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Once the pandemic concluded, the Foreign Languages Department of a Chilean state university hired a Canadian company to implement a pre-designed language learning system (PLLS). This platform was to be used by all teachers and students, as it contained various activities to develop all four language skills, including pronunciation practice through AI-based voice recognition. This study explores the attitudes of 17 university teachers towards using these pre-elaborated resources, activities, and assessments in their communicative English and German courses. A mixed-method approach was used, involving a survey based on the Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and individual interviews. Descriptive statistics were obtained from the survey responses, and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis techniques. The results indicate that teachers' attitudes towards the PLLS were generally neutral to negative. Instructors expressed their concerns about the system's pre-designed content and perceived functionality. Perceived ease of use and usefulness were rated low, reporting difficulties in navigation and alignment with their teaching styles. Perceived enjoyment received the lowest rating, mentioning issues such as disconnected content and lack of progressive structure. Qualitative data revealed technical problems, increased workload, and concerns about the system's impact on student motivation and learning outcomes. While some positive aspects were noted, the overall attitude towards the PLLS was predominantly negative, highlighting the need for better alignment with pedagogical goals and improved implementation strategies.

The SSIS SEL Brief + Mental Health Scales (SSIS SELb+MHS) are multi-informant assessments developed in the United States to assess the social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies and emotional behavior concerns (EBCs) of school-age youth. Although there are translations of the SEL items of the SSIS SELb+MHS available in other languages, a German translation has never been completed and validated, despite the growing need for SEL and mental health assessment in German-speaking countries. To address this need, this study's primary purpose was the examination of a German translation of the assessment with a specific focus on measurement invariance and concurrent validity invariance testing with 821 3rd through 6th-grade students in Austria and Germany. Results indicated that the SELb+MHS items clustered into 2 SEL factors and 2 EBC factors. With regard to measurement invariance, the SELb+MHS functioned similarly across both Austria and Germany and full scalar invariance was achieved. Additionally, the overall pattern of concurrent validity relationships was as expected and similar across countries. Implications and future directions are discussed.

This paper presents insights from two interview studies with the aim of shedding light on the learning potential of studying abroad in an area where English is used as a lingua franca. The majority of previous research on study abroad focuses on students' experiences of studying abroad in target-language regions, for example learners of English studying abroad in English-speaking countries. To date, the learning potential of spending time in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts remains an under-researched area. The present paper draws on two separate interview studies that have been conducted with five Turkish and five Swiss study abroad students that stayed in different European ELF contexts as part of their studies at higher education institutions. The data suggests that even though the participants still partially adhere to native speaker norms, they also discuss a number of characteristics of English as a lingua franca study abroad (ELFSA) contexts that they deem conducive to learning English and enhancing their plurilingual competences.

This study aims to obtain data and information about the effectiveness and practicality of YouTube in learning German speaking for second-semester students of the German language education study program in terms of learning outcomes and student responses. This study was experimental research, and the experimental model used was a pre-experimental design. The design form used is a one-group pre-test posttest group. The sample selection was done using the purposive sampling technique. Data collection was done through a German-speaking skill test. The data were analyzed using t-test analysis. The findings of the research revealed that there was a significant difference before and after using YouTube media in learning German speaking, and student responses showed very positive results of 87.28%, so it was declared successful, effective, and practical to use in learning German speaking.

This single case study (multiple baselines) evaluates the efficacy of an intervention called "reading racetracks" among three eight-year-old boys with diverse backgrounds, including learning disabilities, limited language proficiency due to migration, and socio-economic challenges. Conducted over three weeks, the training demonstrated notable improvements in the participants' ability to recognize and pronounce words quickly. Statistical analysis confirmed these results, with no baseline trends detected and a significant overall treatment effect indicated by a high Tau-U score. This finding suggests that reading racetracks can be an effective, universally applicable method of improving reading performance in diverse student populations.

The increasing number of students who lack proficient reading skills is well known in Germany, as well as globally. Students with learning disabilities (LD), problem behavior, and German as a second language (L2) may face even greater hurdles. However, it is essential for teachers to provide adequate support to maintain equal educational opportunities. Word recognition is fundamental to reading, and thus, we designed lexical and sub-lexical unit training through a peer-tutorial repeated reading racetrack and evaluated the effects on student proficiency with trained and untrained words. A multiple-baseline design was implemented (N = 8), and the intervention took place three times a week over six weeks. The results show promising indications that the intervention is an effective tool to improve reading in a short time, yielding moderate to strong effects on trained and untrained words.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the way Hungarian primary language teachers coped with emergency remote teaching (ERT) introduced during the Covid-19 epidemic and the effects this mode of teaching exerted on their subsequent face-to-face teaching practice. While there are scores of studies written on the subject, hardly any have focussed on primary language education; hence our choice of the primary school sample. Out of a multi-item online questionnaire forwarded to all the primary schools in Hungary, we decided to focus on the last two items only, namely those which requested the 706 volunteering respondents to suggest two metaphors with concomitant brief explanations: one to describe their experiences of online teaching in 2020, and another one to specify the changes they perceived in their professional attitudes and competences by the time of administering the survey in 2022. The results demonstrate a decisively positive shift as the respondents realised that the digital expertise that they had gained during ERT would help them teach more effectively in the "real" classroom. The study also raises the issue of what educational authorities and teacher educators should do to promote digital education in pre- and in-service training.

