2026: Research stay in Jakarta, Indonesia

2025: Acceptance of funding from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung / the Federal Foreign Office of Germany (Doctoral Funding)

2024: Project preparation and funding application

This study explores language attitudes and language ideologies in superdiverse urban contexts, using Jakarta and Berlin as comparative case studies. The research focuses on bachelor’s students in teacher education programs who specialize in the respective Official Language, Indonesian in Jakarta and German in Berlin. As future teachers, they will play a crucial role in teaching, maintaining, and shaping ideologies surrounding the national language in educational contexts.

The study pays particular attention to the role of different language types within the school environment. These include the national language (Indonesian in Jakarta and German in Berlin), the global language (English), immigrant languages (Chinese in Jakarta and Turkish in Berlin), historical languages (Dutch in Jakarta and Russian in Berlin), and regional languagage in Jakarta and Berlin. Both Jakarta and Berlin are considered superdiverse cities, characterized by a high degree of linguistic, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity due to migration and globalization.

The main objective of this research is to analyze and compare the language ideologies and language attitudes of teacher education students studying Indonesian in Jakarta and German in Berlin. To achieve this, the study examines language biographies collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. These data provide insights into the participants’ linguistic backgrounds as well as their perceptions and evaluations of different languages.

The study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of linguistic diversity and language ideologies in urban multilingual settings. It highlights how language attitudes among future teachers reflect and shape the dynamics of multilingualism and linguistic diversity in education within superdiverse cities such as Jakarta and Berlin.