'Diskursive Landeskunde' in Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache: Bestandsaufnahme, Herausforderungen und offene Fragen

Abstract

The paper presents the state of the art within the discussion about the 'discoursive approach' of cultural learning in the field of German as a second and foreign language. It is argued, that the 'discoursive' approach is accepted by many as an interesting and promising paradigm shift that has created a new base of thinking about cultural learning and its relevance for learners of German, but that on the other hand some crucial questions and challenges still have to be answered: What do we mean by 'discoursive'? What about teaching simple knowledge of 'facts'? What level of language proficiency do learners need to be ready for 'discoursive' learning? Some of these questions are discussed in the paper and it will be shown, that we urgently need more efforts to implement the new approach in teaching and learning of German as a second or foreign language.