It starts in the classroom: “Say it in German!”—a clear rule in many German classrooms. In academic terms, this is called a “monolingual habitus”: the view that German (or the respective national language) is the only legitimate language of instruction. For students, this means they must be able to acquire and express their academic knowledge in German. However: “Those who are not allowed to speak their own first language feel excluded - and that has a negative impact on learning,” explains Prof. Dr. Barbara Schmidt-Thieme, professor of mathematics education at the University of Hildesheim. Banning a language leads to a lower sense of value - both for the language itself and for the person who identifies with it. “Living with a monolingual habitus reduces the self-confidence and educational opportunities of the people affected,” emphasizes the researcher. This approach thus influences not only expression and opportunities for self-identification; it can have a fundamental impact on educational equity. “Current research shows that suppressing the first language actually affects academic performance,” says Kristina Förster, scientific coordinator of the Translang² project at the University of Hildesheim. 

More on this topic can be found in the university magazine (german).