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Didactical quality is a crucial precondition if all citizens of the European Union are to be able to develop multilingual skills. Here it is in particular adult education centres which have the task of training their teachers and offering them continuing education so as to make possible optimum didactical classroom instruction. This article shows that applied linguistics and research on teaching languages can provide an important impetus here. The author moreover issues a plea for specialised d…
Ein historischer Längsschnitt über die Bedeutung von Sprachenlernen und den Wandel im Sprachunterricht.
Begriffsklärungen und Begriffswandel rund um das Thema Sprachenlernen.
Teaching and learning situations are only super ficially described as transfer of knowledge. Beneath that surface complex processes of understanding influence the teacher-learner as well as the learner-learner interaction. Learners bring previous knowledge, experiences and attitudes into the classroom which may facilitate but also inhibit learning; they are not usually invited to express their beliefs, doubts and expectations and make them part of their individual learning prcoesses. The author…
The author starts out from a review of the relationship between language didactics and other fields of research giving inspiration to it (learning psychology, linguistics, second language acquisition research, anthropology), exploring whether constructivism might be one of these fields. He criticizes that in order to explain constructivist perspectives on learning, constructivists tend to use „instructionalism“ as a background against which to position their own ideas, „instructionalism“, howev…
The author outlines European and German activities and initiatives in the European Year of Languages. In order to bring these initiatives to fruition, it will be necessary to establish the usefulness of language knowledge in the minds of all European citizens. The author’s argument in favour of familiarity with more than one foreign language as a culturally enriching experience culminates in the promise that „monolinguality is curable“.
The author comments on his essay’s title which should refer to a „human being“ rather than to a „migrant“. With examples drawn from literature, theatre and real life he underpins his theory of an increasing malfunction of language as a means of communication. Finally, he reflects on cultural identity and a (German) concept of integration into a target culture.
English is firmly established as a lingua franca, yet in order to preserve cultural variety the mastering of several languages will continue to be indispensable. The author demonstrates in which ways learners profit from knowledge of and comparison between various languages and argues in favour of a common aim of „English plus multilinguality“.
Prof. Dr. Harald Weinrich ist einer der profiliertesten deutschen Sprachwissenschaftler. Er ist Mitbegründer der Universität Bielefeld, begründete in München das Fach „Deutsch als Fremdsprache“ und lehrt als erster deutscher Wissenschaftler am Collège de France. Gegenüber DIE-Mitarbeiter Gerd von der Handt plädiert Weinrich für die Rehabilitierung des Begriffs „Sprachkultur“, für die lingua-franca-Englisch, sofern sie Mehrsprachigkeit nicht erdrückt und fordert von den Deutschen, selbst mehrsp…
