Language Culture Literacy – serie

This volume is a collection of German and English papers presented at a symposium for young researchers on ‘Norms in Educational Linguistics’, which was held in Giessen (Germany) in 2008. The proceedings represent a multitude of philologies, theoretical frameworks and applications and are structured in thematic sections ranging from Language policy as a reflection of cultural norms to Norm, standard, deviation and Target norms in foreign language teaching. Dieser Band ist eine Sammlung von deutsch- und englischsprachigen Beiträgen, die bei einem Symposium für Nachwuchswissenschaftler zu ‘Normen in der Educational Linguistics’ (Gießen, 2008) gehalten wurden. Die Betrachtung verschiedenster Sprachen und theoretischer Ansätze sowie die Anwendungsbeispiele zeichnen diesen Band aus, in dem die Normfrage anhand von drei Schwerpunktbereichen diskutiert wird: Sprachpolitik als Ausdruck kultureller Normen; Norm, Standard, Abweichung und Zielnormen im Fremdsprachenunterricht.

The book explores the novel field of lexical and conceptual awareness in L2 reading from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. The theoretical part consists of a thorough literature review of the key terms. The empirical part presents an in-depth analysis of L2 learners’ lexical and conceptual awareness/challenges based on text and worksheet data as well as 110 hours of video material. In total, data from 156 L2 learners participating in video-taped collaborative reading scenarios and the corresponding stimulated recall sessions have been analyzed in a primarily qualitative manner. The results demonstrate the multidimensionality of the two major constructs and highlight learners’ need for further support. Theoretical, methodological and practical recommendations are provided.

This monograph aims to stimulate thinking and increase consciousness about the cultural dimension of foreign language teaching.　The author draws from the theoretical framework of Schmidt’s «ABCs of Cultural Understanding and Communication» (Schmidt, 1998; Schmidt & Finkbeiner, 2006) to support and advocate for expanding awareness in relation to the influence of culture on the perception of self and other. She interrogates how language learners acquire interpretative skills to gain a deeper reflexive understanding of different cultures and how electronic communication can be effectively utilised in teaching for intercultural learning. Learning how to interrogate diverse cultural practices using multiple cultural frameworks has been shown to facilitate authentic engagement with the complexities of diverse pluralistic societies. This qualitative research study explores how culture can be taught in the foreign language classroom and school setting.

This book is an introduction to reconstructive foreign language research using the documentary method. It contains an intensive reflection on social practices and the role of language awareness within the context of the instructional interaction in the foreign language classroom. The narrative interview can independently be used for research on language and professional biographies as well as professional dispositions, and attitudes of foreign language teachers provide valuable insights into biographical formations. Similarly, it can be deployed for research on the foreign language learner, too. The working steps of the documentary method are being illustrated on the basis of concrete examples so that the book can be used by researchers as well as by students as a methodological introduction.