The current study focuses on the effect of the target language on learner emotions and attitudes/motivation. More specifically, it investigates whether the status and prestige of English results in more positive learner emotions and attitudes/motivation compared to less prestigious languages other than English (LOTE). Statistical analyses of a database of 360 students in an English-speaking university in Kuwait enrolled in English, German, Spanish and French as foreign language classes revealed that the LOTE learners (who also knew English) reported significantly more foreign language enjoyment (FLE), equal levels of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and--surprisingly--lower levels of attitudes/motivation than their peers studying English. Due to confounding variables, it is impossible to establish the cause of the difference with certainty, but this outcome does show that a stronger motivation to study English does not necessarily translate into more enjoyment in class. In other words, while FLE and attitudes/motivation typically correlate, they are independent concepts.

Effective formation of the specialist's personality, as practice shows, is possible only with a holistic and systematic organization of the learning process, which is achieved by modeling. The aim of the study is to develop a model of realization of pedagogical conditions of formation of self-regulatory competence of future foreign language teachers in the process of professional training and to analyze blocks of the developed model by means of theoretical analysis and practical state of the researched problem. The basis of empirical research was Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University, H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy and Khmelnytskyi National University. The study was conducted in 2019-2022 study years. 261 students of the 4th year of bachelor's educational and professional programs of training future teachers of foreign languages (English, German) took part in the pedagogical experiment. The control group (CG) included 132 students, the experimental group (EG) -- 129 students. Research methods: analysis of scientific and methodical literature; pedagogical observation; pedagogical experiment; pedagogical testing; methods of mathematical statistics. According to the results of the study, groups of stumetadents with low (13.5%), below-average (32%), average (41%) and above-average (13.5%) levels of self-regulation were identified among students.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and reflect on the position of what are called second additional languages in the language teaching landscape of South African schools. This landscape is crowded, with different South African languages vying for attention. Amidst efforts to increase the number of learners who offer an African language as one of the subjects in the school exit examination, initiatives to introduce languages like Mandarin and Swahili put additional pressure on an already over-burdened system. The paper considers this crowded landscape and the implications for the teaching of German, French and Mandarin at secondary school level. These are only three of at least fifteen languages offered as second additional languages. This paper focuses on these three because they are most widely taught in mainstream schools. The policies and practices as well as the problems with teaching these languages are described, focusing on the types of learner who will choose these languages, the approach to teaching them and possible actions that could ensure the continued offering of second additional languages at primary and secondary schools.

The ability to recognize and name the sounds of alphabet letters is a crucial prerequisite for students as they embark on their journey to learn how to read. Regrettably, some children face significant challenges in this area. In this single-case multiple baseline study, we utilized mnemonic pictures to facilitate the memorization of the grapheme-phoneme correspondence of ten target letters. Our aim was to empower four struggling first-grade students to quickly and confidently retrieve this information. The results reveal that the students significantly benefited from the intervention. Furthermore, the approach was perceived as attractive and helpful by both the four children and their teacher. The study concludes by reflecting on its limitations and discussing potential implications and future avenues of research.

The main goal of this paper is to suggest a combination of data analyses -- notably generalized additive models, time-series clustering methodology, visual methods for significance testing and qualitative analyses -- that relate to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). To this end, we report on findings from a larger project conducted in a bilingual (pre)primary school in Switzerland, aiming to elucidate the complex ways that L2 English development emerges over time in 45 children who received German/English bilingual instruction over a period of eight years (age 5-12) in combination with emerging extracurricular exposure to English. The results reveal that increased extracurricular activities in English are particularly noticeable during periods of rapid development, but the effects seem temporally limited to the end stages of testing and strongly hinge on the cluster in question (i.e., learners with trajectorial similarities). We relate the findings to the "authenticity gap" between English inside and outside of school, as clusters who perceive a discrepancy between in- and out-of-school encounters with English also show rapid development that is characterized by increased English exposure during extracurricular activities. Methodological implications of adopting non-linear models, which can model complex dynamic relationships in order to better reconcile generalizability, variability, and individuality, are discussed.

This paper explores ways to integrate social justice issues pertaining to decolonization and anti-racism into the world language classroom at all levels of instruction. It describes tasks designed to introduce language learners briefly to German colonialism, raise awareness of colonial legacies in contemporary German-speaking societies, and familiarize students with current decolonization initiatives. By engaging students with the complex diversity of German-speaking societies, the tasks provide examples for diversifying and decolonizing the language curriculum while fostering collaboration, critical thinking, and transcultural sensitivity. The examples highlight approaches to anti-racist pedagogies and ways of incorporating social justice practices across all levels of instruction and applicable to all languages.

This study is the first to explore microdevelopment in sociolinguistic evaluative judgments of standard German and Austro-Bavarian dialect by adult second language learners of German by using dense time serial measurements. Intensive longitudinal data (10 observations per participant) were collected from four learners at approximately weekly intervals over 3 months. We employed generalized additive models with superimposed periods of significant change to identify rapid developmental phases in individual developmental trajectories. By triangulating these models with qualitative introspective and retrodictive interview data, we identified environmental and psychological stimuli for change. Learners evinced increasing and decreasing periods of significant change, independent of length of residence. Dynamic constellations of identity- and agency-related variables alongside more intensive social interaction with target-variety speakers contributed to significant changes. We discuss findings from a complexity perspective and advocate for microlongitudinal studies in variationist second language acquisition to better capture stimuli for change in learners' emerging multivarietal repertoires.

