Learners with self-regulation skills learn more efficiently – at school and later in life, too. But is that possible with fewer teachers?
Prof Dr. Torben Schmidt is an important voice in the field of digital foreign language learning. In an interview with Dr. Moritz Dittmeyer, he discusses the potential and the challenges of AI technologies in foreign language learning.
A look at German university curricula shows that teacher training has yet to be internationalised all over the country. In a recently published anthology of articles on the subject, the SCHULWÄRTS! research hub explains why it’s so important for teacher trainees to do placements abroad.
How can you address complex issues like poverty, solidarity and growing inequality under the Covid-19 pandemic in German classes? Can ESD goals be worked into language teaching? This article points up some inspiring approaches and methods that teachers of German as a foreign or second language can use.
Teachers face challenges every day at work. Studies show a particularly high level of psychological stress in the teaching profession. Hence the high incidence of burnout among their ranks. So how can we stave off stress while keeping teachers motivated and enthusiastic about their jobs year after year?
Training of teachers of German is the basis for the proper teaching of German as a foreign or second language. But what sort of qualifications are needed if the new global and indeed regional challenges are to be met?
In big cities, and indeed in language border regions, it is particularly common for people to use more than one language in a single statement in their everyday lives. Is such multilingual practice really as “chaotic” as people often assume? Or is not linguistic mixing in fact a quite “normal” phenomenon?
Multilinguals acquire the languages of which they have a command at different times during their biography – and in different contexts such as the family, at school or while abroad. Multilingualism has a whole host of benefits to offer, particularly for children.
When we use the term “multilingualism”, we are referring to a variety of phenomena which, though fairly closed linked, occur on quite different levels. How then can multilingualism be defined? Which factors are important? Or are there in fact several types of multilingualism?
How important are linguistic skills for academic success – and indeed for social participation? This is a key question in education research into language development and involves a quest for answers and new insights.
Acquiring a foreign language is not merely brain work, but also takes place within a social environment. What role is played by interaction in this context? And what practical relevance does this have for the correction of grammatical errors, for example, or indeed for GFL lessons as a whole?
Is it really more difficult for an adolescent or adult to learn a foreign language, and if so, why? Findings from neuroscience are helping to answer this question, and have encouraging news for older learners.
