Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

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Professional School of Education

Source: https://pse.hu-berlin.de/en/research-studies/german-as-a-second-language Parent: https://pse.hu-berlin.de/en/research-studies

: Professional School of Education

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Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Professional School of Education

The German as a second language (GSL) module was implemented as mandatory for the teacher training courses at all three of Berlin’s universities in the 2007/08 winter semester. This gave teacher training in Berlin a pioneering role within the country.

In terms of content it prepares teacher trainees for the linguistically very heterogeneous pupils which they will encounter in their daily work in Berlin’s predominantly multilingual classrooms. Almost one-third of the pupils in the German educational system speak a native language other than German. Large-scale school comparison studies from the past decade have shown that the language requirements of our predominantly monolingual German school system cannot be dealt with without rethinking teacher training.

However, the introduction of a broader ‘language learning module’ from 2015 onwards in place of the previous GSL module will extend the scope to all pupils experiencing problems acquiring the educational and academic language required for a successful educational career within our school system. A shorter period spent acquiring German is without doubt a primary reason for special linguistic needs, but an insufficient level of linguistic input at home or language disorders are also covered by this broader definition of language learning.

What is special about the HU’s approach is its dedicated subject-integrated orientation designed to make all teachers feel responsible for the overall language development of their pupils.

Supporting all students in their acquisition process of the ‘language skills’ they need to learn factual knowledge at school can only be successful when taking into account the special linguistic features of individual school subjects.

Both the linguistic requirements of business studies teaching at vocational schools and of literacy in German lessons at primary school level cannot be covered by an inflexible, general linguistic support framework, but instead require an approach emerging from the individual subjects.

The GSL module focuses on the following subject areas:

Key milestones in second language acquisition
Linguistic obstacles in German and characteristics of educational language
Providing diagnostic skills
Feedback process and error correction
Heterogeneity and internal differentiation in teaching
Awareness of the importance of ‘language within the subject’
Reading and pre-reading strategies
Help with writing tasks
Reflection on the general educational framework needed for successfully teaching language skills

As an optional learning opportunity the GSL module also offers three native-language tutorials in Russian, Turkish and Arabic where students can acquire basic knowledge of common native tongues (and in particular how they differ from German) from student tutors who are primarily native speakers.

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