| Table of Contents, Book Review Section, Vol. 33.2 (Fall 2000) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary Textbooks | Teaching Reading | Teaching Writing | Landeskunde | Business German |
| Teaching with Media | Teaching Literature | Pedagogy | Linguistics | Dictionary |
I. Elementary Textbooks
Widmaier, E. Rosemarie, and Fritz T. Widmaier. Treffpunkt Deutsch: Grundstufe. Annotated Instructor's Edition. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Xxvii +514 pp. Cloth. ISBN: 0-13-095345-8; Arbeitsbuch, ix + 251 pp., plus Hörverständnis, (the latter by Ruth Thomas), 102 pp. ISBN: 0-13-095347-4; Arbeitsbuch Answer Key;Video-Treffpunkt (2nd ed., 1995); Video materials (Andrea Vlatten & Janet K. Swaffar); Audio Program; Tutorial software (Macintosh and IBM-compatible versions); Instructor's Resource Manual; Testing Program (Margaret Gonglewski); Computerized Testing Program; Interactive CD-ROM -- dual platform (Heather Finstuen, Andrea Heyde); Treffpunkt Deutsch Web Site (Heather Finstuen, Margaret Gonglewski); transparencies (not available for review).
The Arbeitsbuch offers a variety of written activities, almost completely without line drawings or realia, and the Hörverständnis section bound with it provides cue/response exercises that are coordinated with, and a significant expansion of, the pair-work activities in the textbook. The audio program consists of seven cue/response, two vocabulary, and two listening tapes of material from the textbook. The audio is clear and the pauses for student responses are appropriate in length. In the Arbeitsbuch the grammar is repeated in shortened form, sometimes with different examples and somewhat different wording. It is unlikely that students will be distracted by the fact that some of the grammar charts are in a format slightly different that in the textbook. The Arbeitsbuch has a separate answer key for the instructor, and there is also a good Instructor's Resource Manual and a Testing Program.
Video-Treffpunkt is a series of twenty authentic video clips, primarily magazine-type topics mostly from Bayern, to accompany the previous edition of the book. The booklet of activities for the video provides not only challenging exercises that direct the student to very specific elements in the difficult video clips, but also a generally accurate concordance for the third edition.
Student interest is likely to increase with use of the CD-ROM and the Web Site. The former requires a PowerMac/G3, System 7 or above or a Pentium-based PC with Windows 95/98. Either platform must have a sound card, 16-bit color, and a minimum 2x drive. The first two types of exercises are drag-and-drop vocabulary matching or close-ended grammar items, both of which are instantly scored. Model answers are included in the open-ended question-and-answer items that follow. The written materials can be printed or sent by e-mail to the instructor. The system does not detect capitalization, but it does catch vowels with or without umlauts and the distinction between ss and ß. Also included for open-ended responses are stock e-mail messages, personalized with the log-in first name and gender of the student. Finally there is a Videodialog with a recording feature and playback checks. The CD-ROM is easy to use without any instructions. It also has a direct link to the book's web site at Prentice Hall.
This web site (www.prenhall.com/treffpunkt) includes instantly scored practice exercises for each chapter's vocabulary and structures; critical thinking web-based reading and writing activities; weblinks for cultural exploration and for German pen-pals; and a Lehrerecke with many professional, cultural, and language links. It is inevitable that any materials with contemporary references will fall victim to minor changes in current events, e.g., "Wayne Gretsky spielt für die New York Rangers," and more serious problems with links that do not work. (Among others, the URL for "Uni-online," the basis for some activities in Kap. 12, either has changed or was incorrectly entered in the link.) Also, clicking on the button for "accented letters or other special characters" takes the user to a page with directions for French (!) accents. As long as one ignores this and uses the normal keystroke combinations for umlauted vowels there is no problem. Otherwise, though, the Web Site is very good. Chapter activities are based on web pages that vary from the Neckermann online catalog to Mr. Pizza (online orders for delivery in Frankfurt), to the Bodensee Magazin and TV-Today. One chapter's activities are even devoted to "a famous Austrian," and a click takes the user to the home page of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
When one compares the technology of the CD-ROM and the Web Site with that of the Dasher drills in the tutorial software, it is easy to see how far the development has come in a short time. The IBM-compatible version sent for review includes a brief tutorial, explaining, for example, that the dots marking extra spaces in a response are to be removed with the spacebar and that the toolbar is to be used for special characters. Curiously, though, the special characters in the toolbar did not work in the tutorial, even though they did work in the exercises themselves. Despite this, the Dasher drills are a useful techno-workbook for those without Internet access or a computer with a CD-ROM drive.
Overall, Treffpunkt Deutsch continues to be a very good entry in the field of first-year German "packages," and the CD-ROM and Web Site give it a definite edge over some of the other good books.
Philip J. Campana
Tennessee Technological University
Whittaker, Helga M. Hochdeutsch: As Spoken and Taught By a German. Lanham: University Press of America, 1996. Paper, 491 pp.
Part one is devoted to easily comprehensible explanations of German grammar, supplemented by limited mechanical drills. Communicative exercises must be prepared by the instructor. It is imperative that the instructor be extremely well-versed in the German language as many more difficult fine points of the language are not explained, such as the brief two pages devoted to the introduction of nicht and kein, an area which poses constant difficulty for beginning students. The introduction to grammar vocabulary, including such words as: Hauptwort, Mehrzahl, etc., allow for almost immediate class instruction conducted in the target language. Vocabulary lists are provided, but their extensive length might overwhelm students. They should, therefore, be either shortened or dispersed throughout the chapters.
Part two contains assorted chapters on varying topics, including the necessary explanation of more complicated aspects of the language, such as expressing likes and dislikes, forming nouns using -heit, -keit, and -ung, using conjunctions, writing letters, etc. These chapters, however, appear to be in no specific order and, thus, must be properly inserted into class instruction as needed. Most commendable is the introduction to filler words, or colorful particles, a topic often omitted in other textbooks.
Part three supplies us with worthwhile texts for beginning readers. They vary in topics ranging from the German school system to architecture, film and theater. My only regret is that the necessary vocabulary does not accompany each reading passage, but rather is presented in the closing chapters of this section, thus making reference somewhat awkward. Also, the vocabulary for one passage is presented in two different chapters, an obvious error which might eventually cause confusion. Moreover, this part of the book contains no classroom exercises, which leaves the bulk of preparation up to the imagination of the teacher, yet allows for much freedom in instruction.
The final section is meant to introduce students to the world of business German. It contains various texts, followed by their translations and elaborate vocabulary lists. The choice of topics is quite applicable to the field of business German, including domestic and international trade, the structure of German firms, composing offers and orders, invoices, etc. Some passages are followed by interesting communicative and written exercises. This section, while it is a comprehensive introduction, could be enhanced with the usage of charts, videos and other materials which would give students the opportunity to experience the German business world more accurately. As the core of business revolves around oral and written expression, more emphasis should be placed on telephone communication, as well as the writing of business letters.
Overall, this text has much potential for use in the German classroom, keeping in mind that, due to its level of complexity, it is intended for a more mature and motivated audience of students. Even so, audio and visual aids would be a great asset to the book and its use in the German classroom. Finally, some improvements are needed: correction of typographical errors, compliance with the new German spelling reform.
Amanda Benis
University of Massachusetts
Coles, Waltraud, and Bill Dodd. Reading German: A Course Book and Reference Grammar. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 377 pp.
The reading course (Part I) consists of sixteen chapters, the first nine of which introduce students to the basic structure of German through short texts that are cross-referenced to the grammatical explanations in Part III. Each of these chapters concludes with a checklist of what students should be able to do and a short test text for which there is a translation in the answer key. Chapter 10 focuses on such reading strategies as skimming or scanning a text, guessing meanings, and building vocabulary. Chapters 11 to 16 present authentic German texts accompanied by pre-reading and post-reading exercises and are designed to practice more advanced reading skills. The additional reading exercises in Part III comprise an array of topics and text types and are intended for students who have completed Chapter 16 or who already possess a working knowledge of German and only need to refresh their reading skills.
