Language awareness amongst teachers in a central German dialect area

This article presents some findings of a study into Language awareness amongst teachers in an area of Germany where a Central German dialect (Pfälzisch) is spoken. Davies (1995) shows that, in the Mannheim suburb of Neckarau, many parents who speak non-standard dialect leave it almost entirely up to schools to teach their children standard German. Teachers should therefore have a systematic knowledge of the major divergences between their pupils' vernacular and the standard. However, research has shown (a) that teachers often have little idea how to deal with the needs of pupils who do not speak standard German, and (b) that teacher-training colleges do not prepare teachers adequately for these needs (Hagen, 1987:75).