Sprachmittlung und Mediation im Fremdsprachenunterricht an Schule und Universität

Abstract

More than 20 years ago, mediation was introduced in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as a fourth language activity alongside reception, production and interaction (Council of Europe 2001), and since then it has sought (and found) its place in foreign language teaching. Although in the original version of the CEFR there was neither a clear definition of the term nor a clear embedding of the problem in the teaching context, in some European countries it became a fixed component of school curricula, teaching scenarios and textbooks for foreign language and second language teaching as a “free, addressee-, meaning- and situation-appropriate transfer of content from one language to another” (Schopp/Katelhon/Nied Curcio 2013: 5). Mediation has undergone a fundamental, if not uniform, development over the last two decades, whereas in other countries it has unfortunately remained a marginal topic in school and university foreign and second language teaching. The aim of this volume is therefore to take stock of mediation in foreign language teaching, to redefine it terminologically following the publication of the Companion Volume to the European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe 2018/2020) and to provide an outlook on possible development potential. 1 Keywordsteaching foreign languagesmediationCEFRCompanion VolumeSchlagwörterFremdsprachenunterrichtMediationGeRBegleitband