Limited or disrupted family transmission is characteristic for many minoritised and small languages. For their revitalization, it is crucial to have attractive and effective language learning opportunities for both children and adults. In the case of Lower Sorbian (LS), hitherto existing revitalization measures have focused on bilingual school instruction and evening courses. Since September 2023, Zorja, a pilot project for intensive, acquisition-driven language education, addresses adult learners of LS.

In nine years to come, about 10 to 15 learners per year dedicate 30 hours per week for ten months, financially supported by scholarships. The expectations in the Lower Sorbian community are high, but what can we realistically expect from Zorja without overburdening those involved? What outcomes are achieved and does the project have sufficient personnel and capacities for its implementation? To what extent, and if so, how can the results be transferred to other projects? Does the chosen concept require improvement? Answering these and many other questions is usually the subject of evaluations.

Against this background, an illustrative evaluation approach for language revitalisation was developed to introduce basic concepts of evaluation research into the minority/language policy debate. Departing from a needs or problem analysis and a brief introduction to the Zorja project, a ‘logic model’ deciphers the project theory. It becomes clear that, from a revitalisation perspective, a dual objective of language acquisition and community integration is pursued. However, which possible quantitative outcomes can be achieved? How far will the project induce changes and innovation into the system of Lower Sorbian language acquisition? On this basis, the methodological concept for the evaluation was developed and applied to assess the first cohort of ZORJA. We will introduce our evaluation approach and briefly address results from the first cohort.