From buying a postage stamp to exchanges with your best friend to a movie night with your family – all these things happen daily with or through digital media today. Digitality is omnipresent and consequently it is impossible to imagine school without it. While in many subjects the focus is primarily on optimising the use of digital media for learning, in English lessons there is another dimension to consider due to the focus on language and culture as teaching content: "Digitality should also play an important role as a topic, not just as a technological practice" (Lütge 2019: 139). Drawing on Felix Stalder's reflections on the "culture of digitality" (2016), this article aims to outline theoretical-conceptual perspectives on this subject of learning. Furthermore, the article takes a closer look at possible teaching ideas on the culture of digitality as well as its negotiation in English lessons and highlights two teaching scenarios. It also discusses how the negotiation of digitality in the English classroom can take place without access to digital media and thus open new possibilities for digital learning in analogue settings (cf. Mustroph 2021: 266).
Aufsätze
In the context of the collaborative research project "CoTeach - Connected Teacher Education", the potential of Social Virtual Reality (SVR) for inter- and transcultural learning in modern English teaching is being explored. This article presents the results of the first research cycle and, in addition to a theoretical discussion of the inter- and transcultural approach and a review of central preliminary studies in virtual reality research, it introduces a seminar concept developed for future foreign language teachers as well as the first outcomes of the students' projects. For this purpose, two classroom concepts will be presented that aim to foster empathy, overcome bias and identify commonalities using the potential of a virtual environment.
Dieser Artikel beschreibt ein Theorie-Praxis-Projekt in der ersten Phase der Englischlehrer*innenbildung. Digitale Medien werden genutzt, um angehenden Lehrkräften synchrone und asynchrone Lehrerfahrungen in komplexitätsreduzierten Settings zu ermöglichen. Die Studierenden fungieren als Mentor*innen für Schüler*innen, wobei vor allem die Sprechfertigkeit geschult wird. Ein Semester lang trafen sich mentors und mentees in Online-Konferenzen und kommunizierten zudem mittels selbst aufgenommener Videos auf "Flip". Digital gestützt und in Kollaboration mit Peers und Expert*innen konnten die Studierenden Praktiken erproben, die vor allem auf mündliche Kommunikation abzielten und den kontextsensiblen Einsatz von korrektivem Feedback beinhalteten.
The primary goal of this contribution is to show to what extent certain grammatical skills of lower secondary English learners can be improved by using AI-powered visualizer tools compared to only analogue, teacher-centered grammar introduction processes. The items to be investigated were syllabus-specific grammar topics (past simple vs. present perfect simple). The focus group was exposed to AI-powered visualizer tools and the control group received analogue teacher input. The quantitative measurement method found that the focus groups did not achieve a significantly better test score in the post-test than the control groups, who received analogue teaching input under almost identical conditions. However, the evaluated data suggest that especially learners with a lower language level (based on C-test measurements) achieved a significantly better result in the post-tests after the AI-video exposition than those learners with a similarly low language level who received the analog teacher input
Digitalization and technological developments offer foreign language learners numerous opportunities for autonomous learning. Educators as well as students have access to a broad range of online options for using digital materials in class or as supplements, for instance as exercises and how-to videos or as animated German grammar. Digital opportunities for learning grammar can be differentiated in terms of how they represent grammatical themes, how they implement terminology as well as which exercise options they offer. This article will focus on the analysis of selected examples of digital opportunities for learning the grammar of German as a foreign language.