Unlike traditional grammars, the reference section in Part II is organized around such global topics as word order, verbs (e.g., factual and non-factual expressions), modals, passives, core sentences (including verb and clause complements and verb plus prepositional phrases), nouns and pronouns, adjective constructions, negation, text features (e.g., pro-words, da-, hier-, and wo-compounds, connectors), complex sentences, problem words, using the dictionary, word formation, directions (including. imperatives), and conventions (script, numbers, dates, and the new spelling).
Since the primary purpose of Reading German is to teach the "passive" skill of reading, grammatical explanations are generally kept to the bare essentials unlike those found in standard first-year texts that teach all four skills. On the other hand, the discussion of ancillary constructions, especially those that occur more frequently in reading, are dealt with much more thoroughly. For example, in the presentation of the passive, the distinction between the use of von and durch to express agency is reduced simply to "durch generally denotes an instrument or process rather than an agent" without explaining the distinction of a personal agent versus an impersonal force and the use of mit to express instrumentality.
Greater emphasis is placed on all the various possible meanings of von which students will encounter in their reading rather than on when to use von versus durch. However, the discussion of substitute passive constructions ranges from the use of man with the active voice, sein + zu + infinitive, sich + infinitive + lassen, and reflexive verbs to the use of the suffix -bar to form words with a passive meaning (e.g., machbar, doable, can be done).
Similarly, the section on negation offers only a brief explanation on the use of nicht and kein, but then expands on nicht/kein in fixed phrases (nicht mehr/kein + noun + mehr, nicht einmal), negation pronouns (keiner, niemand, nichts) and other negation words (kaum, keinesfalls), words which indicate the presence of negation (sondern, weder-noch), and the negation suffix -los (arbeitslos) and the negation prefixes un-, a-, des-, in-, miss- (das Missverständnis), negation as part of compounds (das Nichtserreichen), verbs with negative meanings (fehlen, ausbleiben), double negation (nicht fehlen), and rhetorical negation (nicht wahr).
Except for a table of contents for each chapter, there is no detailed index at the end of the book, which would make it easier to look up topics. Since translations are given for all examples and readings in the text, there is also no end vocabulary. Students who use this textbook will have to have a good German/English dictionary.
Reading German offers students a novel and flexible program to acquire a basic reading knowledge in German or to refresh and improve existing reading skills. Because of the way it is organized and provided with answer keys, Reading German is particularly well suited for independent study outside of a class.
William E. Petig
II. Teaching Reading
Reading German was designed with a dual purpose: Part I, the reading course, teaches students with little knowledge or formal training in German to read German, and Part II is a reference grammar for students who have some knowledge of German and who want to improve their reading skills on their own. The basic concept of the text is to teach reading through an analysis and study of simple German texts and then progress to more difficult readings. Part III provides additional reading exercises that are referenced to the relevant grammar sections in Part II. These exercises can be done separately from the reading course and come with an answer key. Part IV consists of twenty-three authentic German texts on a wide range of subjects with a parallel English translation on the facing pages.
Stanford University
Ofczarek, Bernhard. Mick: Das ComicBuch zum Lesen und Arbeiten. Regensburg: Dürr and Kessler, 1998. 96 pp.
Enter the eponymous Mick. Described on the back cover oxymoronically as "ein ganz normaler Comic-Held," Mick enters upon a set of adventurers common to a typical adolescent: he tries on new friends and new clothes; he succumbs to peer-pressure in smoking cigarettes and later embraces loneliness; he finds a girlfriend and then learns the heartbreak of rejection. In many ways, these adventures are the strength of the book, for they resound within the psyche of most young people. Unlike other German teaching texts that still emphasize 1980's "disco" fashion styles or "The Role of Women in the DDR," this emotionally engaging textbook should wear very well. The subtitle reveals the book's telos: "Für einen Lebhaften Deutschunterricht."
The book consists of about twenty-five comic strips. Though most are only a page, the longest, "Mick und das Geheimnis-volle Mondherz," runs almost fifteen pages. Composed of two or three neon colors per strip, the angular Mick leaps off the page for the reader-if the protagonist were a force of nature, he would definitely be a lightning bolt. After each strip follows a series of questions. At the beginning of the text, the questions are straightforward, designed to increase vocabulary through the introduction of less commonly taught adjectives or the adverbs of time. Later, the questions become more thought-provoking, asking the reader to make comparisons to her life, to an earlier time, or to an ideal parent. At times, the reader is asked to rework part of the story. In Mick, the reader is literally drawn-excuse the pun-into the story. One story asks the reader to provide the dialogue while another lets the reader draw the last few panels of pictures and comments.
One weakness may be the book's minimalist approach to grammar. But just as the reader understands foreshortening and dialogue balloons in comic strips, grammar here is also "understood." An "Achtung! Hier brauchst du dann Konjunktiv Praeteritum" and several of the forms provide the necessary introduction. As in all of the best comics, this text has surprises throughout. Puzzles, concrete poetry, mapping, and postcards--all can be found here. Likewise, instead of composing dreary "synthetic" writing tasks, the writer here uses "real world" applications; for instance, letters home, shopping lists, want ads, Steckbriefe, and Lebensläufe.
Mistakenly many think the cartoon finds its origin in French cave paintings or the ancient cuneiform of Egypt. Instead, the genre is less than two centuries old and parallels the process of modern printing. With any eye to its "newness," one wonders if as the population becomes more visually sophisticated through access to advertising and television and Internet graphics, comics may speak at a level more accessible to students than teachers. To this critic, Mick would prove an excellent ancillary text for third or fourth-year high school German students.
Stephen Brock
Omaha Public Schools
III. Teaching WritingBöttcher, Ingrid (hrsg.) Kreatives Schreiben: Grundlagen und Methoden, Beispiele für Fächer und Projekte, Schreibecke und Dokumentation. Cornelsen Verlag Scriptor, Berlin 1999, 192 Seiten
Einer dieser Impulse berührt ein Stiefkind der DaF-Ausbildung: das Schreiben. Was zur erfolgreichen Ausprägung dieser Schlüsselkompetenz für das Lernen in Schule, Studium und Beruf nötig ist, wurde durch die Schreibprozessforschung vielfältig beleuchtet und federführend durch das hiesige English Composition und English as a Second Language mit lehr- und lernpraktischen Konsequenzen bedacht.
Das von Ingrid Böttcher herausgegebene Buch widmet sich den Eckpunkten dieser Forschung aus der Perspektive des kreativen Schreibens, indem sie auf dessen individuelle und soziale Dimension und seinen assoziativen, imaginativen bzw. (sprach)strukturbildenden Charakter detailliert eingeht. Die Autorin, langjährige Leiterin des Projekts "Kreatives Schreiben" an der Universität Aachen, verdeutlicht in den ersten beiden Kapiteln ein theoretisches Verständnis von dem, was sie unter Schreiben "als Instrument der Entwicklung eigenen Wissens" bezeichnet.
Bereits diese Einführung in Grundlagen und Methoden des kreativen Schreibens findet direkten unterrichtspraktischen Bezug, indem Böttcher im Folgekapitel entsprechende Organisationsformen und -strukturen vorschlägt. Äusserungen zu Schreibwerkstatt und Schreibecke, Einstieg ins kreative Schreiben und Textüberarbeitung sowie zum Veröffentlichen und Präsentieren spiegeln Böttchers ausgewogenes Verständnis vom Schreiben wider, das sowohl dessen Prozess als auch Produkt im Blick behält.
Als logische Konsequenz, dass derartiges schreibend Lernen eigentlich keine fachlichen Grenzen kennt (wenn es denn die Grenzen konventioneller Curricula nicht gäbe!), gestaltet die Autorin gemeinsam mit Kolleginnen aus der Schulpraxis (Carolin Schneider-Alken, Monika Humpert, Heide Hilger und Carmen Berend) das vierte Kapitel, in dem fächerübergreifende Schreibszenarien entworfen werden, mit Ausgangspunkten im: Schreiben zu Bildern), in Musik schreibend den eigenen Rhythmus finden, Sachkunde (die Welt erkunden und beschreiben), Mathematik (die Welt der Zahlen versprachlichen), Religion (sein Leben zur Sprache bringen), Tanz schreibend gestalten, und im Deutschunterricht die eigene Sprache finden, gestalten, bearbeiten. Böttchers Absicht des Verknüpfens allgemeingültiger, cross-curricular wirkender Lernstrategien mit der Ausbildung fachspezifischer Aspekte des Schreibens erinnert an die Praxis des writing across the curriculum hierzulande oder dessen Äquivalent in der Fremdsprachenausbildung, des language across the curriculum.
