Foreign languages education
Auch auf Deutsch verfügbar
Content of this page
In a multilingual country whose domestic and international economic success is based, among other things, on successful communication in several languages, foreign language education plays a key role in both compulsory and post-compulsory schooling, and thus also in teacher training.
The focus of research in foreign language education is on foreign language acquisition at school and its various sub-skills (especially reading and writing), the development of intercultural and transcultural skills (especially by means of literary and transmedia approaches), and foreign language teaching at the vocational level. A specific focus is on working with visual texts such as graphic novels, the promotion of visual literacy and the specific potential of these forms of media in foreign language teaching.
In addition, studies on the motivation of teachers and teacher educators are being conducted at PH Zurich, which will shed more light on the thinking and actions of these individuals in the educational system. Other studies are looking at the assessment skills of foreign language teachers, the effectiveness of feedback when writing and the use of electronic tools to provide feedback.
All research activities are driven by the three professorships in foreign language education currently in office, who are also actively involved in various national and international networks.
Research focuses
Researchers at PH Zurich primarily focus on the following areas of foreign language education:
- Foreign language teaching at the vocational level
- Children’s and young adult literature in foreign language teaching
- Literature in English lessons
- Promoting visual and multimodal literacy in English lessons
- Critical incidents in the education of English language students
- Motivation and professional development of foreign language teachers
- Assessment skills of foreign language teachers
- Effectiveness of feedback
- Text evaluation and writing skills at the lower secondary and upper secondary levels
- Use of digital tools in foreign language teaching
Vocational and professional English
This thematic focus studies the role and function of English lessons in the training of students in vocational schools with different occupational groups (business, retail, technology). Among other things, the following questions are key: how do educators weight the proportions of general and professional English lessons, and which factors influence the choice of topics, the focus on practical content and the desired level of learning?
Motivation and professional development of foreign language teachers
The research focus looks at the choice of a foreign language in teacher education. It explores the questions of why students have chosen to study a foreign language as part of their course, and what influence the different phases of their training have on the degree to which students are professionalised as foreign language teachers.
Training assessment competencies in English (Trace)
The focus of this research is on measuring and training the assessment skills of English teachers, which are central to formative assessment (assessment for learning) and summative assessment (assessment of learning). The research examines which aspects of argumentative essays teachers find especially difficult to comprehend. Based on this, training tools will be developed to specifically practise the assessment of these aspects in teacher training and in continuing education.
Other projects
Publications
2025
Hodson, Julia and Ursina Markwalder (2025) Do Dictionary Definitions Support Seventh Graders’ Acquisition of Word Meaning While Reading?
L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature 25(1): 1-18.
Hodson, Julia (2025) Keine Ahnung, was für immer ist. Populäre Lyrik im Zeitalter der Digitalität am Beispiel von Julia Engelmann.
In: Gegenwartslyrik im Deutschunterricht, hrsg. v. Jan Standke, 628–41. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Prusse, Michael C. (2025) Berufsfachliche und berufssprachliche Kompetenzen.
In: Leistungsmessung, Evaluation und Feedback im Fremdsprachenunterricht, hrsg. v. Karin Vogt und Henning Rossa, 272–77. Hannover: Kallmeyer/Klett.
Prusse, Michael C. (2025) Children’s and Young Adult Literature as a Springboard for Multiliteracies.
In: Current Challenges in Language Teacher Education, hrsg. v. Christiane Dalton-Puffer, Tatjana Bacovsky-Novak, Helen Heaney und Julia Hüttner, 133–49. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
Prusse, Michael C. (2025) Die Fachdidaktiken im Schweizer Wissenschaftsdiskurs: Beobachtungen und Entwicklungen
In: Zwei Jahrzehnte hochschulische Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung: Bilanzierungen und Perspektiven = Deux décennies de formation des enseignant·e·s en haute école: bilans et perspectives, hrsg. v. Bruno Leutwyler, Deniz Gyger Gaspoz, Barbara Kohlstock, Heinz Rhyn und Peter Tremp, 181–83. Bern: Hep.
