It seems necessary to distinguish systematically between learning in a subject and Bildung. Learning, at least in school, is above all the result of teaching, of a purposeful, intentional instruction the effect and success of which can be planned and envisioned to a certain degree. The results can be more or less observed, if not even measured. Bildung, however, from the point of view of process and product, has constitutively an uncertain outcome. Although it can be part of the intentional teaching, it develops only under favorable conditions simultaneously and only if the students actively participates. We therefore distinguish rightly between learning and Bildung (Vollmer, 2017; Bayrhuber et al., 2017). School learning can activate mental and socio-cultural processes or reinforce them and lead to dispositions or potentials that are not fully observable, but that can nevertheless be described from different points of view. There are indicators for certain dimensions present in the everyday performance of learners. But only the individuals themselves can inform us about the inner processes of Bildung and its temporary results in relation with subject-matter learning. Foreign language learning, for example, given a competence-based curriculum, can establish subject-specific knowledge and skills as well as elements of a personality development at the same time which encompasses attitudes and mental dispositions to be applied for future reference and usability (Bildung in substance). In concrete, we will deal with grammaticality as a system and as an insight into the rule-governed structure of meaning making in general. Additionally, we will exploit the acquisition of textuality as an expression of looking for structuring in whatever verbal or non-verbal product we are encountering and applying structure in our own verbal behavior as well as in any other kind or mode of expression. Finally, we will show how language awareness (the awareness of variety, difference and conventionality on different micro and macro levels of language) can lead to a greater sensitivity towards choices in language use and towards cultural dependencies as well as intercultural implications. These examples plausibly demonstrate or even “prove” that in and through acquiring subject-matter elements simultaneously more is acquired, namely dispositions for personal development and potentials for long-range functional competences which are more general and will survive the specific occasion in which they were first encountered. These aspects we will qualify as elements of Bildung, based on and triggered by subject-specific education.

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