Das fünfte Kapitel (von Schneider-Alken), in dem Möglichkeiten des kreativen Schreibens im projektorientierten Unterricht angedeutet werden, vermittelt einen Einblick in den operativen Charakter des Schreibens, den ich mir bereits in den vorangegangenen Abschnitten des Buches (vor allem im Zusammenhang mit Schreibwerkstatt und Schreibecke) deutlicher herausgearbeitet gewünscht hätte. Gemeinsam mit dem abschliessenden Kapitel zum kreativen Schreiben als Hilfe bei Rechtschreibeschwächen (von Birgit Allmann-Treusch/Birgit Schlumberger) entsteht hier der Eindruck zweier Sonderfälle für das Schreiben. Aber ganz das Gegenteil ist doch der Fall, wenn ich die anderen Teile der Publikation richtig verstanden habe: Die Projektmethode ist dem Wesen eines solchen kreativen Schreibens, das Böttcher meint, geradezu immanent und bereits seit der Reformpädagogik im Unterricht mehr oder weniger präsent. Besonders aus der Deutschdidaktik des letzten Jahrzehnts ist das Schreibprojekt als ausbildungsstrukturierendes Element nicht mehr wegzudenken.
Genauso wesentlich für das Verständnis vom Schreiben als Prozess (das schliesslich in Produkte mündet) ist der Umgang mit dem von der Norm Abweichenden. In diesem Kontext wäre die Diskussion von (Selbst-) Bewertungsstrategien von Nutzen gewesen, zumal die Deutschdidaktik in zunehmendem Maße Journal und Portfolio bzw. die LehrerIn- SchülerIn- Konferenz als nützliche Medien reflexiver Praxis auf dem Wege zu selbständigerem und individuell bedeutsamerem Lernen wahrnimmt.
Was mich vor allem fasziniert an Ingrid Böttchers Arbeit ist die beherrschte Vielfalt (vgl. auch den fächerübergreifenden Methodenüberblick und das Methodenregister), mit der Schreiben (theoretisch und praktisch) als Sprache und Kommunikation stiftendes Medium vorgestellt wird--ein Medium, das für einen modernen, fächerübergreifenden DaF-Unterricht in der Schule, am College und an der Universität dringend benötigt wird.
Gerd Bräuer
Emory University
Clalüna, Monika, Bruno Frischherz, Katrin Gut, Michael Langener, Peter Lenz, Edgar Marsch, Marianne Roka, Christophe Sailer, and Rita Steiner-Striemer. Landeskunde--deutschsprachige Länder: Schweiz. Regensburg: Dürr + Kessler, 1998. Paper: 172 pp.
Each chapter opens with an overview of statistical information followed by short and concise descriptive texts, written by the authors, which summarize the main information. For example chapter one on geography and history provides facts about the geographical, political and economic structures and problems, the natural characteristics, the climate, vegetation, and seasons, as well as important present and historical aspects of Switzerland. In the margin are cross-references to a materials section of maps as well as authentic expository texts, interviews and speeches, newspaper clips, advertisements, and few literary texts. In addition, each chapter has a glossary of the major concepts that are introduced as well as a bibliography.
The goal of this project was to provide teachers as well as students essential background knowledge on the social, historical, political, and geographical aspects of Switzerland as well as an insight into various facets of daily life. The informational texts are written for native or near native speakers, as they are linguistically complex and there are no glosses or an appendix with vocabulary explanations. The texts are, therefore, especially useful for instructors to brush up on their knowledge about Switzerland or for advanced learners as a quick reference guide. These texts are less useful for classroom purposes.
The materials section, however, provides an interesting array of authentic texts that lend themselves to task-based classroom activities and can be used as an initiative for class discussions and cultural comparisons between Switzerland and the native culture of the language learners. The text itself does, however, not provide any pre- or post-reading activities to facilitate the reading process nor any classroom activities. The authors mention in the introduction that the series comes with a learner workbook, which was not available for this review. The variety of different text types recurrent in each chapter can be used to advocate L2 learners' development and practice of reading strategies.
Moreover, the majority of texts can be used with learners at beginning and intermediate language levels by adjusting the structure and the goal for the reading task. Because several texts are available for each topic, instructors have much to choose from and can easily use the text for several language levels. While the authors reach their goal in providing factual information about Switzerland, the major shortcoming of the text is its almost exclusive focus on presenting factual knowledge. The newspaper clips, interviews, and other expository texts are not thought provoking or lead to an in depth insight or understanding of Swiss culture and cultural traits.
In spite of this weakness, Landeskunde--deutschsprachige Länder: Schweiz is a good enhancement for basic language instruction, as it provides basic knowledge every language learner of German should have about Switzerland. With the array of texts and topics, instructors can strengthen their focus on integrating culture in their lessons while at the same time facilitating learners to advance their reading skills.
Susanne Rott
Nitzschke, Volker. Landeskunde-- deutschsprachige Länder: Deutschland. Regensburg: Dürr und Kessler, 1998. Paper, 262pp.
Das Buch ist in zehn Kapitel aufgeteilt; die ersten neun sind im Rahmen der Reihe vorgegeben, das Thema des zehnten Kapitels wählt der jeweilige Autor selbst. Die Kapitel behandeln: Geografie und Geschichte, Bevölkerung, öffentliches Leben, Alltag, Bildungswesen, Kultur und Freizeit, Verkehr/Reisen/ Tourismus, Umwelt, Wir und die anderen sowie schließlich Das Problem der deutschen Einheit. Wenngleich die deutsche Wiedervereinigung als das wichtigste Ereignis der deutschen Nachkriegsgeschichte sicherlich ihren verdienten Platz in diesem Buch findet, sei es dahingestellt, ob mit der Bezeichnung "Problem" ein begrüßenswerter Eindruck vermittelt wird. Das Kapitel überzeugt dann jedoch durch seine kritische Diskussion der technischen Details der Wiedervereinigung sowie der gegenwärtigen post-Wende-Befindlichkeit der Deutschen: von Überdruss an den Besserwessis bis hin zu den Motiven für Ostalgie. Alle Kapitel bestehen aus einem Autorentext, einem meist sehr knappen Glossar, einer ebensolchen Literaturliste sowie einer Sammlung authentischer Materialien zu den jeweiligen Themengebieten.
Da diese deutsche Publikation-natürlich-durchgängig in Deutsch gehalten ist, stellt sich die Frage, für welche Lernsstufe sie geschrieben ist. Eine Verwendung als Begleitmaterial zu einem Sprachkurs, wie von Autor und Verlag vorgesehen, scheitert wohl an der Sprachbeherrschung der meisten Studenten. Von der inhaltlichen Seite einmal abgesehen werden wohl nur wenige Sprachstudenten der ersten beiden Studienjahre (und selbst fortgeschrittene undergraduates) einen Satz wie den folgenden problemlos lesen können: "Nur bei Auflösung des Bundestages (Art. 68 Abs. 1 GG) oder in einem noch nicht vorgekommenen Fall bei der Kanzlerwahl hat er [der Bundespräsident] direkte politische Entscheidungsbefugnisse...." Das Glossar kommt dem Leser an dieser Stelle nicht zur Hilfe; an anderer Stelle werden dagegen Begriffe wie "Kommune" und "multikulturelle Gesellschaft" erläutert. Die in jedem Kapitel enthaltenen authentischen Texte stammen zu einem überwiegenden Teil aus der Frankfurter Rundschau. Die Zeit, ein Beitrag aus Focus und Sachpublikationen sind ebenfalls vertreten. Eine umfassendere Auswahl, die auch Texte etwa aus der FAZ, der Süddeutschen, aus Spiegel sowie anderen Medien eingeschlossen hätte, hätte den Lernern politisch und ideologisch unterschiedlichere Texte nähergebracht. Auf die Materialien wird im Autorentext per Randvermerk verwiesen, die Texte selbst folgen umkommentiert und sind auch didaktisch nicht weiter aufbereitet worden.
