Dossier Startklar?!

Startklar!? Dossier

Face-to-face discussions meet virtual interaction. “Real” teachers in the classroom alternate with digital teaching assistants online. Multilingualism and machine translation jointly contribute to successful communication in everyday life: nothing less than the future of language learning was the subject of Startklar?! Ready for new beginnings in tomorrow’s language teaching and learning, a conference initiated by the Goethe-Institut that took place in March. We present various topics and findings here.

Personalization through digitization

Personalization through digitization
“I can experience it for myself”

Future scenarios in which real-life teachers are replaced by artificial intelligence are unfounded. On the contrary: there are increasing opportunities for learners and teachers alike to find the forms of learning that suit them best. Conference participants give insights into current possibilities and utopias.

Technology and old school

Technology and old school
“Understanding one another in the global village”

Books, YouTube, roleplays, apps – the variety of methods is huge. Just one thing seems certain – learning languages in the future will be just as exciting as it is today. We hear directly from learners from around the world as they talk about the current and future state of the most important skill needed to understand one another: the ability to speak the other’s language.

Johannes Ebert on digital media

Johannes Ebert on digital media
“There is very considerable potential”

The Goethe-Institut is not only reacting to the digital transformation in language learning – but is actively involved in shaping it: Secretary General Johannes Ebert talks about the objectives of the Startklar?! conference.

Thoughts and ideas at Startklar?!

Thoughts and ideas at Startklar?!
“An app for tandems”

Taking part is what counts – but winning is even better. The hackathon and the project workshop resulted in 20 of the best project ideas being pitched: the first prize was won by an international team that perfectly combines the digital and analogue worlds.

Students with digital devices in a classroom

A challenge for society as a whole
The digital turn in education

When the term digital turn is mentioned, the focus all too often is on the technical side. However, new methods and approaches to teaching and learning inevitably entail social transformations. An appeal for a more encompassing view.

Illustration on Multilinguism with various persons, a smartphone and books

Machine translation
Multilingualism in the light of machine translation

Thanks to new findings in artificial intelligence research, the performance of machine translation has improved considerably in recent years. How does this technology work, what are its benefits, and what are its possible consequences for the educational ideal of multilingualism?

VR glasses in a library

Language learning in the future
“New technologies will change the way we learn”

Will we still bother to learn foreign languages in the future? Or will we simply have programs that translate languages for us simultaneously? How will digitization change the way lessons are designed? In our interview, trend researcher Peter Wippermann talks about possible ways in which (language) learning will develop in the future.

Illustration: A man on a screen with books under one arm showing his index finger

Foreign language learning in the future
Will everything be digital?

How will we be learning foreign languages in 50 or 100 years’ time? What role will be played by digital media in the foreign language lessons of the future? And is it in fact possible to give meaningful answers to these questions today?

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