Developing Historical Competency: Teaching German History Through History Films At University Putra Malaysia (BA German Programme)

Abstract

History films personalize, dramatize and emotionalize historical events and characters. They revive the past by exemplifying it in the present, engage ongoing discourses of history and as a result have proven to be the most influential medium in conveying history to large audiences. History films are regarded as an attractive, motivating and efficient (supplementary) teaching and learning medium in history as well as in foreign language classes. As part of the course “Historical Survey of Germany” (BA German-programme at University Putra Malaysia) history film projects on important periods and events in German history were conducted. The article introduces a film project on World War II and describes the pedagogical approach which aims to develop three core competencies of historical understanding – Content Knowledge, Historical Empathy/Perspective Recognition and Narrative Analysis. It discusses selected general findings provided as qualitative data in group and individual assignments. While the responses to questions related to Content Knowledge and Narrative Analysis show that students achieved higher competency levels, the participants showed shortcomings in the rational examination of historical characters, their perspectives and motivations for their actions. Time, practice and guidance can be identified as key factors in developing historical literacy competencies further.

Developing democracy and citizenship with literary texts about the First World War

“…Further, the studies by Davison (2017) and Schaar and Wen (2021) provide insight into how an approach inspired by historical literacy may contribute to the development of democratic citizenship. Davison (2017) found that focusing on empathy, exploring historical evidence, and building contextual knowledge in textual encounters were important to enable students to form critical and informed opinions about the past.…”

“…Davison (2017) found that focusing on empathy, exploring historical evidence, and building contextual knowledge in textual encounters were important to enable students to form critical and informed opinions about the past. Similarly, Schaar and Wen (2021) found that providing instructions on how to encounter a text and concrete questions targeting both affective and cognitive dimensions were essential to help their students reflect and discuss ethical issues.…”

“…The first questions were asked to simply get the conversation started, and were based on Anna's previous frameworks and the piloted questions. Next, questions about characters and feelings were asked to engage the learners' affective responses and to help them take the perspectives of others (Davison, 2017;Juzwik, 2013;Schaar & Wen, 2021). The last questions were asked to help learners consider issues of democracy and citizenship, and validity and relevance of the stories (Davison, 2017;Redmann & Sederberg, 2017;Vaughn, 2011).…”