Research on first language (L1) reading has long since established the link between the proficiency of the reader and their efficiency in oculomotor control. More proficient readers make longer saccades and land closer to the word's center, which is a word's optimal viewing position, and make fewer refixations. Eye-tracking studies of second language (L2) reading have so far provided little evidence in this regard. This study analyzes spatial oculomotor measures in the Multilingual Eye-movement Corpus, which contains data on English text reading and its component skills from 543 participants representing 12 different L1s. Our analyses establish a strong role of proficiency in English, both for L1 and L2 readers of English. While most effects replicated ones observed in L1 reading, we also found that more proficient readers of English were less accurate in targeting optimal viewing positions. We link this finding to Fitts' law of motor control for aimed movements. This article discusses the theoretical implications of the novel findings for reading research.

Linguistics is conspicuously absent from language teaching in UK schools. A-level cultural topics cover a range of themes such as cyber-society, cultural heritage and multiculturalism, but the approach taken to these topics is not informed by linguistics. In previous work, we have argued that this is an unfortunate omission not only because linguistics is appealing to many language students and perceived by them to be useful, but also because the existing cultural topics could be significantly enriched by the inclusion of the critical/analytical study of language itself. In this paper, we provide concrete examples of how linguistics can be integrated into the existing A-level curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in England and Wales. Reporting on a project in which teachers trialled linguistics materials co-created by us (a group of academics) and experienced languages teachers, we present evidence that linguistics materials are perceived to be both highly novel and nonetheless compatible with the existing A-level curriculum. Data from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with participating teachers also show that: (i) these new materials can be taught with little or no prior experience of linguistics; and (ii) adding linguistics materials to the curriculum leads to significant impacts on teacher and pupil attitudes towards language(s). Despite some challenges, which we also discuss, the results highlight again the great potential of linguistics as a component of language teaching and the contribution that it can make to the enrichment of the discipline.

Generated information is better recognized and recalled than information that is read. This generation effect has been replicated several times for different types of material, including texts. Perhaps the most influential demonstration is by McDaniel, Einstein, Dunay, and Cobb ("Journal of Memory and Language," 1986, 25(6), 645-656; henceforth MEDC). This group tested whether the generation effect occurs only if the generation task stimulates cognitive processes not already stimulated by the text. Numerous studies, however, report difficulties replicating this text by generation-task interaction, which suggests that the effect might only be found under conditions closer to the original method of MEDC. To test this assumption, the present study closely replicated MEDC's Experiment 2 in two separate German and English-speaking samples. The present study provided partial evidence in favor of the expected interaction, which ultimately depended on successful completion of the generation task (with near-to-perfect accuracy). Moreover, it indicates that sentence unscrambling might enhance learning across genres.

A substantial body of research shows that various types of audiovisual (AV) input such as videos and videos with second language (L2) subtitles can facilitate language learning. However, language teachers' day-to-day practices with regard to multimodal input is less understood. To bridge the gap in language education, this study investigates teachers' perceived use of four types of AV input (video only, video with subtitles, video with captions and video with enhanced captions) and factors influencing teachers' perspectives on these types of input for in-class and out-of-class learning. Questionnaire data were collected from 193 L2 teachers across the globe about their perceived use of AV input. Teachers reported that they use video and captioned video most frequently in both classroom and out-of-class contexts. Logistic regression analyses revealed that teachers' perceived importance and comfort using specific AV input types were the two most important factors explaining teachers' reported use. Complementarily, open-ended responses were analyzed qualitatively to identify teachers' additional reasons for (non)use of such input.

Upon hearing a novel label, listeners tend to assume that it refers to a novel, rather than a familiar object. While this disambiguation or mutual exclusivity (ME) effect has been robustly shown across development, it is unclear what it involves. Do listeners use their pragmatic and lexical knowledge to exclude the familiar object and thus select the novel one? Or is the effect, at least in early childhood, simply based on an attraction to novelty and a direct mapping of the novel label to a novel object? In a preregistered online study with 2- to 3-year-olds (n = 75) and adults (n = 112), we examined (a) whether relative object novelty alone (without pragmatic or lexical information) could account for participants' disambiguation and (b) whether participants' decision processes involved reasoning by exclusion. Participants encountered either a known and an unknown object (classic ME condition) or two unknown objects, one completely novel and one preexposed (novelty condition) as potential referents of a novel label. Reasoning by exclusion was assessed by children's looking patterns and adults' explanations. In the classic ME condition, children and adults significantly chose the novel object and both used reasoning by exclusion. In contrast, in the novelty condition, children and adults chose randomly. Across conditions, a retention test revealed that adults remembered their prior selections, while children's performance was fragile. These results suggest that referent disambiguation is not based on relative object novelty alone. Instead, to resolve referential ambiguity, both young children and adults seem to make use of pragmatic and/or lexical sources of information and to engage in reasoning by exclusion strategies.

