Linguistik Online (Nov 2007)

Hochdeutsch im Kindergarten

  • Mathilde Gyger

DOI
https://doi.org/10.13092/lo.32.536
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 32, no. 3

Abstract

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According to the results of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) the linguistic competencies of Swiss students need to be improved. Currently, there is a strong tendency to ban local Swiss-German dialects from Swiss schools, including nursery-schools, and to replace them by Standard High-German more or less completely. Since parts of the Swiss-German speaking population have strong reservations about High-German or at least the use of High-German in nursery-schools, school authorities look for scientific support. Indeed linguistic research has shown favourable results for the pre-school use of High-German: German speaking children are encouraged to use High-German freely and spontaneously. Migrant children benefit regarding fluency and proficiency in German as a second language. The following article comments on some steps taken by school-authorities and summarizes the current discussions on the part of educational and linguistic research in Switzerland.