Education: “Plurilingualism is a valuable resource”

Education is meant to offer children and adolescents equal opportunities, regardless of their language background and origin. But how do we achieve this? And how do we utilize digital media to overcome education barriers? The LMU lecture series “Plurilingualism and (Social) Justice: Digital Access for Sustainable Education Processes” is currently exploring such questions. Nicole Weidinger and Marco Triulzi, research associates at the Institute for German as a Foreign Language, are part of the organization team. In our interview, they discuss plurilingualism at German schools and outline the concept of the LMU lecture series.

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What is the reality of plurilingualism at German schools?

Weidinger: Schools do not take the plurilingualism of children sufficiently into account. There are prestige languages like English, French, and Spanish, which are taught at schools. But the many different heritage languages of children have received scant attention.

Triulzi: Speaking other languages is often stigmatized as a failing. This monolingual structure of German schools disadvantages everyone, but especially students who cannot speak German yet.

Weidinger: Soon, nearly half of all schoolchildren will bring an additional language alongside German to school. We believe that failing to exploit this linguistic diversity in classrooms is a waste of resources – resources that are essential for building a strong sense of identity and participating in a globally connected world. We’re squandering valuable capital as a society.

Educational trends show that adolescents in our country are leaving school with ever weaker skills in reading and mathematics. Family background and social status are the variables that strongly influence educational success. This is particularly the case in Germany, and the fairness gap is widening all the time. In educational contexts, plurilingualism, migration background, and low social status are often regarded as belonging together: plurilingualism is considered a shortcoming.

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Are adolescents from migration backgrounds overrepresented among those who do less well at school?

Triulzi: Yes, they are overrepresented, but not due to their migration background itself – rather due to the lower average socioeconomic status of their families. Nor has it got much to do with multilingualism, which is not so much a cause as a correlation. Children who have suitable resources at home – such as parents who help with homework – have better opportunities. If these resources are lacking, children do less well and have worse opportunities in the future. Viewed in this light, they get a worse education – a situation that schools do not manage to counterbalance.

Instruction in the First Language

Are there any structures in schools that promote multilingualism in general?

Triulzi: In some federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia for instance, there is heritage language instruction. Children receive lessons in their first languages. This is state-organized, with official curricula, teacher training programs, and quality assurance. A large number of children take part – in NRW alone, it’s around 100,000. As a result, these languages are not only supported but truly valued.

And in Bavaria?

Triulzi: There was a similar model in place here, but it was dismantled. Fortunately, there are many communities who ensure that heritage language instruction is offered outside of school, in the afternoons or on Saturdays. We’ve just compiled an interactive map that shows the various offers available in Munich.

Bavaria offers German as a Second Language as a subject at schools, although this approach is less geared toward multilingual education.

Weidinger: The focus is on promoting German as the language of schooling and ensuring that it is embedded in all subjects – even math, for instance. It had been observed that children who come from socially disadvantaged families have difficulties acquiring mathematical concepts because they lack the linguistic skills in German – and not because they lack mathematical understanding.

Multilingualism as a Resource

What are the main approaches we could take to leverage plurilingualism as a resource?

Weidinger: It’s about things like exploiting synergies when learning languages and when learning in general. It’s not as if we have separate compartments in our brains for each of the languages. There are all kinds of connections, which form a sort of metalinguistic consciousness. If I want to teach a certain grammatical structure in English to a classroom of kids, for example, I can ask students what the corresponding structure looks like in their heritage language. This allows them to draw on existing knowledge.

At the inaugural event of our lecture series, the linguist Enrica Piccardo from Toronto presented her approach to language pedagogy. To optimize the structure of language lessons and create an environment that promotes learning, we need to view language learning as a complex process – and incorporate this into actions. A simple example: She got students to create a cookbook in groups, where they learned how to formulate sentences, structure a text, present content, achieve goals with language – in short, how to communicate.

What will the two remaining lectures be about?

Weidinger: Detmar Meurers is a computational linguist from Tübingen. In his lab, he has developed a tutor system that takes into account the heterogeneity of students – in other words, their difference. High-quality diagnostics are needed before we can create individual learning materials in order to adaptively support individuals. The research community thinks we can make good progress here with digitalization and AI. Professor Meurers will present his current system, which basically allows the learning environment to be individually adapted by adjusting the degree of linguistic complexity.

And the final lecture will have a practical flavor?

Weidinger: First, the linguist Till Woerfel from Zurich will present various digital methods that teachers can use to better incorporate plurilingualism into everyday school life. This will then be reflected in three educational projects to be carried out as part of a practical workshop.

Triulzi: This very practice-oriented session will get participants to think about how these concepts can be made even more plurilingualism, even more digital.

Weidinger: Our goal with the series is to facilitate exchange between very different disciplines, from linguistics and pedagogy to computational linguistics, and to initiate dialog between research and practice.

Dr. Nicole Weidinger is a research assistant at LMU’s Institute for German as a Foreign Language. She is completing a habilitation degree on plurilingualism and equality of opportunity.

Dr. Marco Triulzi is a research assistant at LMU’s Institute for German as a Foreign Language and coordinator of the International Research Unity for Multilingualism (IFM).

Plurilingualism and (Social) Justice: Digital Access for Sustainable Education Processes” is the name of a four-part lecture series, currently underway at LMU. The event is jointly organized by the Institute for German as a Foreign Language, the Chair of General Pedagogy and Educational Research, and the International Research Unity for Multilingualism at LMU.

Further dates: On Thursday 18 June at 6:00 p.m., Professor Detmar Meurers (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM) in Tübingen and the University of Tübingen) will be addressing the topic: “Digital access to education to enable greater social justice – What does it look like? And what role does language play?” (Venue: LMU Main Building, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, Lecture Theater A214).

On Thursday 2 July at 6:00 p.m., Professor Till Woerfel (Zurich University of Teacher Education) will deliver a lecture followed by a practical workshop. (Venue: Schellingstraße 3, Lecture Theater R051).

The organization team is made up of Dr. Nicole Weidinger, Dr. Marco Triulzi, Prof. Claudia M. Riehl, Prof. Annabell Daniel, and Prof. Almut Ketzer-Nöltge.

The lecture series is financed by the LMU Sustainability Fund.