Children all over the world learn language, yet the contexts in which they do so vary substantially. This variation needs to be systematically quantified to build robust and generalizable theories of language acquisition. We compared communicative interactions between parents and their 2-year-old children (N = 99 families) during mealtime across five cultural settings (Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Germany, and Japan) and coded the amount of talk and gestures as well as their conversational embedding (interlocutors, function, and themes). We found a comparable pattern of communicative interactions across cultural settings, which were modified in ways that are consistent with local norms and values. These results suggest that children encounter similarly structured communicative environments across diverse cultural contexts and will inform theories of language learning.

Subject relative clauses (RCs) have been shown to be acquired earlier, comprehended more accurately, and produced more easily than object RCs by children. While this subject preference is often claimed to be a universal tendency, it has largely been investigated piecemeal and with low-powered experiments. To address these issues, this meta-analysis follows an established and rigorous scientific method to test the generalizability of the subject preference in RC acquisition by evaluating the collective evidence. While the results show a significant crosslinguistic subject preference, there is a large amount of heterogeneity in the data. The manifestation of this subject preference may not be uniform across languages, depending on typological properties such as language headedness, RC headedness, and main clause similarity. The true impact of these features, however, requires research on more typologically diverse languages.

A growing body of research suggests that fine motor skills (FMS) are associated with language development. In this study, we examined 76 children aged 3-6 years assessing the link between language and FMS. Specific measures included receptive and expressive vocabulary, oral narrative skills, and various fine motor tasks. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that FMS predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary as well as oral narrative skills. Overall, FMS were most strongly linked to children's oral narrative skills. Educational implications, as well as limitations and the need for further studies on the link between language and FMS, are discussed.

Cognitive presence is a core construct of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. It is considered crucial for deep and meaningful online-based learning. CoI-based real-time dashboards visualizing students' cognitive presence may help instructors to monitor and support students' learning progress. Such real-time classifiers are often based on the linguistic analysis of the content of posts made by students. It is unclear whether these classifiers could be improved by considering other learning traces, such as files attached to students' posts. We aimed to develop a German-language cognitive presence classifier that includes linguistic analysis using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool and other learning traces based on 1,521 manually coded meaningful units from an online-based university course. As learning traces, we included not only the linguistic features from the LIWC tool, but also features such as attaching files to a post, tagging, or using terms from the course glossary. We used the k-nearest neighbor method, a random forest model, and a multilayer perceptron as classifiers. The results showed an accuracy of up to 82% and a Cohen's K of 0.76 for the cognitive presence classifier for German posts. Including learning traces did not improve the predictive ability. In conclusion, we developed an automatic classifier for German-language courses based on a linguistic analysis of students' posts. This classifier is a step toward a teacher dashboard. Our work also provides the first fully CoI-coded German dataset for future research on cognitive presence.

According to faking models, personality variables and faking are related. Most prominently, people's tendency to try to make an appropriate impression (impression management; IM) and their tendency to adjust the impression they make (self-monitoring; SM) have been suggested to be associated with faking. Nevertheless, empirical findings connecting these personality variables to faking have been contradictory, partly because different studies have given individuals different tests to fake and different faking directions (to fake low vs. high scores). Importantly, whereas past research has focused on faking by examining test scores, recent advances have suggested that the faking process could be better understood by analyzing individuals' responses at the item level (response pattern). Using machine learning (elastic net and random forest regression), we reanalyzed a data set (N = 260) to investigate whether individuals' faked response patterns on extraversion (features; i.e., input variables) could reveal their IM and SM scores. We found that individuals had similar response patterns when they faked, irrespective of their IM scores (excluding the faking of high scores when random forest regression was used). Elastic net and random forest regression converged in revealing that individuals higher on SM differed from individuals lower on SM in how they faked. Thus, response patterns were able to reveal individuals' SM, but not IM. Feature importance analyses showed that whereas some items were faked differently by individuals with higher versus lower SM scores, others were faked similarly. Our results imply that analyses of response patterns offer valuable new insights into the faking process.

While many language teachers leave the profession early, others thrive and teach until retirement. Understanding how these teachers maintain their passion can help identify the support needed for their personal and professional growth. However, research on the factors behind their sustained happiness in the teaching profession is limited. The main objective of this qualitative study was to explore the beliefs and career stories of three recently retired German language teachers in Norway, recognized for their long-term motivation and effective teaching over several decades. Data were generated from in-depth semistructured interviews and analyzed through the lens of self-determination theory. The analysis revealed that the teachers shared several key characteristics. First, they enjoyed a high degree of autonomy related to the choice of subject content and teaching approaches. Second, they perceived themselves as highly competent in the subject and expressed a passion for it. Third, they cherished being with students and managed to establish good relationships with them. The findings suggest that teachers should be aware of their basic psychological needs and reflect on how they can be fulfilled. Furthermore, school administrators should foster trust in teachers as autonomous professionals and actively support their competency development and relationships with students and colleagues.

Previous studies found an impact of language familiarity on face recognition in 9- and 12-month-olds. Own race faces are better recognized when associated with native language, whereas for other race faces, it is with non-native language. The aim of this study is to investigate if language familiarity can also influence abstract pattern recognition. We tested 9- to 12-month-old monolingual infants with a visual paired-comparison task. During a 30-s familiarization phase, infants were shown an image of abstract patterns associated with an auditory soundtrack of a speaker reciting a story either in their native (French) or in a non-native language (German). After the familiarization, the familiar and a new abstract pattern were displayed side by side for the recognition test. We found a significant preference for the novel object in the native language condition but not in the non-native condition. These results suggest that language familiarity effects on infant memory are not specific to faces but also influence, on a larger scale, how infants process their immediate visual environment.

