In the German educational context there are few diagnostic instruments which allow a continuous assessment of second language learners with view of their linguistic support on behalf of the school (Fried 2004). The majority of the existent tools has a selective nature, intending to sort out the students who do not achieve a grade-level performance, thus focusing both on the students' deficits and on monolingual German linguistic patterns.The FÖRMIG-project research group under the supervision from Reich & Roth has developed three diagnostik instruments which intent to support the increasing construction of school- and academic language proficiency, as these are an essential condition for school achievement (Gogolin, Neumann & Roth 2003). These intruments are applied in transfer phases of the educational system and are intended to determine the linguistic level of a student, as well as the nature of the support he or she will receive.These instruments were developed in two phases; first, several tools already existing were tested in the ten different federate states participating in the project. Both observation instruments, as well as individual tests with different focuses were applied; in the case of the instruments not focusing on second language learners, these were adapted or completed through the use of other instruments. For the pre-school children, a method developed in Hamburg (HAVAS 5) was applied in all ten states and for the transition from the sixth into the seventh grade, as well as for the students in a pre-professional level, new instruments, focusing on the acquisition of academic language, were developed. These focus constructively on students' prior knowledge and on skills not directly connected to school learning and intend to register specific linguistic abilities related to cognitive academic discourse, which are held to be responsible for higher school achievement (Cummins 2000). The current paper intents to present one of these instruments; its purpose, development and outcomes after the application. With the use of this instrument it is intended to evaluate the linguistic level of all students, in a cognitive academic and narrative language that allows conclusions about the sort of support needed to be given by the school. By including the first language of the students, it is possible to verify if the use of narrativity and the linguistic proficiency are at a balanced level or if the student is still in an early stage of second language learning but narratively competent. In such cases, the analysis of the instrument performed in the first language can determine if the difficulty is linguistic or perhaps cognitive.Bredel, Ursula (2005): "Sprachstandsmessung - Eine verlassene Landschaft". In: Ehlich et al., Anforderungen an Verfahren der regelmä?igen Sprachstandsfestellung als Grundlage für die frühe und individuelle Förderung von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Bonn, Berlin: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Cummins, Jim (2000): Language, power and pedagogy. Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Duarte, Joana/Roth, Hans-Joachim (2006): "Sobre a aquisiçãode competências linguísticas num modelo de ensino bilingue. O português-alemão em Hamburgo". In: Revista Palavras, Associação de Professores de Português, pp. 43-68. Fried, Lilian (2004): Expertise zu Sprachstandserhebungen für Kindergartenkinder und Schulanfänger. Eine kritische Betrachtung. Deutsches Jugendinstitut. Gogolin, Ingrid/Neumann, Ursula/Roth, Hans-Joachim (2003): Förderung von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund. Expertise für die Bund-Länder-Kommission für Bildungsplanung und Forschungsförderung. BLK- Materialien zur Bildungsplanung und Forschungsförderung. Gogolin, Ingrid (2005): Erziehungsziel Mehrsprachigkeit. In: Röhner, Charlotte (Hrsg.): Erziehungsziel Mehrsprachigkeit. Diagnose von Sprachentwicklung und Förderung von Deutsch als Zweitsprache. München: Juventa, pp. 13-24. Gogolin, Ingrid/Neumann, Ursula/Roth, Hans-Joachim (Hrsg.) (2005): Sprachdiagnostik bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund. Dokumentation einer Fachtagung am 14. Juli 2004 in Hamburg. FÖRMIG Edition Bd. 1, Münster: Waxmann. Jampert, Karin (2002): "Konzepte zur Sprachförderung mehrsprachiger Kinder" und "Situationsansatz und Sprache". In: Schlüsselsituation Sprache. Spracherwerb im Kindergarten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Spracherwerbs bei mehrsprachigen Kindern. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. Neumann, Ursula (2004): Alles PISA? Migrantenkinder im schiefen Turm des Schulsystems. In: Bildung macht reich. Dokumentation einer Fachtagung am 31. März 2004, hrsgg. von inPact Projektgruppe, pp. 23-30. Roth, Hans-Joachim/Reich, Hans (2003): Das Hamburger Verfahren zur Analyse des Sprachstandes von Fünfjährigen, insbesondere von Kindern, die Deutsch als Zweitsprache erwerben. Bericht über die Arbeiten der beiden Universitätsinstitute zur Entwicklung des Verfahrens im Jahre 2002. Manuskript.