Learning orientation (foreign language teaching)

In a learning-oriented foreign language lesson, the students receive opportunities and help for self-active, self-determined language learning. Here, foreign language knowledge and skills are not (up to 70 in the 1960 / year as) through instructional instruction (in the sense of an instructive guide to action ) conveys but by the students themselves in the interaction with the teacher and classmates in a self-learning process acquired ( " constructed "). Information from the teacher, the textbook and other media only plays a mediating role; The decisive basis for learning processes is the linking of new linguistic material (utterances, texts) with their own previous experience and knowledge and the construction of new form-content relationships (abstractions) by the learners themselves.

Radical and interactionist constructivism

The question of how living beings - including students - perceive and structure information ("learn") is the subject of epistemology. According to the theory of radical constructivism , the brain does not receive any direct information via the sensory organs, but only meaningless signals, which it "translates" into its own perceptions and structures in a process of self-organization or autopoiesis , using previous experiences . According to this, what we perceive is not an image of “reality”, but a “construct” of the respective brain. However, this construct must then prove itself in practical life (in the social community) (cf. social norm ); if it does not do this, the respective perception must either be clarified discursively (in the Habermas sense ) or tacitly revised (principle of “ trial and error ”).

According to the theory of interactionist constructivism , which is mainly represented by Kersten Reich , processes of knowledge and understanding are fundamentally linked to the socio-cultural entanglements of the individual and his social interactions with others (teachers, classmates) - that is, also in foreign language teaching. These interactions then also provide the necessary feedback about the situational and, in a broader sense, the socio-cultural appropriateness of its structuring (“constructs”).

Learning orientation: action and process-oriented teaching methods

Methodically, learning orientation in foreign language teaching can be concretized using action and process-oriented teaching methods. While action-oriented activities promote the self-active, committed language behavior of the students, process orientation promotes their mental processing and learning activities (language processing, language production and language learning processes), with particular emphasis on the development of individual learning strategies .

On the connection between learning and teaching

According to their purpose, definitions by teachers, dictionaries and grammars always aim for uniqueness. Their sharp categorizations, however, reduce the fuzzy concrete experiences (e.g. the use of tense in indirect speech in English or the use of the present perfect, simple past and ing form) in one Manner that makes it appear very suitable for learning, teaching and reference purposes, but can never give the learners the feeling for the wide and often diffuse range of meanings ("feeling for language "), which is so important for linguistic use . Therefore, the pupils have to “experience” meanings in a variety of authentic , directly touching situations by acting concretely. (Instead of "learning orientation" one could therefore also speak of " experience orientation" ; however, this term has a slightly different connotation.)

It is therefore the task of the instructor to help the pupils with their learning, ie to offer them a motivating learning environment as well as a wide range of linguistic experiences in a wide range of situations; In addition, they can help the students to understand linguistic forms and regularities in the context of these contexts themselves (cf. awareness (foreign language teaching) ) and - after a sufficient "incubation period" - to use them with increasing confidence and fluency.

Methodical principles of learning orientation

(1) Interaction with trading partners

Only in the (linguistic and non-linguistic) interaction with acting partners can the learners "negotiate" assignments of meanings or terms, structuring and differentiations, and only here is the opportunity to try out newly learned concepts in practice for their social validity and to correct non-functional constructs (see also action orientation (foreign language teaching) ).

(2) Promote meaningful, content-based learning

Instructional communication situations (topics and content) that

orientate themselves on the personal experiences and interests of the students and thus motivate them to deal with them mentally and thus also linguistically,

linguistically within their reach, but make a rich, unrecognizable, pre-structured language offer,

Addressing intellect, feeling and senses equally (see holistic approach (foreign language teaching) )

and offer freedom to act without time and pressure to perform.

Conversations and written statements on current topics of the day, film clips, short films, commercials, video clips, songs, etc., creative writing as well as simulations and projects are ideal for this, i.e. activities in which content is negotiated, problems are raised and possible solutions are discussed. (See also action orientation (foreign language teaching) ).

(3) Promotion of largely self-determined learning ( learner autonomy )

Since language learning requires linguistic and non-linguistic interaction with acting partners (see point 1), complete methodological autonomy is not possible in foreign language teaching. Nevertheless, as often as possible, the pupils must have the opportunity to engage in largely "open" communication processes, to explore themselves and to organize learning processes themselves. Targeted training of certain learning strategies as well as impulses for their implementation represent a central component of a lesson that promotes autonomy (see point 4).