This study used questionnaires eliciting quantitative and qualitative data to investigate (1) foreign language learners' beliefs about peer feedback on pronunciation before and after a peer feedback intervention and (2) peer feedback providers', peer feedback receivers', and teacher feedback receivers' experiences of the intervention. Participants included 127 first-year learners of German. They were assigned to a peer feedback provider group, a peer feedback receiver group, a teacher feedback receiver group, or a control group. After a general pronunciation training for the first three groups and a metacognitive instruction session for the first two groups, the peer feedback providers were instructed to give feedback on their peers' pronunciation whereas the peer feedback receivers were asked to incorporate their peers' feedback and the teacher feedback receivers were asked to incorporate feedback from their teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data from a pre- and post-intervention beliefs questionnaire revealed that while all groups held mostly positive beliefs about peer feedback before the intervention, only the peer feedback providers' beliefs changed over time, specifically, their beliefs about peer feedback were significantly more positive after the intervention. Data from an exit questionnaire further indicated that the teacher feedback receivers found their feedback more useful than the peer feedback receivers. Moreover, while the peer feedback providers found correcting peers beneficial for their own language development, many of them felt uncomfortable giving feedback, whereas the peer feedback receivers did not feel uncomfortable receiving it. These findings suggest that peer feedback providers may need additional instruction to help them feel more comfortable correcting other learners.

Both of us were drawn into the writing assessment field initially through our lived experiences as schoolteachers. We worked in radically different contexts -- Martin was head of a languages department and teacher of French and German in the late 1990s in the UK, and David was a Grade 12 teacher of Academic English in Alberta, Canada, at the turn of the twenty-first century. In both these contexts, the traditional direct test of writing -- referred to, for example, as the 'timed impromptu writing test' (Weigle, 2002, p. 59) or the 'snapshot approach' (Hamp-Lyons & Kroll, 1997, p. 18) -- featured significantly in our practices, albeit in very different ways. This form of writing assessment still holds considerable sway across the globe. For us, however, it provoked early questions and concerns around the consequential and ethical aspects of writing assessment.

This study investigates the hypothesis that non-isomorphic syntax-semantics mappings pose a greater challenge for non-native (L2) than for native (L1) speakers, focusing on a previously understudied phenomenon. We carried out an antecedent judgment task with L1 German and L1 Russian-speaking, proficient L2 learners of German to examine Condition C connectivity effects in German pseudoclefts. Binding Condition C constrains the interpretation of cataphoric pronouns such that they cannot be interpreted as coreferential with a referential expression within their scope. In specificational pseudoclefts such as "What she liked was Jane's office," Condition C effects can be observed in the absence of the required structural configuration, indicating that these effects result from the computation of a non-isomorphic semantic representation. For superficially similar -- but semantically different -- predicational pseudoclefts, no connectivity effects are expected. While the L1 speakers' judgements showed the expected selective Condition C effect, the L2 speakers showed an across-the-board effect, with their antecedent judgements based on surface-level cues to cataphoric pronoun resolution and not affected by the semantic differences between the two types of pseudocleft. These findings support the claim that establishing syntax--semantics mappings is more difficult in a non-native than in a native language if there is no one-to-one correspondence between form and interpretation.

This study investigates for the first time the comprehension of rhetorical questions (RhQs) in bilingual children. RhQs are non-canonical questions, as they are not used to request information, but to express the speaker's belief that the answer is already obvious. This special pragmatic meaning often arises by means of specific prosodic and lexical-syntactic cues. Being childhood learners, children have to acquire the concept of rhetoricity, but being bilinguals, they further need to acquire the different cues marking RhQs in their two languages. We tested 85 bilingual children (aged 6-9 years) with Italian as heritage language (HL) and German as majority language (ML) in both of their languages, using a forced-choice comprehension task. Our results show that RhQ comprehension improves with age in both languages. Bilingual children are able to exploit prosodic and syntactic cues to comprehend RhQs in their ML and HL with a slight advantage in the ML. This advantage could be either an effect of the cues used in the experiments in the two languages or of a higher proficiency in the ML. In addition, our results point to a later acquisition of prosodic rhetorical cues, which has implications for bilingual acquisition of non-canonicity in general.

This cross-sectional study addresses for the first time the non/linear association between individual learner differences of social, proficiency-related, and socioaffective nature (length of residence [LoR], varietal proficiency, exposure, and socioaffect) and differential outcomes in L2 sociolinguistic repertoires against the backdrop of the Austro-Bavarian naturalistic context. Forty adult migrant L2 German learners participated in a virtual reality experiment involving interactions with dialect-speaking and standard German-speaking interlocutors. The goal was to explore differences in participants' interpersonal varietal behavior, that is, their addressee-relational variable use of standard German, Austro-Bavarian dialect, and mixture varieties. The results of Bayesian multinomial modeling indicated that LoR, dialect exposure, and proficiency, as well as reduced anxiety when speaking dialect, predicted differences in interpersonal varietal behavior. That said, a visual-quantitative analysis revealed critical thresholds concerning when, within these predictors, changes in sociolinguistic behavior manifested, indicating a rapid change in sociolinguistic development at the inter-individual level and ultimately facilitating initial insights as to how advanced one needs to be in order to engage in sociolinguistic variation in the Austro-Bavarian naturalistic context.

