Looking at research-based learning beyond the university context, this presentation introduces an international professional development program for teachers of German, which the Goethe-Institute offers worldwide as a key qualification in the field (“Deutsch Lehren Lernen”, DLL). The participants are in-service teachers, second and first-language speakers with varying teaching and research experience. Besides theoretical material, the program includes a significant research component called “practice exploration project”, requiring the participants to undertake practice research in their own classrooms, exploring how discussed theoretical phenomena occur in their learning groups or applying and evaluating newly studied methods, for example (Saunders et al. 2020). A quantitative survey looking at research attitudes and knowledge showed a heterogenous background of research experience in the sample of 312 teacher researchers (Helmbold et al., 2023), pointing to the need for skilled mentoring. Thus, extensive research was done looking at salient mentoring practices of established DLL tutors in hybrid settings (Walkington et al. 2025), using a qualitative analysis of 17 in-depth interviews with expert teacher-mentors from all over the world. The authors identified 11 practices that successfully supported these kinds of practice inquiry projects conducted by non-academic teacher-researchers. Most notably, compared to other mentoring groups, these tutors rigidly reflected on their own mentoring practice, suggesting that the DLL program creates an “inquiry mindset” even outside the immediate target group.

Helmbold, B., Karbi, G. & Saunders, C. (2023). Einstellungen und Kompetenzen hinsichtlich Forschenden Lernens in DLL. Eine Fragebogenerhebung unter am Programm teilnehmenden Deutschlehrenden weltweit. KONTEXTE. Internationales Journal zur Professionalisierung in Deutsch als Fremdsprache weltweit, 1(2):64-77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24403/jp.1335302 Saunders, C., Werner, T., Helmbold, B. & Schart, M. (2020). „Praxiserkundungen als Ansatz für Forschendes Lernen im Bereich Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache“. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, 15(2):101-124. https://www.zfhe.at/index.php/zfhe/article/view/1347 Walkington, H., Saunders, C., Helmbold, B., Schart, M., Ebid, A. & Frodsham, S. (2025): Salient practices in mentoring teachers as researchers: the Goethe-Institute’s German as a foreign language continuing professional development programme. Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung, 24 p. https://doi.org/10.1007/s35834-025-00514-4