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

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

The canton of Grisons in Switzerland promotes the goal of Romansh-German bilingualism with unique school models in traditional Romansh-speaking areas. In those areas, the minority language Romansh is the school language in primary schools. At secondary school levels, however, school language is switched to the majority language German. Differences in contact with German outside of school settings lead to extremely heterogeneous class constellations during German lessons from the third...

The Inventar des zweisprachigen Unterrichts (inventory of bilingual education) provides an overview of bilingual education in Switzerland, specifically of all bilingual education programmes currently in progress (2021/2022 school year) at compulsory schools and upper secondary schools.

Two-thirds of all Rhaeto-Romanic speakers live outside the Rhaeto-Romanic homeland, yet the specific linguistic conditions for Romansh speakers outside the traditional language region have not yet been studied in detail.