and reflective attitude towards language and language education." The linguist researched how this can be achieved as part of the project "Shaping upheavals - language promotion and education as integral components of innovative teacher training in Lower Saxony", which ran from 2014 to 2017. One realisation from this time was that the perspective of linguistics alone is not enough to fully grasp and communicate the linguistic challenges within the subjects. "This is where subject-specific didactics are needed," says the university lecturer, "because they understand the subject-specific teaching and learning processes best."

The "Centre for Teacher Training - Didactic Centre" (DiZ) in Oldenburg has had an institution that has given this topic a permanent place within the university since 2016 with the "Language-Sensitive Teaching and Learning" unit headed by Goschler. Several recently approved projects on the professionalisation of teacher training build on this: As part of the project "Biography-oriented and cross-phase teacher education in Oldenburg" (OLE+), researchers from various disciplines are looking at the complexity of linguistic interactions in schools and other teaching contexts. One of the focal points of the DiOLL (Digitalisation in Oldenburg Teacher Education) project is to investigate the requirements of language-sensitive subject teaching.

Researching language in educational contexts

In order to bundle and make visible the status quo of Oldenburg's research on the topic, Goschler has initiated a series of publications entitled "Language sensitivity in educational processes" together with cultural scientist and head of the DiZ, Prof Dr Martin Butler. The series kicks off with the anthology edited by Butler and Goschler entitled "Sprachsensibler Fachunterricht. Opportunities and challenges from an interdisciplinary perspective".

"The contributions from various Oldenburg researchers shed light on didactic, linguistic, educational and cultural science perspectives on language in school learning contexts," explains Butler. For example, the focus is on linguistic and textual requirements in lessons or the question of whether linguistic images such as "packages" or "clouds" are suitable for subject-related learning in computer science lessons. Another article sheds light on the influence that activity-orientated technology lessons, i.e. those based on a concrete practice situation, can have on language acquisition processes by creating opportunities for spontaneous, authentic communication.

The subjectivising effects of language at school are also a topic - the question is how the way we speak to each other organises and regulates social relationships. For example, what effect does it have on the self-perception of children and young people to be repeatedly addressed as a "pupil with a migrant background"? "Language helps to categorise people," explains Goschler. With every label, certain characteristics and stereotypes are invoked and people are included in or excluded from a certain group. Butler adds that it is important to continue researching these dimensions of language and to sensitise students to them with a view to their future academic appointments in schools, especially against the backdrop of migration society.

Teaching history in a language-sensitive way

The history didactics working group led by Prof Dr Dietmar von Reeken is also represented with a contribution in the anthology. The fact that language is of great importance for the subject of history is nothing new, the historian states. "After all, the past is usually accessed via language, primarily via written sources or written representations of history." However, the role of language has hardly been explicitly addressed in research into the didactics of history. The subject of history poses particular linguistic challenges: "We don't have an explicit subject-specific language like the natural sciences, for example," explains von Reeken. "Terms such as king or citizen may be familiar from everyday life, but in historical contexts they often have a completely different meaning."

Pupils therefore have to constantly translate from historical to contemporary language. What's more: In history lessons, learners should develop narrative competence - in other words, the ability to understand history and also to be able to tell it themselves - "and in a linguistically appropriate way," emphasises von Reeken. The challenge for teachers is therefore not only to teach the content of the subject, but also what linguistic skills are required. According to the historian, however, the latter is not systematically made part of the lesson. "They are somehow expected to learn it on the side."

Developing new support concepts

Sinje Eichner and Max-Simon Kaestner, who are both doing their doctorates with von Reeken, are researching how teachers can support their pupils linguistically so that they learn history better. Eichner is looking at the role of spoken language in the subject of history - a topic that has received little attention to date, although a lot is spoken in class. Kaestner is focussing on writing. For his doctoral thesis, he developed a support concept to help pupils learn to write down historical judgements. "Historical thinking is expressed on a linguistic level in recurring formulation patterns, so-called text procedures," he explains. A historical value judgement can be seen, for example, in expressions such as "according to today's moral concepts" or "from today's perspective". In order to learn these text procedures, the students first work with model texts: "They analyse how text procedures are used and reflect on how they indicate historical thinking. They then practise writing historical judgements themselves," explains Kaestner. The historian has already analysed the effect of the model in a preliminary study.

In order for such support concepts to ultimately find their way into schools, von Reeken believes it is essential to anchor the topic of language more firmly in the training of teachers. A demand that he shares with Goschler and Butler. While teacher trainees in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia have long been required to take modules that focus on language, other Federal States are only slowly catching up. "The Lower Saxony Master's degree ordinance does state that the topic of language must be addressed. But there is no educational policy requirement to anchor it as a module in the degree programmes. That needs to change," demands Goschler. (nc)