ABSTRACT

Educational research in Austria has demonstrated that early tracking into academic secondary schools and middle schools results in inequities for students with low socioeconomic status, from migration backgrounds and/or with German as an additional language. It has also found gaps in performance between students in the two school types, including in English. To better understand the reasons for this, we collected data from teachers in both school types about their beliefs and classroom practices. Teachers in academic secondary schools indicate higher achievement levels for English amongst their students compared to teachers in middle schools. Descriptive and inferential analyses reveal higher perceived levels of motivation amongst academic secondary school compared to middle school students, and students’ perceived level of motivation influenced English language outcomes in both school types. Moreover, there were significant differences aligning with school type in teachers’ reported language use in the classroom and their perceptions of students’ access to English outside of school. These findings suggest factors that contribute to gaps in achievement in English language education according to school type. The article closes by considering how plurilingual pedagogies might be employed to transform beliefs, alleviate disadvantage and support equity in English language education in Austria and beyond.

摘要

奥地利的教育研究表明，过早进入中学和中学会导致社会经济地位低、具有移民背景和/或以德语作为附加语言的学生的不平等。它还发现两种学校类型的学生之间的表现存在差距，包括英语。为了更好地理解其中的原因，我们从两种学校类型的教师那里收集了有关他们的信仰和课堂实践的数据。与中学教师相比，中学教师表明学生的英语成绩水平更高。描述性和推理性分析显示，与中学生相比，中学学生的动机水平更高，并且学生的感知动机水平影响了两种学校类型的英语语言成绩。此外，教师报告的课堂语言使用情况和他们对学生在校外接触英语的看法与学校类型一致，存在显着差异。这些研究结果表明，根据学校类型，导致英语语言教育成绩差距的因素。文章最后考虑了如何使用多语教学法来转变信念、减轻劣势并支持奥地利及其他地区英语教育的公平。教师报告的课堂语言使用情况和他们对学生在校外接触英语的看法与学校类型一致，存在显着差异。这些研究结果表明，根据学校类型，导致英语语言教育成绩差距的因素。文章最后考虑了如何使用多语教学法来转变信念、减轻劣势并支持奥地利及其他地区英语教育的公平。教师报告的课堂语言使用情况和他们对学生在校外获得英语的看法与学校类型保持一致，存在显着差异。这些研究结果表明，根据学校类型，导致英语语言教育成绩差距的因素。文章最后考虑了如何使用多语教学法来转变信念、减轻劣势并支持奥地利及其他地区英语教育的公平。