Studies investigating relations between morphological awareness and literacy in German, a language with a rather transparent but asymmetric orthography, are sparse. Little is known about the role of grade level for these relationships and of their relative strength compared to those between other language-related variables and literacy skills.…

In this study it was aimed to scrutinize the attitudes of prospective teachers of foreign languages towards learning a second foreign language. The data were collected via "Attitude Scale Towards Second Foreign Language" developed by Çetin et.al. (2019) from a total of 300 student teachers of foreign languages in Gazi University Ankara.…

This article presents selected findings from a study of the motivation of UK school pupils to learn a modern foreign language. The study involved 345 year 7 pupils (i.e. 11-12-year-old children) learning either French or German in a large inner-city school based in an urban area in central England. Anecdotal evidence suggested a widespread…

Masked priming studies have shown that readers decompose morphologically complex words ("read+er"). Interindividual differences have been suggested to affect this phenomenon. However, its development is poorly understood. We addressed this issue by taking a longitudinal approach that allows greater rigor in establishing the relationship…

In the past decades, society in general has become strongly diverse. This change also affects schools. As a result, learning groups cannot be seen as homogeneous and taught in this way. One of the challenges is students' linguistic skills. Dealing with different linguistic competencies should not only be a focus of formal education in schools but…

This questionnaire study analyzed responses of 96 first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year students of College German to the second part of a two-part question, namely, (a) what forms of German grammar are particularly difficult, and (b) why so. Response patterns show that word order, adjective endings, the subjunctive, and the gender/number/case…

Developments in the last decades necessitated the acquirement of diverse skills that enables to keep up with the changing conditions of today's world. In this context teachers as learners are in need of a continuous renewal. The acquirement of autonomous learning skills promoted at the teacher education might be contributory for the development of…

This study examined the responses of 39 first-year, 63 second-year, 20 third-year, and 19 fourth-year US college learners of German when they were asked what forms of L2 grammar they, respectively, find particularly difficult; do not expect to ever acquire fully; and believe are not necessary for self-expression. Nominal morphology--particularly…

In a cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the quality of lexical representations and text comprehension skill in German primary school children (Grades 1-4). We measured the efficiency and accuracy of orthographical, phonological, and meaning representations by means of computerized tests. Text comprehension skill was…

Paper presented at the FIPLV Congress, Saarbrucken, West Germany, April 4, 1972. (RL)

The relative importance of content-oreinted teaching materials in German universities and public schools is examined in this survey of language textbooks and teaching methods. It is noted that despite a growing interest in structural linguistics at the university level, school grammars are primarily content-oriented and based on Hans Glinz's…

This article comments on the use of radio, television, films, newspaper, and other printed materials to supplement existing programs and textbooks. Specific references to television networks and newspapers illustrate the type of cultural material suggested for classroom use. (RL)

This report consists of summaries of papers given at the conference at the University of Hull on "Post 'A'-Level German Teaching" in England and includes summaries of the discussion which followed. Topics and papers included are (1) the present position of German in schools, colleges of education, polytechnics and colleges of further…