SUGGESTIONS AND MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS FOR THE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF A CULTURAL CUSTOMER IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

The discussion of traditional regional studies in the subject of German as a foreign language has clearly shifted in recent years along several planes. On the one hand, the field has been much better represented at the institutional level for some years now than it was; professorships with appropriate titles have been established at some universities, and the topic is increasingly addressed by various professional journals and associations. On the other hand, the academic debate on the aims, content and tasks of regional studies in German as a foreign language has recently taken on a new quality, as there are now a number of viable concepts for the further development of regional studies from a mere 'applied subject' into an independent (cultural) science, which have been called for some time and which have already been implemented with some success. Here, however, further development will depend in particular on whether the scientific competitiveness and compatibility of the field can be ensured in synergy with neighboring and related research disciplines. The debate on German as a foreign language has for a long time been primarily concerned with different conceptions and approaches to teaching German as a foreign language in the context of culture or 'intercultural' teaching, which have been oriented towards goals such as 'intercultural communication skills', 'intercultural competence' or 'understanding foreigners'. This article proposes both a theoretical and a methodological study in which the discipline of regional studies is analyzed as a motivating factor for DaF students at Primary school. The cultural approach is an area of teaching a foreign language that offers many new methodological and thematic possibilities to better understand how dealing with the culture can positively influence the acquisition of a foreign language.