Project meRLe

Promoting German reading skills via multilingual-sensitive reciprocal teaching in primary education

With our project meRLe we aim to take up the linguistic diversity of fourth grade primary school children and integrate it into our programme for learning and reading strategies. Reading is a key competence for successful education. Reading and learning strategies support children’s scholastic achievement even after their transition to secondary school. A scientifically based method to acquire these strategies is “reciprocal teaching” where pupils learn and teach each other the strategies in small groups.What is special about the project meRLe? Children can use all languages in the classroom that may help them learn the strategies. This fosters a cooperative learning environment in which German and all other languages are welcome.

The project meRLe addresses primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. The participating teachers receive free and scientifically sound training and classroom materials to implement multilingual-sensitive reciprocal teaching into their classes. Furthermore, teachers get opportunities on how to develop the multilingual children’s German reading skills without speaking these languages themselves. The programme will be evaluated via questionnaires and video recordings to gain new insights into the support of children’s reading competence.

Cooperation

Bergische Universität Wuppertal

Collaboration

Dr. Katharina Maria Schneider

Selected Publications

• Bertram, V., Rauch, D., Reitenbach, V., Schneider, K.M., Decristan, J. (2025). Zur Rolle von Überzeugungen zu Mehrsprachigkeit für die Akzeptanz und den Lernerfolg eines mehrsprachigkeitssensiblen Unterrichtskonzepts. In: Ziehm-Eicher, J., Hasselhorn, M., Roßbach, HG. (eds) Kinder mit erhöhtem Risiko für Bildungsmisserfolg. Edition ZfE, vol 20. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-48674-7_7
• Decristan, J., Bertram, V., Reitenbach, V., Schneider, K. M., Köhler, C., & Rauch, D. P. (2022). Linguistically responsive reciprocal teaching in primary school: effectiveness of an intervention study on students’ Reading competence. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2141757
• Decristan, J., Bertram, V., Reitenbach, V., Schneider, K. M., & Rauch, D. P. (2024). Translanguaging in today’s multilingual classes – Students’ perspectives of classroom management and classroom climate. Teaching and Teacher Education, 139, 104437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104437
• Reitenbach, V., Decristan, J., Rauch, D. P., Bertram, V., & Schneider, K. M. (2023). Selbstberichtete Gründe für die (Nicht‑)Nutzung von Familiensprachen beim mehrsprachigkeitssensiblen Reziproken Lehren. Unterrichtswissenschaft. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42010-023-00171-4
• Schneider, K. M., Bertram, V., Decristan, J., Reitenbach, V., Rauch, D. P. (2025). Rising beliefs but descending self-efficacy when preparing in-service teachers for linguistically responsive teaching – insights from a longitudinal intervention study. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2447375