The treatment of errors in the foreign language
A comparison of correction practices for written texts in French, English, Italian, Romansh and German in primary school
Project management
Team
Adrian Juric (PHTG; project partner), Vincenzo Todisco (PHGR; project supervisor), Annalisa Cathomas (PHGR; responsible for Romansh), Magalie Desgrippes (PHTG; responsible for French), Jutta Schork (Université de Fribourg; responsible for German), Nico Troianiello (Stadtschule Chur; responsible for Italian), Victoria Wasner (PHTG; responsible for English)
In language pedagogy, a linguistic error is commonly defined as an element that fails to conform to a norm (e.g. a grammatical, orthographic, pragmatic rule). In general topic of errors has generated much debate in pedagogical circles, and it has inspired numerous scholarly studies on interlanguage, metalinguistic awareness and the efficacy of correction practices for promoting language learning. Despite the topic’s prevalence, however, evidence is largely lacking on how teachers approach...
When asked about their goals, students learning a foreign language generally say they want to speak the language. Despite the value placed on speaking, however, various studies on the foreign language competence of Swiss school students reveal that many learners have difficulty in meeting the learning outcomes set for spoken language (Peyer et al. 2016, Wiedenkeller/Lenz 2019).
Project management
Direction: Wilfrid Kuster (PHSG), Mirjam Egli (PH FHNW) c/o Center for Teachers’ Language Competences (PHSG, SUPSI, HEP Vaud, UNIL)
Team
Alice Bracher (HEP|PH FR)
Katharina Karges (till 2021)
In cooperation with PH FHNW, PH Luzern and PHSG
The aim of this project is the empirically-based development of assessments to test the profession-specific language skills in teachers of French, English and Italian as a foreign language in primary and secondary schools.
Mapping developmental profiles in early language learning at school
Assessment tools as a link between education standards, curricula, teaching and learning
Project management
Supervision: Thomas Studer, Wilfrid Kuster, Mirjam Egli (PHSG), Gé Stoks (SUPSI/DFA)
Team
Anna Kull, Thomas Roderer (PHSG), Daniela Kappler (SUPSI/DFA)
In collaboration with the University of Teacher Education St. Gallen (PHSG) and the Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI)
In the spring of 2017, the CDIP/EDK assessed for the first time the basic skills in the first foreign language of schoolchildren at the end of primary school. On the basis of this assessment, the “Passepartout cantons” (the six cantons on the French-German language border) investigated how well the targets were achieved in French. The Research Centre on Multilingualism had the responsibility of developing test tasks for this purpose, and the project Task Lab was conducted in the scope...
Project conducted by the University of Teacher Education Schaffhausen (PHSH) and the University of Teacher Education Graubünden (PHGR)
Texts in the social sciences at schools are often difficult even for children with average scholastic abilities; weak learners or children who speak German as a second language are over-challenged. Consequently, internally differentiated texts – i.e. different versions of the same content – are necessary to create an inclusive learning environment....
Language courses for personnel in the Federal Administration
Evaluation and analysis of courses offered and their attendance
Project management
Team
Project conducted by the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI)
In the interest of advancing multilingualism in public services, the Swiss Confederation is legally bound to promoting federal employees' language skills in Switzerland's official languages. The divisions within the Federal Administration are obligated to ensure that all employees have sufficient knowledge of a second official language and that persons in a leadership role additionally have passive skills in a third official language. To implement these directives, the Federal Administration...
Project management
Team
This literature review aims to present an overview of scientific research on the social, political and linguistic issues of language census by analysing international works conducted in various sociopolitical and sociolinguistic contexts. The purpose is to highlight the complexity of documenting languages as required for each census when quantifying information on respondents’ language practices.