Relevant Predictors for Multiple Language and Intercultural Learning. A Quasi-Experimental Study on Multilingual Orientation in French as a Foreign Language Instruction

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Kerstin Göbel; Professor Dr. Lars Schmelter
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning ; General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 290275946

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the project was to support the learning of French, the appreciation of (everyday) multilingualism and intercultural reflection through specially developed tasks and to empirically investigate the learning conditions in a quasi-experimental pre-post control group design. In the project, task formats were developed for textbook-based French lessons in Year 7, which should enable the systematic integration of the languages acquired, including the pupils' languages of origin, as well as the foreign language English taught at school. The project tasks were used in schools for the first time in the 2017/2018 school year as part of a pilot project and then developed further. The tasks were significantly revised and expanded for the main study in the 2018/2019 school year. The tasks were implemented in lessons over a period of 10-12 weeks, although the task portfolio was not fully integrated in all experimental classes. Both the ex-perimental classes and the control group classes were tested and surveyed before and after with regard to relevant factors. After the intervention, interviews were conducted with the teachers and selected pupils from the intervention classes. Based on the considerations of the factor model, it was thus possible to analyse the factors that determine multiple language and intercultural learning in French lessons. The Franzimo tasks were rated as positive and motivating by both teachers and pupils, but interviews with teachers made it clear that the integration into lessons was sometimes difficult due to a lack of time resources. It also emerged that the heterogeneity of the pupils' home languages was perceived by the teachers involved as more of a challenge than a resource. Interviews with students indicate that the intervention was helpful for intercultural learning and for the development of sensitivity to use linguistic resources in language learning. For students in the intervention group who grew up monolingually in the lingua franca German, there was an increase in positive attitudes towards multilingual teaching activities after the intervention compared to the control group.

Publications

• Interkulturelles Lernen durch Mehrsprachigkeitsorientierung im Sprachenunterricht. Bildung in fremden Sprachen?, 31-58. transcript Verlag.
  Göbel, Kerstin
  
• Französisch als zweite Fremdsprache: Interkulturell und mehrsprachigkeitsorientiert. Erste Ergebnisse einer quasi-experimentellen Studie zum multiplen Sprachenlernen. Babylonia, XXVIII(2), 22.
  Schmelter, L., Göbel, K., Buret, J. & Frede, G.
  
• Wertschätzung und Förderung. Mehrsprachigkeitsorientierung im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Lernende Schule, 22(86), 28-31.
  Göbel, K., Schmelter, L., Frankemölle, B., Frede, G. & Buret, J.
  
• „Franzimo – Französisch als 2. Fremdsprache: interkulturell und mehrsprachigkeitsorientiert“: Aktualisierter Projektbericht: Zielstellung, Projektkonzeption und Projektumsetzung. Online Ressource
  Göbel, K., Schmelter, L., Buret, J., Frede, G., Neuber, K. & Struck, L.
  
• Mehrsprachigkeitsorientierung in Französisch- und Russischunterricht: Empirische Befunde, didaktische und forschungsmethodologische Fragen aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive. In E. Wilden, L. Alfes, K. F. Cantone, S. Cikrikci & D. Reimann (Eds.), Standortbestimmungen in der Fremdsprachenforschung (pp. 394-400). wbv.
  Göbel, K., Mehlhorn, G. & Schmelter, L.
  
• Aufgabenkonzept zur Unterstützung von Mehrsprachigkeitsorientierung im schulischen Französischunterricht. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht (online), 28(1), 409–442
  Schmelter, L., Göbel, K. & Buret, J.
  
• Welche professionellen Kompetenzen benötigen Lehrkräfte für sprachbildendes Handeln? In: M. Becker-Mrotzek, I. Gogolin, H.J. Roth & P. Stanat, Grundlagen sprachlicher Bildung in der mehrsprachigen Gesellschaft. Konzepte und Erkenntnisse (pp. 219-232). Waxmann.
  Göbel, K., Gantefort, C. & Ehmke, T.
  
• Appreciation of multilingual teaching activities by secondary school students in Germany: findings from a quasi-experimental intervention study on teaching French. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 46(10), 3643-3664.
  Göbel, Kerstin; Schmelter, Lars; Neuber, Katharina & Struck, Linda
  
• Franzimo – Französisch als 2. Fremdsprache: interkulturell und mehrsprachigkeitsorientiert: Aufgabenmanual für Lehrpersonen. Online Ressource
  Göbel, K. & Schmelter, L.
  
• Grenzen, Grenzräume, Entgrenzungen. Beiträge zur Fremdsprachenforschung. Schneider bei wbv.
  Kulovics, Nina; Mentz, Olivier & Raith, Thomas