• Project Description
• Project Coordination @ Mannheim University
• Cooperation Partners
• Advisory Board
• Publications, Presentations, Materials
• Privacy Policy

The collaborative multi-site project PROMISE (Promoting Multilingualism in School Education) examines the longitudinal effects of language-promoting teaching strategies („input quality,“ as defined in Kersten, 2021) in instructional contexts across all subjects for learners in grades 5 to 7.

The aim is to determine which aspects of input quality predict the development of German and English competences as well as selected cognitive abilities in both monolingual and multilingual learners. The study controls for linguistic background (multilingual competences and family language support) and social background. Additionally, it investigates whether input quality moderates the effect of social status on linguistic and cognitive development, and thus helps alleviate social inequalities.

Inga Benz, MA (Universität Mannheim, Anglistisches Seminar, Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik)

Ramona Böttcher, MA (Universität Mannheim, Anglistisches Seminar, Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik)

Dr. Joel Guttke
Postdoctoral researcher and lecturer of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education, University of Duisburg-Essen

Dr. Natalja Ulrich
Postdoctoral researcher and project coordinator, Faculty of Education and Psychology
University of Oulu, Finland

Prof. Dr. Claudia Mähler
Pädagogische Psychologie 
(Institut für Psychologie, Universität Hildesheim)

Prof. Dr. Nicole Marx
Sprachliche Bildung und Deutsch als Zweitsprache 
(Institut für Deutsche Sprache und Literatur II, Mercator-Institut für Mehrsprachigkeit und Sprachliche Bildung, Universität zu Köln)

PD Dr. Anja Steinlen
Fremdsprachendidaktik mit Schwerpunkt Didaktik des Englischen
(Department Fachdidaktiken, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Dr. Christine Wieckenberg
Schulleitung, Schulaufsicht, Bilingualer Unterricht, Schulbuch-Autorin Klett-Verlag
(WandelWagen: Coaching für Lernende, Lehrende & Führungskräfte)

Ulrike Wolf
Referatsleiterin R. 74, Abteilung Schule und Bildung
(Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe)

Jedamski, L., Bredel, U., Kersten, K. (under review). A phonological awareness instrument for German: Design and pilot test. Language Awareness.

Jedamski, L., Bredel, U., Kersten, K. (2025). PHASES-G: Phonological Awareness Screening for Elementary and Secondary – German. Sudies on Multilingualism in Language Education, 12, University of Mannheim.

Kersten, K., Bruhn, A.-C., Ponto, K., Guttke, J., Mengeu, H., Böhnke, J., Greve, W. (2025). Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS) und Manual – Deutsche Version für L2 (2. überarbeitete Auflage). Studies on Multilingualism in Language Education, 11(2), University of Mannheim.

Kersten, K., Bruhn, A.-C., Ponto, K., Guttke, J., Mengeu, H., Böhnke, J., Greve, W. (2025). Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS) und Manual – Deutsche Version für sprachsensiblen Unterricht (2. überarbeitete Auflage). Studies on Multilingualism in Language Education, 11(3), University of Mannheim.

Conference Presentations

2024

Bruhn, A.-C. und Kersten, K. (2024). Effects of teacher input and social status on phonological awareness of young foreign language learners. AAAL 2024, Houston, TX.

Bruhn, A.-C. und Kersten, K. (2024). Home literacy predicts lexical, not grammatical, L2 skills and mediates effects of social status on young learners' phonological awareness. EuroSLA 33, the 33rd Conference of the European Second Language Association, Montpellier, France.

Kersten, K. (2024). Effects of L2-input quality, operationalzed with the Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS), on learners' L2-proficiency. AAAL 2024, Houston, TX.

Kersten, K. (2024). Fremdspracherwerb : Faktoren, Effekte, Unterrichtsstrategien. Wirksamer Französischunterricht – aktuelle Perspektiven und Herausforderungen, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.

Kersten, K., Bruhn, A.-C. und Jedamski, L. (2024). Testing a phonological awareness test: A validated reduced scale predicts L1 and L2 receptive lexical and grammatical skills. EuroSLA 33, the 33rd Conference of the European Second Language Association, Montpellier, France.

Kersten, K., Jedamski, L., Bruhn, A.-C. und Bredel, U. (2024). Phonological awareness predicts young learners’ L1 and L2 proficiency using a reduced but linguistically valid test scale. ALA 2024 – Language Awareness, Education & Power, Karlsruhe, Germany.

2025

Kersten, K., Benz, I., Böttcher, R., Mengeu, H., Jäkel, N., Jedamski, L., Ponto, K., Kohl-Dietrich, D., Roos, J. und Schirmag, F. (2025). Promoting multilingualism in school education: Results from a multi-site project. ATFLY 2025 – Advances in Teaching Foreign Languages to Young Learners, Online.

Böttcher, R., Kersten, K. und Ponto, K. (2025). The effect of attentional abilities on vocabulary and grammar acquisition in young ESL learners. ATFLY 2025 – Advances in Teaching Foreign Languages to Young Learners, Online.

Kersten, K. (2025). Language-sensitive and cognitively activating teaching techniques predict language competence and buffer social effects. GEBF 2025, 12. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung – Bildung als Schlüssel für gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen, Mannheim, Germany.

Benz, I. und Kersten, K. (2025). Cognitive-linguistic development in childhood: Examining effects of multilingual competencies and German language skills on regulatory abilities in young learners. EuroSLA 34, the 34th Conference of the European Second Language Association, Tromsø, Norway.

Kersten, K. (2025). Strategies of input quality: Effects on diverse language learners. L'observació com a recurs per a la formació docent i la recerca educativa: metodologies, evidències i perspectives de futur, Jornada Internacional (ARMIF 00005 2023), Lleida, Spain, Online.

Kersten, K. (2025). Unterrichtsqualität im frühen Fremdsprachenlernen. 2. FFF-Netzwerktreffen, Münster, Germany.

2026

Kersten, K., Kohl-Dietrich, D., Benz, I. Böttcher, R. Jäkel, N., Chauhan, R., Jedamski, L., Kleinbub, J., Mengeu, H., Ponto, K., Roos, J., Schirmag, F. (2026). Language awareness mediates effects of parent support and cognitive skills on SLA. ALA, Conference of the Association for Language Awareness, Monterey, California.

Böttcher, R., Benz, I., Chauhan, R., Jedamski, L., Kleinbub, J., Kohl-Dietrich, D., Maier, J., Mengeu, H., Ponto, K., Roos, J., Schirmag, F., Kersten, K. (2026). Teachers' input quality and learners' working memory predict L2-English outcomes: Results from structural equation modeling. EuroSLA 35, 35th Annual Conference of the European Second Language Association, Lisboa, Portugal.

Böttcher, R., Ponto, K., Bruhn, A.-C., Kersten, K. (2026). Teachers’ input quality and learners’ attention predict early receptive L2 abilities. 2nd ELLRA Conference – Exploring Multilingualism and Diversity in Formal Early Language Learning Contexts, Bellaterra, Spain.

Kersten, K., Böttcher, R., Ponto, K., Bruhn, A.-C. (2026). Instructional, social and cognitive factors predict receptive ESL skills. AAAL 2026, American Association for Applied Linguistics, Chicago, IL.

The privacy policy for legal guardians can be found here
The privacy policy for teachers can be found here.

Forschungsfond der Universität Mannheim: Förderlinie EXTRA (2024–2025)