Mediation und Sprachmittlung: Diskussion eines komplexen Konzepts in den neuen Bildungsstandards fur die Sekundarstufe I

The new Bildungsstandards expand the notion of 'mediation'. The former concept defined mediation as transferring content from one language into another in order to facilitate com- munication between two people who otherwise would not be able to communicate. The new concept of mediation is now extended by the idea of facilitating communication over- all. In this article, four experts in the field of mediation discuss this conceptional change in the new curricular guidelines. The discussion is structured around three assertions: 1. The new Bildungsstandards are taking societal transformational processes into account; 2. The notion of 'mediation' as presented in the "CEFR Companion Volume" (BGER 2020) has been adopted into the Bildungsstandards without proper consideration; 3. The potential of broadening the understanding of mediation has been wasted. Touching on topics, such as plurilingualism, language and culture, inclusion, the potential of intralingual mediation, the construction of meaning and the genre of curricula itself, it becomes clear that all four experts agree on the fact that an expanded notion of mediation does have potential for the language classroom but the new curricular guidelines fail to put it to use.