German in Secondary Schools in Luxembourg: the Implementation of Macro-Level Language Policies on the Micro Level of the Luxembourgish German-Language Classroom

Abstract

Baldauf (2006, p. 47) writes that language planning is typically thought of in terms of ‘large-scale, usually national planning, often undertaken by governments and meant to influence, if not change, ways of speaking or literacy practices within a society’. He argues that this initial perception of language policy and planning taking place on the macro level has been questioned over the last decade (2006, p. 48) and asks about the role of the meso and micro levels in this matter. Hundt (2009, p. 117), too, suggests that the micro level, namely the language users, has tended to be neglected in theoretical models of linguistic norms. This chapter looks at the implementation of language policies on the micro level of the German-language classroom in Luxembourg, set at the macro level by the Ministry of National Education and Professional Development and curriculum writers. The data that will be examined were gathered as part of a larger project run by Wini Davies (Aberystwyth), Eva Wyss (Basel) and Melanie Wagner (Luxembourg). The project as a whole investigates the norm awareness and norm knowledge of secondary-school teachers of German and their role as authorities on that same norm in Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. On the basis of data collected from teachers through questionnaires, we aim to throw light on teachers’ practice in secondary-school German classes in these three countries where German plays an important role in the core curriculum.