Basic Concepts in German Language Textbooks for Foreigners in the Educational Discourse of Germany

Abstract

This article is devoted to the identification and research of the basic concepts and their representatives, reproduced in the educational discourse of the Federal Republic of Germany in the practice of learning German as a foreign language. The educational discourse is a system of value-semantic communication of the subjects of the educational process (I.S. Artyukhova). This system is mobile, exists in educational environments of different levels, includes participants of the discourse, educational aims, values and content. The analysis presented in the article is based on the material of the German-language textbook for foreigners of the elementary level «Berliner Platz 1 NEU», used in many universities, language centers and linguistic clubs of Germany and Russia. The relevance of this research is determined by the need to study the verbalization of the linguistic and cultural policy of modern Germany, aimed at the active influx of foreigners, their socio-culturally and linguistically assimilation in the host country, which is reflected in the modern German-language educational discourse. The aim of the research is to identify and describe the basic concepts presented in the educational discourse of Germany on the material of the textbook «Berliner Platz 1 NEU» as a typical textbook of the German language of the elementary level, as well as the linguistic analysis of the lexical elements representing these concepts, therefore, the conceptual analysis of educational discourse is chosen as the main research method. The theoretical basis of the research was the scientific works by N. D. Arutyunova, V. I. Karasik, V. Z. Demyankov, E. S. Kubryakova, E. A. Selivanova and other scientists in the field of discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics. As the result of the research, the basic concepts that form the cognitive base in the minds of foreigners learning German language are identified, the representatives of these concepts that mark the educational discourse of Germany as a whole are analyzed and systematized. This research is interdisciplinary and is applicable for discursive and cognitive research of various educational discourses in linguistics and related humanities.