This study evaluates GSL instruction at public schools in the cities of Winterthur and Zurich with the aim of identifying the conditions that lead to successful learning. The following lines of inquiry are foregrounded: 

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.

This project investigates the relationship between family language policy (FLP) and a child’s language use, and it observes changes both in a child’s use of language and in FLP during the transition to the formal education system. The method of input contexts in multilingualism (Ritterfeld & Lüke 2013) is applied to study FLP in multilingual families before and after the oldest child enters kindergarten or primary school .

Immigrant families need to make choices on which language(s) to favor in their everyday life. Those choices have been extensively investigated in recent decades under the label of family language policy (FLP). Early research has focused on explicit and overt language planning in Western middle-class families, a focus that has been criticized for being too elitist, while more recent research focuses on the role of FLP as a coping and defence mechanism, especially in contexts of trauma...

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...