LEARNING. TEACHING. TRANSFORMING.
DENIS WEGER
I work in the field of language teaching and learning research at the intersection between multilingualism research and research on teachers' professional development. My focus is on the language dimension of education in order to make teaching and learning processes as effective as possible for all students. Through my research and teaching, I contribute to more educational equality.
PROJECTS
Professional Development for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity through Teaching Abroad
In the context of increasing linguistic and/or cultural diversity in various education systems, teaching experience abroad is seen as a valuable opportunity to prepare pre-service teachers for this diversity. Programs such as ERASMUS+ and national language assistant schemes actively support such experiences. However, research on the impact of teaching abroad on the professional development of pre-service teachers remains limited and inconclusive. This project explores how teaching experiences abroad, particularly within the Austrian Language Assistant Program, influence the professional development of student teachers in addressing linguistic and/or cultural diversity. (Project in the application phase)
PUBLICATIONS
Exploring the relationship between Pre-service Teachers' Language biographical experiences and their prospective teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms
The study investigates how pre-service teachers, within a specialized course, learn to support the development of academic language in the language of schooling while also leveraging students’ multilingual repertoires as resources for learning. The results show significant learning gains in both areas, particularly in recognizing multilingual repertoires as a resource for learning.
Weger, D. (2025): Investigating the development of pre-service teachers' noticing for inclusive translingual instruction in secondary education: an intervention study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Exploring the relationship between Pre-service Teachers' Language biographical experiences and their prospective teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms
This study shows that it is not pre-service teachers’ multilingualism itself, but their individual experiences with language that shape their views on multilingualism in the classroom.
Teacher education should therefore create spaces for students to critically reflect on their language biographies and recognize their relevance for professional action in linguistically diverse classrooms.
Weger, D. (2025): Exploring the relationship between Pre-service Teachers' Language biographical experiences and their prospective teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms. Linguistics and Education.
Developing Professional Competence for Translingual Instruction
Multilingual students are structurally disadvantaged in the monolingual German-speaking school system because they can only contribute one part of their multilingual linguistic competences into the teaching and learning processes. This dissertation extensively explores the question of how pre-service teachers in all subjects can be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to counteract this disadvantage.
Weger, D. (2022): Developing Professional Competence for Translingual Instruction - Münster/New York: Waxmann. [published in German]
