scholarly journals Attitudes of South Tyrolean University Students towards German Varieties

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Mara Maya Victoria Leonardi

This paper examines language attitudes of South Tyroleans towards German varieties used in educational institutions by means of a questionnaire survey with 55 university students. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into subjects’ attitudes towards their own and other German (standard) varieties, with a focus on the sociolinguistic situation in South Tyrol (northern Italy). Previous studies have shown that the German-speaking community often have the notion that their own standard variety is deficient combined with a feeling of linguistic inferiority towards German speakers from Germany. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the following research questions: Which attitudes do South Tyrolean university students have towards the different German (standard) varieties? Do university teacher-training students get in touch with the concept of the pluricentric variation within the German standard variety during their education? Results reveal that despite a certain awareness of the issue of linguistic variation in the German language, the standard variety used in Germany still enjoys high prestige among our subjects compared to other German standard varieties. Moreover, results show that the students were hardly confronted with the subject of the German standard variety used in South Tyrol or with the variation of the German language during their high school years. However, this changes as soon as they attend university.

Author(s):  
Kateryna Mikhidenko ◽  
Olena Opanasenko

The article is devoted to the study of the conceptual picture of German-speaking virtual intercultural reality and the processes of categorization that occur during the confrontation of local inhabitants and foreigners, as well as the definition of concepts objectified in German-language conflict discourse in virtual communication and their verbalization. A theoretical review of modern studies on the actualization of the conceptual system of individuals in linguistic reality in an intercultural context. The processes of categorization and conceptualization of discourse space on the basis of categorical, structural or metaphorical actualization of concepts of intercultural reality are analyzed. It is proposed to divide the concepts verbalized in the analyzed fragments of intercultural conflict discourse into three types: categorical concepts organize the knowledge of subjects about themselves and their environment by dividing and combining the concepts of intercultural discursive space in opposition pairs; structural concepts organize knowledge about the subject according to the structural features of the object through which they are denoted; metaphorical concepts concretize abstract and general ideas with the help of vivid concrete images based on an analogy between two phenomena.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-198
Author(s):  
Hasan Coşkun

Aim. In Turkey, in connection with the Bologna process, German is a foreign language course. In this study, the subject of a weather report (forecast) was planned for the German courses. The purpose of this study is the preparation, implementation and evaluation of a sample lesson to describe the selection of the subject of a weather report for the German courses taught at schools and universities.    Methods. This study was conducted by qualitative research (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, pp. 187-193). During the 2019 / 2020 academic year, I taught the subject of a weather report students in German courses and 38 students in master courses. Result and Conclusion. It was observed that participants talk about the weather in their hometown and in the places where they go on vacation. In addition to the subject discussed in class, the method implemented in the lesson and the planning of the course according to the method, play an important role in the continuation of this interest. Origin. The students who were in German speaking countries under the Erasmus program participate in German courses to maintain their fluency in German language. In order to conduct German courses effectively for different purposes, and for participants coming from different countries and students with different levels of fluency, a suitable method should be developed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-700
Author(s):  
Nevenka Blazević ◽  
Maja Blazević

The global competition on the tourist market and the internationalization of the tourist industry intensify the need for language learning. Knowledge of foreign languages is the most important prerequisite of the quality service in the tourist industry. The structure of foreign guests in Croatia classified by emitting countries proves that the part of the German speaking guests in comparison with other language communities is the most prominent one, so that German is the most important foreign language for the communication in Croatian tourism. Although its learning in Croatian educational institutions compared to English has been neglected, it has been learnt by all pupils in vocational schools for hotel and tourism industry. In Croatian tourism English as the language of the global communication can not satisfy all communication needs in tourism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 479-503
Author(s):  
Hasan Coşkun