Prusse, Michael C. (2025) Editorial: A Linguistic Cage? Ideology, Positionality, and Multiperspectivity.
Children’s Literature in English Language Education 13(2): ii–ix.
Prusse, Michael C. (2025) Editorial: Critical Narrative Literacy
Children’s Literature in English Language Education 13(1): ii–vii.
Prusse, Michael and Lukas Rosenberger (2025) Grenzen der Beurteilung und der Curricula? Untersuchungen zu Englisch-Abschlussnoten auf der Sekundarstufe I und zu einer standardisierten Eintrittsprüfung an der Berufsfachschule.
In: Grenzen, Grenzräume, Entgrenzungen: Perspektiven in der Fremdsprachenforschung, hrsg. v. Nina Kulovics, Olivier Mentz und Thomas Raith, 357–70. Bielefeld: wbv.
Prusse, Michael (2025) English Language Teaching in the Digital Age: Narrative Across the Media, Multiliteracies, and Blogs.
Educational Linguistics 4(2): 216–33.
2024
Keller, Stefan, Julian Lehmann, Ruth Trüb, Johanna Fleckenstein, Jennifer Meyer, Thorben Jansen and Jens Möller (2024) Language quality, content, structure: What analytic ratings tell us about EFL writing skills at upper secondary school level in Germany and Switzerland.
Journal of Second Language Writing 65: 101–29.
Mayer, Nikola (2024) “I remember…” – Working with graphic memoirs in the EFL classroom.
In: This Is My Story: Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives in English Language Teaching, hrsg. v. Michael C. Prusse und Nikola Mayer, 107–26. Bern: Hep-Verlag.
Prusse, Michael C. and Nikola Mayer (2024) This Is My Story: Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives in English Language Teaching.
Bern: Hep-Verlag.
Prusse, Michael (2024) Biographies of Migrants and Refugees: The Quandaries of Appropriation and Representation.
In: This Is My Story: Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives in English Language Teaching, hrsg. v. Michael C. Prusse und Nikola Mayer, 87–109. Bern: Hep-Verlag.
Sigrist, Diego and Michael Prusse (2024) A Multiliteracies Approach to the Graphic Novel Adaptation of Stormbreaker: Facilitating Authentic Reading in a Swiss Lower Secondary ELT Classroom.
Children’s Literature in English Language Education 12 (1): 49–72.
2023
Fuchs, Regula und Kristel Ross (2023) «I would definitely do it again»: das Potential von filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodellen für die Ausbildung von Fremdsprachenlehrpersonen an den Pädagogischen Hochschulen.
Beiträge zur Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung 41 (1): 151–64.
Keller Stefan, Ruth Trüb, Emily Raubach, Jennifer Meyer, Thorben Jansen und Johanna Fleckenstein (2023) Designing and validating an assessment rubric for writing emails in English as a foreign language.
Research in Subject-matter Teaching and Learning (Ristal), 6(1), 16–48.
Alvir, Spomenka, Tamara De Vito, Sabrina Marruncheddu, Paola Rivieccio, Maria de Lurdes Gonçalves und Josianne Veillette (2023) Le matériel didactique pour l’enseignement de langues et cultures d’origine : pluralité de regards et de paroles.
Babylonia. Multilingual Journal of Language Education 1: 24–27.
Isler, Dieter, Achim Brosziewski, Claudia Hefti, Katharina Kirchhofer, Sibylle Künzli, Judith Schönberger und Usul Betül (2023) Frühe Sprachbildung mehrsprachiger Kinder in Spielgruppen – ein Fazit.
In: Frühe Sprachbildung in pädagogischen Einrichtungen. Am Beispiel mehrsprachiger Kinder in Deutschschweizer Spielgruppen, hrsg. v. Dieter Isler, 179–90. Weinheim/Basel: Juventa.
Mayer, Nikola und Annika Kolb (2023) Visual Narratives im Fremdsprachenunterricht und der Fremdsprachenlehrerbildung.