(4) Promotion of the development of individual learning strategies

Empirical research shows that successful foreign language learners can develop, at least in part, specific learning strategies and use them in a targeted manner in language processing and in the organization of their learning environment. In order to learn and apply these learning strategies, the students need implicit and explicit help from the teacher, especially in the context of process-oriented training phases aimed at reflecting on their strategies.

Methodical implementation

Project lessons, simulation, scenic play

and other forms of action and process-oriented teaching (cf. project teaching , simulation , scenic play ).

Learning by teaching

Learning through teaching (LdL): Since 1980, the method of learning through teaching has been established in all school types and all subjects, but above all in foreign language teaching, which aims to deepen and intensify the learning process by taking on teaching functions by students. In LdL, the above-mentioned aspects of learning-oriented didactics are consistently applied:

Interaction with partners
Meaningful, content-based learning
Largely self-determined learning
Development of individual learning strategies

Sources and Notes

↑ See also the history of methods of foreign language teaching .
↑ See also a feeling for language and awareness (foreign language teaching) . The development of individual learning techniques and learning strategies also plays a major role. - For a detailed description cf. Timm: "Learning-oriented foreign language teaching ..."; s. Bibliography.
↑ See Paul Watzlawick (ed.): The invented reality. How do we know what we think we know? Contributions to constructivism (6th ed.). Munich, Zurich: Piper, 1995.
↑ On interactionist constructivism cf. especially Kersten Reich (2005, 2009) as well as the “genetic epistemology” by Jean Piaget and the pragmatic learning approach by John Dewey . See also constructivist didactics . - On the so-called “constructivism debate” in foreign language didactics, cf. the work of Wendt, Wolff and Reinfried as well as the corresponding special issue of the journal for foreign language research (bibliography).
^ F. Lionel Billows: The techniques of language teaching . London: Longman, 1961, pp. 36f.
↑ z. BHH Stern: What can we learn from the good language learner? Canadian Modern Language Review 34, 1975: pp. 304-318. - HH Stern: Fundamental concepts of language teaching. 6th edition, Oxford: OUP 1990 (1st edition 1983).
↑ For a brief overview of "learning through teaching" cf. Jean-Pol Martin & Rudolf Kelchner: "Learning by teaching". In: Johannes-Peter Timm (ed.): Learning and teaching English. Didactics of English Lessons. Berlin: Cornelsen, 1998, pp. 211-219.

literature

Kersten Reich : Systemic-Constructivist Pedagogy (5th edition). Weinheim: Beltz 2005 (1st edition Neuwied: Luchterhand 1996).

Kersten Reich : The order of looks. Perspectives of the interactionist constructivism (2 vols.). Volume 1: Online: http://www.uni-koeln.de/hf/ Konstrukt/reich_works/buecher/ordnung/ band1.html (2nd edition 2009); Volume 2: Online: http://www.uni-koeln.de/hf/ Konstrukt/reich_works/buecher/ordnung/ band2.html (2nd edition 2009).

Marcus Reinfried: "Radical constructivism: a meaningful basic theory for foreign language didactics?". In: Gerhard Bach & Britta Viebrock (ed.): The appropriation of foreign languages. Perspectives - Concepts - Research Program. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2002, pp. 29–50.

Johannes-Peter Timm : "Learning-oriented foreign language teaching: promoting systemic-constructive learning processes". In: Gerhard Bach & Johannes-Peter Timm (eds.): English lessons. Basics and methods of action-oriented teaching practice (5th, updated edition). Tübingen, Basel: A. Francke, 2013, pp. 43–60.

Michael Wendt: Constructivist foreign language didactics. Learner- and action-oriented foreign language teaching from a new perspective. Tübingen: Narr, 1996.

Michael Wendt: Construction instead of instruction: New approaches to language and culture in foreign language teaching. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2002.

Dieter Wolff: "Constructivism: A New Paradigm in Foreign Language Didactics". Die neueeren Sprachen , 93 (1994), pp. 407-429.

Journal for Foreign Language Research , Volume 2, Volume 13 (2002).