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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 602

Part of Session 104: Microlinguistics and language planning (Other abstracts in this session)

Bilingual kindergarten programs: the interaction of language management and language attitudes

Authors: Rothe, Astrid; Katarina, Wagner
Submitted by: Rothe, Astrid (Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Germany)

Why is it that in a German city people oppose a bilingual kindergarten while at the same time monolingual parents at a workshop on bilingual education want to know how to raise their child bilingually? The answer lies in language attitudes: in the first case the respective language is Turkish while in the second one it is English, French or Chinese, languages that are deemed more prestigious than Turkish, which is mostly spoken by migrants. Bilingual kindergarten programs are becoming increasingly popular in Germany, but mostly they offer prestigious languages such as English, French or Spanish and they mostly target monolingual parents who wish their children to become bilingual. Bilingual programs for migrant languages such as Turkish or Russian are seldom offered and bilingual programs for these languages are oftentimes met with controversy.

Our paper investigates stakeholders’ attitudes towards so called prestige languages and migrant languages on the macro and micro level. As an essential component of language policy and language management beliefs about languages are bound to influence demand and supply in the educational sector. Our aim is to show the relation between macro level decisions and interventions and micro level attitudes towards languages in Germany. Therefore, we will analyze results of several studies on language attitudes.

On the macro level we will first analyze the sociopolitical background in Germany and the facts about multilingual offers in education in terms of language management theory (Nekvapil 2009). We combine this with an analysis of language attitudes and motivations of the most important stakeholders at the micro level: parents and educators. The role of parents and educators is very important for the implementation and success of bilingual kindergarten programs and language programs (cf. Kiziak et al. 2012). Therefore we analyze the results of a representative public opinion poll (N=2004) and a study amongst pupils (N=628) about language attitudes (cf. Gärtig et al. 2010, Rothe to app.). Furthermore we will present the results of a current questionnaire study amongst parents and educators of bilingual kindergartens – two German-Turkish kindergarten groups and two German-English kindergarten groups – to examine their language attitudes, their expectations and their concerns towards the bilingual kindergarten program.

References:

Gärtig, A.-K./Plewnia, A./Rothe, A. (2010): Wie Menschen in Deutschland über Sprache denken. Er­geb­nisse einer bundesweiten Repräsentativerhebung zu aktuel­len Sprachein­stellungen.Mannheim: amades.

Kiziak, T./Kreuter, V./Klingholz, R. (2012): Dem Nachwuchs eine Sprache geben. Was frühkindliche Sprachförderung leisten kann. Discussion Paper 6. Berlin-Institut für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung.

Nekvapil, J. (2009): The integrative potential of Language Management Theory. In: Nekvapil, J./Sherman, T. (Hgg.): Language Management in Contact Situations. Perspectives from Three Continents. Frankfurt  a. M.: Lang, 1-11.

Rothe, A. (2012, to appear): „Deutsch und andere Sprachen.“ In: Eichinger, L./Plewnia, A./Schoel, C./Stahlberg, D. (Hrsg.): Sprache und Einstellungen. Spracheinstellungen aus sprach­wissen­schaftlicher und sozialpsychologischer Perspektive. Tübingen: Narr.