(Re-)Discoveries in a time of disruption

Abstract

In November 2022, the two new co-editors—Karin Baumgartner and Mathias Schulze—took over from Angelika Kraemer and Theresa Schenker. Theresa and Angelika are to be commended for their 6 years of excellent editorial work. Under their leadership, the Die Unterrichtspraxis blossomed with cross-over issues (with the German Quarterly) on fairy tales, for example, and tackled timely topics such as sustainability and community engagement. They left the journal in excellent form despite the COVID-19 pandemic that reshaped (not only) our profession.

With the first issue of 2023, we affirm our commitment to publishing Original Articles (ca. 6000–8000 words) on research on the teaching and learning of the German language, the culture(s) of its peoples, and their societies as well as Invited Reviews of printed and digital resources for or about the teaching of German. In addition, we are reviving the Praxis Article (ca. 4000 words) on practical matters of teaching German in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education and an entirely new submission type: the Forum Article. These shorter articles—about 2000 words—are contributions to a discussion forum of diverse voices on different facets of a challenge, from various educational perspectives and institutional contexts, and from a range of geographical locations. Since Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German is the society journal of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), these discussion topics arose and will arise from important discourses in the Association. We encourage AATG members to contact the co-editors Karin Baumgartner and Mathias Schulze with ideas for future sets of Forum articles.

A forum on disruption therefore seemed timely and necessary. With our authors and readers, we hope to gain a better understanding of recent disruptions and to share first answers, successes, and possible solutions. Disruptions pose a challenge for teachers of German at all levels of education, personally and professionally. Thus, the set of 21 short articles in this issue is intended to help us as a community to give meaning to current challenges and to share what we have learned.

The Forum was announced in November with a deadline of only 6 weeks for finished short articles. The response was formidable: Within days, 45 authors expressed interest with the submission of a short abstract; 37 full manuscripts were submitted for a first review. We asked some of the authors to write a research article since we believed that their topics, and you as the readers, will benefit from a full-length treatment. Other authors felt that their writing was triggering for them, and they put their articles aside for right now. We received submissions from around the world pointing to the fact that disruptions are a global phenomenon and—as German instructors—all of us are dealing with similar adversity.

As we reviewed the contributions, we saw them fall into three groups: overcoming COVID-19, the enrollment crisis in German, and articles addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This issue of Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German assembles the articles from the first two groups. Our next issue in November will focus on current discourses and activities in DEI in the teaching and learning of German.

It takes many people for a journal issue to come together. We are grateful to all submitting authors and would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all reviewers. They worked to tight deadlines, some reviewed more than one submission, and all were dealing with a new manuscript type. As editors, we are humbled by the goodwill we experienced from colleagues we have known for years and from others we just met.

It is heartbreaking that a forum on disruption was disrupted by a school shooting. As we prepared the manuscripts for production, one of our authors asked for an extension since their university endured a shooting. We granted the extension—of course—and the author submitted their article in time for production. This extreme example illustrates that, despite daily challenges, German Studies professionals research, write, revise, … in addition to doing their daily job of teaching and mentoring students. These Forum articles are a testament to the dedication and resilience of German teachers everywhere.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be the singular event that disrupted everybody's life. It affected technological development, mental health, study abroad, mentoring, the curriculum, and what books to assign as well as assessment and student retention. Many authors reflected on the almost instantaneous pivot to teaching online required of them and the general absence of reflection in the rush to technology. Instructors looked for ways to bridge the physical isolation in which they and their students felt trapped.

Several instructors rediscovered reading practices that they had abandoned in the busy pre-pandemic curricula. Elizabeth Mittman's “The Intimacy of Reading, or: an Argument for Slowing Down” argues for decluttering the pre-pandemic syllabus and focusing on key readings to provide students and the instructor with an opportunity to reflect on how catastrophes change lives. Mittman reminds readers that it is imperative to see students as holistic persons. Renata Fuchs (“A Re-Discovery of Collaborative Vocal Reading in Times of Disruption”) describes how she re-introduced collaborative reading aloud in her intermediate German class. Fuchs draws on her research on the Romantic salon and its practice of reading aloud, to allow students to experience the texts through embodied presence—their voices. In “A Cold War Text for the Covid Generation,” Alyssa Howards reports how Marlene Haushofer's The Wall, a text that had not seemed to resonate with students before, became an important canvas for students to reflect on their loneliness during the pandemic. Howards is planning to include this text in her post-pandemic syllabi to provide students with opportunities to reflect on changes in their values and practices as they read about the narrator's existential crisis.