Recht willkürlich in ihrer Auswahl erscheinen die im Autorentext angeführten statistischen Werte: So erfährt man zwar die exakte Mitgliederzahl der deutschen Gesangsvereine, an anderer Stelle genügt es dem Autor dagegen festzustellen, dass die Partei Bündnis 90/Die Grünen "besonders viele Frauen" in ihren Reihen hat. Leider sind auch die genannten Daten und Werte nicht ausnahmslos zuverlässig, etwa wenn fälschlicherweise der Eindruck vermittelt wird, dass an allen Gymnasien drei Fremdsprachen unterrichtet werden. Der Inhalt der Kapitel überzeugt ebenfalls nicht uneingeschränkt. Der gerade einmal einseitige Eintrag zur Jugendkultur trägt im Wesentlichen wohlbekannte Klischees zusammen: von der Vorliebe Jugendlicher für Diskotheken über deren Gebrauch von Jugendsprache ("cool," "geil," "krass") bis hin zur Berliner Love Parade. Die an dieser Stelle implizierte Meinung, dass Ausländerfeindlichkeit unter ostdeutschen Jugendlichen kausal auf die hohe Jugendarbeitslosigkeit zurückzuführen sei, erscheint ebenfalls sehr vereinfachend.
Abschließend lässt sich sagen, dass das Buch inhaltlich den Erwartungen an ein Lehrwerk zum Thema German Culture nicht genügt. Die Art der Präsentation entspricht kaum dem im Vorwort angesprochenen entdeckenden Lernen. Die gänzliche Abwesenheit des Internets widerspricht dem Gebot der Aktualität und übergeht ein wichtiges Medium, mit dessen Hilfe Lerner selbständig Informationen finden könnten. Teile des Buches mögen für Wirtschaftsdeutsch von Interesse sein, für einen den regulären Sprachunterricht begleitenden Einsatz sind jedoch vor allem sprachliche Schwierigkeiten vorauszusehen. Gleichzeitig macht die in den meisten aktuellen Sprachlehrwerken ohnehin enthaltene grundlegende Abhandlung landeskundlicher Inhalte die ebenfalls nur flüchtige Behandlung in Landeskunde überflüssig. Als Zielpublikum sind jedoch Auslandsgermanisten denkbar, die ihre deutschlandeskundlichen Kenntnisse durch die Lektüre des Bandes auffrischen wollen. Gerade TAs und Lehrkräfte, die noch nicht über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg in einem deutschsprachigen Land gelebt haben, können hier statistische Daten und einführende Hintergrundinformationen finden.
Gerd Bayer
German instructors of beginning, intermediate, and advanced language as well as German Culture and Civilization classes at the undergraduate level know of the challenges of how to effectively and efficiently teach issues relating to the complex and complicated German concept of "Heimat." Wickham's study under review is the answer to our and our US-American students' never-ending questions in regard to the concept of "Heimat."
Wickham's semantic component analysis is divided into 5 parts: 1. Longing and Belonging, 2. "Heimat" - Reference, Reverence, 3. 'Heimat' in Poetry: Re-Versing the Dialect Tradition, 4. "Heimat" and Liedermacher: Of Ratcatchers and Homemakers, and 5. a lengthy Bibliography. He offers a thorough and interesting review-summary of the enormous amount of "Heimat" literature, focusing in particular on textual material written in the various German dialects.
This mainly poetic material can be used in language courses as well as culture courses as realia. This approach would enable an instructor to combine the socio-political and emotional components of "Heimat," especially if resources from Germany from different age groups in various regions are incorporated into the pedagogical context of the unit on "Heimat." E-mail contact with key interviewees from Germany could also facilitate a deeper understanding of the complex philosophical cross-cultural issues under investigation, in case face-to-face interviews are impossible to conduct.
It is especially the linguistic component that makes Wickham's work so valuable for German instructors. Since the sociolinguist Wickham believes that "language as a product and shaper of culture deserves special consideration in the context of culture as a component of 'Heimat'," his study contains a plethora of authentic texts and also reactions to these texts. These examples can be easily incorporated as core texts into any communicative German language classroom in order to come to terms with the German abstraction of "Heimat," making "Heimat" a "Heimat im Wort" (as Rüdiger Görner entitled his volume), as students, instructors and resources would start a dialogue in German, preferably after having compared and contrasted the various conceptualizations of "Heimat." Ethnographic interviews and conversational activities conducted in German on the concepts of "Heimat" and the quasi-equivalents in other cultures would help students understand the German concept contrastively.
Wickham's study could also be used as a reader while trying to complete Kapitel 12: "Die Dichterin Rose Ausländer" in Impulse by David Crowner and Klaus Lill or Kapitel 2: "Identität: Heimat und Nation" and Kapitel 3: "Ausländer in Deutschland" in Was ist deutsch? by Anne Leblans et al. Especially Wickham's chapters 1 and 2 would provide students with valuable background knowledge on this difficult topic.
Last but not least, Wickham's Longing and Belonging: Constructing "Heimat" in Postwar Germany would serve as an invaluable tool in any class in which Heimat or its sequel Die Zweite Heimat by Edgar Reitz is viewed by students as a filmic counter-reality to the "real" concept of "Heimat" in postwar Germany. Especially in Wickham's chapter 2, the subchapters on "Spatial Coordinates: Physical Space; Social Space," "Cultural Components: Culture; Language," "Psychological Reflexes: Irrationality; Security; Subjectivity / Objectivity, and "Received Otherness: Legal, Fremde, Identity, Provinz/Region" will add interesting hypotheses to students' research papers and critical analyses of Reitz' films.
In conclusion, Wickham's theoretical study offers a fresh and competent perspective on the complex and complicated issue to "Heimat" in the postwar German context. Almost any aspect of his research and authentic text collection can easily be transferred and implemented into any German language and culture classroom at the college level in the United States.
Claudia A. Becker
Bernd Desinger et al. Basiswissen Wirtschaftsdeutsch: Stoffgebiete und Fachwortschatz. München: Iudicium, 1999. Paper, 278 pages.
Basiswissen Wirtschaftsdeutsch provides compact overviews of the primary content areas involved in the study of Business German, as well as lists of selected vocabulary keyed to these topics. For this reason it should prove to be a valuable addition to the reference tools of faculty members teaching courses in this area, both those with business experience and those whose backgrounds have had a more traditional emphasis. It is clearly intended in particular to meet the needs of faculty preparing students for the Prüfung Wirtschaftsdeutsch International.
The volume represents the collective effort of a group of Canadian Germanists, the Arbeitskreis Wirtschaftsdeutsch in Kanada, and has been published with the support of the Goethe Institute. Bernd Desinger's foreword stresses that the book is the product of practical experience and is intended primarily as an aid for faculty planning instructional units and teaching materials on a day-to-day basis. While the consortium of organizations responsible for the PWD publishes an outline of content areas with which candidates should be familiar, the absence of an authorized minimal vocabulary list makes a volume of this kind all the more valuable.
The portion of the book dealing with content areas is divided into three sections. The first includes topics the editors consider essential: economic systems, social security, economic indicators, marketing, banking and investments, currency, economic geography, and the European Union.
The topics of the second section are considered relevant to the Prüfung Wirtschaftsdeutsch and to the ability of an individual to work in a German-language environment, but they are termed less central in their importance. These are types of business enterprises, labor relations, and national and international bodies and organizations. Finally, there is a third group of topics, described as useful, but not essential. These are communications, insurance, taxation, and the internal organization of businesses.
Ironically, the limited information available about the revised version of the PWD, to be administered for the first time in the spring of 2001, suggests a shift in emphasis from traditional economic concepts and issues to those of business management. This change may well call for a reevaluation of the priorities the editors had assumed in ranking the relevance of the specific topics. The comprehensive nature of the volume will prove all the more valuable to faculty attempting to revise course materials in light of these changes, however.
Each chapter in this portion of the book includes a brief introduction, a concisely stated learning objective, and a discussion of key concepts, definitions, and distinctions. Despite the inclusion of a learning objective, the dry tone of the sections and the relative complexity of the grammatical structures would make these readings challenging for most undergraduates. An instructor who wishes to clarify a concept or to locate information that can be presented to students orally in simplified form will find these sections extremely helpful, however. This portion of the book concludes with an expanded bibliography that includes both mailing addresses and web sites useful for further study.
