No abstract

After closing public schools in early 2020 to slow the spread of Covid-19, attempts to provide continuity of education in Germany by means of digital tools faltered in variety of ways, with insufficient competence and inadequate technology leading to inequitable access and uneven implementation. Understanding how German teachers were caught unprepared in this time of crisis, especially in comparison with their European neighbors, requires an examination of their habitus as discussed by Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) that accounts for their behaviors beyond existing models regarding technology acceptance. Drawing on existing sociological and media-related studies, this contribution will describe the attitudes of German teachers and educational decision-makers in light of their digital, cultural, and educational habitus to provide a partial explanatory account for the current state of affairs. It will show how traditional skepticism for innovation among teachers in general, and German teachers in particular, is reinforced by demographic and sociological characteristics of the German teacher population and the nature of German schooling. After describing extant conditions regarding digitally mediated educational experiences during the initial Covid-19 phase in Germany based on emerging data, this article will subsequently identify prospective issues in this area in the near future. While the transition to digital teaching and learning has the potential to bring about a number of challenges, early data suggests that a possibility of significant positive development may occur as well. Based on these indications, the article will conclude with implications for teacher professionalization going forward.

While digital gameplaying is increasingly recognized for its potential for language learning, its use among English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in both leisure and pedagogical contexts is comparatively meagre. Assumptions regarding the appropriate nature of schooling on the one hand and appropriate leisure pursuits on the other mediate beliefs about digital gaming to generate skepticism of gameplaying among many educators. Their devaluation of digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) has implications for language learning, not just in terms of skills and attitudes, but in regard to the development of linguistic capital. The purpose of this article is to use the concept of habitus to examine the reasons why educators marginalize DGBLL and the implications of such pedagogic decisions on the development of linguistic capital. Given the emergent empirical base, this contribution adopts a theoretical approach to contextualize observed trends. The article concludes by discussing the importance of teacher-mediated DGBLL for reasons of access and equity before recommending ways of integrating DGBLL to achieve these goals.

Incorporating inclusive games and game-related tasks enables learners to explore issues of gender and sexuality in the EFL classroom, while simultaneously developing competences relevant specifically to language learning. Carefully selected and didactically prepared games and gaming activities that highlight marginalised genders and sexualities can facilitate reflection of learners’ own identities. In including these games, teachers contribute to a better understanding of alternative identities and cultures that are created and shaped in online and offline worlds, and where transcultural communicative competence is required to navigate these settings. This article, relying on insights drawn from analytical play, discusses how gameplaying that thematically centres queer personae can foster identity development as an essential aspect of transcultural communicative competence. It also highlights ways in which teachers can utilize games in the EFL classroom to facilitate the inclusion of language learners who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, inter- or asexual (LGBTQIA*).

No abstract