Volume 2022, Issue 77

During the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, German schools were predominantly closed and students were supposed to be taught at home. This also applied to German as a second language classes (GSL). Considering the fact that second language acquisition crucially depends on a high amount of input in direct interaction and that online learning methods were not common in Germany before the pandemic, we assume that school closures had a high impact on second language teaching and learning. In particular, we hypothesize that the shift from classroom to distance learning has significantly affected a) the teaching methods of second language teachers, b) the language skills covered in these classes and c) the growth of students’ competencies in their second language. To verify these assumptions, we conducted an online survey among GSL teachers. The survey consisted of retrospective questions about the amount of lessons taught and teaching methods as well as students’ language development before, during and after the school closures. Data from 166 GSL teachers who stated that they provided distance teaching for their students during school closures shows that during the school closure a) communicatively oriented methods were used significantly less than before and after, b) the teaching of oral skills was considered significantly less compared to the teaching of written skills, c) teachers predominantly evaluated the development of the students’ competencies in most language skills as unchanged or even reduced.

Writing in science education is considered to have great potential for language and science learning. However, the ways in which teachers and their students interact as writing communities in science lessons has so far rarely been studied in depth, particularly regarding the norms which guide cooperative writing. The present article remedies this by presenting the results of a study on the writing norms observable in cooperative writing tasks in science lessons in Swiss primary schools (3rd, 4th and 5th grade). A video corpus of appr. 50 hours was analysed using a combination of approaches, namely Qualitative Content Analysis and Conversation Analysis. First, the concept of norms underlying the present study is discussed and then, the methodological procedure, the data and results are presented. The writing norms reconstructed on the basis of the corpus represent six areas: 1. the way writing tasks are dealt with in science lessons, 2. content, 3. wording, 4. accuracy (orthography, morphology, syntax), 5. visual appearance (handwriting, layout) and 6. the procedure of cooperative writing itself. The article provides an overview of the reconstructed norms as well as a more detailed discussion of selected norms illustrated by corpus examples.

This paper presents observations on the phonetic realisations of the German particles ja – ‘yes’ and naja – approximately ‘well’. As part of a large-scale study on the particle ja , we identified numerous instances in the dataset that had been orthographically transcribed as ja , but were phonetically realised as [nja]. Using phonetic and functional parameters, we explore the question whether these instances can be attributed to either the lexeme ja or naja . While phonetic measurements yield ambivalent results, analyses of pragmatic parameters such as function and turn position seem to indicate that [nja] was predominantly intended to be ja , although some functional differences between ja and [nja] could also be identified.

This paper discusses communicative decision making as an ‚action complex‘. To this end it combines empirical results on communicative decision-making processes from different fields (law, medicine, economics, politics) and compiles the constitutive action components therein. The results obtained through this are then further differentiated by analyses of “Supported Decision Making” in the German Betreuungsrecht (adult guardianship). The analyses led to the conclusion that the action complex can be described as a selection process, which is composed of different stages. Each stage can be reconstructed as a decision-making process in its own right (including a decision each). Thus, decision making systematically consists of several decision-making processes. The analyses show how participants negotiate their communicative movements through the action complex and how decisions emerge in the process.

Usage-based studies of word formation usually focus on written and monologic texts. In contrast, this paper argues for the investigation of word formation in (oral) interaction. By discussing the current state of research on word formation in spoken German and by analyzing a corpus of different genres (e. g. face-to-face everyday conversation, WhatsApp communication), the interactional potential and relevance of word formation in dialogic communication will be exemplified and outlined. The focus is on case studies of different functions of word formation, e. g. specification and differentiation or word play through word formation.