Integrating Textual Thinking into the Introductory College-Level Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

One of the characteristics of the well-documented bifurcation in collegiate foreign language (FL) instruction is the difficult transition from lower-to upper-level instruction. Particularly pronounced are the expectations placed on readers at the upper level. No longer engaged in surface readings and sentence-level exercises that stay focused on everyday situations with clear intent and unambiguous meaning, learners at the upper level must shift to supersentential and discourse-level processing of texts that contain a significantly higher level of abstraction and ambiguity. Recognizing that preparation for such an approach to reading requires longterm attention, this article explores the pedagogical feasibility of implementing in beginning instruction the type of textual thinking and reading practiced at upper levels. Implemented in two sections of first-semester German (N = 27) while students read a full-length novel, this pedagogical approach centers on developing beginning learners' ability to see texts as message systems that reveal cultural significance. DESPITE REPEATED AND PERSUASIVE CALLS for change over the past 15

The Study of Literary Texts at the Nexus of Multiple Histories in the Intermediate College-Level German Classroom

“…First, because students will most likely only take lower-division courses in the L2 there is a strong imperative to facilitate the most sophisticated sort of learning possible. This is in line with many recent arguments in favor of bringing more cultural "content" into earlier parts of the curriculum, blurring or erasing the boundaries of the "two-tiered" curriculum common to U.S. universities, and for moving away from a strongly skills-based curriculum toward one more in line with other fields in the humanities (Kramsch, Howell, Warner, & Wellmon, 2007;Maxim, 2000Maxim, , 2006MLA, 2007;Urlaub, 2012). The second reason has to do with pedagogy.…”

“…As many scholars have shown (e.g. Maxim, 2006;Swaffar & Arens, 2005), even very difficult texts can be didacticized so as to be accessible to students. If instructional time does not allow for students to read the texts in their entirety, they can read selected excerpts from the texts over the course of a quarter or a semester, as a long-term reading project.…”

“…Considering that most students in U.S. universities do not continue their studies of the L2 beyond the intermediate level, there is a strong imperative to provide students with opportunities to critically study (some of) the history of the L2 society, and further, for them to gain an understanding of why they are doing so, and what they can gain from it as developing multilingual users of their first language(s) and the L2 (Maxim, 2006). To do this through the study of literary texts would go a long way toward eliminating, or at least blurring, the two-tiered curricular structure that the 2007 MLA report and others have argued continues to limit the potential of U.S. university language education (MLA, 2007;Pratt et al, 2008).…”

Study Abroad, Foreign Language Use, and the Communities Standard

“…The goal is to… ! Prioritize the development of students' literacy from the start of the curriculum (Allen & Paesani, 2010;Maxim, 2006;Kern, 2000) through project-based learning or global simulation (Dupuy, 2006;Kearney, 2008;Mills & Péron, 2009) ! Build opportunities into the curriculum for ongoing self-reflection and goal-setting by students (Paige et al, 2002) Reduce students' literacy shock during study abroad by building their curiosity and confidence for reading, listening to, viewing, analyzing, and producing FL texts from the first levels of the FL program Sustain students' language-learning motivation and self-regulation over their long-term trajectories as language learners !…”

Articulating the Curriculum through Cultural Themes: A Literacy and Genre Approach to Teaching Protest, Rebellion, and the Reevaluation of the Past

“…Our challenge was to develop curricular units that would move German L2 students toward the specific transcultural competency goals mentioned above, while establishing curricular links between the second and third year of language instruction, which is a perennial and widely discussed problem of college‐level language programs (Byrnes, 1998; James, 1989; Maxim, 2006; MLA, 2007; Swaffar & Arens, 2006). This means that the ongoing development of language competency should remain a central focus and that the linkage between language and content be made explicit throughout.…”