Instructional Development Research Projects
“My Deutsche is Getting Deutsche-er All the Time”- Blurring the Borders of Input and Output in the Intermediate German Classroom
Robert McFarland, GSR, German
In my BLC project, I have been exploring the merits of a recent re-evaluation of the classic art of “imitation” as a means to teach writing. By breaking down the long-held concepts of reading as a purely passive “input” activity and writing as a purely active “output” activity, I seek in this project to restore an active notion of reading and explore notion of writing that appropriates key elements of literary texts in the target language. As students begin to see class readings less as an inferior substitute to study abroad and more as rich sources of language for their own writings, they can be empowered – through parody, pastiche and modeling exercises – to appropriate the voice that they encounter in their readings of literature.
Preparing for German III in German II
Tiffani Skogmo, GSR, German
For this project, I have prepared lesson plans to be used in developing students’ literary skills in a second semester German class, as well as an accompanying handbook for graduate student instructofs. These plans should serve as practical baselines for GSI’s and students in learning how to discuss a variety of texts in a foreign language classroom.
Collective Category Negotiations and the Acquisition of German Directional Prepositions
Kevin Wiliarty, GSR, German
Collective Category Negotiations and the Acquisitions of German Directional Prepositions
In order to choose correctly among the various directional prepositions in German, students must learn, among other things, to categorize destinations appropriately. On a written and a spoken test students simplified object categorization in surprisingly various ways, some of which correspond suggestively to potential developments in the native use of German.
Friday, December 8, 2000
3-5pm, 370 Dwinelle Hall