Change ahead?! Status quo der Kompetenzorientierung im Land Bremen aus der Sicht von Englischlehrkräften

Abstract

The adoption of educational standards for the first foreign language in 2004 is tied to the requirement to orient foreign language teaching towards competences. Some members of the foreign language didactics have already worked out proposals on how lessons that focus on the development of the competencies of the students could look like. However, no research has been conducted so far on how teachers deal with competence orientation in English teaching. This research gap was taken as the reason for this dissertation project - which is part of the English didactics and refers to findings of implementation and education governance research - to find out more about the English teacher's perspective on the status quo of competence based teaching in the Bundesland Bremen. In order to be able to make a statement on the status quo of competence orientation within the scope of the doctoral project, a multi-methodical, explorative access to the research field was chosen: To begin with, the field was explored with the aid of a quantitative questionnaire survey (n = 56 English teachers). This questionnaire was then followed by qualitative expert interviews (n = 7). Based on the results of the aforementioned means of exploring the field, patterns were generated that reflect how English teachers deal with competence orientation. The results show that the education plan of Bremen (the so-called Bildungsplan) and the educational standards for the first foreign language are in urgent need of revision, as the uncertainty of English teachers in dealing with competence orientation is primarily triggered by the diffuseness of the guidelines. Another important result is that - regardless of the pattern - the biggest challenge for English teachers in the implementation of competence orientation is the way grammar is taught. More research is needed to further explore and develop the aspect of the serving function of grammar. In summary, the dissertation project shows that the "paradigm shift" celebrated by representatives of education policy has only partially taken place from the point of view of English teachers in the state of Bremen.