In: Standortbestimmungen in der Fremdsprachenforschung, hrsg. v. Eva Wilden, Luisa Alfes, Katja F. Cantone, Sevgi Cikrikci und Daniel Reimann, 162–78. Bielefeld: Schneider, wbv.
Prusse, Michael (2023) «Memory is the most unreliable of faculties»: Literature in English teacher education.
In: Activating and Engaging Learners and Teachers: Perspectives for English Language Education, hrsg. v. Carmen Amerstorfer und Max von Blanckenburg, 301–17. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.
Keller Stefan and Ruth Trüb (2021) Conceptualising and measuring EFL writing at primary school.
In: S. Frisch & J. Rymarczyk (Hrsg.): Current Research into young FL and EAL learners’ literacy skills (S. 113–138). Berlin: Peter Lang.
Zürn, Clément (2023) « ce matin je (.) mangE une banane ». L’expression du passé dans des interactions avec des apprenants débutants du français L3.
Dissertation. Université de Neuchâtel.
2022
Prusse Michael (2022) The Hero’s Journey as a Narrative Template Across the Media in EFL Teaching.
In: Lütge, Christiane (Hrsg.). Foreign Language Learning in the Digital Age: Theory and Pedagogy for Developing Literacies, New York: Routledge. S. 79–90.
Mayer Nikola (2022) Jugendliteratur im Fremdsprachenunterricht der Sekundarstufe I für alle. Einführung in den Themenschwerpunkt.
In: Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen (FLuL), 51/1, 3–9.
Mayer Nikola (2022) Breaking down barriers – Englische Lektüre in einfacher Sprache.
In: Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen (FLuL) 1/2022. 90–106.
Mayer Nikola (2022) Building Stories.
In: Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch 177/2022, 26–33.
Mayer Nikola and Bernd Tesch (2022) “Momente der Befremdung” – Kulturelles Lernen mit Graphic Novels.
In: L. König, B. Schädlich und C. Surkamp (Hrsg.). unterricht_kultur_theorie – Kulturelles Lernen im Fremdsprachenunterricht gemeinsam anders denken. Stuttgart: Metzler, 283–297.
Mayer Nikola (2022) Erfahrungsbasierte Ansätze in der Ausbildung von Studierenden der Sekundarstufe I und ihre Relevanz für deren Professionalisierung.
In: R. Jesabel und M. Zimmermann (Hrsg.) Fremdsprachendidaktik in der Schweizer Lehrer*innenausbildung: An welchen Positionen orientiert sich die Praxis? Brüssel, Bern et al.: Peter Lang. 193–211.
Schmid, Frank and Nikola Mayer (2022) Heterogenitätsfreundlicher CLIL-Unterricht auf der Primarstufe. Eine Good Practice-Studie wie heterogene Englischlernende bilinguale Module in der Fächerfusion Englisch und Bildnerisches Gestalten nutzen.
In: Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen 51/2, 102–119.
2021
Keller Stefan and Ruth Trüb (2021) Conceptualising and measuring EFL writing at primary school.
In: S. Frisch & J. Rymarczyk (Hrsg.): Current Research into young FL and EAL learners’ literacy skills (S. 113–138). Berlin: Peter Lang.
Prusse-Hess, Barbara and Michael Prusse (2021) Eine Weltsprache als Inhalt, Ziel und Medium: Zur Wirksamkeit von Englischunterricht.
In: Reinhardt, Volker; Rehm, Markus; Wilhelm, Markus. Wirksamer Fachunterricht Metaband: Eine metaanalytische Betrachtung von Expertisen aus 17 Schulfächern. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider-Hohengehren, S. 90–100.
Prusse Michael and Lukas Rosenberger (2021) Englischunterricht an Berufsfachschulen: Die Balance zwischen Allgemeinbildung und Berufsorientierung.
Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen (FLuL), 50 (2): S. 37–52.
Vögelin Cristina and Stefan Keller (2021) Linguistic Features of Formative Feedback on ESL Argumentative Writing: Comparing Pre-service and Experienced Teachers.
Issues in Applied Linguistics, 22(0), 1–22.
