Evaluation of German Preservice Teachers' Opportunities to Learn in the Field of Linguistically Responsive Teaching

• In Event: One Instrument, Four Contexts: International Explorations of Pedagogical Language Knowledge

Abstract

Objectives
In the United States, as well as in Europe (and in this context in Germany), the linguistic and cultural diversity among student populations has increased due to globalization and transnational mobility (Tanase, 2020; Wernicke et al., 2021). Additionally, there is a large gap in competencies (language, mathematics, and sciences) between second language learners and native speaking students in Germany, as recent studies on students’ achievement suggest. Consequently, teaching of students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds is currently an important research topic in Germany (Paetsch & Heppt, 2021). Teachers need to teach linguistically and culturally responsively to assure pupils’ access to content, to encourage them to develop literacy skills and to offer language development support (Lucas & Villegas, 2011). However, relevant opportunities to learn (OTL) in teacher education are vary widely across teacher education programs and little research has been done to empirically evaluate their effectiveness.
Theoretical framework
As OTL in the area of linguistically responsive teaching (LRT) vary in terms of content or scope across German universities, research projects have focuses on developing theoretically and empirically based standards for implementing LRT into teacher training. This study aims at transferring the theoretical model of teachers’ LRT competence into university teacher training. The development of pre-service teachers’ LRT competence is measured with the DaZKom test (Author et al., 2018; Carlson et al., 2018).
Research Questions
a) Which LRT-relevant topics are perceived by pre-service teachers and to what extent?
b) What LRT-relevant learning activities do pre-service teachers report?
c) To what extent are differences evident among participating universities with respect to OTL in the field of LRT?
d) What correlations can be found between the use of LRT-related OTL and the acquired LRT-competence of pre-service teachers?
Data source and methods
We focused on the evaluation of LRT-relevant OTL at nine different universities across Germany with a sample of N = 1649 pre-service teachers. The DaZKom test contains 47 items that are assigned to the three dimensions of the DaZKom model. The test has a reliability of α = 0.76. Additionally, questionnaires on DaZ-related OTL were used: 16 items on DaZ-related topics (α = 0.88) and 8 items on DaZ-related actions (α= 0.80). We analyzed bivariate correlations and carried out a regression analysis.

Results
Overall, participants indicated only a low amount of LRT-relevant OTL in their teacher training. This result corresponds to the results of the standard setting study a few years ago (Author & Author, 2018). In the results we found differences between the universities regarding the OTL participants indicate. LRT-relevant topics that are mentioned particularly frequently are linguistics and dealing with heterogeneity. Concerning the LRT-relevant activities analyzing the use of language in authentic classroom interactions is indicated the most. Our study provides evidence regarding which university course topics and activities could foster teachers’ LRT competence. Future studies should focus on lectures data on OTL in their LRT-relevant sessions (e.g. affiliation, scope, content) to add to data we gathered from pre-service teachers and thus learn more about the implementation of LRT-relevant OTL.

Authors

• Svenja Lemmrich, Leuphana University - Lueneburg
  Presenting Author

• Timo Ehmke, Leuphana University - Lueneburg
  Presenting Author