Unterrichtspraxis-Teaching German最新文献

In their contribution to the edited volume Social Justice Pedagogies, German instructors Kathryn Sederberg and Magda Tarnawska Senel write that: “Including tools for action is a critical difference between teaching culture in the language classroom and social justice education in the language classroom” (Sark, 2003, p. 174). Central to this book's intervention into the field of interdisciplinary pedagogy is its distinction between teaching about culture (a top-down process) and collaborating with students as they grapple with their own identities within and around overarching socio-cultural structures. These chapters collectively argue that, instead of teaching our students about German culture, we should cultivate an understanding of education as, to borrow editor Katrina Sark's own words, a “relational and contextual process” (Sark, 2003, p. 5).

Social Justice Pedagogies contains 19 chapters from contributors living in North America and Europe and working across the fields of German studies, communication, education, gender studies, film studies, social work, and fashion studies. The following chapters will be of particular interest to the readership of Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German because they deal specifically with German studies topics: Chapter 3 (Holocaust education), Chapter 7 (connections between language and oppression), Chapter 11 (drama pedagogy), Chapter 12 (authentic texts/literary-based approaches), Chapter 13 (hip-hop music), Chapter 14 (podcasting), and Chapters 15 and 16 (virtual exchange programs).

One of this volume's unique features is the inclusion of reflection questions at the end of each chapter. Modeling the practice of generating active engagement and collaboration, these questions encourage the reader to consider their own background and pedagogical practices. These guided reflections were extremely helpful, especially in terms of relating practices from other fields to my work as a German language educator. For example, Sandra Niessen's chapter on teaching fashion history initially seemed to have little relevance to my classroom. However, her provocative question “how can you allow the other to become visible through fashion?” (Sark, 2003, p. 266), prompted me to rethink how I introduce clothing vocabulary and to consider whether I am truly representing a global variety of styles of dress. While Niessen's more detailed discussion of post-fashion will likely never make it into my courses, her question allowed me to relate her insights to my own practice in ways I had previously left unexplored.

Indeed, this volume's greatest strength is its ability to offer both practical tips and theoretical insights, meeting its readers where they are and guiding them through pedagogical jargon (e.g., place-based learning and the flipped classroom). By explaining the theory, but remaining rooted in anecdotal classroom experiences, these ch

The concept of form is ubiquitous and used frequently and in different areas. The Merriam-Webster (n.d.) lists 18 different definitions for the noun form; some of these entries have additional meaning variants. It is no surprise that the concept of form is used widely in language education and in literary and cultural studies. Both journals of the American Association of Teachers of German—The German Quarterly and Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German—offer an issue that explores form in German Studies and in the teaching of German from a variety of perspectives. For language teachers, spelling and grammar often come to mind when thinking about form. Particularly for applied linguists, the notion of focus on form versus negotiation of meaning has permeated the discussions of interaction in (communicative) language teaching. As the following three Research Articles, six Praxis Articles, and three Forum Articles show, however, form has many more facets and allows for perspectives on language, performance, learning, teaching, the arts, and many others.

This issue of Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German leads with three Research Articles. In the first of these articles, “Racial literacy and performative pedagogies in the German theater practicum,” Morgan Koerner makes an argument for performing the process of students’ encounter with the literary form using theatrical means. He discusses a case study of a performance-oriented unit in a theater practicum course for German students at the B2 language proficiency level, which combined work on performing and staging poetry with a discussion of the Enlightenment's entanglement with White supremacy and scientific racism. The second article takes a different perspective on form and meaning. Exploring a form-meaning connection—conventional metaphors—that is a fundamental component of everyday communication but is often overlooked in the teaching of German, Jacob Lavoie's study highlights the interplay between students’ lexical knowledge and cross-linguistic differences in figurative language. The results of “Insights into metaphor (mis)understandings” underscore the necessity of nuanced instruction, especially in comprehending metaphors. Carolin Jolitz and Natacha Hélène Gilberte Mally focus on form in oral communication. Their article “The effects of deductive versus inductive pronunciation instruction in combination with captioned video on the acquisition of incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences in L2 German” shows that technology-enhanced teaching can help students overcome the orthographic interference in German pronunciation among English speakers.

For the Forum of this thematic issue, we invited short articles discussing approaches to teaching German grammar—as language form—at schools. In her Forum Article “Putting PACE into action in a high school German classroom,” Helen Miller discusses her application of the PACE (PACE

Prior research indicates that first language (L1) orthography can adversely affect second language (L2) phonological acquisition, yet studies on orthographic interference and pedagogical strategies to mitigate these effects remain sparse. Addressing these research gaps, this study investigates the impact of orthographic interference on L2 German pronunciation among L1 English speakers, employing a technology-based homework intervention with EdPuzzle, an educational video platform, in three beginner courses. Students in two experimental groups engaged with captioned video clips and were guided through questions using either an inductive or deductive approach, while a control group focused solely on meaning. Analysis of a pre-intervention production task revealed German grapheme-phoneme correspondences < v > - /f/, < s > - /z/, and < z > - /ts/ were most frequently mispronounced. Comprehensibility ratings by native German speakers suggest that both experimental groups significantly improved in their word-level productions, with the inductive group also significantly improving in their sentence-level productions. This study also sheds light on student perceptions of these instructional activities, enhancing our understanding of engaging L2 German pronunciation pedagogy. This research underscores the potential of integrating technology and accessible content in homework assignments to enrich and supplement L2 German pronunciation instruction in the classroom.

This article explores three questions developed to be central to the creation and implementation of an effective classroom warm-up: Does it help jumpstart students’ use of German? Can it capture students’ attention? And does it encourage building rapport through providing opportunities for personal expression or relevance? Based on my experience as an instructor for the first and second semesters of the German language sequence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I argue that a well-constructed warm-up in a German language course is more than a low stakes invitation to cultivate a mindset conducive to the demands of language learning; it is an opportunity to begin learning from a place of genuine interest, trust, and confidence. By implementing warm-ups with the guidelines outlined in this article in mind, mnemonically referred to as JARR (Jumpstarting language use, capturing Attention, and building Rapport through Relevance) warm-ups, instructors can set students up for success not only for the next hour of learning, but also for their entire language journey—all in the first 5 minutes of class.

Conventional metaphors are a fundamental component of everyday communication, yet they are often overlooked in post-secondary German-language programs. This study examines the extent to which vocabulary breadth influences 19 L2 German learners’ comprehension of conventional German metaphors, particularly those that exhibit cross-linguistic differences in lexical form and conceptual motivation. Employing a mixed-methods analysis, this research investigates the interpretations of 40 highly-frequent, polysemic verbs in metaphorical contexts by L2 German speakers. The findings indicate a significant relationship between the breadth of a learner's vocabulary and their ability to accurately decode conventional metaphors. However, the study also reveals that learners with extensive vocabularies may be misled by their own knowledge, frequently failing to recognize extended metaphorical meanings despite familiarity with the lexeme and confidence in their interpretations. These results highlight the intricate interplay between lexical knowledge and cross-linguistic differences in figurative language, underscoring the necessity for nuanced instruction in metaphor comprehension.