The goal of the current study was to ascertain pre-service English language teachers' impressions of the impact of thematic speaking tasks on the development of their intercultural competence in an online Spoken English course. Moreover, the effect of certain demographic variables on pre-service teachers' cultural intelligence (CQ) was also investigated. The findings revealed a significant difference between the CQ of students with and without overseas experience. Pre-service teachers who could speak languages other than their mother tongue and English had significantly higher CQ scores than students who could not speak other languages. However, there was not a significant difference between males' and females' overall CQ. The results showed an increase in CQ scores when the pre- and post-questionnaire averages were compared, but it was not statistically significant. Semi-structured interviews revealed speaking tasks were effective in exposing pre-service teachers to various cultural perspectives, practices, and products.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how gamification using Web 2.0 tools affects secondary school students' listening comprehension skills on a German second language course. The sub-purposes are to investigate the study's outputs, such as course interest and academic motivation. The design of the study was action research, which is one of the recognized methods of qualitative research. The participants of the study were 34 ninth-grade high school students (15 males, 19 females) aged 14 or 15 years old enrolled to a state-project school. Focus group interviews, both student and teachers' reflective journals, and an academic achievement test were utilized to assess the participant students' listening comprehension skills, and formed the data collection tools used to obtain detailed information about the research process. According to the findings of the study, the use of Web 2.0 tools enabled by way of the gamification method helped capture the students' attention and strengthen the steps taken to improve their language learning skills. Although the students' learning styles varied, one point of commonality was their use of gamification.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework describes success factors for collaborative online-based learning. The CoI Survey is a validated instrument to measure these factors from the perspective of course participants. Until now, no validated translation of this Survey to German was available. The aim of this work was to translate the original English Survey to German and to validate the translated Survey instrument. After a systematic translation process, we validated the German translation in two higher education settings in two countries (entire data set of n=433 Surveys). By conducting item analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, we were able to confirm the reliability and validity of the German CoI Survey. Only one item (CP6) shows cross-loadings on two factors, a finding that was already discussed for the original CoI Survey. To conclude, the validated German version of the CoI Survey is now available.

Stereotypical notions and depictions of the German language, its speakers, and cultural practices are more persistent in instructional materials, language program advertisements, and people's minds than one might presume (Bryant et al., 2019; Chavez, 2020a, 2020b; Rothe, 2022). Overcoming such misconceptions requires educators to reconsider curricula and promotional efforts so that they reflect the diverse lived experiences of German speakers and learners (Criser & Malakaj, 2020). To diversify German curricula in the United States, the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) established a task force in 2020, Creating Safe Spaces (CSS). Its members have developed instructional materials focusing on diversity and inclusion, especially regarding Black, Indigenous, and other Persons of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Plus (LGBTQ+) communities in the German-speaking world. The materials span various thematic units and language levels and serve as a model for other world language (WL) instructors desirous of making diversity a critical component in their respective curricula. Available free of charge both to AATG members and non-members on the AATG's GETMAPP platform, the instructional activities align with the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements (2017) and the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (2015). This article introduces CSS and showcases sample materials that cover topics commonly found in WL courses--introducing oneself and others, family structures, and living. Considerations regarding the imperative for language professionals' commitment to inclusivity, diversity, and social justice form the framework of this article.

Teacher-scholars have called upon fellow language educators to redevelop curricula at all proficiency levels to portray the lived experiences of target language (TL) speakers. This article presents a semester-long project that contributes to developing diverse teaching materials for college-level learners at the novice level. Via an ePortfolio with 10 tasks (virtual and in-person), 20 learners of a second-semester German course explored connections with the TL locally and broadened their understanding of language-community membership beyond stereotypical notions of native speakers. Participants' feedback demonstrated how this project positively impacted students' learning experiences and reflected learners' strong desire for similar assignments in future courses. The findings speak to strategies of how educators can help beginning learners find connections to the TL in local contexts and investigate the diverse lived experiences of TL speakers abroad. The project's approaches, flexible format, and outcomes are easily implemented across various proficiency levels, world languages, and institutional contexts.

Preschool education describes the education process of the child until primary school, and it is also within the scope of child bilingualism. This study examined the studies on bilingualism covering the preschool period in Turkey. The main statement of this study is that related postgraduate theses in different disciplines investigating the issue of bilingualism covering the preschool period are insufficient in the national literature in Turkey. This study aimed to analyze postgraduate theses between 2003 and 2022 registered in the Turkish Higher Education Institution (YÖK) database and to break down different variables. The main findings are that bilingualism studies are mostly concentrated on master's theses, they are not the subject of doctoral theses. Furthermore, education- and teaching-oriented theses are at the forefront and should be handled together with other disciplines. The model of the study is a qualitative case study, and the data of the study were obtained from theses on the website of YÖK. In the analysis of the data, the bibliometric technique is used, and statistics about the subject are created.

