Learners Of German Research Articles

Providing vs. receiving peer feedback: Learners’ beliefs and experiences

This study used questionnaires eliciting quantitative and qualitative data to investigate (1) foreign language learners’ beliefs about peer feedback on pronunciation before and after a peer feedback intervention and (2) peer feedback providers’, peer feedback receivers’, and teacher feedback receivers’ experiences of the intervention. Participants included 127 first-year learners of German. They were assigned to a peer feedback provider group, a peer feedback receiver group, a teacher feedback receiver group, or a control group. After a general pronunciation training for the first three groups and a metacognitive instruction session for the first two groups, the peer feedback providers were instructed to give feedback on their peers’ pronunciation whereas the peer feedback receivers were asked to incorporate their peers’ feedback and the teacher feedback receivers were asked to incorporate feedback from their teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data from a pre- and post-intervention beliefs questionnaire revealed that while all groups held mostly positive beliefs about peer feedback before the intervention, only the peer feedback providers’ beliefs changed over time, specifically, their beliefs about peer feedback were significantly more positive after the intervention. Data from an exit questionnaire further indicated that the teacher feedback receivers found their feedback more useful than the peer feedback receivers. Moreover, while the peer feedback providers found correcting peers beneficial for their own language development, many of them felt uncomfortable giving feedback, whereas the peer feedback receivers did not feel uncomfortable receiving it. These findings suggest that peer feedback providers may need additional instruction to help them feel more comfortable correcting other learners.

Implementasi Kartu Domino dalam Meningkatkan Keterampilan Berbicara

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine the improvement of oral skills and academic achievement of German class XI IPA 1 SMAN 2 Makassar through domino cards. This research is a classroom action research. The direction of action is determined jointly by researchers, teachers, and students. The object of this research is the students of class XI IPA 1 SMAN 2 Makassar. The research was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle includes planning, implementing actions, observing and reflecting.Data collection techniques in the form of class observations, interviews, field notes, questionnaires, documents, and tests of German oral skills. Using qualitative descriptive data analysis. The results showed that: (1) The positive attitude of students in learning German oral skills increased by 16.56%, showing a polite, disciplined, caring, responsible, tolerant and positive attitude. (2) The increase in the oral German language skills of students of class XI IPA 1 SMAN 2 Makassar by 14.63% through Domino cards.

Metode Pembelajaran Kooperatif Tipe Poster Session Dalam Penguasaan Kosakata Bahasa Jerman

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to obtain data and information about the effectiveness of the Poster Session type cooperative learning method in learning German vocabulary for class XI students of SMAN 1 Campalagian, Polewali Mandar Regency (virtual). This type of research is an experimental research that uses a vocabulary mastery test in the application of the Poster Session Type Cooperative Learning Method. Data were analyzed by t-test. The population of this study were students of class XI SMAN 1 Campalagian which consisted of 5 classes. The sample used is a random sample (Random Sampling). The number of samples is 2 classes, namely class XI IPS 5 as an experimental class consisting of 30 students and class XI IPS 2 as a control class consisting of 30 students. The results of data analysis showed th=7.07 > tt=2.002 at a significance level of 0.05. The results showed that the Poster Session method was effective in mastering the German vocabulary of class XI students of SMAN 1 Campalagian, Polewali Mandar Regency (virtual).

A process tracing study of the dynamic patterns of boredom in an online L3 course of German during COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractMotivated by the present dominance of online education worldwide during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the present study employed a process‐tracing approach to explore the causal mechanisms of boredom in an online L3 learning. The present case study was done on an adult learner of German and analyzed her accounts of experiencing boredom throughout a whole semester, 13 sessions in length. The trajectory of boredom throughout the course showed that the beginning of the course was the most boring though the learner continued to experience boredom until the end of the semester. Among the theoretical explanations of boredom, under‐stimulation, low perceived control over tasks and attention deficit were found to be the most dominant until the end of the course. Among the nontheoretical explanations of boredom, user‐unfriendly requirements of online learning prevailed mostly in the beginning of the course until the middle but they were found to be less influential in the end of the course. The process tracing approach showed to be effective in unpacking the black box of the causal mechanisms involved in the boredom experienced in the online L3 learning. Suggestions were made on how to make an online language course less boring and more communicative, which seems essential today due to the unrivaled use of online education during the pandemic.

