Effekte bilingualen Unterrichts auf die Englischleistungen in der Sekundarstufe I

In this paper we present findings from secondary analyses of data from the national assessment conducted by the Institute for Educational Progress in Germany. English achievement scores from n = 346 ninth graders in bilingual classes, in which students received instruction in geography and/or history in English, were compared with available scores from students from monolingual classes (n = 9.521). For the purpose of this study we concentrated on students from academically selected schools (in German: Gymnasium). Even after controlling for family background (parents' highest educational degree, SES) and general verbal skills in mother tongue, students in bilingual classes outperformed their monolingual classmates in standardized tests on reading and listening comprehension in English as a foreign language. Here, mean differences in favor of students in bilingual classes corresponded to an effect size of about 0.5 standard deviations. Implications for education are discussed. [Editor]