Sprachgebrauch in der Justizvollzugsanstalt Pöschwies : Zum sprachlichen Umgang zwischen fremdsprachigen Gefangenen und den Anstaltsmitarbeitenden im Spannungsfeld von sprachlicher und institutioneller Asymmetrie
Creators: name: Schumacher, Monika
Publisher: name: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
Year: 2014
Subjects: Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Diglossie
Gefängniskommunikation
Totale Institution
Diglossia
German as a foreign language
Prison communication
Total institution
430: Deutsch

description: Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Fribourg (CH). Genehmigt von der Philosophischen Fakultät auf Antrag der Herren Prof. Dr. Thomas Studer und Prof. Dr. Anton Näf. Fribourg, 5. Oktober 2012. Prof. Dr. Marc-Henry Sohlet, Dekan.
description: Prisons are social systems with a distinctly authoritative and bureaucratic organisational structure. In the German speaking part of Switzerland, the inmate population is extremely multilingual, and therefore prisons would seem to offer suitable settings for sociolinguistic research. However, the specific setting has rarely framed the context for research so far, presumably due to its very restrictive access policy.

This qualitative study is set in in the prison of «Pöschwies» in the canton of Zurich and investigates the communication between the non-native prisoners, who have little or no command of the German language and in particular the locally spoken dialect, and the warders. It is claimed that this communication is asymmetric both for institutional and linguistic reasons. In an attempt to overcome linguistic difficulties, the institution provides optional German language courses for non-native inmates; this is set against the diglossic background of the warders, who speak dialects.

It has been argued that communication is generally prone to conflict. This study aims at discovering areas of such conflict in the situation described above. An explorative multi-method approach was chosen and data was derived from semi-structured interviews with both the non-native inmates who are learning German as a foreign language, and the warders. For the interview design, the issue of «vulnerable informant» was addressed and stimuli of visual, verbal and auditory nature were used. Participants were asked about their views on language learning, attitudes and behaviour

in the prison context, and to suggest ways of improving the communication between the two parties.

Results show that there are areas where the communication between non-native inmates and warders could be enhanced and made more effective for institutional goals to be achieved. They also indicate ways in which the language learning process could be fostered and made easier for individual non-native inmates.

Two practical outcomes of this study are suggested: firstly, that a handbook on appropriate communication should be introduced to support the prison staff. Secondly, that an appropriate pedagogy for German language learning and all learning in the prison context, should be developed. The outcomes of this study suggest that prisons

should be considered as a distinct sociolinguistic context within the Swiss German part of Switzerland. However, further research is needed to foster this view.
description: Gefängnisse sind streng reglementierte, autoritär organisierte Sozialsysteme. In der Deutschschweiz kennzeichnen sie sich zudem durch eine extrem multilinguale Insassenpopulation. Hier böte sich für die Soziolinguistik ein äusserst interessantes Forschungsterrain. Wenn der Gefängniskontext bis anhin dennoch kaum im Zentrum von Studien stand, hat dies v. a. mit dem erschwerten Zugang zu dieser Art von Institution zu tun.
Die vorliegende qualitative Studie ist in der Justizvollzugsanstalt «Pöschwies» im Kanton Zürich angesiedelt. Sie untersucht die Kommunikation zwischen den fremdsprachigen Insassen mit geringen oder keinen Kenntnissen des Deutschschweizer Standards bzw. des lokalen Dialekts und den Betreuenden. Es wird dabei von einer Kommunikationskonstellation ausgegangen, die im doppelten Sinne asymmetrisch ist: sprachlich und institutionell. Um die Basiskommunikation im Gefängnisalltag zu erleichtern, bietet die Institution den fremdsprachigen Insassen freiwillige Deutschkurse an. Während jedoch im Unterricht Standard gelernt wird, sprechen die Betreuenden im Alltag Dialekt. Somit ist jeglicher Kommunikation die Anfälligkeit für Konflikte inhärent.
Die vorliegende Studie hat zum Ziel, Konflikte in der oben beschriebenen Konstellation auszumachen und zu beschreiben. Für das empirische Vorgehen wurde ein explorativer Multimethodenansatz gewählt. Die Daten wurden aus halbstrukturierten Interviews mit Deutsch lernenden Insassen und mit den Betreuenden gewonnen. Das Vorgehen bei der Durchführung der Interviews sollte dem forschungsethischen Aspekt «Probanden mit besonderen Bedürfnissen» besonders Rechnung tragen. Visuelle, verbale und akustische Stimuli kamen zum Einsatz. Die Probanden nahmen zum Spracherwerb, zu -einstellungen und -verhalten im Anstaltskontext Stellung. Sie sollten Wege zur Verbesserung der Kommunikation zwischen den beiden Parteien aufzeigen.
Die Ergebnisse machen deutlich, dass bestimmte Bereiche in der Kommunikation zwischen fremdsprachigen Insassen und Betreuenden verbessert bzw. effektiver gestaltet werden könnten – nicht zuletzt, um zum Erreichen der institutionellen Ziele beizutragen. Weiter werden Wege aufgezeigt, die den Spracherwerb des Einzelnen unterstützen und vereinfachen könnten.
Die Studie mündet in zwei praktische Empfehlungen: ein Handbuch für eine angemessene Kommunikation zur Unterstützung der Anstaltsmitarbeitenden und eine Gefängnispädagogik nicht nur für das Sprachenlernen, sondern auch jegliches andere Lernen im Anstaltskontext.
description: Prisons are social systems with a distinctly authoritative and bureaucratic organisational structure. In the German speaking part of Switzerland, the inmate population is extremely multilingual, and therefore prisons would seem to offer suitable settings for sociolinguistic research. However, the specific setting has rarely framed the context for research so far, presumably due to its very restrictive access policy.
This qualitative study is set in in the prison of «Pöschwies» in the canton of Zurich and investigates the communication between the non-native prisoners, who have little or no command of the German language and in particular the locally spoken dialect, and the warders. It is claimed that this communication is asymmetric both for institutional and linguistic reasons. In an attempt to overcome linguistic difficulties, the institution provides optional German language courses for non-native inmates; this is set against the diglossic background of the warders, who speak dialects.
It has been argued that communication is generally prone to conflict. This study aims at discovering areas of such conflict in the situation described above. An explorative multi-method approach was chosen and data was derived from semi-structured interviews with both the non-native inmates who are learning German as a foreign language, and the warders. For the interview design, the issue of «vulnerable informant» was addressed and stimuli of visual, verbal and auditory nature were used. Participants were asked about their views on language learning, attitudes and behaviour in the prison context, and to suggest ways of improving the communication between the two parties.
Results show that there are areas where the communication between non-native inmates and warders could be enhanced and made more effective for institutional goals to be achieved. They also indicate ways in which the language learning process could be fostered and made easier for individual non-native inmates.
Two practical outcomes of this study are suggested: firstly, that a handbook on appropriate communication should be introduced to support the prison staff. Secondly, that an appropriate pedagogy for German language learning and all learning in the prison context, should be developed. The outcomes of this study suggest that prisons should be considered as a distinct sociolinguistic context within the Swiss German part of Switzerland. However, further research is needed to foster this view.