Conceptual Mediation through Translinguistic SCOBAs within C-BLI for Adult Learners of German

This article discusses conceptual mediation through translinguistic SCOBAs: mediation tools that allow learners to move from their spontaneous linguistic knowledge to an organized, theoretical knowledge and to explain a given concept with respect to both the learners’ additional languages (ALs) and their L1. Translinguistic SCOBAs are used within the Integrated Plurilingual Approach (IPA) (Esteve et al. 2017), which draws on Concept-based Language Instruction (C-BLI). The IPA blends communicative and reflective activities in didactic sequences, in which conceptual mediation leads to translinguistic conceptualization. Conceptual mediation aims to help learners to appropriate concepts that are contrastively relevant. Translinguistic conceptualization unfolds through a gradual enrichment of the learners’ initial Orienting Basis of an Action (OBA) by means of four reflective activities: preliminary learner reflection, relevant contrastive analysis for raising conceptual awareness, joint completion and use of a systematizing translinguistic SCOBA, and retrospective learner reflection. This group of activities was developed within two IPA-based didactic sequences that were designed separately: (1) the grammatical concept ‘verbal aspect’ within personal narratives and (2) the socio-pragmatic concept ‘distancing’ within a set of interrelated oral and written genres. Each sequence was framed within a course of German as an AL taught at a different level (beginners and advanced) to adult learners with Spanish or Catalan as L1 and English as their first AL. The learners’ verbalized reflections during both sequences show that the reflective process of conceptual mediation with translinguistic SCOBAs, carried out through the four activities, proved useful in promoting perceived concept appropriation.

Development of Dachl Cross-Cultural Learning Designs

The actualization of learning materials needs to be done to create a learning situation that is under the times. In learning German as a foreign language, the concept of DACHL has not been well recognized by every German teacher at the SMA / MA / SMK level. For this reason, adjustments to learning materials, techniques, and learning strategies are considered important so that the German learning process does not only train language skills but also fosters a cross-cultural understanding of these countries and the Indonesian nation itself. This article attempts to describe the results of training activities for the preparation of cross-cultural learning designs for German language teachers at the SMA / MA / SMK levels throughout Malang and its surroundings. This training implementation method which is accommodated in community service activities is designed by adopting an education and training system for ASN, namely on campus and off-campus. Despite undergoing method modifications as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, training is going well. With simultaneous mentoring, collaboration, and collaboration between various parties, participants can receive the material well and simultaneously apply it in the form of a learning design.

Lexical and Phonetic Influences on the Phonolexical Encoding of Difficult Second-Language Contrasts: Insights From Nonword Rejection.

Establishing phonologically robust lexical representations in a second language (L2) is challenging, and even more so for words containing phones in phonological contrasts that are not part of the native language. This study presents a series of additional analyses of lexical decision data assessing the phonolexical encoding of English /ε/ and /æ/ by German learners of English (/æ/ does not exist in German) in order to examine the influence of lexical frequency, phonological neighborhood density and the acoustics of the particular vowels on learners’ ability to reject nonwords differing from real words in the confusable L2 phones only (e.g., *l[æ]mon, *dr[ε]gon). Results showed that both the lexical properties of the target items and the acoustics of the critical vowels affected nonword rejection, albeit differently for items with /æ/ → [ε] and /ε/ → [æ] mispronunciations: For the former, lower lexical frequencies and higher neighborhood densities led to more accurate performance. For the latter, it was only the acoustics of the vowel (i.e., how distinctly [æ]-like the mispronunciation was) that had a significant impact on learners’ accuracy. This suggests that the encoding of /ε/ and /æ/ may not only be asymmetric in that /ε/ is generally more robustly represented in the lexicon than /æ/, as previously reported, but also in the way in which this encoding takes place. Mainly, the encoding of /æ/ appears to be more dependent on the characteristics of the L2 vocabulary and on one’s experience with the L2 than that of its more dominant counterpart (/ε/).

History And Transmission Of Medical Terminology

The aim of our article is to research the technical Latinisms in German with the help of a comprehensive analysis. We try to analyze the Latinisms in German and to offer German learners in the field of medicine an overview of the loanwords in tabular form, which they can use to make a decision in unclear cases.

Tema “Keluarga” dan Relevansinya dalam Pembelajaran Bahasa Jerman

This study aims to obtain data on the theme of "family" and its relevance in learning German for class XII IIS SMA Negeri 11 Makassar. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. The population of this study were all students of class XII SMA Negeri 11 Makassar who studied German which consisted of 3 (three) classes, namely class XII IIS 1, XII IIS 2 and XII IIS 3 with a total of 106 people. The sample technique used was purposive sampling, amounting to 36 students. The data collection technique used an open questionnaire. The data that has been obtained were analyzed descriptively qualitatively. The results showed that family life in Germany was very good. This can be seen based on the culture of life through the attitude of independence, equal rights (work) in the family, and free time. The relevance of learning in this study is mainly on cultural themes that themes like this are suitable themes to be studied because the purpose of language learning is not only to mastery of language but also to culture, namely by looking for learning materials that are related to cultural and universal themes. but on the one hand it is specific in purpose so that the learning process occurs much faster because the themes used or studied also exist in our culture. In addition, we see that the German family is very punctual and disciplined, so its relevance in the learning process is highly respected by the nature of discipline and timeliness.

The motivations and identity aspirations of university students of German: a case study in Australia

Abstract In the English-dominated field of L2 motivation, there is a need for more research on learners of languages other than English. This is particularly important in English-speaking countries, where issues involving the recruitment and retention of language students are pressing. This study discusses the main qualitative findings of a study on the motivations and identity aspirations of university students of German in Australia. The findings obtained through a questionnaire (n = 86) are complemented by in-depth interviews conducted with a small sample of respondents (n = 5). The study shows that learners of German are instrumentally, integratively and intrinsically motivated and wish to shape identities as international professionals with unique linguistic skills (Exotenmotiv, see Riemer 2006), tourists and anti-tourists, bilingual speakers in a monolingual Anglophone context and educated individuals (Bildungs-Selbst, see Busse 2015). This research furthers our knowledge on this learner population in Australia and, more broadly, on Anglophone elective language learners, as well as students of German as a foreign language in other contexts. It also contributes to our understanding of the link between motivation and processes of identity creation and development.

Deeper crisis, higher skills demand? Impact of the European financial crisis on demand for German language skills

ABSTRACT We analyze the 2007 European financial crisis' impact on the demand for new language skills. The crisis affected German-speaking regions less. Learning German became relatively more attractive for migration and trade. We construct a sub-national database for German as a foreign language exam (TestDaF) participation rates between 2001–2013 and define regional crisis indicators. Using a multiple-group, multiple-period difference-in-differences framework with propensity score matching, we find that TestDaF participation increased significantly in crisis-affected regions, driven by youth and severely-affected Hellenic and Latin linguistic regions.

Production-based training benefits the comprehension and production of grammatical gender in L2 German

AbstractOngoing debate exists regarding the role of production-based versus comprehension-based training for L2 learning. However, recent research suggests an advantage for production training due to benefits stemming from the opportunity to compare generated output with feedback and from the memory mechanisms associated with language production. Based on recent findings with an artificial language paradigm, we investigated the effects of production-based and comprehension-based training for learning grammatical gender among beginning L2 German learners. Participants received production-based or comprehension-based training on grammatical gender assignment and gender agreement between determiners, adjectives, and 15 German nouns, followed by four tasks targeting the comprehension and production of the target nouns and their corresponding gender marking on determiners and adjectives. Both groups were equally accurate in comprehending and producing the nouns. For tasks requiring knowledge of grammatical gender, the production-based group outperformed the comprehension-based group on both comprehension and production tests. These findings demonstrate the importance of language production for creating robust linguistic representations and have important implications for classroom instruction.

Vocabulary loading in the Studio textbook series: a 40% decline in the vocabulary input for French GCSE

ABSTRACT The vocabulary content of the French MFL curriculum in England has received criticism (Häcker, M. 2008. Eleven pets and 20 ways to express one’s opinion: the vocabulary learners of German acquire at English secondary schools. The Language Learning Journal 36, no. 2: 215–26; Tschichold, C. 2012. French vocabulary in Encore Tricolore: do learners have a chance? The Language Learning Journal 40, no. 1: 7–19) for its small size, lack of thematic variety, and poor pedagogical exploitation in textbooks. Studies also note the small vocabulary knowledge of learners in UK compared with other French learners, ostensibly at the same CEFR B1 level (David, A. 2008. Vocabulary breadth in French L2 learners. The Language Learning Journal 36, no. 2: 167–80; Milton, J. 2006b. Language lite: learning French vocabulary in school. Journal of French Language Studies 16, no. 2: 187–205). This study examines the vocabulary content of the Studio series of French textbooks, first published in 2010, to see whether this situation has improved. Analysis shows the vocabulary loading of the textbooks has fallen over 40% compared with the previous books analysed by Tschichold (2012. French vocabulary in Encore Tricolore: do learners have a chance? The Language Learning Journal 40, no. 1: 7–19). This indicates a significant decline in the standard of learning for GCSE French since the vocabulary size of learners is so closely associated with their overall language proficiency. There are problems too with the thematic variety of teaching, the regularity of input, and the recycling of the lexical content. We argue this results from the guidance of advisory bodies such as the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP) and the latest curriculum design (Department for Education. 2015. Modern Foreign Languages GCSE Subject Content. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/485567/GCSE_subject_content_modern_foreign_langs.pdf (accessed 30 August, 2020)) MFL subject content so there is no clear standard for textbook writers to work to. Further, the guidance of advisory bodies such as the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP) and the latest curriculum design (Department for Education. 2021. GCSE MFL Subject Content Review. https://consult.education.gov.uk/ebacc-and-arts-and-humanities-team/gcse-mfl-subject-content-review/supporting_documents/GCSE%20MFL%20subject%20content%20document.pdf (accessed 14 March, 2021)), which damage standards of attainment in MFL by advocating minimal vocabulary content and a departure from thematic input.

Folklinguistic perceptions of Global Englishes among German learners of English

Abstract While recent research on English language teaching (ELT) in Germany has called for a more comprehensive representation of the diversity of English worldwide, learners’ perceptions of Global Englishes are currently underresearched despite their importance for a successful implementation of this change in ELT. The present paper analyzes 166 German secondary school students’ perceptions of Global Englishes, underlying cultural associations, and stereotypes. To this end, a perceptual dialect identification task, keyword association, and direct open questions were combined in a folklinguistic study. The results show that the informants consider British and American English as general standards and primarily associate English-speaking countries with Inner Circle varieties: British, American, and Australian English. British English is regarded as the default school reference norm, while American English is associated with dynamism and casualness. Furthermore, the students identify Indian and African English(es) as important Global Englishes. Their perceptions of these varieties are, however, less positive and seem to be influenced by cultural stereotypes, which might prompt them to perceive these varieties as funny or unintelligent. We suggest that learners’ existing knowledge of Global Englishes and explicit metalinguistic discussions of variation can be used as starting points to counteract such stereotypes.

Maximizing the benefits of peer interaction: Form-focused instruction and peer feedback training

This classroom study investigated the effectiveness of form-focused instruction and peer feedback training to improve grammatical accuracy and thereby maximize learning opportunities during peer interaction. Eighty-seven third-semester learners of German were assigned to a PI group (peer interaction only), an FFI group (peer interaction and form-focused instruction), or a PFT group (peer interaction, form-focused instruction, and peer feedback training). During an instructional intervention over 3 class periods, participants in all 3 groups engaged in the same peer interaction activities, but only the FFI group and the PFT group received form-focused instruction on the grammatical target structure, the German present perfect tense. Critically, only the PFT group was trained to provide corrective feedback to peers. Results from a pretest and two posttests, all of which included an oral production task and an error correction task, showed that peer interaction was effective when combined with form-focused instruction, but more effective when peer feedback training was also provided to learners. These results underscore the importance of instruction on peer feedback for more successful peer interaction activities.

Chinese students’ motivation for learning German and French in an intensive non-degree programme

This paper reports on a mixed method study that examined the motivation of 121 students in a 1-year intensive language course in German or French at a Chinese university. Drawing on Dörnyei’s (2009) theory of the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), a survey was conducted to explore their motivation to learn German or French. Regression analyses revealed that learning experience and promotion-focused instrumentality were the predictors for the German learners’ intended learning effort, while ideal L2 self was the predictor for the French learners’ motivation. Furthermore, ought-to self, culture/community interest and prevention-focused instrumentality were excluded in both regression models. In addition, 17 participants’ qualitative data in the interviews suggested that most of them had lower expectations for the value of German or French than for the value of English in improving one’s employability. Instead, they were much more oriented to learn and appreciate the cultural values of these languages. The results provided insight into the complexity of motivation to learn Languages Other than English (LOTEs) in the university context in China, and suggested future direction for research on LOTE learning motivation

