Schulische Vermittlung fremdsprachlicher Lesekompetenz im DaF-Unterricht der Sekundarstufe I

On the basis of the data collected and analyzed in my dissertation, this article discusses what added value literary texts could have for reading comprehension in German as a foreign language teaching at secondary level I. It displays the effect of an intensive literature-based foreign language teaching on reading comprehension. We investigated whether students' reading skills improve when the regular German curriculum is partially replaced by an intensive literature programme. For two years, six schools participated in the study, resulting in a total of 12 classes. Each school had an experimental group and a control group. In the experimental groups, approximately 30 lessons were replaced by an intensive literature programme, while the control groups followed the regular curriculum. At the beginning and at the end of the school year, all pupils took reading comprehension tests. The results show that in both cohorts, pupils in all experimental groups are more proficient in reading than those in the regular curriculum.