The topic of our paper is the evaluation of theoretic concepts underpinning current methodology in the teaching of German as a Second Language (GSL) in an internationally comparative perspective. Starting point for our research into language teaching is the conviction that language issues in society as well as in educational contexts are generally grounded in power relations between social groups. Despite the fact that the question of power and social hierarchies is by now an integral part of any cutting-edge research in the area of “intercultural education” in Germany, we find that it is vastly neglected when it comes to concepts for the teaching of German as a Second Language. Our hypothesis is therefore, that “language support methodology” in Germany is to date more driven by assimilative goals than by concepts of empowerment and participation. A theoretic paradigm which addresses the issue of power relations and its educational consequences for bilingual minority children at school is the framework for “Intervention for collaborative empowerment” by Jim Cummins (2000) which differentiates between a “transformative / intercultural orientation” and an “exclusionary / assimilationist orientation” in education. The transformative approach, which is by definition a learner centred approach, has been translated into English Second Language (ESL) teaching methodology based on the concept of “functional grammar” (Halliday 1994) and its social-constructive implementation (e.g. Gibbons 1998). In Germany, however, Cummins’ work has been acknowledged rather selectively, leading either to short-cut conclusions about the best approach to teaching GSL to bilingual minority students or to a misinformed critical dismissal of the value of Cummins’ analysis and proposals. The publication of the PISA results has stirred up a discussion about new approaches to GSL teaching because of two central findings: Firstly, the PISA data show to which extent minority students of immigrant background are more disadvantaged in German schools than in other national contexts; secondly, the PISA researchers attribute these results primarily to a failure of the German education system to provide immigrant/minority students with adequate access to academic registers of German (e.g. PISA 2000). The present German discussion based on these findings, however, revolves mainly around issues of deficits in the bilingual children and the perceived need to compensate these by technically more efficient teaching. The primarily assimilative focus of the teaching methodology discussion is also reflected in the latest research on the problem of “language and integration” which addresses the language teaching debate from a sociologist’s perspective (Esser 2006). This national discourse tends to unwittingly reinforce notions of superiority-inferiority-relations between the socially dominant groups and minority communities in Germany, and therefore to entrench rather than to question power relations.

Systematic evaluation of the most pertinent concepts for GSL teaching currently under discussion against the background of Cummins framework of intervention. Internationally comparative perspective (Concepts of GSL vs. ESL teaching methodology).

We expect to confirm our central hypothesis: “Language support methodology” in Germany is to date more driven by assimilative goals than by concepts of empowerment and participation. We intend to re-focus the current mainstream discourse in Germany on GSL teaching methodology in order to bring about a change of perspective – from a deficit-oriented approach which focuses on the individual learner and strategies to improve her/him by compensatory teaching to a resource-oriented approach which recognizes and challenges the structural power relations that disable minority students.