The second half of the book is devoted to lists of vocabulary that mirror the organization of the first half. Unfortunately, no English equivalents are included, so that most instructors will want to use the lists in conjunction with a good German to English dictionary of business terminology. In contrast to a dictionary, the lists here aim at providing essential vocabulary and idioms organized, not alphabetically, but systematically. While one might quibble about specific choices ("Aktien beziehen" is included, but not "Aktien zeichnen," for example), the lists provide a useful basis for the construction of instructional units. The volume concludes with an index that allows the reader to locate all occurrences of key words and expressions in both parts of the book.
Thomas Leech
Fawkes, Steven. Switched On? Video Resources in Modern Language Settings. Modern Languages in Practice 10. Clevedon, Multilingual Matters: 1999. Paper, 86 pp.
Considering the latest computer-based technologies, Steven Fawkes' Switched On? Video Resources in Modern Languages seems initially somewhat anachronistic, arriving a bit late in our age of high-powered computer wizardry. But that would be missing the point of this inspiring little book on televisual resources, since the actual technological means of delivery--computer or videotape--is of a secondary nature. Fawkes supports the view that the skillful manipulation of authentic television programs significantly enhances foreign language learning. He presents practical, achievable suggestions not only for the technophile, but for the beginning teacher with little or no experience as well. His underlying premise is based on the fact that practically all of our students have grown up in a television culture, that they are comfortable with the medium, and that many may indeed rely on visual stimuli to enhance their learning experience. This insight, of course, is not new. With the rapid expansion of satellite and cable systems and greatly improved access to authentic sources from target language speaking countries, however, renewed attention to this teaching tool seems most appropriate. Switched On? provides the language teacher with pedagogically sound suggestions on how to creatively integrate television programming, based on evaluation, review and planning, into the foreign language curriculum, how to make this experience fun and change passive television viewing practices into active language acquisition.
Most appealing are the logic and the sheer practicality of Fawkes' proposals, based on current research and--quite obviously--on the author's years of experience in the classroom. He addresses such issues as finding and evaluating the actual television programming, selecting age-appropriate materials, choosing the right target group, preparing students in advance, selecting the ideal viewing time, identifying achievable learning outcomes in conjunction with an objective evaluation process, and even makes suggestions for back-up plans given the rare day when nothing seems to work.
A discussion of visual inputs is augmented by very helpful strategies to incorporate the related aural component, which further develops listening, speaking and, to a lesser degree, even reading skills (as in titles, news headlines, advertisements, questions in quiz or game shows). Each programming suggestion, such as news reports, TV interviews, weather reports, sports, cartoons, movies or game shows, is accompanied by a list of proposed classroom activities designed to stimulate learning in a meaningful way by targeting specific skills and learning outcomes. Reminders are given to integrate video materials into lesson plans, but not to replace them, to develop appropriate worksheets and how to facilitate departmental planning which enhances a logical sequencing of video materials, avoids unnecessary duplication and contributes to an overall strategic plan. Video novices find practical hints on tape management, potential technical problems while showing tapes, equipment management, screen tips, and even emergency video repair. Technophiles are offered progressive suggestions in the range of classroom activities, moving from comprehension and reproduction of language to group-based activities culminating in original productions.
Not to be underestimated are the immense cultural values in the use of judicially selected video material. Fawkes correctly stresses the importance of fostering a positive attitude in students towards their target language and its inherent culture. Providing access to authentic materials, encountering native speakers, gaining general knowledge of the history, society and particular cultural icons of a foreign culture, as well as an awareness of everyday life, are just some of the benefits derived from using modern video resources. Beginning students should quickly develop a genuine appreciation for fundamental cultural differences, while more advanced students might analyze a film director's treatment of a particular novel.
Fawkes' enthusiasm for televisual resources throughout this little volume is guided by fundamental pedagogical principles. The focus lies on the needs and expectations of students from the "television age," on a wide range of ability and varying age groups, while realistically addressing the time, budget and energy restrictions encountered by the classroom teacher. His last chapter consists of a photocopiable section of various evaluation schedules and checklists intended to be used by teachers working independently or in departments. These helpful paradigms should encourage any colleague to experiment with video technology. And in contrast to the latest computer based tools, videos almost always work.
Harald A. Becker
Hasty, Will, ed. A Companion to Wolfram's "Parzival." (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture). Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1999. xxii + 295 pp.
Twelve new essays of varying length (9-40 pages, all in English), form the body of this excellent "companion" to Wolfram von Eschenbach's early thirteenth-century masterpiece, his complex version of the titular hero's quest for the holy grail (and so much more). Although readers already familiar with Parzival will derive the deepest insights from the contributions, each is written in such a manner as to be more or less accessible even to the inquisitive novice. All Middle High German quotations from Parzival are accompanied by translations into English. Hasty's introduction serves as an exemplary summary of the work, its author, its reception, and a look at some of the scholarship dedicated to its decipherment.
"People, Places, and Things in Parzival" is the heading for the first four essays, covering Parzival's parents (Francis G. Gentry), women characters (Marion E. Gibbs), the Gawan story (Martin Jones), and Wolfram's version of the grail (Sidney M. Johnson). Since Gawan's exploits take up nearly as much space in the romance as Parzival's, it is appropriate that Jones's piece is the longest in the volume.
Both Wolfram's "Narrative Sources" (Adrian Stevens) and his "Modes of Narrative Presentation" (Neil Thomas) are discussed in the second section, "Wolfram's Art of Narration." Here the complexities of Wolfram's retelling and adaptation of a literary tale to one so highly unique as Parzival are analyzed using difference as a key concept. Thus, for example, the relationship between fact and fiction (or theological and lay perceptions) is exploited. As Thomas puts it, the result is that Wolfram is able to "keep both his audience and his hero in a baffled and questing state of mind."
"Cultural Contexts" subsumes five discussions of central topics within Parzival: the "Theology of Fallen Man" (Brian Murdoch), "Tournaments and Battles" (W. H. Jackson), "Reading, Writing, and Learning" (Albrecht Classen), "Otherworlds, Alchemy, Pythagoras, and Jung" (Winder McConnell), and the "Limits of Chivalry" (Will Hasty). It would be difficult, and perhaps unfair, to single out any essay as more rewarding than the others. Instead, this reviewer can recommend them all.
Ulrich Müller's study, "Wolfram, Wagner, and the Germans" is the one essay found under the heading "The Modern Reception of Wolfram's Parzival," whereby the heading is perhaps more accurate than the essay title, especially since recent Austrian and Swiss literary texts and American and English films are included in a broad sweep of contemporary Parzival renditions. Müller's characterization of the Wagnerian appropriation of medieval tales will be of interest to perhaps the widest readership. Based on what Müller describes as "booms" in medieval themes, one beginning in the late 1960s, a second in 1989, readers may be led to reflect on the relationship of political upheaval to literary and otherwise cultural phenomena.
If there is one dominant recurring theme among the various approaches put forth in this volume, it would be the insight that Wolfram has constructed a space where worldly Arthurian chivalry and the more otherworldly quest for the grail are not mutually exclusive. Or, putting it more positively, Winder McConnell asserts "Wolfram's intent to portray an image of wholeness and a resolution of binary tension." The use of a wealth of source materials, of involved narrative strategies, of themes or motifs such as chivalry, knightly battle, women, and the grail itself, are all shown to contribute to this unique artistic creation.
The approximately 300 works cited (including one from 1997) are conveniently compiled in a single space-saving listing (lacking a key for occasional journal abbreviations), allowing for brief parenthetical references within the texts. The index is detailed, listing authors and their works (scholars will appreciate the listing by book of Parzival citations), scholars, anonymous literary works, and themes. Omissions (e.g. colors; feminism/women; Eduard Hanslik; Jews/anti-Semitism; onomastics; translation) attest as much as anything to the extraordinary wealth of information contained in this volume, which is sure to provide impetus to the already thriving field of Wolfram studies. Finally, explicit references are made within the essays to discussions elsewhere in the volume, further witness to Hasty's thoughtful editing. Issues covered within the studies range from broad medieval to the detailed philological. Another fine example of international scholarly collaboration, this "companion" can be recommended to medieval scholars, teachers, and (especially advanced) students alike.
