Translanguaging - New Approaches for Teaching German as a Second Language?

Abstract

Given the great diversity of students, there are numerous hurdles to overcome in teaching German as a Second Language in Germany – one of which is the large number of different language backgrounds of the students. The concept of (pedagogical) translanguaging, which has become increasingly popular in the US in recent years, opens a new approach to integrating these heterogeneous language skills into German Second Language lessons in a beneficial way in German schools. To this end, this thesis examines the theoretical, political, descriptive, and pedagogical aspects of translanguaging, in particular based on García and Li (2014), García, Johnson and Seltzer (2017) and García and Kleifgen (2020). The aim is to create a basis for the subsequent analysis of the BAMF-Rahmencurriculum and the educational documents of the three federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Hamburg regarding their orientation to multilingual education. The analysis revealed a generally positive attitude towards multilingualism in the documents, which gives room for the inclusion of pedagogical translanguaging. However, in terms of language policy, due to their nature as ideologized educational instruments, these documents still fall short of the language policy expectations of pedagogical translanguaging.