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Migration and Education

Research GroupMigration and Education

Photo: UHH/Fürstenau

Courses on Linguistically Responsive Reaching

Supporting pre-service teachers in dealing with linguistic diversity and multilingualism in the classroom requires knowledge from various disciplines. In the project ‘Professional teachers' actions to promote subject-based learning under changing social conditions (ProfaLe)’, Prof. Dr Kristin Bührig (Linguistics of German as a Second and Foreign Language, Faculty of Humanities) and Prof. Dr Drorit Lengyel (Educational Science in Multilingual Contexts, Faculty of Education) collaborated with colleagues from subject-didactics at the Faculty of Education to develop seminars for linguistically responsive teaching in the subject classroom.

The seminars were developed, evaluated and comprehensively researched in the ProfaLe project. They have been successfully integrated into the teacher training programmes for primary schools, secondary schools and special education as a part of the two school internship modules (KP I and KP II):

  • It was incorporated into the course manuals of the teacher training programmes at the UHH (see below);
  • It is compulsory for all pre-service teacher students regardless of tghe studied subjects
  • It contains 1 credit per seminar (≈ 25–30 hours’ workload)

The seminars are held in a digital learning environment (live online and asynchronous) through the OpenOLAT and Moodle learning platforms. This enables students to work on the course tasks flexibly whilst undertaking their internships. The pre-service teacher students' experiences during the internships in dealing with linguistic diversity are incorporated into the course work.

KP I: Approaches to linguistically responsive teaching in the subject classroom (summer term)

This seminar examines the features of subject-specific content from a linguistic and communicative perspective. It also explores the requirements and pedagogies for linguistically responsive teaching in the subject classroom. The seminar is offered in four subject-specific groups and thus helps the pre-service teachers to connect the (pedagogical) content knowledge of the subject with their insights on linguistically responsive teaching:

  • Mathematics & natural sciences: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science
  • Social sciences: History, Geography, Social Studies, Religious Education, Social Studies and Sciences in primary schools
  • Arts: Art, Music, Physical Education, Technology & Crafts, Drama
  • Language subjects: German, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Latin, Ancient Greek

Content:

  1. Examination of and Reflection on pupils’ language biographies in immigrant societies
  2. Insights into the linguistic and cognitive demands of language use in the subject and how these are realized in different languages
  3.  Insights into the fundamental structures of German at the morphosyntactic level

Learning outcomes:

  1. Acquired knowledge of societal and educational multilingualism and the need to adapt to a linguistically diverse student body.
  2. Acquired knowledge of the specific requirements of German as the main schooling language.
  3. Acquired skills in planning and organizing language responsive subject teaching.

Module descriptions KP I:

KP II: Language education in practice (winter term)

The aim of the seminar is to provide pre-service teachers with ‘corner stones’ for reasonable decision-making in linguistically responsive teaching. Knowledge of classroom interaction and language assessment and diagnostics is expanded to facilitate a critical-reflexive understanding on communicative requirements in the classroom. Pre-service teachers can choose a thematic focus based on their interests: either ‘classroom interaction’ or ‘language assessment and diagnostics’. Both thematic foci are connected through a common thread: the development of the so called ‘ordinary diagnostic gaze’ which is a foundation of the professional daily teaching practice.

The seminar is offered for different school types

  • for pre-service teachers who are completing their school internship at primary schools and plan to work in primary education
  • for pre-service teachers who are completing their school internship at secondary schools and plan to work in secondary education

Contents:

  1. Insights into the field of language assessment and diagnostics as well as how to use language assessment findings for teaching
  2. Insights into various facets of classroom interaction
  3. Insights into institutional characteristics of basic forms of linguistic cooperation and their interactional consequences

Learning outcomes:

  1. Acquired knowledge regarding reasonable, evidence-based decision-making concerning one’s own communicative actions in linguistically diverse student groups.
  2. Acquired the ability to critically reflect on classroom interaction.
  3. Developed a resource-oriented perspective on language assessment and diagnostics as well as recognition of the relevance of language assessment when planning linguistically responsive teaching.

Module descriptions for KP II:

 

Selected publications:

Stangen, I., Lengyel, D. & Sommer, D. (2025): Linguistically responsive teaching competence, teacher self-efficacy, and opportunities to learn—a pre-post study on the effects of a university course on the development of pre-service teachers’ competences. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 28, 1413-1439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-025-01356-6

Lange, I., Lehmann, G., Bührig, K. & Lengyel, D. (2024): Die Chancen zweier Punkte. Das Lehrangebot zum Umgang mit sprachlicher Heterogenität für Lehramtsstudierende in Hamburg. In: G. Kaiser, J. Doll & E. Arnold (Hg.): Innovative Ansätze zur Veränderung der Lehrkräfteausbildung. Waxmann, 235-255. https://doi.org/10.31244/9783830998785

Schroedler, T. & Fischer, N. (2020). The Role of Beliefs in Teacher Professionalisation for Multilingual Classroom Settings. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 49-72. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2019-0040 (Handlungsfeld 2)

Schroedler, T. & Grommes, P. (2019). Learning about Language: Preparing Pre-Service Subject Teachers for Multilingual Classroom Realities. Journal of Language Learning in Higher Education, 9(1), 223-240. https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2019-0014

 

Contact person and implementation:

Dr. Imke Lange
Research Group Migration and Education
Department of General, Intercultural and International Comparative Education as well as Educational Psychology (EW1)
Contact details