KANSAS

This research and development project aimed at developing, testing and evaluating the web-based search engine KANSAS. KANSAS will support teachers in adult literacy and German as a second language in preparing classes. Using the search engine, teachers will be enabled to determine both the topic and the linguistic complexity of texts to be searched on the internet and in electronic corpora. Taking into account the learners interests as well as their individual level of reading competence, KANSAS allows teachers to perfectly adjust the query to the needs of their course participants. Moreover, teachers can upload self-developed texts in order to analyze the language complexity. In addition to that, a simplified version of KANSAS will be developed, enabling advanced learners to search for texts with an appropriate level of language complexity on their own.

The interdisciplinary project KANSAS was conducted by the three collaboration partners under direction of the German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning. The German Institute of Adult Education (DIE) carried out several usability and quasi-experimental studies to evaluate the efficacy of the search engine. The MI examined the didactic suitability of the texts searched by KANSAS. Computational linguists of the University of Tübingen technically implemented the search engine and adapted it to the users’ needs. In close collaboration of all partners involved, several developmental versions of the search engine were released during the project term in order to test and optimize KANSAS.

No child left behind

The aim of the project “The Power of Reading – Elementary Schools” are

early recognition of children with difficulties in acquiring written language
deriving individual support based on diagnostic findings
documentation of learning development for working with parents and defining an educational plan with specialists
prevention of reading and spelling difficulties

For this purpose, the MI, together with the IPN and the Institute for Quality Development in Schools in Schleswig-Holstein (IQSH) in cooperation with the Cornelsen-Publishing House, is developing a two-part work material combined in a student- and teacher-booklet for diagnosing and supporting of reading and writing skills in elementary schools. The participating teachers are prepared for the implementation of the individual milestones in regular regional training events, the derived support measures are discussed and experiences are exchanged.

Starting in the 2018/19 school year, “Lesen macht stark” launched in first grade with a training concept that complements the diagnostic material. The Mercator Institute is providing scientific advice on the development of the materials for the remedial training and is accompanying its introduction in the schools by researching the implementation conditions. It investigates the conditions under which teachers accept the training program and whether they use the material in accordance with the concept.

Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS)

The Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) is a non-university research institute located in the federal state of Berlin. The sponsoring association is the Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin e.V. (GWZ).

At ZAS, the human capacity for language and its expression through individual languages is explored with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the biological, cognitive, and social factors surrounding this central human ability. By exploring the structures of language, how they are acquired, and how they are processed, this knowledge can be applied to fields such as speech diagnostics or speech technology.

The diverse research team at ZAS is divided into four research areas, in which experts from many core areas of linguistics are active: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, semantics and pragmatics, as well as child language acquisition. Externally acquired third-party funded projects are attached to the four research areas. This concentration of active research in multiple linguistic sub-disciplines in a single institution is unique in Germany and facilitates a direct exchange of current research findings and methods. Numerous stays of visiting researchers and scholarship holders, national and international workshops and conferences provide important impulses for the scientific work at ZAS.

As far as the transfer of knowledge to politics and society is concerned, ZAS plays a particularly important role in the area of multilingualism at regional, national and international levels. The findings from foundational research are incorporated into day-to-day political decisions in a variety of ways, as well as into the development of diagnostic procedures and training programmes for teachers and caregivers.

Important Work and Services:

ZAS can draw from expertise in monolingual and bilingual language acquisition accumulated over nearly 30 years. Important fields of work in the research area Language Development and Multilingualism (FB 2) are the development of discourse skills in pre- and elementary school age, the identification and detailed description of language development disorders and the opportunities and problems in multilingual language acquisition. ZAS has carried out studies on the acquisition of German in children speaking the most common migration languages in Germany (for example, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Turkish), some of them as longitudinal studies over the course of several years.

ZAS develops language aptitude evaluations and instruments for the diagnosis and treatment of language development disorders as well as methods for supporting the acquisition of German that take the speaker’s knowledge of their native language into account. The Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN), developed at ZAS, is an instrument for testing the narrative abilities of children in over 100 languages. It is used in more than 60 countries. Through the worldwide usage of the instrument a multinational MAIN Network was formed, which is coordinated by ZAS. The Russian language proficiency test for multilingual children is a linguistically and psycholinguistically well-founded test for bilingual children of preschool and elementary school age, which is also applied worldwide.

ZAS develops language development programs and works on methods of conveying linguistic knowledge in a playful way. In the European COMENIUS project Friendly Resources for Playful Speech Therapy (FREPY), interactive and multi-functional materials for language development in German, Russian, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Slovenian were created. These games, puzzles, picture stories, etc. are available as a print version and online.

