School Intervention Research

BiPeer - "Promoting the German reading skills of bilingual primary school pupils through peer learning"

Project management:

Prof. Dr Jasmin Decristan (University of Wuppertal)

Prof Dr Dominique Rauch (Ludwigsburg University of Education)

 

Staff members:

Dr Valentina Reitenbach (University of Wuppertal)

Dr Martin Schastak (DIPF, Frankfurt)

 

Even in primary school, pupils with a Turkish immigrant background show clear disparities in reading skills compared to their non-immigrant peers. The BiPeer project is investigating how the comprehension of written German texts can best be promoted in bilingual Turkish-German primary school children using peer learning methods. Studies have shown that children from immigrant backgrounds benefit particularly from reading skills development programmes with peer learning. In such peer-learning programmes, children read to each other and work on text-related tasks together. Programmes that promote both reading fluency and the knowledge and application of reading strategies are particularly effective for primary school children.

In view of the frequently voiced demand to integrate the heritage languages of migrant pupils into German lessons, BiPeer is investigating a practical method of incorporating the children's heritage language into the classroom. BiPeer builds on theories of multilingualism research. The BiPeer project uses an intervention study to investigate how children's heritage language resources can be utilised in the classroom without the teacher having to be multilingual themselves. In BiPeer, the children support each other in reading German in their language of origin.

 

Duration:

08/2014 - 03/2018

Funded by:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research