Didactics

Objectives

At treffpunkt sprachen, the Didactics section deals with important topics in language teaching and language learning and aims at a professionalization of language teaching in adult education. The objective is accurate observation, documentation and analysis of foreign language teaching and learning processes as well as continuing education and professionalization for teachers.

treffpunkt sprachen – Centre for Language, Plurilingualism and Didactics has set the following agenda in the field of didactics:

• To promote research on language competence (LanguageCompetenceProfile,
  TeacherCompetenceProfile)
• To promote research on language teaching and learning
• To develop, promote and evaluate innovative methods in language teaching for adult education
• To promote action research in language teaching
• To support young researchers in the field of language competence research
• To establish cooperation that leads to synergies with other educational institutions (e.g. cooperative projects, joint events)
• To create measures to disseminate results from the work of the European Council (innovative language projects)
• To develop specific (continuing) education and training programmes for language teachers

Responsibilities

The Didactics section deals with research and continuing education on important topics in teaching and learning languages and investigates them by using action research in language teaching and larger projects and publications.

Previously existing key projects continue to be worked on, new tests are done and different implementations in language teaching are evaluated. Action research projects are also carried out whose topics are specifically chosen based on the research focus within the university. The topics for the planned action research projects are diverse and come from the following areas regarding the research focus "Learning – Education – Knowledge":

• Promotion of self-learning competences
• Investigations of individual language competences (e.g. supporting listening comprehension, writing competence)
• Self-directed, autonomous language learning
• The European Language Portfolio in use
• Pragmatic language skills
• Teaching and knowledge management in the field of languages
• Action-oriented testing procedures in language teaching
• Self-assessment in language teaching
• Development of observation categories as indicators of the quality of teaching and learning processes
• Competences of the language teachers
• Language learning processes
• Communicative competence
• Development and promotion of intercultural competence
• English or other languages as a working language (CLIL)
• Development of an evaluation culture among teachers and students
• Orientation towards the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
• Standardization of tests
• Online teaching for teachers
• Quality criteria in language teaching
• New media in language teaching
• E-portfolios in language learning