Archives

  • TEACHING Slavic Languages: Status Quo, Challenges and Perspectives
    No. 1 (2024)

    We are pleased to present the sixth issue of DiSlaw magazine, which this time is dedicated to
    ‘Teaching Slavic Languages’.
    After decades of learner orientation or learner-centredness and related concepts such as individualisation or learner autonomy being the focus of foreign language didactics and language teaching research, there has been renewed research interest in teaching and teachers, and not just since the publication of the Hattie study (Caspari, 2016; Hattie, 2021; Klippel, 2016; Königs, 2014; Martinez, 2016). The complexity of teaching processes and teaching is reflected in numerous general didactic models (for an overview, see (Jank & Meyer, 2000); research is dedicated to topics such as successful teacher behaviour, professionalisation of teachers, methods in foreign language teaching, use of media or questions of assessment and evaluation (see Hallet et al., 2020; Kniffka, 2016).

  • Teaching Reading and Literature
    No. 2 (2023)

    We are pleased to present the fifth issue of the journal DiSlaw. It is dedicated to teaching reading and literature and accordingly zooms in on the possible uses of literary texts in foreign language teaching. In doing so, we explore three fundamental questions: What is literature? What can it be used for in the classroom? And: How can this be done? These questions help us to approach the triad of objectives, content and methods that determines the didactic framework of teaching (cf. e.g. Heimann et al., 1965; Klingberg, 1995, 41).

  • At the Interfaces of Didactics and Philology (Special Issue)
    2023

    The special issue of DiSlaw was compiled to honour Wolfgang Stadler as an outstanding scholar and esteemed colleague on the occasion of his retirement. For this purpose, we, the editors, decided to choose the journal (Didaktik slawischer Sprachen) since it is a publication medium that Wolfgang Stadler as its founder and co-editor holds very dear. In reference to DiSlaw, one of the focal points of Wolfgang Stadler's professional activity already becomes evident, namely the combination of teaching Slavic languages - in his case Russian - with academic reflection. 

  • Differentiation and Personalisation
    No. 1 (2023)

    We are pleased to present the fourth issue of the DiSlaw journal to you, which is devoted to the topic “Differentiation and Personalisation”. Differentiation advocates the adaptation of school learning opportunities and performance requirements to the pupils’ own learning pace, individual interests, and personal capabilities (cf. Müller, 2018). In the school context, differentiation can occur in various ways, e.g. by means of different tasks and methods, optional classes, learning products, and social aspects (cf. ibid, 18–43). Thus, different abilities, learning styles, aptitudes, and inclinations of learners can be considered (cf. e.g. Niggli, 2012). In Europe, the teaching of Slavic languages is increasingly characterised by the heterogeneity of learners, such as bilingual and heritage speakers as well as foreign language learners (cf. e.g. Vogtenhuber et al., 2012, 22). In view of this broad spectrum of linguistic and individual differences, new concepts, models, and tasks are required to counterbalance the increasing heterogeneity of learner groups.

  • Multilingualism and Transcultural Learning
    No. 2 (2022)

    We are pleased to announce the third issue of DiSlaw on the topic of multilingualism and transcultural learning, since language, while not the only communication system, is a specific feature that distinguishes humans from other living species. No other communication system that allows humans to express themselves and to form social identities has such a high degree of abstraction and symbolism. It becomes even more complex when the communicative system is developed and expanded in several languages, which results in bilingual and multilingual speakers becoming visible and audible in society. Diversity is part of our everyday life and does not only apply to regions that have more than one officially recognised national language. As expected, the linguistic expansion into transcultural spaces has not stopped at classroom doors, teaching spaces, and the educational system as a whole. This process is accompanied by challenges that demand adequate approaches and solutions from language pedagogy.

  • Digital / Distance Learning
    No. 1 (2022)

    The second DiSlaw-issue is dedicated to the topic Distance / Digital Learning that has preoccupied us on various levels and has eventually become a new reality since the COVID-19-pandemic hit. The sudden and constant use of digital media for teaching and learning purposes as well as their effective and learning outcome-oriented implementation did indeed pose some new challenges for us. In reference to the ongoing digitisation of teaching and learning materials, Funk (2016, p. 439) points to a “threefold problem”: firstly, teacher educators and textbook authors are being replaced by freelance editors and non-specialist developers; secondly, there appears to be a lack of criteria-based analyses of materials for mobile learning scenarios; lastly, due to the increasing diversity of learning environments and learning paths the weakly established empirical impact research on textbooks becomes incrementally less accessible to observation.

  • Motivation
    No. 1 (2021)

    We have dedicated this first issue to the topic of motivation, as it has occupied our minds in many different ways over the past year. Motivation is generally seen as an important factor influencing (successful) learning. However, in the broad field of motivation research, we have so far found only a few studies on the learning and teaching of Slavic languages. With the first issue of DiSlaw, we intend to introduce the discourse on motivational issues into the Slavic languages community.