Instructors rediscovered not only texts they had discarded earlier. Martina Caspari (“Ganz entspannt im Hier und Jetzt: Fostering Social Presence in Communicative Language Instruction”) went back to the natural approach and total physical response, which were popular in the 1980s. She shows that it is possible to encourage students to participate also physically via Zoom, in that they accompany their communicative actions with appropriate or symbolic moves and some body-acting.

Other authors reflected on including activities that might support student mental health in foreign language instruction. Heidi Denzel and Nicolay Ostrau write in “Responding to the Mental Health Crisis among our Language-Learning Community” that it is possible, and necessary, to develop an approach that integrates wellness and universal design. Especially in beginning language classes, students can reflect on their personal lives and their lifestyle choices. A unit on grocery shopping can easily include nutrition information and explore the connections between food and mood. Penelope Kolovou similarly argues that instructors can include modules in their German teaching that strengthen student resilience. “Teaching Resilience in Fragile Times” lays out that our curricula can incorporate self-care, mindfulness, and self-reflection.

“Preparing the Unprepared: Introducing Nudge Theory to the Language Classroom” describes a systematic approach to nudging students away from undesirable behavior toward best practices. Nudge theory is a basis for Jacob van der Kolk's approach to student learning. He discusses how instructors can support students, who are often unprepared for college-level time management and are highly anxious, in completing essays and assignments. Personal writing and speaking assignments can be tailored in such a way as to nudge students toward healthy work habits and strong community bonds. In a similar vein, Sabrina Link (“Teaching German in the Post-Pandemic Era and the Benefits of Busting Technological Tools: Examples of Project-based Learning”) argues that, by changing assignment types, instructors can nudge students toward community and collaboration. Digital repositories that are accessible to all students allow them to view their assignments as contributions to and for the community. Also drawing on ideas from universal design, Kathleen Condray asks, “Is German Truly for All? Reflection on Universal Design for Learning in the Teaching of German.” She reflects on how the pandemic taught her to improve access for all students, not just those with health challenges. Flexible and extended deadlines, a hybrid attendance policy, and project-based assessment driven by students replaced older, more rigid assessment procedures.

Several authors reflected on the benefits of the pivot to technology-enhanced teaching and learning during the pandemic. Often, it is not that the technologies used are innovative; commonly used technologies for videoconferencing and learning management systems—perhaps not mainstream before COVID-19—have now become embedded through the transfer to online teaching. Albrecht Classen's “Productivity and Creativity Triggered by the COVID-19 Pandemic and New Technologies” lays out how the pandemic accelerated his adoption of methods and digital tools, which he had begun utilizing before. Written chat in a literature class, for example, increased and deepened student contributions. Adam Oberlin (“Technology, the Flipped Classroom, and Exigent Paradigm Shifts, or Being Forced into the Present”) is equally enthusiastic in his discussion of Princeton University's forced pivot to a learning management system and to online learning. While some universities have been hesitant to engage with technology-mediated teaching, the pandemic made clear that there are many benefits for students in the pedagogically sound use of digital technologies as Oberlin illustrates with his examples. Alysha Holmquist's article “Pivoting to a Virtual High School Exchange: The Gave Program” takes up Condray's challenge to design syllabi through the lens of universal design. Her German American Partnership Program (GAPP), the highlight of the high school year, was suspended in 2020, and she changed GAPP to GAVE—a virtual exchange between US American and German high school students—which is also organized by the Goethe Institute. As Holmquist experienced the program, she realized that GAVE allows students, who cannot go to Germany for various reasons, to gain a similar beneficial experience. She argues that GAVE enhances GAPP even now that study-abroad travel is possible again. Felicitas Starr-Egger reports on Imperial College London's turn to online oral examination (“Re-Evaluating Online Oral Examination”). Her data and reflection show that online examinations save time in administration and commuting for faculty and students. It is now the examination modality preferred by students; and the rigor and results of the oral examinations are not compromised, also because it is easier to record them, when conducted online. Beate Brunow and Kerstin Kuhn-Brown emphasize the connections engendered through digital technologies during the pandemic lockdowns. “Cultivating Social Well-Being: (Re-)discovering the Impact of Positive Relationships” describes how new technologies such as Zoom make collaboration between faculty at far-flung universities possible. The authors argue that such technologies help foster a new sense of belonging to a larger scholarly community among (sometimes isolated) faculty members. Digital tools also facilitate students’ participation in class, even when they are suffering from anxiety. Online office hours make it easy for students to call in, and they do not have to commute to campus. In these contexts, the pandemic prompted opportunities for connection rather than separation.

