The Effects of Linguistic Competencies and Civic Literacy on Political Decision-making in School – First Results of the Interdisciplinary Project, “SchriFT II”

The ability to form political judgements and to make decisions is a key competence for the political participation of citizens in democracy. This study is based on the results of “SchriFT II” project, which finds that missing literal competences constitute a disadvantage for success in school and political participation, especially when connected with a migration background (multivariate analysis t(305)=3.385, p<.001, r=.19). We assume that text-genre based epistemic writing, which connects linguistic action patterns with linguistic expressions, is an effective instrument for encouraging language and subject-integrated learning. In the pilot study, we examine the political knowledge and decision-making skills of students in secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia.