Students Of German Research Articles

Gender Differences in Motivated Behavior by Croatian Students of English and German in the Out-of-School Context

Motivation is one of the key variables in second language acquisition. Motivation is also an extremely complex phenomenon that is very difficult to precisely measure due to its multidimensionality. Previous research in the Croatian educational context indicates that the intensity of motivation may depend on the target language being learned (e.g. Karlak 2014; Karlak and Mayer 2021; Karlak and Šimić 2016; Karlak and Mayer 2021; Mihaljević Djigunović and Bagarić 2007), but also that differences in the intensity of motivation exist about gender, favoring higher values among female students compared to male students in various dimensions of motivation (e.g. Karlak and Bagarić Medve 2016; Martinović 2018; Martinović and Sorić 2018). Research also shows that female students of English as a foreign language significantly more often engage in various forms of motivated behavior in the out-of-school context, such as watching television in that language, reading, listening to music, and conversing with various individuals in person (e.g. Karlak and Bagarić Medve 2016; Muñoz 2020). The conducted research aimed to determine and compare whether there are gender differences in the Croatian foreign language learning context regarding the frequency of engaging in various forms of motivated behavior in the out-of-school context, and self-assessment of communicative language competence among students studying English or German, since such research is scarce. The results show that gender differences are more numerous in the English language sample. Findings also indicate that female students, compared to male students, more frequently engage in various forms of motivated behavior in the out-of-school context. However, male students assess their level of communicative language competence higher than female students, and this difference is statistically significant among English students in the area of vocabulary.

Interaktionsprozesse in einem virtuellen Austauschprojekt – duoethnografische Reflexionen der begleitenden Lehrpersonen

In the discussion of international student mobility, virtual exchange(s) (VE) become increasingly important. Similar to on-site exchanges, VEs aim to provide students with an international experience and transcend geographical, social, and cultural boundaries. While students’ experiences with VEs have been presented repeatedly, this paper focuses on an aspect that features less prominently in the literature: the perceptions of a VE from the perspective of the facilitating team. We report on our experiences, interactions and reflections as supporting teacher educators in a VE project between German and New Zealand pre-service English teachers and New Zealand students of German. We employ the collaborative research approach of duoethnography to critically reflect on our experiences and practices with the VE as well as to portray our reflections on duoethnography as our chosen research approach. Our findings are based on continuous individual and collaborative written reflections throughout the project.

Język równościowy w nauczaniu DaF na poziomie uniwersyteckim – postawy osób uczących i studiujących wobec jego zastosowania w praktyce dydaktycznej

This paper focuses on gender-fair language and the attitudes of teachers and students of German as a foreign language (DaF) towards its use in university teaching. In the context of the survey study presented here, gender is understood as a construct that is manifested in specific, changing language use variants, such as in personal names. The surveyed teachers and students of applied linguistics at the University are current and future DaF linguists and educators, who, due to social changes, will be increasingly confronted with the issues under study in their professional lives. The aim of the study is, firstly, to determine whether gender-fair language is addressed in the DaF courses under study, if so, in what form and to what extent, and secondly, to record and describe the attitudes of the studied groups towards it, in order to raise awareness of this important phenomenon of contemporary German language use. Consequently, the conducted survey provides information about the presence of gender issues in DaF courses and the attitudes of the two groups towards gender-fair language. The results of the study are discussed in terms of their contribution to the development of gender-sensitive didactics of German as a foreign and as a second language.

Self-regulatory learning strategies involving the use of linguistic landscape: the case of undergraduate multilingual learners

Capitalising on research into self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS), the study reported in the present paper explored the use of SRLS by multilingual learners in the context of the linguistic landscape. We designed the Linguistic Landscape (LL) SRLS Inventory, used it for data collection and validated it. Insights were provided by 100 undergraduate students of English and German and concerned searching for opportunities to learn from LL, paying attention to LL, creating mental linkages with LL, and organising LL-based learning. Statistical analyses revealed that the use of LL SRLS was affected by reading comprehension skills and varied substantially across SR stages.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC HERITAGE THROUGH THE LENS OF SERBIAN-MAJOR STUDENTS AND STUDENTS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

With the rapid development of technology and the availability of mobile devices of various types and purposes, people and their entire reality are being moved into a virtual world where the levelling of diver- sity and multiculturalism is emphasized and cultivated. Therefore, in sociolinguistics and other social sciences, there has been an ongoing interest in the issue of the cultural identity of digital citizens. As, at a certain point, education became almost entirely dependent on digital platforms and the global network, students of philology found them- selves in a similar situation. Bearing the aforementioned in mind, the present paper examines the attitudes of Serbian-major students and students of foreign languages, primarily English, German and Spanish, regarding the importance of preserving Serbian (in this case, native) cultural and linguistic heritage. The results demonstrated that the participants had generally shown positive attitudes. However, a more precise statistical testing revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in both the knowledge and attitudes between Serbian-major students and students of other languages. Gender like- wise proved to be a statistically significant predictor of variation in atti- tudes, with male respondents and students who declared to be a gender other than male or female, inclined toward less positive attitudes. Year of study, the socio-economic and educational background of students’ parents were not statistically significant factors in predicting the vari- ation in the responses. The findings have important pedagogical impli- cations emphasizing the need for continuous education in matters pertaining to cultural and linguistic heritage.

The application of the CLIL technology in the development of foreign language lexical and grammatical skills of students in digital educational environment

Introduction. In a multicultural and multilingual society, it is hardly possible to find a modern person who does not speak any foreign language and is not able to integrate his language knowledge into the structure of his activity. The concept of applying CLIL digital technology in a foreign language teaching seems to be one of the promising areas of modern linguodidactics and is due to the conceptual ideas of modernizing the system of education. The purpose of the study is to verify the subject-language integrated learning in the formation of lexical and grammatical skills of students of German in a digital educational environment. Materials and methods. Quizizz, Wordwall, Learning Apps, MyQuiz (for tests and interactive tasks), Gamilab (for quest games), Boris Bot (for creating a chat bot), Podomatic (for podcasts) have been used as digital tools for compiling a set of exercises. 55 fifth year students of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, the major is "Teacher training (a double-degree programmme)" (bachelor degree course), have been selected to attend the pedagogical experiment. Statistical processing of the samples of the control and experimental groups has been carried out according of the Pearson’s chi-squared test. Study results. The following steps were observed in the process of lexico-grammatical skills formation with the integration of CLIL technology: introduction or presentation of new course content, training, speech practice and reflection. For each of these stages, a digital toolkit has been selected which enabled us to create interactive tests, games, web quests based on design kits and services for students. A step-by-step methodology for the formation of lexical and grammatical skills using CLIL in a digital educational environment has proven effective in developing the following skills: to group vocabulary semantically, to translate from Russian into German, to describe illustrations, based on the trained lexical and grammatical content, to present the result of the completed project work in written and oral form. The effectiveness of the methodology for the formation of lexical and grammatical skills using subject-language integrated learning in digital educational environment has been confirmed by a pedagogical experiment conducted with the university students’ participation (χ2 emp. = 7,30, p<0,05). Conclusions. The results obtained can be applied in German language teaching, in upper-secondary and high schools with advanced curriculum in German, grammar schools and lyceums. The developed educational and methodological technology for the implementation of integrated subject-language training can become the basis for creating a study guide. The results of the study contribute to the development of digital linguodidactics; the set of developed tasks can become an incentive for more intensive application of CLIL technology in a foreign language teaching.

YouTube-Assisted Listening Instruction (YALI): A Study of Listening Comprehension and Listening Anxiety of University Students of German as a Foreign Language

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of YouTube-assisted listening instruction (YALI) on the listening anxiety of students of German as a foreign language (GFL) and their listening comprehension performance. For this purpose, a total of ninety-six senior undergraduate students were equally divided into three groups using the criterion sampling technique: (a) YouTube-assisted listening instruction (experimental group); (b) traditional listening instruction with auditory materials (control group - 1); and (c) instruction without listening exposure (control group - 2). The instructional approach was underpinned by Richard E. Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). After a ten-week treatment process, results revealed that the students in YALI showed the best GFL listening comprehension performance compared to the control groups. In addition, YALI was observed to reduce students' GFL listening anxiety. Finally, a negative linear correlation between listening anxiety and listening comprehension performance was detected. This meant that students' listening anxiety decreased as their listening comprehension performance increased. To gain a better understanding of the effects of YALI on GFL listening comprehension performance and listening anxiety, relevant implications were discussed.

A cycle model of intercultural learning: educating the global citizen

ABSTRACT This article presents a model of intercultural learning that may be used in the planning and implementation of citizenship education in foreign/second/world language teaching. The Cycle model of intercultural learning aims at the development of global citizenship and comprises four phases: noticing, comparing, reflecting and interaction. Among the central concepts are critical cultural awareness, perspective awareness, local and global contextualisation, and decentering. The article further shows how language learning and intercultural learning may be integrated by combining the Cycle model of intercultural learning with task-based language learning and language learning via chunks and keywords. The argument is illustrated by results from an action research project carried out in Denmark in the school year 2021/2022. Thematically, the project draws inspiration from The UN Global Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, and addresses students of English, German, and French in grade 8 (15-year-olds). In this article, the focus is on one of the English classes, but the article concludes with reflections on the relevance of all languages.

Speaking French, German and Spanish in Swedish lower secondary school

This study investigates levels of oral proficiency in French, German and Spanish attained by Swedish speaking students in lower secondary school. A total of 122 students performed two tasks: one production task and one interaction task. The oral performances were rated using scales from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The rating was done in successive steps by researchers in the project and external raters. The results show that slightly less than half of the students’ performances were rated at or above the expected proficiency level at the end of lower secondary school (A2.1). While there was no difference in rated levels between the two tasks, the performances by the students of German were significantly more often rated at or above the A2.1 level than the performances by students of French and Spanish. In the article, we discuss the results in relation to the few previous studies available on the topic, as well as some aspects of the learning conditions that might contribute to the interpretation of the results. In addition, certain structural phenomena regarding language education in Sweden are briefly considered in relation to equity at a general level.

Zwischen Bildungsmisere und Bildungsreform(en): Reflexionen angehender Fremdsprachenlehrkräfte über moderne Bildungssysteme und Zukunftsperspektiven des institutionellen Fremdsprachenlernens

This paper presents a small-scale empirical study which included 21 senior-year students of German as a major who took a course on the methodology of teaching German as a foreign language in the spring semesters 2020 and 2021, at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia). The students were encouraged to read several articles by the Austrian educational philosopher Konrad Paul Liessmann and to record their reflections on the possible effects of the commercialization of purpose-oriented knowledge. The articles in question are based on Liessmann’s so-called “Theory of Uneducation”. The students’ tasks were analyzed and discussed, with the focus on their statements regarding the following aspects: a) possible challenges, opportunities and dangers of unavoidable digitization and mechanization in everyday life and at school, and b) the changing roles and tasks in the educational context. All this more or less aims at application-oriented knowledge management. The participants supported Liessmann’s thesis that education is losing value through commercial exploitation, accumulation of TV quiz knowledge and extensive testing and examining. However, his skepticism with regard to digitization in the school system and his plea for more traditional canons of school subjects were mostly met with disapproval by the participants.

Exploring collocation development in L2 German from students’ perspective: A contrasting case study

Despite the growing body of studies on collocation learning in SLA research, there are hardly any studies taking the perspective of the individual learner or studies that have examined the effect of individual differences. This study–a qualitative component of a mixed-methods longitudinal project–presents an in-depth exploration of the intro- and retrospective views of five Dutch-speaking L2 students of German on their 3-year collocation learning process. It focuses on the individual factors that enhanced or hindered L2 collocation development, and on the extent to which effective and less effective collocation learners differed regarding their L2 motivation, exposure and use, learning experience, and learning strategies. Extreme sampling strategy was used and five contrasting cases of learners were selected (three effective versus two less effective collocation learners). Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and learners’ written reflections on five specific collocations. Findings indicate that the effective collocation learners showed a higher intrinsic motivation, more engagement in informal learning activities, more extensive social interaction in the L2, more awareness towards collocations, a higher degree of self-regulation, and a higher number of learning strategies than the less effective collocation learners. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications are provided.

Task representation in German as a foreign language: A systemic functional analysis of Norwegian students’ written responses

The main objective of this article is to understand in detail how different learners respond to writing tasks and what consequences their individual choices have on language use. The texts were composed by Norwegian upper secondary school students of German as a foreign language (GFL). In total, seven written responses to two writing prompts were described and juxtaposed based on a meaning-orientated perspective, with a focus on the learners’ choices along ideational, interpersonal and textual dimensions. Even though the learners responded in similar ways to each of the tasks, the findings also showed considerable variation in how particular meaning dimensions were realised by the different writers. The current study speaks to the importance of taking account of learners’ task representations in writing tasks and activities in secondary school FL learning.

Writing in German as a foreign language in Norwegian upper sec-ondary school: An investigation of patterns of language choices for meaning-making

The main objective of this article is to identify and describe characteristic patterns of language choices in texts written by Norwegian upper secondary school students of German as a foreign language (GFL) (age 16/17, school year 12, 5th year of FL learning). The study maps language choices in a set of 12 learner responses to a writing prompt about interpreting a film title. The aim of the study is to describe these choices in terms of how the learners use ideational meaning-making resources to arrive at meaningful content. The study takes a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) approach and analyses the responses in terms of the following lexicogrammatical and discourse semantic systems of resources: Transitivity, taxonomic and logico-semantic relations. The study finds several strategies and language choices that presented themselves as particularly relevant for meaning-making. For example, the learners reach an interpretation through clauses relating two messages to each other, and one of those two messages is typically structured in a complex way. Overall, the study provides insights into relevant patterns for expository writing in general and such that seem important to the particular context in which the response was situated. The article also points to the sophistication of the learners’ language use and the linguistic demands regarding the task at hand. In line with existing research, the current study also shows how SFL and genre theory can be successfully applied to the analysis of responses by beginner to intermediate GFL learners.

Regional Language Variation in the German Curriculum

AbstractGerman is a pluricentric language with many standard and nonstandard varieties. Students of German are usually unaware of its rich regional variation, and studies attribute this to limited resources and instructional time (van Kerckvoorde, 2012). The “DACH” model of teaching German, which includes linguistic and cultural elements from Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH), has constituted an effort to go somewhat beyond a model that exclusively teaches Standard German, from Germany. However, when not contextualized properly, DACH itself oversimplifies language variation, shifting the attention from one standard version of German to three. This article proposes that German's variation should be taught to students at all levels and may be considered in the framework of the ACTFL Guidelines and Standards. These strongly support learners' successful functioning in real‐world and authentic situations, including in dealing with varying dialects. This article will offer an overview of German language variation, it will outline how its integration is aligned with the ACTFL Guidelines (2012), and it will discuss some current instructional challenges. Finally, it will offer concrete examples for instructors by using existing sections from popular college German textbooks and by presenting several worksheets on dialect teaching for the novice, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Relationship between emotional motivation and academic performance in second language learning

<p><span lang="EN-US">This article presents the results of a research study on the role that affective motivation plays in learning a second language (L2). There were 171 American university students of Spain, German, Italy, and Japan as a second language participated in the study. This was an ex post facto, cross-sectional, and correlational quantitative study that informs us of which is the type of motivation most beneficial for learners and considers variables such as age, gender, academic performance, and the intention to continue studying a second language. An online questionnaire based on the Dörnyei motivational model was administered. The results show that the variables </span><span lang="EN-US">ideal self and “projection of intended effort” of the learners are positively and significantly related to the academic performance of the students and to the intention of enrollment in future foreign language classes. At the opposite extreme, the deontic self or ought-to-self does not correlate significantly with any of the rest of the variables considered. Regarding the cross-sectional analysis of age and gender, no significant differences were found in gender. However, there was a negative and significant correlation between age and academic performance. Furthermore, there was positive and significant correlation between age and projected effort.</span></p>

Assessing writing development during study abroad

Abstract In research about second language (L2) development during study abroad (SA), writing is underrepresented. This is partly due to the difficulty of designing adequate tasks and measures to gauge writing development during a short immersion period. Our study explores the applicability of a narrative task assessed in terms of both linguistic complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) and functional adequacy (FA), a novelty in SA writing research. Texts written by 30 advanced students of L2 German before and after SA were analysed. The results show moderate correlations between the measures for fluency and lexical variation and two FA dimensions. This suggests that, in the SA context, CAF and FA develop together to a certain extent, although the constructs are conceptually different.

Die Einführung von Gamification im DaF Unterricht an der Obafemi Awolowo Universität, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Most Nigerian students of German are between 16 and 30 years old. This age group tends to be more interested in playing computer and video games than doing their home- and class work with traditional materials such as textbooks and workbooks. Younger students need interesting activities that are fun for them and motivate them to learn and, as a result, make progress and achieve rapid success in their learning. It is therefore surprising that gamification has not yet been introduced into the curricula of Nigerian higher institutions. As a result, there is hardly any research in the field of gamification in foreign language learning in general or its use in the teaching of German in particular. This lacuna in research on gamification in German studies in Nigeria led to the present study, which examines the introduction of gamification into German lessons at Obafemi Awolowo University. The study aims at initiating a targeted discussion on gamification in German studies and stimulating further scholarly conversations on the topic. Through this, the possibility of creating a didactic design for the use of gamification in German studies in Nigeria can be achieved. This study uses secondary data sources including articles, books and reviews about gamification in education or classrooms. Other sources include websites and blog posts. These sources provide useful insights from various studies on gamification and its use in education, especially in foreign language teaching, which help in drawing up suggestions for a successful introduction of gamification into the curriculum of Nigerian universities especially that of German at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. The analysis of the data is based on a descriptive and content analysis. 

‘Being monolingual has a certain stigma’: understanding the proficiency-related motivations of Anglophone students of Italian and German

ABSTRACT Language-specific (i.e. the ideal L2 self) and plurilingual selves are now at the forefront of scholarly inquiry in L2 motivation research. Yet, there is a lack of empirical studies examining how language learners reframe their sense of self as speakers of an L2. This study draws on a questionnaire (N = 162) and on semi-structured interviews (N = 10) and explores the ways in which university students of Italian and German describe their proficiency-related motivations. In particular, it examines their bilingual and plurilingual aspirations in relation to broader discourses on the value of L2 learning in their socio-context of learning, where the ability to speak a second language is not the norm. The findings show that learners’ motivation display both language-specific and non-language-specific features. While many students viewed the acquisition of fluency in the L2 as their end goal, others connected L2 learning to the attainment of non-language-specific bilingual and plurilingual identities, regardless of the L2 being learnt. L2 proficiency enabled the respondents in this study to position themselves in their local English-dominant socio-context as educated, open-minded, cultivated and more globally connected individuals.

Adjektiv-Attribute in German and Vietnamese: a Comparison

In German, especially in written documents, complex noun phrases, including noun phrases using adjectives as determiners, are used a lot, which notably caused many difficulties to students of German. Therefore, this study has raised the following questions: Is there any similarity or difference in the structure of a noun phrase using adjectives as determiners? How do Vietnamese students translate noun phrases using adjectives as determiners from Vietnamese to German? To answer these questions, this study conducts research on learner data from the HANU-VIELKO data source, which includes tests and exams of students of the German Department. The purpose of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences in the structure of noun phrases using adjectives as determiners in the two languages and to examine how students translate these structures from Vietnamese to German. Based on the study results, some comments and suggestions for quality improvement of teaching and learning in the Translation classes will be given.

Die Rolle des Radiointerviews im Landeskundeunterricht Ein Mediascher in Paraguay

Abstract The tendency to apply media in regional studies for students of German as a foreign language (Deutsch als Fremdsprache, DaF) is no longer a novelty. Thus, we see media applied as such in multiple different forms, like videos, press releases, radio segments or online statements. This contribution is focused on the radio interview, as a constitutive part of the regional studies’ courses for DaF students of Germanistik in Romania. As a starting point serves the assumption, that the application of visual media can be enhanced through dialogue sequences, which further highlight the subject of the course. Through chosen interviews, that have been aired by the state channels, students can become familiar with such issues, that affect the German minority in Romania. The authenticity that is being sought for, will result from the primary situation of the interviewer and the interviewee communicating, as well as through the utilization of Rumäniendeutsch as the standard language of the German minority, living in Romania. Thus can cultural, social, historical and linguistic phenomena that are specific for the local German speaking population and that are (re)constructing the cultural inheritance of Germans in Romania, be regarded in greater detail.