Aim. In Turkey, German ranks second after English as a foreign language in private courses, schools, and universities. There is an important relation between the selection of the subject of German courses, i.e., the detailed planning of the courses, and the implementation of the appropriate method.  In this research, the subject of cuisine was planned for teaching German at universities. The purpose of this research is the preparation, implementation and evaluation of a sample lesson focused on the selection of the subject of cuisine for German courses taught in the universities. Methods. This research on cuisine was qualitative in nature. The document analysis technique was used in the research (Kuş, 2007; Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008). During the 2018/2019 academic year the researcher taught on the subject of cuisine selection in his German courses. The implementation and evaluation of the subject of cuisine are developed by Hasan Coşkun (2020) in accordance with the lesson planning model previously prepared. The materials used in this lesson are prepared according to the model developed by Coşkun (2020). The unit on cuisine has been revised for this article. Result and Conclusion. The success of the lesson planning model mentioned in this article was also observed in the activities conducted earlier. It was also seen that the students who attended German courses in connection with education or work in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland exerted efforts in establishing contact with the instructor and with other students attending the class. It was observed that participants talked about the Turkish, German, and Chinese cuisine in their families, peer groups, restaurants, and snack bars.  In addition to the subject discussed in the class, the method implemented in the lesson and the planning of the course according to the method, play an important role in the continuation of the students’ interest. Therefore, effective lesson planning models should be developed. This lesson model is also applicable to other languages. Originality. German is offered as a foreign language in Turkish schools in the second grade. Consequently, German is usually chosen as a second foreign language after English.  Students from all the departments of the university may attend the elective German language classes to study or work in Germany. The condition for participation in the courses “German for Erasmus” and “German for Communication,” taught by the researcher, aims to prepare the students to read and speak German at the A2 level. It is frequently observed that the participants speak German at different levels.  The overseas experience of the participants, the level of their German and their knowledge of other languages play an important role in this respect.  In recent years, the number of course participants from Germany and other countries have increased. The students who had been in German speaking countries within the Erasmus program participate in German courses to maintain their fluency in the German language. To conduct the courses effectively, a suitable method should be developed and such an approach will help the participants who come from different countries and students with different levels of fluency. It is believed that this inter-disciplinary research will contribute to the use of the active method during German lessons.


Gragoatá ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (42) ◽  
pp. 44-91
Author(s):  
Peter Klaus Rosenberg

Today, German language islands in Russia and Brazil are on the way to language shift. On this way, the varieties of these communities display certain features of decomposition and simplification in terms of morphology. Regular and irregular morphology, however, are developing differently: while case reduction is the main characteristic of regular noun inflection, in personal pronouns case distinctions are maintained. Results are presented from a research project about language change in case morphology of German language islands with 125 speakers living in close contact to the majority populations in Brazil and Ruguage obsolescence as from language emergence which has been the subject of linguistic research in the past. Through its comparative perspective, it seems possible to accoussia. The core idea of the project is the assumption that we can learn as well from lannt for internally or externally induced linguistic change. Language decay is apparently not just disorder, not amorphous, but somehow struc­tured. Certain lexical classes are more subject to reduction than others, and some residual features retain morphological “core” functions (in terms of case semantics). Language change is accelerated in times of blurring sociolinguistic differences and fading linguistic norms as an implication of losing ethnic boundaries. The recent co-officialization of minority languages in Brazil might slow down these processes. In a transcultural approach, teaching of Pomeranian as minority language (alongside the national language) could stabilize the local linguistic community, building a bridge to the High German standard language, and even to English as a lingua franca of international communication.


