Language learning does not end when children start school - on the contrary. An interdisciplinary team at the university is investigating how young people develop their language skills and what individual differences there are in a research cluster.
Children seem to learn their first language effortlessly - even before they start school. But how do pupils become better and better at speaking and writing as they progress through school? And how do their abilities to perceive language - i.e. to read and listen - become more refined? An interdisciplinary team from the fields of linguistics, language didactics and special needs education is working on these questions in the "Advanced Language Acquisition" research cluster.
Linguistic research has long focused on language acquisition in early childhood and has hardly investigated how language learning takes place in older children, says linguist Prof. Dr Esther Ruigendijk, spokesperson for the research cluster, which bundles university research on this topic at Schools I and III via the Research Academy of the Centre for Teacher Education - Didactic Centre (DiZ). An omission in her view, as the educational success and ultimately the social success of young people is largely determined by their language skills. "Language," says Ruigendijk, "is the prerequisite for learning, for school".
However, the language used at school differs from everyday language. For example, the researchers want to find out how the grammar and special vocabulary of school language cause difficulties for some children and young people. The participants are also investigating the individual differences in language acquisition that exist, for example due to language development disorders, multilingualism or hearing impairment, but also due to different linguistic socialisation, with a view to learning at school.
Developing individualised support
The aim of the research is not only to better understand the basics of advanced language acquisition, but also to derive practical recommendations for schools. "If we understand why certain features of the language of instruction are a challenge for certain children and young people, for example, then we can develop targeted options for individualised support," says Prof. Dr Katrin Kleinschmidt-Schinke.
For example, the language didactics expert is researching the extent to which teachers at school support pupils' language skills. She was able to show that teachers use increasingly complex language from primary school to upper secondary school. "Teachers are increasingly leading by example in the language of instruction," she explains. The language used by teachers is somewhat more complex than that used by learners.
It is important to the researchers that school is not just about learning technical terms. Rather, learners gradually acquire what experts call conceptual literacy over the course of their time at school: Adolescents use increasingly complex and differentiated words as well as a more complex sentence structure - both when speaking and writing. They formulate in a condensed way and plan more than in everyday language.
Which linguistic structures are challenging?
The German language is very complex compared to other languages, emphasises Prof. Dr Tanja Jungmann, university lecturer for language and communication and its special educational support, in this context. This poses further challenges, especially for children and young people who already have language difficulties and therefore need support. One problem with the German school system, however, is that language support is only available at primary schools.
"But children at secondary schools also need support in language and communication. Showing this with our research is important for practice," emphasises Jungmann. She and her team therefore want to find out more precisely why certain linguistic structures are particularly challenging for some of those affected.
Ruigendijk also knows from her own research that certain grammatical structures, for example, cause children difficulties. The meaning of sentences such as "The teacher greets the pupil", in which only the grammatical structure shows who is doing something to whom, often only becomes clear to children at a later primary school age. The German case system also remains a challenge for many until the end of Year 4.
"It is important for us to understand the connections - for example between speaking, written language and language anomalies, for example in the areas of vocabulary, grammar and the use of language," says Jungmann. Only in this way can the researchers ultimately derive which measures will help the affected children and young people.
Better support for those affected
Jungmann's approach benefits from the perspective of her colleagues: Ruigendijk's linguistic research helps to better describe and diagnose the observed difficulties with language. Kleinschmidt-Schinke's research provides information on the acquisition of language in the school context - for example on the role of teachers.
Conversely, those involved in specialised didactics and linguistics also learn from the special educational needs perspective, for example by taking greater account of language disorders in their research. At the same time, this interdisciplinary collaboration means that prospective specialist teachers are already paying more attention to language-sensitive teaching during their studies.
All researchers are united by one goal - to understand the challenges that language education poses for young people at school. In order to further deepen the interdisciplinary research, the scientists are planning to set up a corresponding research training group. Based on this research, the participants ultimately want to develop better support for those affected and thus, they hope, help to create more equal opportunities in the education system.