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A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of conceiving, creating, and publishing a book prototype on the theme of Gelassenheit (serenity) for fostering motivation in the pursuit of world improvement.

The communicative approach moved linguistic interaction into the focus of foreign language teaching. In this context, oral communication was and remains the main conceptual focus. However, the usefulness of this emphasis is questionable for the development of written language. Following a theoretical discussion, I carry out an exemplary, critical analysis of writing tasks in new German as a foreign language (DaF) textbooks and argue for a reconsideration of goals for writing instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of digitization, the social role and value of writing is changing. This article discusses how literacy practices are differentiated along the two modes of text-oriented writing and interaction-oriented writing (Storrer 2018) and why and how this process can be observed in particular in the everyday life of adolescents. Finally, in order to argue that adolescents make use of different registers of writing, which are grounded in metacommunicative awareness, depending on the communicative context the paper provides insight into the results of a recently published study on adolescents' digital texting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a disruptive technology is not only changing our everyday life and the business world, but also the way we learn and generate new knowledge. Such breakthrough disruptions by new technologies are also taking place in the fields of foreign language learning. The focus of this paper is on AI-based applications that have an impact on the writing skill. This paper is structured to guide from general concepts to concrete ones. In the first section, a short overview of the possible applications of artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching is given. The second section focuses on writing with the help of AI-based applications for text generation. In the third section didactical-methodical considerations are formulated for the use of AI-based applications for text generation in GFL teaching. The paper finishes with a reflection which outlines conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, 7.5 Million individuals between 18 and 64 years are considered to be functionally illiterate (Grotlüschen & Riekmann, 2012). Functional illiterates have only rudimentary literacy skills despite attending school for several years. Although they can use written language to a very limited extent, only few functional illiterates attend literacy courses for adults. In addition, most adult literacy courses primarily aim at promoting basic reading and writing skills. Offers specific to workplace literacy are scarce. This review gives an overview of the definition of functional illiteracy. Afterwards, a specific literacy program (AlphaPlus) and its effectiveness will be presented. The reviewed studies indicate that learning to read in adulthood is associated with structural and functional brain changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In diesem Beitrag wird ein Schreibprojekt für angehende DaF-Lehrkräfte in Deutschland und Studierende der Auslandsgermanistik in Polen vorgestellt. Nach einer Darstellung der Rolle des Schreibens im Fremdsprachenunterricht und in der Fremdsprachenlehrerausbildung wird auf ausgewählte Online-Projekte eingegangen. Im nächsten Schritt werden die Ziele und der Ablauf des bereits erwähnten Projekts beschrieben. Im Anschluss daran wird das Projekt aus der Sicht der Lehrenden und Studierenden ausgewertet. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es vor allem, zur Durchführung ähnlicher Projekte mit angehenden DaF-Lehrenden in den deutschsprachigen Ländern und internationalen DaF-Lernenden/-Studierenden – z. B. in der Auslandsgermanistik und in Studiengängen der Übersetzung – zu ermuntern. This article presents a writing project between students of German Studies in Poland and future teachers of German as a Foreign Language. Firstly, we discuss the role of writing in the language classroom and in teacher training. We subsequently describe the aims and the process of our project and, eventually, evaluate the project from the perspective of the learners and the teachers. With our article we would like to encourage the organization of similar projects with students of German as a Foreign Language in German speaking countries and international students of German Studies, Translation etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In diesem Beitrag wird ein Schreibprojekt für angehende DaF-Lehrkräfte in Deutschland und Studierende der Auslandsgermanistik in Polen vorgestellt. Nach einer Darstellung der Rolle des Schreibens im Fremdsprachenunterricht und in der Fremdsprachenlehrerausbildung wird auf ausgewählte Online-Projekte eingegangen. Im nächsten Schritt werden die Ziele und der Ablauf des bereits erwähnten Projekts beschrieben. Im Anschluss daran wird das Projekt aus der Sicht der Lehrenden und Studierenden ausgewertet. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es vor allem, zur Durchführung ähnlicher Projekte mit angehenden DaF-Lehrenden in den deutschsprachigen Ländern und internationalen DaF-Lernenden/-Studierenden – z. B. in der Auslandsgermanistik und in Studiengängen der Übersetzung – zu ermuntern. This article presents a writing project between students of German Studies in Poland and future teachers of German as a Foreign Language. Firstly, we discuss the role of writing in the language classroom and in teacher training. We subsequently describe the aims and the process of our project and, eventually, evaluate the project from the perspective of the learners and the teachers. With our article we would like to encourage the organization of similar projects with students of German as a Foreign Language in German speaking countries and international students of German Studies, Translation etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This systematic review aims to investigate the question if an occupation based handwriting program or handwriting training is an effective approach to improve the handwriting of children with handwriting problems in regard to legibility/ quality and speed. Methods: A systematic literature search took place in the databases of MEDLINE, MEDPILOT and OTseeker. The papers found were critically evaluated and the results summarized. Results: Five relevant studies were identified. The research question cannot be answered with certainty, the results give slight indications that an occupation based handwriting training/handwriting program could be an effective approach to improve the quality/legibility of handwriting. In regard to increasing the speed of writing the studies reached inconsistent conclusions. Conclusion: The analyzed studies were moderate concerning their methodological quality and their comparability. Further research, particularly well designed RCTs with a higher number of participants is needed to further investigate the effectiveness of occupation based handwriting training as part of occupational therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the evolution of private writing practice within taxation, town and Episcopal estates in 16th century Transylvania in a functional perspective. The development of estate economy, and especially that of allodial production, generated new organization patterns and institutional structures in economy. The good functioning of these was secured by estate servants mostly recruited from among literates, called in the documents litterati, deákok or Schreiber, with a wide range of scribal activities. The resulting transcripts--conscriptions, registers and inventories--meant a new type of documents slowly replacing oral communication with written one in the relationship of lords and their servants. The scribes practiced a cursive type writing, focussing primarily on fastness, and wrote simplified texts, freed from formulaic chancery language. The scribes used Latin in the documents they wrote, mixed with vernacular words, gradually turning to writing completely in vernacular languages, Hungarian and German, due to practicality and under the influence of the Reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a conference on the effect of the Internet on reading and writing, held in Gießen, Germany, from June 28-30, 2012. Topics of discussion included electronic scholarly communication, conspiracy theories about historical events available online, and the effect of electronic books and electronic publishing on narrative strategies in fiction and nonfiction writing.

