The opening of national borders connected with a lack of qualified workers in European countries promotes more individual mobility and diversity within societies and workplaces. New legal frameworks in order to recognize professional qualifications obtained abroad - such as the German law on determination of equivalence of professional qualifications (Bundesgesetzblatt 2011) - imply an increase of public funded adaptation- and requalification programs in order to train participants in preparation of their vocational certificate for a permanent work permission in Germany.  

Connected with those programs it is a need of adjustment in adult and vocational training with respect to linguistic diversity because of the diverse sociocultural background of participants. Trainers in these qualification programs need to be qualified to deal with the crucial role of language in knowledge acquisition in a new way: They have to design vocational learning processes with respect to language deficiencies but also in a way to promote language skills (especially an advanced level of professional language) of their learners.

The project “Integrated content and language learning in professional adaptation qualification – a job-related training for specialist trainers” connects to these challenges as it customizes a specific program to equip those trainers with methods to integrate the acquisition of knowledge and of learning-related language skills at the same time. The correlating main research question is “How can trainers in adaption qualification/requalification programs be trained for an integrated language and content learning?”

The project is subdivided into different phases and milestones:

1. Needs assessment of the adaption of competences in the area of integrated language and content learning
2. Development of an empirical based advanced training concept for trainers
3. Implementation of the developed advanced training
4. Individual facilitation of the participants after the implementation of the advanced training
5. Evaluation of the implemented processes
6. Final report

Aim of the project is particularly to support the participating trainers to increase the following competences:

• They can reflect the linguistic nature of the job-related learning processes of their participants and their job-related teaching activities adequately
• They can encourage their participants with German as a second language in their subject teaching in a targeted and successful job-related linguistic reception, production and interaction on this basis
• They are able to integrate the switching necessary for the acquisition of professional education content language skills in a didactic-methodical overall planning of professional instruction in their professional courses.

Target groups are trainers in adaption programs in the healthcare sector.

There is already an awareness of the increasing linguistic diversity connected with heterogeneous learning biographies in vocational learning groups at the transition from school to work (Becker-Mrotzek et al. 2013; Gogolin et al. 2010). Initial considerations and concepts to role changes, new tasks and resulting skill needs of vocational training staff to deal with language deficiencies and linguistic diversity are triggered with approaches of a language-related content learning (Breidbach 2013). A first framework curriculum for the context of vocational qualification has been developed by the presenters within a former research project (Kimmelmann et al. 2014). Findings of the project also emphasized a need for more specific and flexible offers of professionalization, considering the diversity of trainers but also institutional frameworks of vocational (adaptation) qualification programs, the changing didactic concept of qualification processes involving more individualized teaching and learning arrangements and process support as well as the inclusion of practical experience and output in the training programs for trainers.

These aspects are going to be integrated in the presented project.

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