This study investigated stereotypes about teachers of German that 67 novice learners of German at a U.S. university had reportedly encountered. Consequently, the investigation explored the perceived accuracy of clichés associated with native-speaker and non-native-speaker instructors. Students' stereotypical notions were sorted into categories…

This case study addresses the language-culture divide contributing to curricular bifurcation in many collegiate language departments and presents a lesson plan to help language instructors bridge the gap. The lesson on public transportation is designed for first-semester second language (L2) German students and focuses on a guided reading of a…

Preparing lifelong, world-ready German learners means German language instructors must intentionally incorporate globalized themes and tasks into the high school German curriculum. In 2010, the College Board redesigned the AP German Language and Culture Exam to meet these needs. The new exam encompasses six course themes and requires students to…

In this conversation, two U.S.-trained German language and culture educators discuss their approaches to intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Working in different educational settings -- in a German and Global Studies program at a public university in the U.S., and at the Institute for Intercultural Communication of a German university…

Both of the participants in this dialogue are professors of German, and both were involved in recent efforts to develop Global Studies programs at their institutions. While one teaches at a small, private, liberal arts college and the other at a large, urban, public research university, both participated in these projects with the pragmatic desire…

The article proposes using the flipped learning approach to gain more classroom time for activities that help learners interact with cultural content so that they may achieve critical cultural awareness, one of the components of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). It first distinguishes between the terms "flipped classroom" and…

In fall 2016, a group of scholars gathered at the 40th German Studies Association convention in San Diego, CA, in a space called the Eaton Room, for a seminar on multilingualism in German Studies. After three days sharing this space of dialogue, members returned home to their various teaching and research settings and, reflecting further on…

Although abundant research studies explore team teaching and co-teaching, research is lacking on apprentice teaching with undergraduates, especially in U.S. world language classes. This article presents a practical apprentice teaching model for teaching beginning German with undergraduate students. The model was successful because the professor…

Over the last few years, I have seen a significant impact on student learning from improving and adapting my instruction in three main areas: backward designing instruction for target proficiency levels, transitioning to standards-based grading, and implementing performance-based assessments that focus on proficiency. These strategies have not…

Language testing is an integral part of teaching and learning, yet most language faculty do not receive adequate training for developing tests (Taylor, [Taylor, L., 2009]). Most have advanced degrees in literary and cultural studies in the target language but often have insufficient training in pedagogy and assessment. This shortcoming is alarming…

This paper offers an instructional unit on the response token "achja" in everyday German conversation. The paper first provides a description of "achja" and its distinctive prosodic features based on empirical research in conversation analysis. The goal of the paper is to provide instructors of German with information and…

This study of 134 college-level learners of German, enrolled in four years of instruction, showed them to "essentialize" German grammar when asked to describe it to a hypothetical friend. Kubota defined the term essentialization to capture learners' views of the target culture. Its main characteristic is the presupposition of "essential, stable,…