The learning context: FL teaching in Switzerland

The first thing to note about language education in Switzerland is that, despite the high level of multilingualism and the prevalence of plurilingual practices in daily life, none of the languages taught at school are considered as second languages. While earlier I observed that such distinctions are becoming increasingly difficult to make, multilingual settings also present certain educational advantages of which learners of the languages in question can greatly benefit. Therefore, in many multilingual contexts (cf. Beardsmore, 1993), language education places special emphasis on these, drawing attention, for instance, to the availability of second

language contact. However, in Geneva, for instance, languages other than French are taught as foreign languages, whose speakers mainly live in respective monolingual countries where these languages are official majority languages.

As seen in the previous sections, this might be understandable to a certain extent in the case of Standard German. Although one of the official languages in Switzerland, Standard German is nonetheless a minority language when it comes to the number of its L1 speakers and its role in family language use. Thus, many children in the German-speaking regions acquire it through schooling, as the language of instruction. This also explains why learners of Standard German in the French-speaking half of the country might find it difficult to associate the language with their German-speaking compatriots.

The second characteristic of Swiss language education to which I would like to draw attention is its territoriality. Policies are set at the cantonal level, based on recommendations issued by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (CDIP). As formulated on the website of the latter,

“[i]n the multilingual and federally structured Switzerland the 26 cantons have the primary responsibility for education. Compulsory education is largely rooted in the cantons and local municipalities. In post-compulsory education the cantons and the federal authorities each have their own responsibilities (CDIP, 2017)”.

Traditionally, despite their territorial variance, these policies, for a long time, aimed to promote understanding among Swiss citizens and learning the language of the other. Thus, foreign language education put special emphasis on the early introduction of German in French-speaking cantons and that of French in German-French-speaking areas, with the addition of Italian at some institutions (for a more detailed discussion, see Waltermann and Csillagh, 2016). A historical overview, as offered in Elmiger and Forster (2005) clearly showcases how the emergence of EFL gradually changed this balance.

One of these changes manifested in the growing number of German-speaking cantons that began to contemplate an English-first policy. Finally, in 1997, the canton of Zurich announced its intention of introducing English as the first L2 taught, relegating French to second place.

The modifications came into effect at the start of the 1999 school year. From that moment on, primary school pupils in the canton of Zurich were to study English first and another obligatory language (added in year 5) later, with some establishments offering a third language (from year

7) as an option. Although learning one national language was still mandatory, the order in which the two first foreign languages were to be introduced was not specified. As a result, local policy-makers often opted for English as the first foreign language taught.

It was this shift toward an English-first approach that prompted the CDIP, which was no longer able to reinstate the balance of language policies, to appoint a number of regional Conferences that would collaborate in redesigning the framework. One of the main goals of this collaboration was the harmonization of regional and cantonal language education policies. The new regulations (EDK-CDIP, 2004), to be implemented by the 2015 school year, now required all cantons to introduce a national language as well as English by grades three and five the latest. In addition, these are no longer mere recommendations, although the choice of the first FL remains at the discretion of the individual cantons.

Figure 2.5 First foreign languages first taught at Swiss schools (published in La Suisse : la répartition des langues)

While completely in line with these regulations, the recent change from French to English as the first FL in the cantons of Nidwalden and Thurgau brought the issue back to the agenda and caused several German-speaking cantons to reconsider their policies. First of all, the question

cognitive load and increase the quality of teaching. Second, proponents of English voiced arguments for the international usefulness and profitability of the language and suggested that it should replace French in primary schools. On May 21, 2017, Zurich voters rejected an English-only policy. Therefore, pupils in the canton will continue to learn English and French, from ages seven and eleven respectively.

In the French-speaking region, these decisions raised the question whether German should prevail as the first foreign language. Arguments for and against the introduction of English as the first FL were voiced in all types of media (cf. Waltermann and Csillagh, 2016).

Commenting on the debate, Grin (2014) points out that abandoning or even postponing national language instruction might have dire sociological, political and economic consequences.

Nevertheless, many see English as the pragmatic choice for the first foreign language taught in Swiss elementary schools, despite research findings indicating otherwise.