It is beyond dispute that the mastery of the German language plays a central role for a successful educational career and for participation in society. But it is problematic that the de facto linguistic diversity, mainly due to migration, which is common for a considerable part of the population in Germany, is widely ignored by educational and linguistic policy, while the learning of foreign languages, in particular English, is required and promoted at the same time. This contradictory situation and the focusing on “Deutsch only” respectively are also reflected in policy-affiliated research. Referring to the history of the handling of linguistic diversity at school during the last 200 years, this article will reveal to what extent the history of the “nationalization of language” and of the ostracism of all non-German languages continues to have an effect in the field of education and where changes, even fundamental ones, begin to show.

Keywords
linguistic diversity, tradition of monolingualism, language policy, language support, integration