Faculty of Language, Literature and Humanities - German in Multilingual Contexts

Faculty of Language, Literature and Humanities | Department of German Studies and Linguistics | German in Multilingual Contexts | Projects | Completed projects | Educational Modules on Language Variation: Dialects, Multilingualism, and the Question of "Correct German"

Educational Modules on Language Variation: Dialects, Multilingualism, and the Question of "Correct German"

Project T1 within the Special Research Area 632 "Information Structure" of Potsdam University and Humboldt University Berlin.

The project transfers research results from the domain of “Language variation in urban areas” into the education sector. The overarching goal is to develop multimedia materials for new supplementary modules for initial and continuing education programmes of social actors who play key roles in the education of children and adolescents and are important in shaping public opinion on language and language competences, namely teachers in primary schools, secondary schools and in the early education of public day-care facilities for young children.

This project complements conventional approaches to language training and language diagnostics by focusing on the social dimension of linguistic evaluations and addressing social impediments to an objective appraisal of the linguistic competences of children and adolescents from underpriviliged social groups. To this end, we will develop specific materials that will be implemented in modules for initial and continuing education.

To support the materials for school teachers, we will also develop course materials for school projects. Adapting the materials, testing them in praxis, evaluating them, and ensuring their long-term and sustained implementation, will be made possible through ongoing cooperation with two partners, the Berlin Senate Administration for Education, Science, and Research, and the Workshop “Integration through Education” Berlin-Kreuzberg, and receive additional support from a collaboration with Hector-Peterson Secondary School and Kita Komsu in Berlin-Kreuzberg, who will be our partner for school/classroom and kindergarten applications, rspectively.

Principal Investigator: Heike Wiese

Ph.D. Researcher: Katharina Mayr
Student RAs: Lydia Gornitzka, Stella Krüger
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