The development of temporal-spatial meaning in personal recounts of beginning L2 writers of German

Personal recounts represent a core narrative genre that novice L2 learners typically encounter when learning about everyday experiences in the target culture. Expressing a “journey of significance” (Rothery & Stenglin, 1997, p. 248) through a succession of well-defined events, recounts are ideal textual environments for beginning learners to practice verb forms and cohesive devices (e.g., Abdel-Malek, 2019). A key feature of recounts are temporal-spatial circumstantial meanings, often realized lexico-grammatically through adverbial and prepositional phrases that guide movement through a sequence of habitual actions and reported happenings. While circumstances enhance (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) recounts by providing additional details to situate events, L2 learners sometimes avoid producing these meanings (Gleason, 2014).Adopting an Integrated Performance Assessment (Adair-Hauck, Glisan, & Troyan, 2013) and genre-based approach (Martin, 2009; Martin & Rose, 2008), this study explores how collegiate beginning L2 learners of German develop their ability to write stories of travel experiences. Data come from two second-semester German classes in fall 2019 (n = 10). Pre- and post-tests of learners’ written recounts of their own vacation experiences provide information about learners’ developing facility with the genre, including the ability to produce temporal-spatial meaning discursively. Implications for supporting and evaluating beginning L2 learners’ narrative writing within Integrated Performance Assessments are offered.

Innovative Research on German Education Teaching Mode in Colleges and Universities from the Perspective of BD

With the needs of economic development, many colleges and universities offer German courses. However, because German course has just started in domestic universities, its teaching method is more simply to apply the ordinary German teaching mode, without too much consideration of the characteristics of higher education, and its teaching effect is not satisfactory. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to make innovative research on German teaching mode in colleges and universities from the perspective of big data(BD). Firstly, this paper discusses the current situation of German teaching mode construction and resources in Chinese universities, and summarizes the main problems existing in contemporary German teaching mode in Chinese universities. The new teaching mode of German in colleges and universities puts the feelings of college students in the main position, guides students to learn actively through behavior guidance, and pays more attention to students’ communicative competence. This teaching mode also utilizes the storage architecture of data warehouse, combined with BD and other related technologies, and realizes the storage and update of various German teaching resources, which meets the innovative needs of universities for German teaching mode. Finally, this treatise compares the innovative modes of teaching German in universities with traditional modes of teaching. Experimental results show that the innovative mode of teaching German in college is recognized and loved by students, and their love for German has increased by about 30%, which plays a significant role in improving students’ enthusiasm for learning German and provides an important reference for the innovative research of German teaching mode in colleges and universities.

Chatbots for Action-Oriented Language Learning Using Elbot to Enhance Conflict-Solving Skills in Learners of German as a Foreign Language

The aim of this study is to investigate (i) how learners perceive the non-educational chatbot Elbot as a language learning tool in a formal context (university German course), and (ii) to what extent a set of task-oriented interactions with Elbot influences the learners’ behaviour (e.g. lexical choices) during a separate activity. For these purposes, this study outlines a lesson/experiment focused on the enhancement of conflict-solving skills in German as a foreign language. A mixed-methods approach was applied to evaluate Elbot’s contribution to the lesson as well as its impact on the learners’ choice of basic strategies to solve a conflict. The study concludes with the discussion of the advantages of developing an edu-bot based on an existing non-educational chatbot. In this regard, the research also provides some concrete proposals based on the results of the data analysis.

Lexikalischer Zugriff bei Mehrsprachigen: Eine Studie zur visuellen Verarbeitung von Kognaten im Polnischen als Erstsprache

SummaryResearch into cross-linguistic influence in L3 acquisition and processing has recently shown remarkable growth. However, still little is known about reverse interactions, i. e. the effects of L2 and L3 on L1. This study investigates visual cognate processing in Polish to determine whether lexical access in the dominant L1 is susceptible to the influence of the non-dominant L2 and L3. A group of 13 Polish learners of German and English participated in a lexical decision task in which both double and triple cognates were examined in comparison to control non-cognates and non-words. In line with the pattern found in most similar studies, the results reveal no cognate facilitation effect, thus indicating that L1 lexical access in multilinguals may also be selective with respect to L2 and L3. The theoretical consequences for L1 lexical processing in the multilingual mind are discussed.