Page 104 - Diversity in Action

Natascha J. Taslimi, Ursula Maurič, and Karin Steiner

in German (Institut des Bundes für Qualitätssicherung im österreichischen
Schulwesen, n.d.). Among other things, experts criticise the use of children’s
knowledge of German as a criterion for school readiness without consider-
ing their other language skills, which leads to discrimination against children
with a first language other than German when they start school. In view of
the complexity of multilingual language acquisition, especially in childhood,
the criteria used in this crucial test for transition are inadequate and overlook
significant linguistic potential (Netzwerk SprachenRechte, 2019). The Netzw-
erk SprachenRechte (Language Rights Network) is an interdisciplinary asso-
ciation of educators and researchers in Austria who, with reference to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1966) and the Universal Declaration
of Linguistic Rights (1996), advocate the fundamental right of every person
to the protection and promotion of their linguistic identity (UNESCO, 1996;
United Nations, n.d).
Ehlich (2005) also criticises the overly high expectations placed on lan-
guage diagnostic procedures: particularly with regard to language, many
prerequisites that are indispensable in test theory are difficult to meet given
thecurrent stateofknowledge.Atthe sametime, theexpectationsplacedon
tests and their predictive power are considerable. The hope that far-reaching
and reliable conclusions can be drawn from a small number of indicators is
widespread both in the scientific community and among the public (Ehlich,
2005).

Bilingualism Takes Time
According to Reich (2009), attending kindergarten does not guarantee that
multilingualchildrenwillbeabletoentermonolingualschoolswithoutprob-
lems. It is true that the children show considerable achievements and after
about two years of attending kindergarten can act in the L2 in the same way
and at the same level as in their family language. However, from the school’s
point of view, these achievements are not satisfactory, as the average level
of German acquired does not meet the monolingual standards of German-
speaking schools (Reich, 2009).
Learning an L2 – just like acquiring a first language or languages – is a pro-
cess and does not end with the last year of primary school. Under favourable
conditions, children need four to six years before they are able to use German
as an L2 in its educational form, with its grammatical subtleties, diverse struc-
tures and differentiated vocabulary, in accordance with the requirements of
primary school (Charlotte Bühler Institut, 2021).
Also, a language can only be learned if there are sufficient opportunities to

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