John M. Jeep
This collection of twelve studies (in German) was compiled by colleagues at the University of Münster with the goal of providing a first-year text for their students of medieval German philology. While there are a few interesting references to the history of German studies at Münster, the text can of course be used at any institution. In the US system, a first-year graduate seminar in German studies would be an appropriate place to use this book, most likely in conjunction with some of the primary texts mentioned below. Tomasek's reflections on the significance of medieval German studies are worth consideration here: on the one hand the sheer expanse of the first eight hundred years of German literary (we might also say: cultural) history, on the other an opportunity for students to develop an historical perspective, a critical methodology, and finally tolerance toward other cultures.
Following a detailed introduction by Tomasek are essays on nine works and/or genres, and two on fascinating medieval topics of quite a disparate nature: typology (Rudolf Suntrup) and gender (Birgit Kochskämper).
Progressing chronologically from the earliest work, the texts discussed are Otfrid's (von Weißenburg) Old High German Evangelienharmonie, a ninth-century end-rhyming verse retelling of and commentary on a compilation of the gospels (by Suntrup); the early Middle High German St. Trudperter Hohelied, a prose translation of and commentary on the Song of Songs (Hans-Jörg Spitz); Hartmann von Aue's MHG Arthurian verse romance Erec (Honemann); two love poems --- Minnesang --- by Heinrich von Morungen (Klaus Speckenbach); the Nibleungenlied (Nine Meidema); Stricker's verse tale "Der kluge Knecht" (Wolfgang Achnitz); a summer song by Neidhart (Tomasek); two dawn songs, by Wolfram von Eschenbach and Oswald von Wolkenstein (Speckenbach); finally, the least known of the texts, a Latin tale ("Of a shameless young woman") by the Swabian Humanist Heinrich Bebel published in 1512 (Honemann). The texts span some 600 years; Bebel's inclusion here is based on his own designation of the tales as "Swabian;" the interplay between Latin and German is a constant of the medieval period.
The discussions of the texts chosen demonstrate the excitement that can be generated by studying medieval texts; Otfrid's use of German to retell the life of Christ, sometimes summarizing briefly, sometimes expanding generously; charming short tales in verse; moving love lyrics; the overwhelming heroic tales of the Nibelungenlied, viewed by Meidema also in their modern post-Berlin Wall context. As a complement to the rewards of studying one text or genre in detail, Suntrup and Kochskämper provide a brilliant presentation of typology, the notion of fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in the New Testament, and of the state of research on gender issues in medieval German studies, respectively.
Each of the essays assesses our often very limited state of knowledge about the person of the author, the textual transmission of the works (the 15 illustrations help convey a sense of the paleographic idiosyncrasies; it is a shame that some reproductions are less than sharp), relevant aspects of genre, including consideration of sources where applicable, while addressing research questions. A generally concise yet very useful list of primary texts and secondary literature (citations include one title each from 1998 and 1999!) follows each study. In this way, the essays can also be used individually. For classes reading one or more of the works listed, these studies come highly recommended. However, students should be encouraged to consult reproductions of originals as often as possible.
Two indices lead the user to relevant passages; an ambitious list of recommended reading, broken down into twenty genres (or epochs) is also included. A list of bibliographic abbreviations will greatly help orient students.
John M. Jeep
Carsten Zelle's Kurze Bücherkunde für Literaturwissenschaftler originated as an informal bibliographical guide for his students at the University of Siegen. In this expanded form, Zelle, now a professor in Bochum, has retained a pragmatic, student-friendly approach while introducing a broader audience to resources available for literary research.
The book is organized sensibly into four main sections: "Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft," "Komparatistik und Einzelphilologien," "Allgemeine Bücherkunde," and "Nachschlagewerke," each of which is further systematized for easy reference. The first category includes introductory works, canonical works of criticism, notable contributions to the "Theorien- und Methodendiskussion," and "Medienwissenschaften," which Zelle welcomes as a fruitful corollary to literary studies. In the second section, he includes primarily introductory and reference works for a variety of national literatures, though the emphasis is self-consciously weighted towards the European tradition.
This Kurze Bücherkunde will undoubtedly be of greatest value to students of Germanistik, as Zelle himself notes, yet his comparative approach suggests directly and indirectly the benefits to be gained by broadening horizons.
For American students of literature this comparative aspect is probably of less importance than for their German counterparts, as they are unlikely to delve into the copious German titles on non-German literatures. "Allgemeine Bücherkunde," the third part, includes, besides the anticipated bibliographies of bibliographies, library catalogues and such, a brief discussion of potential routes for electronic research, supplemented in the appendix by an index of CD-ROMs and on-line addresses mentioned in the book. Any Bibliography and Methods course for American students would need to supplement the book in this area, as it makes no mention of some crucial databases widely available on college campuses, such as the MLA Bibliography and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. The final section lists a wide variety of reference works for literature and, notably, a brief list devoted to related fields.
In his introduction, Zelle suggests two ways of reading his Kurze Bücherkunde: first as a kind of novel in order to gain a footing in yet unexplored topography of the book world and then secondly, at a later point, as a reference tool. While the first suggestion seems astounding for a book dominated by bibliographical references, a brief acquaintance with the work reveals his justification.
Reading it is like enjoying a stroll through the stacks of a favorite section of the library when one has enough leisure time to finger books curiously and imagine excursions into their contents. In little more than 200 pages, Zelle manages to give a remarkable overview of the contemporary layout of Literaturwissenschaft, providing not only bibliographical information but also concise commentaries on most works. These commentaries, which range from one sentence to a short paragraph, inspire awe at the author's adeptness at getting to the point without appearing facile. The subheadings in the theory section are preceded by mini-descriptions of each category which do appear to reduce grand ideas to slogans, for example: Werkimmanente Interpretation (Staiger etc.) "Das literarische Werk ist wesentlich bestimmt durch nichts als den Text selbst." Yet such reductionism hardly seems offensive in this context, as Zelle is merely providing longed-for guideposts in a jungle of criticism and the intention of the book is, after all, to facilitate access to the works themselves.
Despite the orientation towards a German academic audience, it is hard to imagine that this little red book, with its combination of wisdom and handiness, will not become essential equipment for American Germanists at the graduate student level and beyond
One lasting and surely unintentional impression left by the book is the overwhelming dominance of the fields of literary criticism and philology by men. Among the 1380 references, female authors and editors are few and far between. Particularly in the areas of theory and methodology, their relative absence is striking. Though complete responsibility for this deficit cannot be laid at Carsten Zelle's doorstep, it is an issue that perhaps should have been addressed, at least in the introduction, in order to stimulate reflection on its causes, particularly among students, both men and women, just entering the field of literature.
Laura A. Tate
Graham, Suzanne. Effective Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997. Paper, 237 pp.
Effective Language Learning represents a study undertaken in the UK in the early 90's addressing learner difficulties in French and German specifically in the learners' transition from General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) to the Advanced Level (A-level). The A-level is a language examination administered to students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland at age 18, and the successful completion of the exam is the gateway to advanced learning in the target language.
Suzanne Graham observed from her own teaching experience that students who were competent at the GCSE level were quickly losing enthusiasm, motivation and confidence at the A-level. She pinpointed the problem to be the transition difficulties in language skills from more practical and general on the lower level to the demands at the A-level for students to perform at a far more complex, sophisticated and grammatically accurate level. This observation became the motivation for a thorough investigation. The aim of Graham's study was "to examine the precise nature and extent of the difficulties perceived by learners as they make the transition to A-level work." She also felt it important to "investigate whether there is any difference in learning difficulties experienced by male and female students at this level."
