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Research

Research projects at IOM address a wide range of topics in the field of multilingualism and cover the subject from diverse perspectives (e.g. socio-political, historiographical, cognitive, didactical). Because we are convinced that multilingualism as a research subject can only be understood from an interdisciplinary standpoint, our work draws on different disciplines, theories and methodologies, including experimental, discourse-analytical, ethnographic or corpus-based approaches.

At IOM, we are committed to generating findings from both basic and applied research in the interest of advancing the field of multilingualism and to better understand important societal issues of our day.

The Institute’s work applied research is reinforced by the work at the Research Centre on Multilingualism, which began its activities in 2011 on the basis of a federal mandate.

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Tales from the field

Team
Alexandre Duchêne, Maria Rosa Garrido Sardà, Patricia Lambert, Kevin Petit Cahill, Zorana Sokolovska
The project offers a space for methodological reflections about critical ethnographic sociolinguistic research based on researchers’ experiences. On a dedicated website, the team makes available a collection of personal tales about specific problems that raise questions for the researchers, which are seen as opportunities to make sense of, and lead toward a better comprehension of, the phenomena, institutions and actors that are studied.  

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How much longer until a B2?

Linguistic and individual factors influencing the speed of learning an official language
Project management
Raphael Berthele, Isabelle Udry
Team
Jan Vanhove
The project “How much longer until a B2” investigates the time needed to attain a targeted level in a foreign language, with a specific focus on organisations associated with the Swiss federal government. These organisations generally require their staff in middle and senior management to have at least B2-level skills in two official languages.

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Teaching of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) and Development of Oral Communication Skills at the Lower Secondary Level - DISCO

Project management
Anita Thomas, Simone Morehed
Team
Aline Siegenthaler
The development of oral communication and interaction (conversational involvement) is a key focus in foreign language teaching frameworks, as outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), documents from the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK), and the Regional Education Plans. However, despite the efforts made in this field, the desired outcomes remain elusive. Foreign language instruction, particularly in French, has traditionally...

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Plurilingual Administrative Literacy: Comprehension Challenges in State-Citizen Correspondence

Project management
Alexandre Duchêne, Philippe Humbert
All residents of Switzerland are required to interact with the administrative authorities through written correspondence, necessitating the development of a degree of "administrative literacy" which will often involve plurilingual communication. This research project focuses on the understanding and drafting of written correspondence with social security bodies such as the unemployment, disability, AVS, and family allowance services.

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"Studien zeigen, dass…" Autoritäten, Expertise und Evidenz in der Debatte über frühen Fremdsprachenunterricht in der Schweiz

Project management
Verena Tunger, Daniel Elmiger
Seit dem Beschluss der Schweizerischen Konferenz der kantonalen Erziehungsdirektoren (EDK) im Jahr 2004, den Fremdsprachenunterricht auf die Primarstufe vorzuverlegen, wurde der Fremdsprachenunterricht in den Kantonen ab dem Schuljahr 2006/2007 sukzessive angepasst. Diese Neuregelung löste intensive und vielschichtige Debatten aus, die sich auf verschiedene Quellen wie wissenschaftliche Studien, Fachliteratur und Expertisen stützen. Es werden unterschiedliche Aspekte des Fremdsprachenunterrichts...

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Family Language Policies e sviluppo del linguaggio in comunità poco servite

Il caso delle famiglie dell’Africa subsahariana in Svizzera
Project management
Amelia Lambelet, Martina Zimmermann, Chiara Bemporad
Le famiglie migranti sono chiamate a operare delle scelte sulla lingua o le lingue da utilizzare nella loro vita quotidiana. Negli ultimi decenni, queste decisioni sono state analizzate approfonditamente nel quadro degli studi sulla family language policy (FLP). Le prime ricerche si sono concentrate sulla pianificazione linguistica esplicita e manifesta in famiglie occidentali del ceto medio, un gruppo mirato considerato troppo elitistico.

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The Influence of Input Quality in the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language

Project management
Anita Thomas

Emma Marsden (Université de York, GB), partenaire

Team
Nathalie Dherbey Chapuis, Raphaël Perrin
The goal of the project is to study the influence of teaching materials found in a compulsory school textbook on the learning of two grammatical phenomena. Following an analysis of the way in which these two phenomena are presented in the textbook, an improved variant will be constructed using criteria associated with input quality.

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Family language policies of Romansch-speaking families in German-speaking Switzerland

The role of “new speakers” and “child agency” in language transmission
Project management
Claudia Cathomas, Cordula Seger, Flurina Graf
This project builds on the foundational study “The diaspora rumantscha in German-speaking Switzerland”, which proposed further research in two areas: 1) the ways in which new speakers and parents with passive skills in Romansh influence family language policies and 2) how children and parent-child dynamics impact the languages spoken in a family and how fa

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Family Language Policy im Transitionsraum

Mehrsprachige Kinder und ihre Familien im Übergang ins formale Bildungssystem
Project management

Pascale Schaller, Larissa Trösch

Das Projekt erforscht, in welchem Zusammenhang die Family Language Policy (FLP) und der Sprachgebrauch von Kindern stehen und wie sich sowohl der kindliche Sprachgebrauch als auch die FLP in der Übergangsphase ins formale Bildungssystem verändern. Es zielt darauf ab, die FLP mehrsprachiger Familien vor und nach dem Übergang ihres ältesten Kindes in den Kindergarten oder die Basisstufe anhand des Instruments Mehrsprachen-Kontext (Ritterfeld & Lüke 2013) zu untersuchen.

