Abstract
This chapter discusses the present debate on early language education within the German context from a critical point of view. In relation to Nussbaum’s Capability Approach and based on the insights of an ethnographic participant observation study of the everyday practices and contexts of communication and lingual interactions in Kindergarten, the authors point out that language education includes more than the grammatically and phonologically correct acquisition of the official language—as the general claims of early language support in Germany would suggest. Inspired by Nussbaum’s theoretical framework, an analysis of the empirical findings reveals the relevance of broadening and supplementing current studies on language skills diagnosis in Germany through a pedagogical access. The focus is on the realization of language education in its holistic meaning.
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Notes
- 1.
See the different curricula of the individual federal states.
- 2.
See the FÖRMIG (Förderung von Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund [support for children with a migration background]) model programme organized by the Institut für Internationale und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft of the University of Hamburg with the support of the Bund-Länder-Kommission (BLK). This is currently one of the biggest and most extensive language intervention projects.
- 3.
Nussbaum (1990, p. 203) emphasises that the task of political planning in Aristotle was “to make available to each and every citizen the material, institutional, and educational circumstances in which good human functioning may be chosen; to move each and every one of them across a threshold of capability into circumstances in which they may choose to live and function well”.
- 4.
On the problem of the different capabilities levels, see also Pauer-Studer (1999, p. 21).
- 5.
The list of capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000, p. 78–80): (1) Life; (2) Bodily health; (3) Bodily integrity; (4) Senses, imagination and thought; (5) Emotions; (6) Practical reason; (7) Affiliation; (8) Other species; (9) Play; and (10) Control over one’s environment: A. political, B. material
- 6.
“For now we are in a position to specify vaguely certain basic functionings that should, as constitutive of human life, concern us. We shall actually introduce the list as a list of the related capabilities, rather than of actual functionings, since we have argued that it is capabilities, not actual functionings, that should be in the legislator’s goal” (Nussbaum, 1990, p. 224).
- 7.
Focusing on literacy in this article is not meant to give the impression that it is understood as a superior capability to other ones. This focus results exclusively from the research question. “In order to be doing what they should for their citizens, states must be concerned with all the capabilities” (Nussbaum, 2000, p. 90). This demand is not meant to be reduced here.
- 8.
Ingrid Robeyns (2005, p. 94) emphasises that “the capability approach is not a theory that can explain poverty, inequality or well-being, instead, it rather provides a tool and a framework within which to conceptualize and evaluate these phenomena”.
- 9.
In this context, the curricula of the federal state of Hessen are a praiseworthy exception, in so far as they clearly document their social-constructivist and interaction-theoretical backgrounds (see Hessisches Sozialministerium/Hessisches Kultusministerium, 2005).
- 10.
The suitability of the method for kindergartens soon became obvious because the children quickly made contact with the observer and asked her what she was doing. They also used the presence of the observer as an opportunity to present self-made works of art to her and to stage themselves. They enjoyed observing the observer. Now and then—in a slightly controlling and also supporting mode—they asked her whether she had actually seen and noted this or that.
- 11.
The very popular German translation of Eric Carle’s (1969) world-famous book is Kleine Raupe Nimmersatt.
- 12.
The sentences were incomplete in the German version, because the educator dropped the definite articles when naming the objects knife and fork (“Das ist Messer! Das ist Gabel!”).
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Diehm, I., Magyar-Haas, V. (2011). Language Education—For the “Good Life”?. In: Andresen, S., Diehm, I., Sander, U., Ziegler, H. (eds) Children and the Good Life. Children¿s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9219-9_8
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