2020 ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
L. N. Rebrina

The results of a study of German-speaking opposition political blogs by V. Prabel and S. Wagenknecht as examples of relevant protest practices are presented in the article. System-communicative and integrative approaches are used. The characteristics of blogs that make up the subject and collective-personal dimensions of this protest practice in the context of mediation and the postulates of the Harvard School of Conflict Studies are described. The regularities of the discursive construction of the problem, the image of the complex addresser and the addressee of the blog are determined, their argumentative, evaluative, self-presentation and phatic tactics are used. The article shows the specifics of the formation of Internet solidarity, the reflection in the analyzed practice of the phenomenon of mediation at the level of society and the individual, including the manifestation of the attributes of the changing thinking of the subjects of communication, due to the globalization of information processes and the characteristics of modern mediation in the political sphere. The postulates of the concept of “principle negotiations” by R. Fisher and W. Ury, aimed at constructivizing the conflict, and their observance by the addresser and addressee of the blog are examined, which makes it possible to assess the satisfactory communication of the parties. The inherent features of blogs that are relevant to different conflict resolution strategies are described. The results contribute to the study of the contingence of technological and sociocultural changes and can be applied in the field of conflict management.


2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Maria Riehl

Dialect often plays an important role in minority communities where it functions as a marker of ethnic identity. In this case it also becomes an issue for speakers of the majority group who intend to acquire the minority language. The situation, however, differs from region to region and within different minority groups. The article discusses the linguistic setting and variety use of two German-speaking minorities, South Tyrol and East Belgium. The main focus is on the dimensions of dialect use in different domains, its linguistic influence on the standard variety, and its role for identity building. It will be pointed out that South Tyrolians almost exclusively identify with their regional dialect, whereas East Belgians also make use of language mixing. In its conclusion the article emphasizes the importance of dialectal and regional varieties for L2-learners: Learners should not only acquire a passive knowledge of the respective minority dialects, but also come to appreciate its symbolic value in the respective communities.


Author(s):  
Joachim Scharloth

AbstractThe paper examines the language attitudes in non-dominating language communities of pluricentric languages. It asks in what way the fact of being a speaker of a non-dominating language community influences the perception of the own competence and of the evaluation of the different standard varieties of the pluricentric language. By examining the attitudes towards Swiss Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland it argues that speakers of non-dominating language communities often have the notion that their own standard variety being deficient combined with a feeling of lingual inferiority towards the speakers of the dominating community. Thus, the standard variety of the dominating community serves as a prestigious variety. In Switzerland these attitudes strongly correlate with the age of the acquisition of Standard German and the negative attitudes towards Germans. Finally the paper raises the question whether the concept of pluricentricity can adequately be used when there ist no awareness of pluricentricity among the speakers. The data presented derives from two empirical studies conducted in Switzerland in the summer of 2003: a survey on language attitudes and a subjective evaluation test.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Hagemann

Abstract. The individual attitudes of every single team member are important for team performance. Studies show that each team member’s collective orientation – that is, propensity to work in a collective manner in team settings – enhances the team’s interdependent teamwork. In the German-speaking countries, there was previously no instrument to measure collective orientation. So, I developed and validated a German-language instrument to measure collective orientation. In three studies (N = 1028), I tested the validity of the instrument in terms of its internal structure and relationships with other variables. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the instrument. The instrument also predicts team performance in terms of interdependent teamwork. I discuss differences in established individual variables in team research and the role of collective orientation in teams. In future research, the instrument can be applied to diagnose teamwork deficiencies and evaluate interventions for developing team members’ collective orientation.


Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Cristina Lazzeroni ◽  
Sandra Malvezzi ◽  
Andrea Quadri

The rapid changes in science and technology witnessed in recent decades have significantly contributed to the arousal of the awareness by decision-makers and the public as a whole of the need to strengthen the connection between outreach activities of universities and research institutes and the activities of educational institutions, with a central role played by schools. While the relevance of the problem is nowadays unquestioned, no unique and fully satisfactory solution has been identified. In the present paper we would like to contribute to the discussion on the subject by reporting on an ongoing project aimed to teach Particle Physics in primary schools. We will start from the past and currently planned activities in this project in order to establish a broader framework to describe the conditions for the fruitful interplay between researchers and teachers. We will also emphasize some aspects related to the dissemination of outreach materials by research institutions, in order to promote the access and distribution of scientific information in a way suited to the different age of the target students.


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