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Digital tools in L2 and L3 vocabulary acquisition. A cross-linguistic investigation

Project management
Raphael Berthele

Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic (University of Warsaw)

Team
Nathalie Dherbey Chapuis, Fabienne Deuber
Vocabulary learning in a second or foreign language can take place in many different ways. In our project, we want to better understand how learners learn words incidentally or intentionally through the use of digital tools. Our project covers several language combinations and is being conducted in two countries in parallel, Poland and Switzerland. In Poland, we study learners who are Polish monolinguals and learn English as a second language (L2).

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National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Evolving Language, Phase 2

Project management
Raphael Berthele
Language is what distinguishes human beings from all other species. However, its evolutionary origins remain poorly understood. In addition, today's communicative environment is being reshaped by digitisation and artificial intelligence: the way we learn and use language has changed, raising the question of how language might develop in the future.

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Transcription of the FrOMi corpus

Project management
Nathalie Dherbey Chapuis
This project – a collaboration between S. Madikeri (Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich) and N. Dherbey Chapuis – aims to attain an error rate of approximately 20 percent in automatic transcriptions of audio recordings; at present, AI-generated transcriptions (e.g. Whisper, Microsoft) have an error rate of nearly 50 percent. In a second step, the transcripts will be corrected by hand.

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Anregung von Transfer und individuelle Lernprozesse in sprachenübergreifenden Schreibarrangements im Fremdsprachenunterricht in der 6. Klasse der Primarstufe

Project management

Mirjam Egli Cuenat (FHNW)
Ruth Trüb (FHNW)

Team

Marta Oliveira (FHNW)
Lea Hochuli-Schulthess (FHNW)

In der viersprachigen Schweiz ist der Unterricht von zwei Fremdsprachen ab der Primarstufe bis zum Ende der Sekundarstufe I obligatorisch. Die Schweizer Lehrpläne orientieren sich an einem mehrsprachigen Lehr-/Lernkonzept, welches das Transferpotenzial sprachenübergreifender Ressourcen nutzen soll. Die Umsetzung transferfördernder Massnahmen im Unterricht ist komplex, da es z. B. beim Transfer von Schreibstrategien zwischen den Sprachen grosse individuelle Unterschiede gibt und didaktische...

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Il trattamento dell’errore nella lingua straniera

Un confronto tra pratiche di correzione di testi scritti in francese, inglese, italiano, romancio e tedesco nella scuola primaria
Project management
Giulia Berchio
L’errore linguistico è comunemente definito, in glottodidattica, come un elemento discrepante rispetto a una norma data (ad es. regola grammaticale, ortografica, pragmatica). Il tema dell’errore genera molti dibattiti in ambito pedagogico; inoltre, nella ricerca, l’attenzione nei suoi confronti si è tradotta in numerosi studi sull’interlingua, sulla consapevolezza metalinguistica così come sull’efficacia della correzione sull’apprendimento linguistico.

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Représentations, attitudes et motivations dans l’apprentissage des langues.

Analyse de l’administration fédérale suisse (RAMAL)
Project management
François Grin
Le projet RAMAL étudie la diversité linguistique dans l’administration fédérale suisse (AF). Il porte sur le plurilinguisme des personnes au travers de leurs compétences individuelles ainsi que de la mise en œuvre de celles-ci dans leurs pratiques, mais il vise aussi à mieux comprendre le niveau collectif et à approfondir l’analyse du multilinguisme global de l’AF. Cette thématique présente un intérêt au plan tant scientifique que politique.

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How do you speak Swiss? Consensus Democracy, Multilingualism and Political Participation

Project management
Raphael Berthele
Team
Naomi Shafer
This interdisciplinary research project focuses on the relationship between multilingualism and plurilingualism, political institutions and legal conditions in Switzerland.The Swiss Confederation is a federal state with four national languages. Switzerland's political culture is based on consensus and the often lengthy negotiation of compromises. Recently, however, political positions and public discussion seem to become increasingly polarised.

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Development of a tool for the individual promotion and diagnosis of phonological awareness in multilingual migrants: Alpha II

Project management
Marie-Anne Morand, Thomas Studer
Team
Alexis Feldmeier
The placement of learners in literacy courses according to skill level is often faulty, and the resulting heterogeneity in such classes poses difficulties for both teachers and learners; in addition, the inefficient use of government funds earmarked for integration is also problematic.

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The settling-in phase in day-care centres for children and parents with limited knowledge of the local language

Project management
Franziska Vogt
International and Swiss studies alike have shown that early language promotion in the context of pre-school settings has a positive impact on a child’s scholastic success. In view of the current state of research and the various challenges facing professionals in early education, however, many questions remain unanswered and further research findings are needed. One question addresses the transition from the family to pre-school settings like day care centres.

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Synergien zwischen den Sprachen in der Schule: «SWIKO triple S»

Project management
Thomas Studer, Elisabeth Peyer
Team
Nina Selina Hicks
Seit Jahren wird eine stärkere Verbindung zwischen dem Schulsprachen- und dem Fremdsprachenunterricht gefordert, um mögliche Synergien zu nutzen. Bisher ist der Sprachenunterricht jedoch nach wie vor weitgehend einzelsprachlich ausgerichtet. Im Projekt «SWIKO triple S» wird deshalb der Frage nachgegangen, ob sich vorhandene Einflüsse zwischen Schul- und Fremdsprachen positiv nutzen lassen. Das Projekt interessiert sich insbesondere für konzeptuelle Aspekte von Texten, genauer für...

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Languages in vocational training in Switzerland: discipline, tools and historical discourses

Project management
Zorana Sokolovska
Team
Alexandre Duchêne, Renata Coray
As the question of the teaching-learning of French in vocational schools in Switzerland is under debate once again, it is essential to study and understand the place and role of French as a school discipline, a working tool and a subject of discourse in the context of vocational training. A historical perspective will be used for this purpose, since examining current issues from a historical perspective allows for a better understanding of the origins of phenomena and the factors that...

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