The vocational school as a language learning venue – current developments in Bavaria

The Bayerische Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst (StMBW) [Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts] has reacted to the growing need for language training at vocational schools by introducing a teaching principle based on “German as a language of work” and a new curriculum for German. This article highlights the basic empirical principles underlying this and outlines the conceptual background for subject-integrated German teaching and for linguistically sensitive specialist teaching at part-time and full-time vocational schools, which has been jointly developed by the Staatsinstitut für Schulqualität und Bildungsforschung (ISB) [State Institute for School Quality and Education Research] and the Institute for German as a Foreign Language at the LMU Munich University.