The last article in this section, “DaF, COVID-19 and Newer Technologies: Experiences from an Indian University,” offers a caveat to the previous authors’ enthusiasm. Abhimanyu Sharma describes his experience pivoting online at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India. While many of the strategies are similar to those practiced in the United States and Europe, his students’ access to broadband Internet was often limited. Indian students, having returned to villages without broadband Internet, accessed the learning management system and the instructor's lectures on their phones. This limited the instructor's ability to use the full range of digital tools, even those available for free on the website of Deutsche Welle. Sharma's article is a timely reminder that technology is not available equally to all students, just as a crisis such as COVID-19 affects some students more than others. As we progress further in technology-enhanced language learning, universal design reminds us to ensure that we can reach all learners of German.

German programs had been shrinking already before the pandemic. The rapid transition to online learning under lockdown conditions generated additional pressures on teachers of German. However, the use of simple technologies also triggered positive change. In her personal reflection, Lynn Kutch (“Disruptive Innovation for Language Teaching in a Multimodal Format”) describes how she expanded her ways of teaching so that she could offer remote and in-person students similar learning experiences. With students from different colleges of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in her classes, she ensured full participation and positive language learning outcomes for all participants. This pandemic-induced change has been sustained to continue to offer German to students from distant colleges, where such classes were not offered any longer.

Often it is necessary to adapt the German program to dominant student needs as Melissa Elliot (“Growth despite [Major] Disruption: Curricular Innovations in a Small German Program”) shows. For example, her small German team offeres specialized reading courses in English for the largest student body on their college campus—theology. Karin Schutjer, Kaleigh Bangor, and Robert Lemon also argue for curricular flexibility to counteract the nationwide enrollment crisis. As captured in the title of their Forum Article—“Big Challenges, Small Solution: Microcourses at the University of Oklahoma”—it is increasingly challenging to sustain German programs at high schools, colleges, and universities. Yet, small steps can take us a long way. The authors piloted microcourses, which are one-credit-hour upper-division courses on special topics. These courses accommodate the varied interests of students in the program and can be redesigned to reflect current events or special opportunities.

Such opportunities often lie in the practical utility of learning German. Anita McChesney (“Training Transferable Skills: Using SPARK as a Stepping-Stone to Career Readiness, Social Engagement, and Program Relevance”) explores opportunities to make the study of German more relevant to students’ life plans and aspirations. Her experience indicates that SPARK (i.e., Structured Program for the Acquisition of German in the US—Resources and Know-How) has benefits for participating university students—and not only for the young elementary school students to whom they teach German—in that they gain life skills that benefit them personally, make them more socially minded global citizens, and help them be more career ready. Such challenges are not unique to postsecondary education in the United States alone. Marija Stanojevic Veselinovic describes the situation of German as a Foreign Language in Serbia in her Forum Article “Deutsch lernen an Serbiens Schulen.” She sees great promise in content-based learning—the integration of practical work and language learning—to motivate students to learn a language other than English.

In “Assessments and Accessibility: Building a Critical German Program at Carleton College,” Kiley Kost, Seth Peabody, and Juliane Schicker re-imagine the first-year German curriculum by focusing on equity and inclusion. They are reporting a first positive impact: enrollments have increased and student interest in the program has grown, while students still meet national language proficiency standards. This last Forum Article of this issue bridges the topics of enrollment crisis and DEI, which will be the primary focus of the second issue (56.2) of this volume of Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German.

This Forum issue is rounded off with three reviews of teaching-and-learning resources for teachers of German. With this volume, we are abandoning the arbitrary division of reviews of printed materials, mainly books, and digital materials, such as websites, apps, services, and hardware; you will find their reviews in the same rubric. Catherine McNally analyzes the content of the textbook Sammelsurium: A Reader and Workbook for Intermediate German critically. Bobbette Leu-Timmermann describes how the web-based platform Edpuzzle can engage German learners of all levels and institutional contexts. Beth A. Burau reviews the online tool Classroomscreen, which offers classroom management tools and features that provide feedback and display daily lesson objectives.

We will continue to provide a discussion venue for important matters—with shorter Forum articles—also in November 2023. Several teaching perspectives on DEI will be featured in the next issue. For now, we hope you enjoy reading the 21 articles in this issue. And alert your colleagues and students to rediscover new and inspirational ways teachers of German address and overcome the challenges of a global pandemic and declining enrollments.