Globalisation, increased mobility and transnational networking transform the linguistic ecologies of contemporary societies. In this COST Action, the aim is to bring multilinguals into the focus of these processes by investigating the challenges and opportunities involved in acquiring, using and being understood as a “new speaker” of a language in the context of a multilingual Europe.

There is little verified, i.e. empirically based knowledge about how second-language courses should be best designed to meet the specific needs of adult learners in low-threshold language courses. The aim of this project was to integrate didactic elements that are promising particularly for learners without a strong educational background into a course design (including course materials) suitable for daily use. In addition, the actual effects and results were compared with a course design...

The project "Language of origin and language at school: are language skills transferable?" was initiated to explore potential transfers between the language of origin and the language spoken at school in schoolchildren who attend heritage language and culture (HLC) courses. A particular focus was placed on reading and writing skills.

In cooperation with the University of Lausanne UNIL

This project commissioned by the State Secretariat for Migration dealt with developing a framework curriculum to promote the language skills of migrants in Switzerland. Development goals for future projects were also defined. To order the document in German. To order the document in French.

Promoting the integration of migrants in Switzerland is a legislative objective of the Swiss Federal Council, and the ability to speak one of the country’s languages is regarded as a critical step towards realising this goal. This overarching aim and the federal model “Framework proposal to promote language skills” (Rahmenkonzept Sprachförderung) provided the basis for the Institute of Multilingualism’s “Framework curriculum for promoting language skills of migrants”, commissioned by...

The SEM had issued a mandate to the Institute of Multilingualism to develop a quality strategy for fide language courses. The purpose of the strategy is to create a common understanding of fide’s didactic principles and to support the implementation of fide in practices used to support language learning. The evaluation of the introductory fide courses and various comments from educational institutions had shown that fide was still interpreted in a variety of ways.

The aim of this project is to study the linguistic competences of bilingual children when producing written texts in Spanish. The participant children attend heritage language and culture (HLC) courses. The main research question is: How do bilingual children of Spanish-speaking origin learn and conserve writing competences in Spanish in a context of formal instruction (HLC courses)?

Adult language acquisition (of German) has generated a great deal of scientific interest over the past decades. However, variation in input and output as a consequence of specific sociolinguistic contexts has mostly been neglected so far. The present project focuses on untutored language acquisition in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and on the question of how standard and dialect interact in the emergence of second language systems.

The goal of the project mandated by the department of education of the Canton of Geneva was to understand the role which available orientation measures, including courses, play in the scholastic and professional integration of young immigrants. Moreover, the project aimed to identify systemic challenges facing such institutions, personnel at the institutions and the immigrants themselves.