Students' Accuracy in Written English Under the Impression of the new "G8" System - a Case Study (PDF)

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction:
In Germany, education matters lie within the scope of each of the 16 German federal states. Consequently, there is no unique educational system which is valid for the entire Federal Republic of Germany, but 16 individual ones. However, a German-wide basic framework, including regulations about the compulsory school attendance for instance, does exist.
The duration of compulsory schooling until passing the Abitur at the Gymnasium, however, is not regulated by this framework, but belongs to the power of decision of each federal state. For instance, in Thuringia and Saxony, the duration of compulsory schooling at the Gymnasium has been limited to eight years, as it was already the case before the reunification of Germany in 1990. In the other federal states, like North-Rhine Westphalia for example, the duration of compulsory schooling at the Gymnasium included an additional ninth year, resulting in the fact that the students attended the Gymnasium from grade 5 until grade 13. Nevertheless, in 2001, the ministry of education of the federal state Saarland decided for a reduction of the duration of compulsory schooling at the Gymnasium by one year. By now, all the other federal states have followed and therefore also made the decision for a reduced duration of only eight years at the Gymnasium.
After many heated discussions, also the North-Rhine Westphalian ministry of education decided for a reduction of the duration of compulsory schooling at the Gymnasium. As a consequence of this decision, students of two grades (G8 and G9 students) entered the upper secondary level at all North-Rhine Westphalian Gymnasien on August 31st, 2010 (Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, n.d.a). The students of this so-called Doppeljahrgang will all graduate in 2013 and therefore all of them will have to pass the same Abitur exams. Hence, it must be guaranteed that G8 students have the same preconditions as G9 students, despite having one year less of general schooling before graduating.
Since no students have entered the upper secondary level after only five years at the Gymnasium in North-Rhine Westphalia before 2010, empirical research in this area is hardly available by now. Nevertheless, this Doppeljahrgang offers the unique chance of directly comparing G8 and G9 students in order to find out in how far the new G8 system was implemented successfully or not.
Especially in the context of learning [...]