Language across the curriculum – Development perspectives for interdisciplinary subject didactics

Abstract

The article presents the concept of the so-called «language-conscious subject teaching» and elaborates it as a central element for the fulfilment of the school’s task of enculturation. In addition, the following development perspectives for subject didactics are presented for discussion. First, the discourse on «language across the curriculum» from the 1970s will be presented. Starting from the importance of language for learning, the function of the school subjects and the associated didactics is discussed with a view to a common enculturation mandate for the acquisition of «basic cultural tools» (Baumert, 2002). The new Swiss-German curriculum «Lehrplan 21» is critically reflected with a view to a spiral curriculum coordinated implementation of language-conscious subject teaching. Finally, possible implications of the concept for the further development of subject didactics will be discussed.