Although her research was conducted in the UK, a close look at the contents of the book reveals the universality of Graham's contribution to language learning. In her introduction, she poses the following five questions that are central to A-level language learning and to discussion throughout the entire book: (1) What difficulties are faced by A-level learners within the foreign languages classroom?, (2) What are the learning strategies employed by students to overcome the difficulties they experience?, (3) How do these learner difficulties and learning strategies relate to gender and affective factors, such as anxiety and motivation?, (4) How do teachers perceive their students' learning difficulties and what steps do they take to resolve them? and finally, (5) What are the implications of the above for teaching and learning in the foreign language classroom? Seven chapters include (2) Bridging the Gap: Language Learning Difficulties, (3) Learning Strategies: Processing Language and Managing Change, (4) Affective Concerns and the Questions of Gender, (5) Role of the Teacher, (6) Students in the Round: Looking at Individuals (four case studies). A conclusion is the synthesis of the research outcome and proposes a plan for instructors. Following this are appendices that include a glossary, definitions of learning strategies, research instruments, materials used in think-aloud interviews as well as subjects involved in the study and tables with results. The References section at the very end represents a thorough and current bibliography of research in the area of second language acquisition which serves as an excellent resource for further study.
What sets Graham's study apart from others is her shift in focus from pedagogy to the individual's learning process. Although she includes critical theory in her study, Graham places more emphasis on the individual's learning process and in so doing emphasizes the importance of student and teacher interaction. Graham believes that learner diaries can be valuable research tools, and that think-aloud techniques can truly enhance student learning progress. Graham's examination of gender differences as well as a case studies of four individuals, are further examples of her unique approach to bridging the gap between intermediate and advanced levels in second language learning.
In general, Effective Language Learning is a well-researched and well-written book. in the area of second language acquisition. Suzanne Graham succeeds at conveying an important message to all instructors and that is "understanding how their students are learning is as important as being aware of what they are learning." I recommend Effective Language Learning to any instructor who steps into a foreign language classroom.
Sharon M. DiFino
Ernest Macaro is a lecturer and researcher in Modern Languages Education at the University of Reading. In his book Target Language, Collaborative Learning, and Autonomy, he presents the results of the Tarclindy research Project, a case study in which the influence of a national curriculum on classroom teaching practice and student learning is examined within the framework of foreign language instruction in secondary schools in England. The findings of this project are placed in the larger context of foreign language and secondary language research.
In his first chapter, Macaro describes the national curriculum of England, which was implemented in 1992, and its implications for foreign language instruction. He examines its conception, design, and assessment, as well as in-service teacher training. He then compares the English national curriculum with other national curricula in France, Italy, and Germany. In the last case, he focuses on the syllabus for teaching English in Schleswig-Holstein, since a national curriculum as such does not exist in Germany. Through this comparison Macaro deduces that England's curriculum is "extremely prescriptive in terms of the methodological principles it advocates," enforcing the "actual classroom activities that it wishes to see occurring." He then concludes that the national curriculum in England actually represents a national methodology, i.e., a methodology that prescribes the L2 exclusivity in foreign language instruction. In the final chapter, he reiterates this in asking whether such a national methodology is desirable.
Chapters two through six focus on the three most important "characteristics of good practice" listed in the national curriculum: teaching in the target language, collaborative language learning, and autonomous learning. For this, Macaro first takes a look at the origins of communicative language teaching (CLT). He then examines the implications of this approach for the classroom instruction. He praises the "inbuilt flexibility" of CLT, but criticizes its eclecticism and its "high dependency on the teacher's integrity and his/her competency." In the third chapter, Macaro takes a close look at the teacher's L2 input in the communicative language classroom. He focuses first on the teacher's assumed role in the classroom as "foreigner unable to speak L1" and of his or her role as "mediator/facilitator." He then considers other input sources in the foreign language classroom. A large portion of this chapter is dedicated to the results of the Tarclindy research project, which examines teachers' use of L2 and instances of their recourse to L1.
In his fourth chapter, the author shifts his attention to the learner. Differences between L1 learning and L2 learning are identified. Macaro also mentions the various factors that influence the student's learning, such as learner strategies, predisposition for language learning, and the role of integrative and instrumental motivation, all of which he illustrates with the result of student interviews at secondary schools. Continuing the theme of the learner, chapters five and six address different forms of collaborative learning , pair and group work, and different forms of autonomous learning as they appear within the context of the foreign language classroom.
Macaro's book is burdened with large quantities of information and is thus not very readable. That is its weakness, and it may therefore be less appreciated by the language practitioner, despite the fact that it offers some practical suggestions at the end of chapters three through six. Its strength lies in the fact that the author's work is based on thorough research, which makes it interesting for the foreign language researcher. All references are fully documented, with the bibliography extending over eight pages. An additional index helps to look up different key words. Macaro's book is an excellent reference work for anyone interested in research about the communicative approach and its effects on teaching and learning.
Ute S. Lahaie
Ammon, Ulrich. Ist Deutsch noch internationale Wissenschaftssprache? Englisch auch für die Lehre an den deutschsprachigen Hochschulen. Berlin: deGruyter, 1998. Paper, xvi + 339 pp.
This volume emerges from a larger research project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to look at the current status of the German language in business, politics, and science. The subtitle indicates a curricular purpose that is largely tangential to the interests of most UP readers, but, as the author presents it, also threatens Deutsch als Fremdsprache as taught outside the German-speaking countries.
The author addresses "Wissenschaft" in its broad sense of "scholarship" and inquires into the practices in three major groupings of disciplines identified in work by Harald Weinrich and by Sabine Skudlik: those in which English had a major role, those tending to favor its use, and those in which vernacular languages still predominate. For his inquiry, Ammon examines citations to determine which languages predominate in chemistry, as representative of the natural sciences; economics (Wirtschaftswissenschaft), to represent the social sciences; and history, for the humanities. In all three, the growth in stature of publications in English is astounding, as are the reach of English as a research language in various non-anglophone countries and the impact on the utility of other languages as research tools. English has reduced the utility of German as a research language significantly.
But Ammon writes from the perspective of German-speaking academic institutions, and an American audience may interpret his findings differently. The subtitle indicates that his agenda includes the possibility of using English as the language of instruction in German universities, an orientation American practice characterizes as "foreign language across the curriculum." There is no doubt from the findings of his inquiry (as well as preceding work) that in determining the utility of any specific language as a research tool, English is nonpareil.
But an anglophone audience has a different framework for choosing a language to facilitate research. Despite the decline in the proportion of research published in German, German holds up well as a research language against all others apart from English. In examining periodicals, Ammon looked at two journals in each of the three disciplines in each of six countries: France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, the USA, and the USSR from the 1920s to the 1990s. He provides extensive tabular and graphic data that emphasize the dominance of English. But his findings also show that as late as the '90s, three times as many citations in chemistry are in German as in French, about twice the citations in economics are in German as in French, and 50% more citations in history were to German publications as to French ones. These proportions apply to the use of foreign languages in the journals investigated.
To determine the usefulness of various foreign languages, the author factored out the vernacular for each nation's journals to yield an indication of the foreign languages that are most used in research. These three languages were the only ones at significant levels. Japanese comes close in chemistry during the 1990s. Of course, his choice of countries is eurocentric, and a different choice might yield different patterns and include languages the citations to which were so low as to rate only a listing rather than graphic representation.
Ammon also reports the results of a survey of faculty in the disciplines investigated in the countries mentioned above plus Japan. The survey reveals the proportion of faculty who use other languages and their perceptions of their utility as well as desiderata for language facility. Here, too, German fares well, albeit behind English. The growth of publications in English has been partly attributable to faculty submissions as well as to journals' predilections. He notes the migration of journal titles to English from the vernacular of the country in which they are published. Journals try to keep readership by using an anglophone title, and faculty try to reach more readers by choosing to publish in English.
The degree of utility a language offers for research in a field is an important measure of the international status of that language. But it is only one of several measures. This study is very useful for assessing the status of German, but in isolation from other contexts, such as assessments in diplomacy and trade, it would give the reader only a partial picture. This volume is a good companion to the author's Die internationale Stellung der deutschen Sprache (Berlin: deGruyter, 1991).
Kurt E. Müller
In this study, Christian Bergmann, a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Technische Universität Dresden, suggests not implausibly that we consider the mode of communication employed by the Stasi to be a kind of secret group language, to an extent sui generis and unintelligible to outsiders. Utilizing Stasi documents from Chemnitz and concentrating primarily on written expression, Bergmann first outlines the contours of the Stasi "language," then analyzes various verbs (e.g. "zersetzen") and word fields (e.g. "lügen"). He examines the organizational hierarchy of the Stasi and the resulting language variations. He also discusses outside influences, especially from the NVA and SED, on the group language. Bergmann concludes that the language of the Stasi was aggressively militant, that it reduced people to objects to be "processed," and that it was bureaucratic and euphemistic.
