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Rezension

„So unkonventionell wie die Überschrift und so vielfältig wie das Autorenteam sind auch die Inhalte dieses [...] Bandes zur Fremdsprachendidaktik, hauptsächlich Englisch, z.T. auch DaF. Die Autoren stammen aus polnischen, türkischen, spanischen und österreichischen Bildungseinrichtungen. Ein wahrhaft europäisches Ensemble. Die Arbeitsplätze der Autoren reichen von Universitäten bis zu Lehrerseminaren und Grundschulen. Auch die Themen sind mannigfaltig: [...] Was alles verbindet, ist die Absicht, den neuen Herausforderungen an Fremdsprachenunterricht gerecht zu werden und die Chancen im Alltag zu nutzen. Alle Beiträge sind in englischer Sprache.“

– Bernd Morlock in: Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht, 2/2020

Zum Inhalt

In Seize the Day: New Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, educators from several European countries consider new conditions and expectations in foreign-language (FL) teaching, and how teachers may best serve their learners in a changed and changing world.

The volume begins with several articles on the role and attributes of the FL teacher. With a focus on learners that permeates the volume, Marek Krawiec and Agnieszka Miklasz report their surveyed students’ expectations of FL instructors. Gabriel S?nchez-S?nchez presents the teacher as a “prototype educator?, while Teresa Siek-Piskozub stresses the FL teacher’s role in facilitating inter-cultural communication (ICC), helping learners hold their own in a world that is increasingly interconnected and complex.

Others point to changing learning environments. Astrid Ebenberger describes efforts at providing inclusive FL classrooms in Austria, while Grazyna Strzelecka shows where the workplace is conducive to the development of Logistics students’ German skills. Marlena Bielak demonstrates that English Philology students’ final papers, traditionally a mostly academic effort, may be the outcome of a more practical exercise: a project based on work placements in international firms, where they hone their language and ICC skills.

Two contributors provide different perspectives on the influence of learning materials. Examining several English FL textbooks, Dinay Köksal and Ömer Gökhan Ulum discern their “hegemonic practice? of portraying people and situations mainly the core countries of the anglosphere. They urge textbook producers to reflect the growing use of English in areas where non-native speakers live. With a similar concern for materials that emphasize the environments where FL learners apply their skills, Renata Suszczynska reviews a German-FL textbook for Logistics students.

Other articles suggest learner-friendly ideas for traditional…

Schlagworte

Sprache, Lernen, Lehre, Perspektiven, Herausforderungen, Probleme, Fremdsprachenunterricht, Angewandte Linguistik, Lösungen, Techniken, Methoden, Materialien, Language, Learning, Teaching, Perspectives, Challenges, Problems, Foreign Language Teaching, Applied Linguistics, Solutions, Techniques, Methods, Materials