The developments in technology bring to mind the questions of how the acquisitions and contents of the curriculum in the foreign language teaching process can be transferred to the students in a more effective and permanent way and which methods and technological opportunities can be used in the education process, revealing that different perspectives and different methods should be used. In this context, the aim of this study is to create an exemplary digital instructional design to be used in teaching German as a second foreign language with augmented reality technology at the secondary school level and to evaluate the effectiveness of this design through a pre-test, a post-test, and in line with the opinions of the students participating in the application. In order to achieve this aim, one group pre-test-post-test design, which is one of the experimental designs, was preferred. A dependent groups t-test was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the single-group pre-test post-test design. The research group for the study consists of 20 9th grade students at Turgut Reis Anatolian High School in Mugla. In the study, semi-structured interview questions were prepared in order to determine the opinions of the students participating in the application on the use of technology in German lessons at the secondary education level. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the data obtained by the interview technique. As a result of the study, it was seen that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students. It has been concluded that the students in the course where digital content is used through VR glasses show more progress and are more successful.

The fusion of education with the digital world is still a developing and crucial phenomenon, especially in light of the growth of metaverse applications and the lingering effects of pandemic-induced educational changes. Learning about the efficacy of platforms like Gather.town becomes increasingly important in this situation. This study explores the changing educational environment, focusing on the widely used technique of small group discussions. Our main goal is to compare the effects of such group discussions in real classrooms against the online setting made possible by websites like Gather.town, especially regarding academic performance. We assessed two separate groups of students using a highly controlled experimental method. One group engaged in traditional, face-to-face small group discussions, while the other participated in discussions within the virtual realm of Gather.town. Our research produced notable results, showing a significant difference in academic achievement between the two modes of interaction. Unexpectedly, the online environment displayed higher standards of academic success. These findings highlight the potential effectiveness of digital platforms in educational initiatives. While conventional, face-to-face dialogues still have significance, incorporating digital technologies could result in equal or better educational outcomes. In essence, this research offers insightful viewpoints to the continuing discussion concerning hybridized learning strategies in the modern educational environment. By highlighting the part played by digital platforms in influencing pedagogical practices, it highlights the potential for such approaches to benefit the future of education.

This mixed-method research study explores German skills using the NURS teaching model for students. It was conducted in the German educational department program at the Faculty of Language and Literature at Makassar State University. The research subject was 28 German academic students from two classes in the second semester. Research instruments in this study include syllabi, teaching plans, student activity sheets, and formative tests. Researchers use reading, listening, writing, and speaking tests to determine students' competencies and skills. The data was examined by researchers using percentage techniques. German Average score of the students before they learn using the NURS teaching model is 75. The result shows that the average student's German-language skills in the A class are 80.75 and 83.50 for the B class. These improvements could be seen in the improvement in each class. Students of A class have improved in listening, 7.5% in reading, 13% in writing, and 11.5% in speaking. Conversely, students of B class have improved by 12% in listening, 9% in reading, 18% in writing and 15% in speaking. Another value of using the NURS teaching model in learning German is that it positively effect on the teachers' skills, like management of teaching, time, and how to make students more enthusiastic during the learning process. It can be concluded that the NURS teaching model can improve students' German skills in the German educational department at the Faculty of Language and Literature of Makassar State University.

This study examines hegemonic discourses on English and socioeconomic development from teachers' perspectives. Specifically, it scrutinizes the sorts of positions a group of 36 teachers of English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese in an undergraduate program of modern languages take towards both the predominant narrative of English as the language of development and the role that the languages they teach may also play. Using postdevelopment as a theoretical framework, teachers' social representations around the languages they teach are analyzed. Findings suggest that, although there is a strong tendency to uncritically accept and accommodate instrumental and Anglo normative views of development, "small hopes" for configuring plural, locally sensitive, less instrumental, and ecological understandings are also emerging.

This conceptual research analyses the historical development of the German concept of "Bildung" to the Danish "dannelse." The starting point is J.G. Fichte's 1808 "Addresses to the German Nation," in which "Bildung" is analyzed as a key concept. The paper illustrates the influence Fichte had on N.F.S. Grundtvig, the "father of modern Denmark," with important adaptations based on English liberties and Nordic mythology. Grundtvig's "dannelse" is then analyzed based on his 1832 "milestone" work, "Nordic Mythology." The paper finds that "Bildung" and "dannelse" can be considered parallel concepts of similarity in their shared emphasis on the mother-tongue as a "living language," and focus on social cohesion. However, "Bildung" and "dannelse" can also be characterized as concepts of difference, in that: 1) "dannelse" popularized "Bildung," meaning that it was not just for the academic bourgeoisie, but the entire "folk"; 2) freedom of expression is fundamental to "dannelse," in contrast to the stability of will and moral order in "Bildung;" 3) in "dannelse," national unity is expanded to a wider circle of belonging, the whole of humankind; 4) Nordic mythology is a social cohesive in "dannelse," to contrast Fichte's more rational conception of "Bildung." Written by a British author for an English-speaking readership, this research does not feign to be more than a prefatory glance at two rich and complex concepts. However, in shedding light on the historical development of "Bildung" to "dannelse," it aspires to edge readers closer toward a shared conceptual understanding or, more aptly, to better understand misunderstandings.

