Promoting German reading skills through multilingualism-sensitive reciprocal teaching in primary school lessons (meRLe)

Project management:

Prof. Dr Jasmin Decristan (University of Wuppertal)

Prof Dr Dominique Rauch (Ludwigsburg University of Education)

 

Research assistants:

Dr Valentina Reitenbach (University of Wuppertal)

Dr Victoria Bertram (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Katharina Schneider (Ludwigsburg University of Education)

 

Project description:

Did you actually know how many languages the children in your child's class have? With our meRLe project, we have taken up this linguistic diversity and integrated it into our support programme for learning and reading strategies. Reading is a key qualification for successful educational processes. The reading and learning strategies taught in the project help children to follow lessons better even after the transition to secondary school. Reciprocal teaching is a scientifically proven method for acquiring these strategies. Pupils can learn and practise the strategies together in small groups. The special thing about the meRLe project is that the pupils are allowed to use all the languages in class that help them learn and apply these strategies. This creates a co-operative learning environment in which German and all other languages are welcome.

The meRLe project was implemented at primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. The participating teachers received free, scientifically based training on the support programme as well as accompanying teaching materials. Teachers are offered suggestions on how they can further promote the German reading skills of children who speak several languages without having to speak these languages themselves. We have scientifically monitored the use of the method in the classroom. This enables us to find out more about the conditions under which the method is particularly effective.

 

Duration:

10/2017 - 09/2020

Funded by:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research