The number of newly arrived immigrant pupils with a demand of language support increased sharply in recent years in Germany with its climax in 2016/17. Next to individual support needs in regular classes, classes with the primary aim of teaching German as a second language (GSL) thus constitute a considerable part of daily school life in Germany. The main goal of such separated schooling is to provide students with sufficient German language skills to prepare them for participation in regular classes. In such separated classes, second language acquisition constitutes a combination of a high degree of conscious language learning inside the classroom and, ideally, a subconscious process outside the classroom (cf. Massumi et al. 2015, Reich 2017, Steinmüller 2017). Although not new to the German educational system, seperated classes as a means of integrating newly arrived migrant students into schools still challenges schools and teachers alike. One reason for this might be that the existing curricula don't seem to meet the needs of these heterogeneous group of students in several ways (cf. Brüggemann/Nikolai 2016).
In our talk we will present an overview of curricular guidelines that are offered by the federal states to organise learning and teaching for the target group mentioned above. After some preliminary considerations, an attempt is made for a comparison of these existing curricular guidelines. We ask for i) the integration of the respective curricular guidelines into the core curricular programme of the federal states, ii) a clear specification of the target learner group, iii) formulated expectations in terms of learning objectives and competences and iv) the reflection of research outcomes of GSL in curricula. Based on this comparative overview, we argue that problems arise in four main fields, namely 1) lack of mandatory educational standards and guidelines for the implementation of GSL in schools, 2) lack of consensus on the specific target group, 3) uncertainty as to whether GSL be a school subject in its own right, and 4) gaps in research on the acquisition of GSL. Given these observations, we argue that binding, curricularly anchored standards are needed, so that GSL learning and teaching for newly arrived immigrant pupils can be systematically accompanied.
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Massumi, Mona, Nora von Dewitz, Johanna Grießbach, Henrike Terhart, Katarina Wagner, Kathrin Hippmann & Lale Altinay. 2015. Neu zugewanderte Kinder und Jugendliche im deutschen Schulsystem. Bestandsaufnahme und Förderung. Unter Mitarbeit von Becker-Mrotzek, Michael & Hans-Joachim Roth. Köln: Mercator-Institut für Sprachförderung und Deutsch als Zweitsprache, Zentrum für LehrerInnenbildung der Universität zu Köln. https://www.mercator-institut-sprachfoerderung.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/PDF/Publikationen/MI_ZfL_Studie_Zugewanderte_im_deutschen_Schulsystem_final_screen.pdf (30.06.2021).
Reich, Hans H. (2017). Geschichte der Beschulung von Seiteneinsteigern im deutschen Bildungssystem. In: Becker-Mrotzek, Michael/Roth, Hans-Joachim (Hrsg.) Sprachliche Bildung - Grundlagen und Handlungsfelder: (= Sprachliche Bildung 1). Münster: Waxmann, 77–94.
Steinmüller, Ulrich (2017): Die Entwicklung von Deutsch als Zweitsprache in Berlin in politisch-historischer Perspektive. In: Jostes, Brigitte; Caspari, Daniela; Lütke, Beate (Hrsg.): Sprachen - Bilden - Chancen: Sprachbildung in Didaktik und Lehrkräftebildung. Münster: Waxmann, 15–25 (Sprachliche Bildung 5).