At discharge of a 72 year old epileptic patient from the hospital, the clinician prescribed the switch from Orfiril® to Lamictal®. The general practitioner misinterpreted the confusing medication list and made handwritten changes. Later on, family members of the patient observed a discrepancy between the handwritten comments of the general practitioner and the medication list of the clinician. The medication could be re-evaluated in cooperation with the hospital pharmacy and the general practitioner. An early interdisciplinary collaboration would help improving patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Die Großschreibung der Nomen im Satzinneren ist ein Charakteristikum des Deutschen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die historischen Quellen und die Entwicklung der Großschreibung im Deutschen. Dabei ist es recht spannend zu beobachten, wie das am Anfang als zierdehalber verwendete Majuskel im weiteren Verlauf der Geschichte allmählich erweitert wird. Schreibgebrauch einerseits (usus scribendi) und Normierungsbemühungen andererseits, führten im Wechselspiel zu dem Stand der heutigen Regelung. Die Normierungsbemühungen führten dazu, dass im Jahre 1653 Johann Girbert die Großschreibung an eine bestimmte Wortart bindete: Alle Substantive sollen mit einem großen Anfangsbuchstaben geschrieben werden. In den früheren Regeln wurde die Großschreibung der Eigennamen gefordert und es wurde aufgezählt, was man zu den Eigennamen zählen durfte. Obwohl die Substantivgroßschreibung erbitterte Gegner hatte, konnte die Entwicklung nicht mehr aufgehalten werden. Sie führte dazu, dass nun auch noch substantivisch gebrauchte Wörter anderer Wortarten großgeschrieben werden sollten, und führte bis zur amtlichen Regelung von 1902 und weiter bis zur heutigen Regelung. Die Diskussionen um die Reformierung der deutschen Rechtschreibung haben bis heute kein Ende gefunden. Es würde die Grenzen dieser Arbeit sprengen, wenn nun versucht werden würde diese Diskussion hier und jetzt zu beschreiben. Deshalb wird die Entwicklung bis zur II. Orthographischen Konferenz von 1902 ins Visier genommen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of its proverbially ambiguous location between criticism and literature, the essay form can become a privileged site in which to investigate the concrete relationship between style and knowledge. This relationship is just what is constantly at issue in Walter Benjamin, what structures his writing, making it one with his thought. This is particularly manifest in his early texts, in a form almost unknown and seldom practised nowadays. His supposedly obscure language, his 'esoteric' and 'authoritative' style, as it was already described during his life, developing through theses and theological postulations, in fact consists of a serious, non-aesthetic exploration of the problem of form. Far from aiming to divine the essence of what is in question, Benjamin's theses tend to build a critical framework as an experimental space into which the object in question (for instance language or violence/power) is to be placed. In this way the 'drift' and dangers of any way of thinking about and dealing with an issue can be tested and managed critically, rather than merely applied. This is what Benjamin once defined as the 'historical experiment', the only form in which critical writing can and should consist. Exactly this framework, composed of different ways of knowledge or times, can and must be the task of the critic; it is a form of engineering, or as Benjamin once put it, a 'chemical' framework: it consists each time in mounting, placing and combining time-surfaces so that they can react to and with each other rather than revealing secrets or taking possession of universal truths by means of 'legitimate' techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hofmannsthal's essays -- both in quantity and quality an essential part of his entire work -- present a very wide range of topics and formal choices. It may therefore appear a vain undertaking to seek a unitary trait in writings that are so diverse, extending from the journalistic review to the imaginary dialogue, from the aphorism to the lecture. Nevertheless, it is precisely this formal and thematic multiplicity that can be considered as the main subject and hence, paradoxically, as the unitary element of all these texts. In their variety, they reflect the fragmentation of human experience, and also attempt to overcome this "Zerrüttung ", by seeking and creating unexpected connections in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses the interferences between writing and smoking in Hermann Burger's Brenner novels (1989/1992) by investigating the poetological function of the so-called 'trockene Trunkenheit' (dry drunkenness), a state evoked by the consumption of tobacco. Even though in these novels this state is exposed as a precondition for the narrator's inspiration, his literary productivity is owed to a sober-minded absorption and transformation of pre-texts rather than a nicotine-induced inebriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay the German author Reinhard Jirgl reflects on the importance of literature, both as act of reading and writing, as an idiosyncratic medium of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about a conference held in Aldersbach, Germany from September 7-11, 2009. Conference discussion centered on the notion of good writing, ways to improve one's writing, and ways of dealing with mistakes in published material. Presentations were given by international historians Thomas Schlemmer, Hans Woller, and Christian Jostmann.