The Berlin Interdisciplinary Network for Multilingualism (BIVEM), affiliated with ZAS, combines basic research, expertise and transfer of knowledge. Within the framework of BIVEM, longitudinal studies on multilingual acquisition and language development have been conducted, new initiatives as well as joint activities with cooperation partners have been launched and connections between science and practice have been strengthened. In addition, BIVEM offers research-based advice on multilingual language acquisition for parents, pedagogical professionals, medical staff and policy makers, as well as develops training modules for further education. The flyer series ‘Science for Life’, which already includes six topics in seven languages (German, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, English, Persian, and French), is in high demand: over 160,000 copies have already been distributed. It provides a special contribution to the transfer of knowledge from research to practice and will continue to be expanded with new topics and language versions.

Created under the auspices of ZAS, “Das mehrsprachige Klassenzimmer” (The Multilingual Classroom) is designed for teachers in German schools who have immigrant students in their classes. It provides stimulating and easy-to-understand background information on creative ways to deal with multilingualism in the classroom.

ZAS also develops orthographies and teaching materials for small, endangered languages, such as a dictionary of the Melanesian language Daakie. ZAS aims to further investigate linguistic factors in the acquisition of the language of education, taking into account specific challenges such as other mother tongues and specific language development disorders.

University of Luxembourg

At the associated partner “University of Luxembourg” is the research group „Educational Processes in Contemporary Societies“ consisting of members from two Institutes devoted to educational research. It connects social scientific perspectives on education and learning processes (educational theory, philosophy, history, and sociology). The main focus is on educational policies, systems, and processes within particular cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts. Thus, particular importance is placed on historical, cross-national, and international perspectives. Objects of study, whether in quantitative or qualitative or historical and institutional analyses, are education policies, system development, learning processes and teaching, and learning within and outside educational organizations.

Activities:

The activities of the research group include editing journals and book series, contributing to national education reports (Germany, Luxembourg), organizing international conferences, evaluation and consulting in a range of countries and advisory board membership.

Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education

The Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education is an institute of the University of Cologne, initiated and funded by Stiftung Mercator. Its aim is to improve language education. To achieve this objective, it researches and develops innovative concepts, measures and tools for language education. It provides regional training for prospective teachers and national training for educators in nurseries, schools and adult education, and prepares academic findings specifically for decision-makers in educational policy, administration and practice. Through its research and the academic services it provides to language education in a multilingual society, the Mercator Institute helps create more equal opportunities in the education system.

Important work and services:

Research: The Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language researches and develops concepts, instruments and measures for language education in a variety of projects. It conducts practical and application-oriented research on current and socially relevant issues of language education, from daycare to the transition to work. Its research covers the entire breadth and complexity of linguistic education: It focuses on the chain of effects from research to the training and continuing education of specialists and teachers, the framework conditions in the various educational institutions, implementation in educational practice, and the effects on children and young people. The research focuses on linguistic learning and development processes, classroom research, and teacher training and professionalization. The project teams use both qualitative and quantitative methods and are interdisciplinary. The institute also offers research-based services.

Development: The Mercator Institute advises educational actors on the basis of scientific findings relating to development and implementation processes, e.g. curricula or for the realization of language education concepts. In doing so, its objective is to help initiate systemic changes that will allow consistent language education standards to be maintained throughout all educational stages and institutions.

Professional Development: When it comes to staff development of educators in nursery schools, schools and adult education, the Mercator Institute cooperates with institutions at a regional and national level so as to develop and implement staff development concepts. Due to time constraints and the considerable need for continuing education, educators are increasingly calling for training courses that can be adapted to their individual schedules. This is why the Mercator Institute is also developing digital learning opportunities that combine independent learning with digital materials and face-to-face classes.

Transfer: There are many different stakeholders in language education: from the organizations that run child and youth welfare services, to nurseries and schools, and to ministries and authorities at the local and state level. Through its publications and events, the Mercator Institute promotes the transfer of good practice and scientific findings to education policymakers, education authorities and the educational institutions themselves. In addition, it is available to journalists as a point of contact for topics relating to language education. Current research into topical and socially relevant questions of language education is analysed and then made available in a variety of formats – from short basic knowledge and fact checks to detailed studies and expert reports.

Promotion of young researchers: At the Mercator Institute, there are various measures to promote young researchers. These include AcadeMI, a network of young researchers who meet in a self-coordinated manner and at regular intervals to promote peer exchange at the Mercator Institute and to support each other in their own qualification. Among other things, they organize workshops that all young researchers can profitably use for their work, and they are involved in the implementation of the annual Young Researchers Conference. Within the framework of AcadeMI, some staff members have joined together to form four internal research groups dealing with the topic of multilingualism and vocabulary. In addition, there is a mentoring program.

Research Data at the Mercator Institute:

The Research Database “Lernertexte” (FD-LEX) provides educational researchers access to over 6,200 texts by students of various ages that were collected in different writing projects. Transcripts and handwritten originals as well as anonymized metadata of the participants can be used for own research projects.