Early foreign language teaching in Germany: Recent political and curricular developments

Abstract

As in other educational systems throughout the world (Hayes 2022; Enever 2018), early foreign language learning – mostly English – has gained importance in Germany. Thus, the teaching of an additional language has been mandatory in German primary schools since 2004. Nevertheless, debates persist over its role and suitable teaching approaches as well as appropriate educational policies. These are mirrored in each of the 16 federal states’ curricula. For this study, document analyses were employed to examine changes in the German Primary English Language Teaching (PELT) curricula since 2015 with consideration of recent political developments and their potential consequences for classroom practices. Special focus is placed on the documents from Baden-Wurttemberg (BW) and North Rhine-Westphalia (NW) as these underwent the most substantial changes. In addition, PELT coursebooks were analysed to assess the extent to which political developments may have caused modifications in teaching materials. We close with implications for primary language education that also extend to other countries and contexts.