Der sichere Umgang mit fremden Sprachen und Kulturen stellt heute ...

ibw-Forschungsbericht 143 | Fremdsprachen für die Wirtschaft INGRID GARSCHALL
1. English within the Dual System
One element of the Austrian education system is initial vocational training provided within the
framework of apprenticeship training schemes, the so-called ‘dual system’. Apprenticeship training
takes place at two different sites: at companies and part-time vocational schools. About
40% of all young people aged 15 to 18 choose to prepare themselves for their future occupation
within the dual system.
Since 1996/1997, English lessons have been compulsory for all apprentices. The number of lessons
depends on the profession for which students are being trained. According to the curricula
‘Vocationally Oriented English’ is taught in a range of between 80 and 120 lessons over the
entire schooling period. The syllabus also provides for a voluntary subject ‘Modern Second
Language – English’ with the aim of preparing for the Berufsreifeprüfung exam and complementing
the subject ‘Vocationally Oriented English’. The number of lessons proposed is 40 per
semester or four per school week in block-release systems.
1.1 The Teaching of ‘Vocationally-Oriented English’ –
The Syllabus Document
The syllabus document was worked out first by a working group of teachers in 1990 on behalf
of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (now called Ministry for Education, the Arts and
Culture) and has been revised several times (cf. Appendix 1). The last revision had the aim of
including the preparation for English for the Berufsreifeprüfung exam and was made in the year
2000. The working group consisted of experienced teachers, teacher trainers and textbook
authors. The content of the syllabus was influenced by a small-scale needs analysis conducted
at two vocational schools by the Chamber of Labour as well as the Economic Chamber.
The document provides information on how and what to teach in the subject. The syllabus contains
three sections: ‘educational and teaching objectives’, ‘content’ and ‘guidelines for methodology’.
The ‘content’ section consists of three parts: economy and working environment, everyday life
and current events and professional matters: The first part deals with topics that can be considered
a mixture of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EGP (English for General Purposes),
i.e. education, area of responsibility, working conditions. The section on everyday life and current
events is the same for all professions and contains elements originating from the apprentices’
private lives (e.g. self portrait, family and friends). The third part about professional matters
is job-specific (e.g. tools, machines, materials and devices). All the topics in this third part deal
with themes learners are faced with, including the topic of education. The importance of the
relationship between what is taught in English and in other subjects is underlined in describing
a cross-subject approach.
68