Project TeWiPrax
Research-Practice-Partnership to Support students’ Reading Comprehension in STEM Subjects
In the TeWiPrax project, researchers and teachers from the group „Sprachförderung/Mehrsprachigkeit“ of the “Campusschulen” program collaboratively develop and test materials that support secondary school students in understanding scientific texts. A particular focus is on academic and subject-specific vocabulary.
In the TEWiPrax project, researchers and teachers collaboratively develop and test teaching materials aimed at supporting reading comprehension in STEM subjects. The growing challenges in reading comprehension (IQB, 2022; PISA, 2022) can significantly hinder students’ subject-specific learning. Empirical findings show a strong correlation between vocabulary size and reading comprehension. In addition to subject-specific terminology, elements such as connectives are also linked to comprehension skills. Complex texts – particularly common in STEM subjects – pose a major challenge for students with educational disadvantages or multilingual backgrounds.
These findings highlight the need for increasing language support in subject-specific instruction. Glossaries, info boxes, and other comprehension aids can function as supportive scaffolds, helping to reduce unequal learning conditions. In the TEWiPrax project, these support tools are not only developed but also tested for practicality in everyday classroom settings. Based on feedback from both teachers and students, the tools are continuously refined in iterative cycles, following the Design-Based Research (DBR) approach.
Cooperation
Schule am Ried, Frankfurt am Main
Selected publications
- Biela, B., Efing, C., Höhr, R., Theisel, A. & Werner, B. (2025). Wie kommt Sprachsensibilität in Lernmedien? Ein Ansatz der Theorie-Praxis-Verzahnung. In C. Ott & B. Bock (Hrsg.): Verständlichkeit – Zugänglichkeit – Barrierefreiheit: Sprachbezogene Rezeptionsherausforderungen und Inklusionspotentiale von Bildungsmedien. Peter Lang Verlag.
- Lemmer, R., Voet Cornelli, B. & Schulz, P. (2021). Warum Sprachdiagnostik bei Mehrsprachigkeit von besonderer Bedeutung ist. Praxis Sprache, 4, 204–210.
- Weicker, M. (accepted). Form und Funktion kausaler Konnektoren: Eine Analyse von Lesebüchern für das 4. Schuljahr. Linguistische Berichte (Sonderheft Semantische Phänomene lehren und lernen).
Funding
