Going Native in School

It's a given that immigrant children in Germany who master the German language have a better chance to succeed in school and in the workplace.

While everyone recognizes the importance of teaching immigrant students German, there is little agreement on what to do about their native languages. There's a lively ongoing debate in Germany about how to best integrate non-native speakers.

In some regions of the country, the emphasis on integration has meant cutting back on native-language instruction. That's a mistake, said Ruprecht Baur, a professor for German as a Second Language at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Bilingualism is not the reason Turkish or Italian students fail in German schools, experts say. In fact, speaking multiple languages remains the norm in most parts of the world, Baur said.

"We know from international research that the native language is not a disruptive factor," Baur said. "One can even say that the majority of the world's population is multilingual."

Germany unsure about bilingualism

The European Union has placed a high priority on promoting linguistic plurality. The EU guidelines require schools to provide immigrant children with instruction in their native languages.

Yet in Germany in recent years, native language classes have been reduced or abolished in some regions. Vassilios Fthenakis, a professor in developmental psychology and anthropology at the Free University of Bozen in Italy criticizes the educational politics in Germany.

Native language a treasure

"This is a chronic problem for Germany, that no one is seriously concerned with the meaning of the native language and the culture of the child, but instead in a policy of integration that doesn't work," Fthenakis said.

A native Greek speaker, Fthenakis helped develop a draft educational plan for the German states of Bavaria and Hessen which views cultural and linguistic variety as an individual and collective treasure.

The current German system disorients students. It values English and French as foreign languages more highly than Turkish or Arabic, Fthenakis said.

Unlike in Sweden, England or France there's no basis for a system which can keep immigrant students from becoming disoriented, Fthenakis said.