Language builds social and economic connections within countries as the most effective communication tool. It has the potential to introduce new opportunities and helps the speakers become world citizens. Although second language teaching focuses more on early education in many countries, it is still crucial for university students to acquire a foreign language. Second language acquisition enables institutional cooperation not just on a domestic but also on an international scale, thus contributing significantly to universal and contemporary growth. This research aims to determine university students' motivations for learning a foreign language, identify the problems during the process, and offer solutions. For this purpose, the opinions of the German Language and Literature department students studying at a state university on language learning were evaluated by taking the "Motivation Scale in Language Learning" and semi-structured interview forms. This study relies on a mixed research method combining the quantitative and the qualitative. The findings point out that students have a good motivation to learn a language, and the motivations are the same regardless of age, gender, grade level, previous educational background, and parents' educational background. According to the findings, students' motivations are living abroad, cultural growth, curiosity, interest, love, and new technologies. On the other hand, the lack of sufficient incentives, linguistic challenge, feelings of inadequacy, and prejudices affect their motivation negatively.

This research was aimed at assessing the implementation of ZHA approach and students' opinion of the strategy. ZHA was carried out at the end of every "Konversation 2"(speaking) course class at the German Language Education Study Program at State University of Malang (PSPBJ UM). This research utilized the descriptive, qualitative approach using WhatsApp voice notes and open questionnaires as data collecting techniques. The data comprise ZHA voice notes produced by "Konversation 2" course students and teachers and student surveys. The findings of this research indicated that ZHA technique was effectively utilized in the classroom. Students engaged in this technique successfully and took an active role in each ZHA session. Students gave a favorable opinion on the implementation of ZHA approach. Almost all students indicated that the technique helped them pronounce words in German properly and correctly, add new vocabulary, and improve their overall German language.

The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of foreign language learning on mother tongue use. Case study design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. In order to keep the sample large, 70 pre-service teachers were selected using simple random sampling method among the 4th year undergraduate students studying in three different foreign language education departments in 2016-2017. The research data were analysed using deductive analysis method. As a result of the research, the pre-service teachers who participated in the research think that language learning is a necessity and that individuals learn languages out of necessity. The pre-service teachers state that interest in the target language is an important condition for language learning, that if there is no interest, the language cannot be learnt, and that belonging to a common language family increases interest in the language and facilitates language learning. The desire to communicate with other individuals in the world, to improve oneself, to learn the culture of the target language and to live abroad are among the reasons for learning a foreign language. Learning the education system and sound harmony of the target language and economic concerns are among the reasons for language learning. The pre-service teachers who participated in the study stated that they had the most difficulty in learning basic language skills in foreign language learning and that they made comparisons with their mother tongue while learning a foreign language. The pre-service teachers who participated in the research stated that they pay attention to the use of the mother tongue while learning a foreign language; they pay attention to the use of the mother tongue while learning a foreign language because they benefit from the love of the mother tongue and translations. [This research was presented as a summary paper at the RESSCONGRESS International Educational Sciences Social Sciences Symposium held in Bandirma.]

Despite the growing body of studies on collocation learning in SLA research, there are hardly any studies taking the perspective of the individual learner or studies that have examined the effect of individual differences. This study--a qualitative component of a mixed-methods longitudinal project--presents an in-depth exploration of the intro- and retrospective views of five Dutch-speaking L2 students of German on their 3-year collocation learning process. It focuses on the individual factors that enhanced or hindered L2 collocation development, and on the extent to which effective and less effective collocation learners differed regarding their L2 motivation, exposure and use, learning experience, and learning strategies. Extreme sampling strategy was used and five contrasting cases of learners were selected (three effective versus two less effective collocation learners). Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and learners' written reflections on five specific collocations. Findings indicate that the effective collocation learners showed a higher intrinsic motivation, more engagement in informal learning activities, more extensive social interaction in the L2, more awareness towards collocations, a higher degree of self-regulation, and a higher number of learning strategies than the less effective collocation learners. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications are provided.

Learning a new language is significant in every aspect, and currently, people are increasingly aware of its significance. In language learning, various aspects affect individuals, and one of the most significant is related to human psychology. The goal is to apply the factors that positively influence language learning to the learning process. Personality traits such as empathy, introversion, and self-esteem (Brown, 1994) are some of the emotional variables that are related to the individual. According to the literature, language learning anxiety is one of the most important factors leading to this problem. It is the main focus of this study. Learning a foreign language is a complex process involving many factors, requiring not only the acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical structures, but also the development of communication skills. While some students approach foreign language learning with confidence, others find this process threatening, moreover, they may develop excessive anxiety in the foreign language classroom. Anxiety is a psychological phenomenon that has a major impact on foreign language learning. In order to improve the foreign language learning process, it is of great importance to determine the anxiety level of students and reduce the existing anxiety. In this study, the level of foreign language learning anxiety among high school students in Aydin Province was investigated. The data collection process of the study was conducted with 385 students attending German classes at Anatolian high schools in Aydin province. The data were collected using the FLCAS scale, which can be statistically analyzed to determine the anxiety level of the students. The obtained data were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 programme, and the results of the analysis show that the anxiety of the students towards learning a foreign language in German classes is moderate. At the same time, it was found that the level of anxiety varies according to demographic characteristics.