Language competencies of future teachers – Design and results of an empirical study
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Dirk Scholten-Akoun
Dirk Scholten-Akoun is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He coordinates the ‘Language Competence Project’ at the university. His research interests draw together from the Humanities aspects of language testing, intercultural communication and the statuses and functions of languages.
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Anna Mashkovskaya
Anna Mashkovskaya is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She has been working in a project that has specialized in the diagnosis of reading and writing skills of students since 2008. Her research focuses on the development of c-tests for adults.Daniel Tischmeyer is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He has been working in a project that has specialized in the diagnosis of reading and writing skills of students since 2011. His research focuses on the acquisition of reading skills of adults.
Abstract
This article introduces a measuring method, with which linguistic deficits of first-year students can be recognized. Many problems which lead to extended study times, to difficulties or even to giving up studies are linguistically induced. The testing tools introduced here focus on the (written) language skills of first-years students of degree programs for future teachers. The aim is to precisely identify linguistic deficits and to subsequently develop and offer training programs alongside studies.
In the first test-stage modified C-tests are used to allow a general assessment of students' academic language skills. In the second stage the students have to deal with a writing task on an educational topic, which forms the basis for describing the students' linguistic deficits in qualitative terms. This study is based on the test data of 2891 students in teacher-training programs from three different universities in North Rhine-Westphalia and provides first results, especially with regard to a differentiated comparison of the language skills of students with and without migration background.
About the authors
Dirk Scholten-Akoun is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He coordinates the ‘Language Competence Project’ at the university. His research interests draw together from the Humanities aspects of language testing, intercultural communication and the statuses and functions of languages.
Anna Mashkovskaya is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She has been working in a project that has specialized in the diagnosis of reading and writing skills of students since 2008. Her research focuses on the development of c-tests for adults.
Daniel Tischmeyer is a researcher at the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He has been working in a project that has specialized in the diagnosis of reading and writing skills of students since 2011. His research focuses on the acquisition of reading skills of adults.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Maintaining Language and Developing Multilingualism
- Intergenerational heritage language practices: A case study of Spanish-speaking families in Britain
- Changing argument structure in (heritage) Pennsylvania German
- Convergent developments in Dutch Turkish word order – A comparative study using ‘elicited production’ and ‘judgment’ data: Converging evidence?
- Maintained and acquired heritage Spanish in the Netherlands: The case of dative constructions
- Language competencies of future teachers – Design and results of an empirical study
- Heritage language use and maintenance in multilingual communities
