www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.de

Multilingualism as a resource in the Dutch-German border zone: Monitoring cross-linguistic and cross-cultural encounters of Dutch and German

secondary students and their teachersEva Knopp (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Dr. Eva Schmidt (Universität

Duisburg-Essen), Dr. Sabine Jentges (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen)

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deOutline:

• Nachbarsprache, buurcultuur & multilingualism

• Language policy in education

• Research questions

• A review of multilingualism in curricular policy documents

• Ways forward

• Questions and discussion

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deThe Dutch-German border-zone:

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deThe Dutch-German border-zone:

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deNachbarsprache & buurcultur:

• 2017-2020: exchange of students, teachers and school-administrators in the German and Dutch border-region (Rhine-Waal)

• secondary schools: > 6000 students (school), > 300 teachers, > 30 school leadership teams, > 50 schools

• funded as part of the Interreg-program by the EU, the German federal state Northrhine-Westphalia, the Dutch province Gelderland and other partners

→ http://www.nachbarsprache.nl

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deResearch perspectives:

students

administratorsteachers

target groups: - attitudes- goals- behaviour

contextual factors: - culture, history, identity

(national, regional)- educational policy, educational

practices, available methodsand materials

- country-specific and/or site-specific

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deWhy focus on multilingualism?:

• Discourses on “multilingualism” in NL and GER differ in form and degree• society, in general• educational sector, in specific

• Special status of neighbouring languages (German – Dutch) • as opposed to prestigious foreign languages and minority languages• as special case of a language pairing that allows intercomprehension and receptive

multilingualism

• Exchange situation as a “safe” space for interlingual and intercultural encounters

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deOverarching research questions:

• How is multilingualism understood?• with regards to participating individuals • with regards to the educational and socio-political framework

• Which attitudes towards multilingualism do participating students and teachers have?• multilingualism as a “problem” or a “resource” • status of different languages involved

• What are the multilingual practices that students and teachers engage in? • translanguaging, code-switching, uses of lingua francas, intercomprehension,

etc.• Which factors affect these practices?

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deMethods of investigation:

Investigative triangulation:

• Content analysis and cross-cultural comparison of policy documents and teaching materials with respect to multilingualism discourse

• Attitude questionnaires for teachers and students

• Behavioural research on multilingual practices (e.g. observations, experimental scenarios)

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deEducational language policies:

Previous research:

• Netherlands: • little attention to multilingualism in research on the Dutch school system (Agirdag &

Oudeweetering, 2018), except for Frisian as autochtonous minority language • differentiation between “good” and “bad” languages and structural discrimination of “bad”

languages (Agirdag, 2016)

• Germany: • discrepancies between policy documents and teaching materials (Marx, 2014)• discrepancies between policy documents, teacher attitudes and actual behavior with respect to

multilingual teaching practices (*de Angelis, 2012; *Grasz, 2017; Heyder & Schädlich, 2014; Leist-Villis, 2016; *Schedel & Bonvin, 2017)

* not only in Germany, but also other European countries

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deSpecific research questions:

How is multilingualism understood in educational policy documents in the two neighbouring countries?

With respect to:• multilingualism as a baseline and/or an outcome of education?

• multilingualism as a resource and/or problem?

• the languages under discussion, particularly the status of the neighboring language?

• multilingual understandings of language competence?

• multilingual approaches to teaching?

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deMethodological considerations:

Approach:

• Content analysis via keyword research in curricular guidelines and related policy documents

• Keywords: multilingual(ism), German/Dutch as second language, heritage language (learner), language awareness, language sensitive

Germany:Kerncurriculum (for German, Dutch and other FLs)• NRW (regional)• more detailed• more content-oriented

Netherlands:globale kerndoelen (for Dutch, English and other FLs, Fries)• nation-wide• more global• more outcome-oriented

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deReview of policy documents:

1. Is multilingualism understood as a baseline and/or goal of education?

2. Is multilingualism considered a resource and/or a problem?

Netherlands

• Primary education (age 5-12)• growing importance of Dutch as L2 (NT2)

• this affords different didactics

• possibly supporting also native Dutch

• Frisian as a resource

• English

• Secondary education (age 15-16): • no more mention of NT2

• no curriculum for Frisian

• English

Germany

• Secondary education (age 10-16): • Multilingualism as a reality in childrens’ lives

• this affords special didactics for German as a second language (DaZ)

• multilingual background background of children contributes to language awareness for all

• development of individual multilingual profiles through all heritage and foreign languages

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deReview of policy documents:

3. Which languages feature in policy documents? Which role does the neighbor language play?

Netherlands

• Primary education (age 5-12)• Core-aims available for Frisian (heritage

language) and English

• no mention of other (heritage) languages

• Secondary education (age 15-16): • transfer of core-aims from English to German,

French and Spanish

• no mention of other (heritage) languages

• no mention of specific status of neighbor languages

Germany

• Secondary education (age 10-16): • Curricula available for multiple foreign and

heritage languages (Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish)

• Dutch as a foreign language:• lessons should include students’ prior

linguistic knowledge (English and heritage languages)

• no mention of specific status of neighbor language

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deReview of policy documents:

4. In how far is language competence understood as multilingual?

5. Are there specific mentions of multilingual educational practices?

Netherlands

• Primary education (age 5-12)• Dutch children can also profit from NT2 didactics

• English: goal should be communicative competence to converse with native speakers

• Frisian: comparing Dutch and Frisian, reflection on differences

• Secondary education (age 15-16): • description of goals oriented along the

categorization of the EFR (listening comprehension, reading, writing and speaking)

Germany

• Secondary education (age 10-16): • German:

• Students learn to reflect on their own languages making use of individual multilingual profiles

• Multiligualism in the classroom should be used to raise awareness for linguistic differences

• Dutch as a foreign language:• Lessons should support development of

multilingual profiles, reflection on language learning processes

• naming of linguistic structures and comparison between German, English and Dutch

• making use of intercomprehenibility of English, German and Dutch and possibly other languages

• FL-curricula in general: • BUT: aim on “monolingual use of target

language”

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deSummary of findings:

• Multilingualism as a baseline and a goal of education, as a problem or a resource: • in both countries policies acknowledge multilingualism as a given, but more mentions of

resourcefulness in German documents

• Repertoire of languages, status of neighbor languages: • Dutch documents more oriented towards English as a world-language, while German

documents more inclusive of other modern FLs and heritage languages

• no specific mention of neighbor languages

• Multilingual understandings of language competence and teaching methods: • Dutch documents are oriented towards EFR, German documents include language

awareness and cross-curricular language-sensitivity

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.deLimitations and ways forward:

Policy documents:

• direct cross-cultural comparison between Dutch & German system problematic:• different status of curricular guidelines and freedom of schools → difference in detail

• Dutch curricular guidelines currently under development: • higher sensitivity for a multilingual make-up of society in all subjects, specifically Dutch• inclusion of heritage languages in foreign language teaching

Ways forward in the project:

• How do language policies influence teaching beliefs and practices?

• How can our results help to explore and shape conditions under which multilingualism becomes a resource in classrooms of our partner schools and in general?

• How can we optimize scientific support and monitoring for multilingual classrooms?

www.nachbarsprache.nl www.buurcultuur.de

sponsored by / gefördert von / gesubsidieerd door:

Grazzi ħafna, Thank you, Dankjewel, Danke schön!

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