Jansen Thorben, Cristina Vögelin, Nils Machts and Stefan Keller (2021) Don’t Just Judge the Spelling! The Influence of Spelling on Assessing Second-Language Student Essays.
Frontline Learning Research, 9 / 1, 44–65.
Schlote Elke, Stefan Keller, Benedikt Schülin and Niklas Meier (2021) “I’ll still kick your ass even in my skirt”. Feministische Musikvideos im Englischunterricht mit TRAVIS GO analysieren.
Babylonia Journal of Language Education, 3, 62–67.
Jansen Thorben, Cristina Vögelin, Nils Machts, Stefan Keller, Olaf Köller and Jens Möller (2021) Judgment accuracy in experienced versus student teachers: Assessing essays in English as a foreign language.
Teaching and Teacher Education 97.
Meyer Jennifer, Thorben Jansen, Johanna Fleckenstein, Stefan Keller and Olaf Köller (2021) Machine Learning im Bildungskontext: Evidenz für die Genauigkeit der automatisierten Beurteilung von Essays im Fach Englisch.
Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie 12/2020.
Fleckenstein Johanna, Jennifer Meyer, Thorben Jansen, Raja Reble, Maleika Krüger, Emily Raubach and Stefan Keller (2021) Was macht Feedback effektiv? Computerbasierte Leistungsrückmeldung anhand eines Rubrics beim Schreiben in der Fremdsprache Englisch.
In: K. Kaspar, M. Becker-Mrotzek, S. Hofhues, J. König, & D. Schmeinck (Hrsg.): Bildung, Schule, Digitalisierung (S. 333–338). Münster: Waxmann.
2020
Fleckenstein Johanna, Jennifer Meyer, Thorben Jansen, Stefan Keller and Olaf Köller (2020) Is a Long Essay Always a Good Essay? The Effect of Text Length on Writing Assessment.
Frontiers in Psychology, 25 September 2020.
Janta Hania and Stefan Keller (2020) Service Sector Work and Informal Language Learning.
In: M. Dressman & R. Sadler (Hrsg.), The Handbook of Informal Language Learning (S. 229–242). Charles Wiley.
Prusse Michael (2020) Transmediales Erzählen im Fokus: “Close Reading” Aktivitäten als Beitrag für zukunftsorientierten Englischunterricht.
In: Babylonia, 2020, 2: S. 20–27.
Vögelin Cristina, Thorben Jansen, Stefan Keller, Nils Machts and Jens Möller (2020) Organisational quality of ESL argumentative essays and its influence on pre-service teachers’ judgements.
Cogent Education (OAED).
Keller Stefan, Johanna Fleckenstein, Maleika Krüger, Olaf Köller and André Rupp (2020) English writing skills of students in upper secondary education: Results from an empirical study in Switzerland and Germany.
Journal of Second Language Writing 1/2020, 1–13.
Mayer Nikola and Mathias Picenoni (2020) Einleitung der Herausgeber in das Themenheft: Was Bilder erzählen / Les images ont la parole / What pictures tell us.
In: Babylonia 2/2020: 6–7.
Mayer Nikola (2020) “Manchmal werfe ich mitten im Satz einen Blick auf die Bilder…” – Eine andere Art des Lesens: Ergebnisse aus dem Projekt Reading Graphic Novels in the EFL classroom.
In: Babylonia 2/2020: 42–51.
Doctoral theses
Professional English at vocational business schools (Alebe)
Doctoral thesis by: Veronika Cook-Jeltsch
Topic: This research project examines which English skills students at vocational business school bring with them from lower secondary school, which ones they acquire at the vocational school and in their job, and which skills they can demonstrate once they’ve completed their apprenticeship or vocational baccalaureate.
Supervisors: Michael Prusse (PHZH), Karin Vogt (PH Heidelberg)
Training Assessment Competencies in English – TrACE
Doctoral thesis by: Flavio Lötscher
Topic: This research project examines the factors that influence the accuracy of assessment of English argumentative essays, and how appropriate assessment skills can be taught in teacher training and in continuing education.
Funded by: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Supervisors: Stefan Keller (PHZH)