As part of a secret group language, words assumed different meanings than in standard usage. Bergmann illustrates this with an extended discussion of the Stasi use of "Aufklärung," but also with examples that are at times wonderfully absurd. After Die Welt (correctly) identified novelist Hermann Kant as a Stasi IM (Informeller Mitarbeiter), a Stasi report indignantly characterized that as a "defamation;" when the poet Rainer Kirsch refused to cooperate as an IM, a Stasi agent regretted that Kirsch lacked the necessary "honesty" and "dependability." Readers of East German literature will have anticipated Bergmann's conclusions, inasmuch as Uwe Johnson, Fritz Rudolf Fries, Christa Wolf, Ulrich Plenzdorf, Hans-Joachim Schädlich (educated as a linguist), Gert Neumann, or the poets of the Prenzlauer Berg often deconstructed what Brecht termed the "Kaderwelsch" of the SED. Wolf Biermann, Stefan Heym, Christoph Hein, and Jürgen Fuchs, among others, also discussed the language of the Stasi. But even readers unfamiliar with East German literature would be able to predict Bergmann's finding that the leadership levels of the Stasi used language characterized by commands. As Bergmann himself admits, his conclusion that the Stasi mentality led to a certain depersonalization of language was to be expected. He furthermore concedes at the conclusion of his book that, given the conditions in East Germany, it is hardly surprising to find its secret police employing a militant and bureaucratic language. "Das ist nichts Neues," he comments quite correctly.
Then what, the reader may well ask, was the point of this exercise? Bergmann gives an answer, as well as his agenda, soon after his admission that his book does not bring particularly new insights: "Neu könnte die Entdeckung für denjenigen sein, der die Sprache in dieser Weise missbraucht, dass er sich nunmehr in einer ihm nicht recht genehmen Nachbarschaft sieht." By "Nachbarschaft" Bergmann means the Nazis. He claims for example that Viktor Klemperer (whose LTI serves this book as unspoken model and intertext) had observed similarities in both Nazi and communist language use. Bergmann however criticizes Klemperer's refusal to accept what Bergmann sees as the commonality of the two ideologies. On several other occasions, at times directly, at times less so, Bergmann draws parallels between the discourse of the Nazis and the Stasi.
This is a line of thought worth pursuing, but I should think that one would also need to include examples from the language of other secret services, including those from democratic societies. This Bergmann adamantly refuses to do. He asserts, disingenuously, that he is not writing a comparative study, when in fact that is what he was doing all along. He also asserts, somewhat condescendingly, that those who would equate parliamentary democracies with totalitarian dictatorships would not be receptive to linguistic analysis, and that they would not understand that language does not necessarily equal thought. This last polemic is particularly damaging to his case, because at the outset of his book he has promised that through an analysis of Stasi language he will uncover Stasi thought.
I would not wish to equate the values of the Gestapo, or of the Stasi, with those of parliamentary democracies. Nonetheless, the language of CIA torture manuals in Central America, or of the FBI when observing and harrassing German exile authors or U.S. civil rights leaders-and these are but a few of the more prominent examples-does show an unsettling similarity to that excoriated by Bergmann. Some acknowledgment of that would have strengthened his argument and his book.
Thomas C. Fox
Potential readers are promised that "their understanding and enjoyment of the German language [will be] greatly enhanced" by Sally Johnson's Exploring the German Language (back cover). This is one example of a book living up to the publisher's enthusiasm. Johnson provides the reader with a thorough introduction to German linguistics. She has created an exciting, yet level-headed, hands-on book that will benefit not only advanced undergraduate or graduate students of German, but also any reader who is curious about German: its components, its regularities, and the way it is used.
Johnson has set out to write a book that will introduce the basic concepts of German linguistics. She suggests that an awareness of how language works will enable readers to learn German more efficiently, to gain more enjoyment from their language study, and to be better teachers of German. The author maintains that the field of linguistics offers the reader "a more structured approach" to acquiring the patterns of German.
Also, according to Johnson, an understanding of linguistics heightens a reader's intellectual satisfaction by providing a framework for analyzing and comparing languages. She writes, "[Linguistics] has enhanced my curiosity about [German], constantly leading me to ask new questions about the way it works and how it compares to English." Finally, the author feels that linguistics gives the teacher "the vocabulary to discuss language with learners, describing the problems they encounter, and helping to find solutions to those problems."
Important to Johnson's book is her belief that there is an inherent relationship between language and culture. The author maintains that the German language cannot be fully acquired unless learners have a knowledge of the culture of the German-speaking countries. Johnson's definition of culture includes both the traditional areas of fine arts, geography, and history as well as value systems, rules of etiquette, and speech patterns. Developing the connection between language and culture further, the author states that students cannot fully appreciate the culture of the German-speaking countries unless they are familiar with the German language. Johnson's views will be welcomed by many teachers of German who feel uneasy about the rigid compartmentalization found in some German Studies curricula.
Exploring the German Language contains three sections: the history and geography of German, the structures of German, and using German in the real world. Within the space of some 300 pages, Johnson introduces readers to the history of German and the German speech area as well as to phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, text analysis, dialectology, and sociolinguistics. Each chapter is written in an unpretentious style and is accessible to readers without any previous knowledge of linguistics. Johnson supplements her text with creative exercises at the end of each chapter to assist readers in their acquisition of linguistic concepts. A complete index is provided, enabling readers to refer quickly to an explanation of any term not understood. Although she concludes her book with a bibliography, Johnson also ends each chapter with a list of sources and recommended reading. Here she includes those texts that are mentioned specifically in the chapter or that would help readers who want more information about a particular subject.
Johnson's book would make valuable reading for several different audiences. Instructors of introductory courses in German linguistics could include this text as part of the required reading. Since the book contains a complete answer key, current teachers of German who want to refine their understanding of the history, structures, and usage of German could use it for studying on their own. Finally, general readers who are curious about the underlying systems of German would find many of their questions answered. Indeed, any reader who spends time studying Johnson's text would gain a better understanding of German.
All in all, Johnson has succeeded in creating a book that gives readers insights into how German works. Her text is clear, engaging, and free of typographical errors. Her examples are taken from authentic sources and therefore avoid the contrived tone that is all too common in examples found in many reference works. If anything should be changed, it is her bibliography. She has included a good variety of books and articles published in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but when it comes to works written in English about German linguistics, she limits her choices almost exclusively to those published in Great Britain. Since Johnson and her publisher are aiming for an international audience, they should make the effort to include works from other countries that have a large body of secondary literature in English.
David Witkosky
"Dieses Buch richtet sich an alle, die den Streit um die Rechtschreibreform mit Interesse verfolgen, ebenso aber an diejenigen, die sich eher unfreiwillig davon betroffen sehen." So beginnt Florian Kranz' historisch-systematische Darlegung der neuen Rechtschreibregeln. Seine Studie, die erklärtermaßen nicht die reformkritische, sondern die andere "positive" Seite der Rechtschreibreform vertritt, ist übersichtlich organisiert und gut lesbar. Die eigenen Argumente werden klar und unmissverständlich vorgetragen, und der Autor setzt sich gründlich mit denen der Reformgegner auseinander. Insgesamt herrscht hier ein frischer, der Aufklärung verpflichteter Ton, etwa wie der eines Vaters, der seinem Kind erklärt, dass Blitze das Resultat elektrisch aufgeladener Luftmassen sind, nicht zu verwechseln mit dem Zorn der Götter.
Der handliche Band ist in sechs Abschnitte unterteilt, die, nebst einem kurzen Literaturverzeichnis am Ende, unter anderem die Geschichte der Rechtschreibung nachzeichnen, die Konsequenzen der neuen Schreibweisen diskutieren und schließlich ausführlich zum Inhalt der Reform Stellung nehmen. Auf knappem Raum geschickt zusammengefasst, geben die Abschnitte dem Leser einen umfassenden Überblick über Kontext und Inhalt der Reform und lassen die eigene Meinung an den von Kranz vorgetragenen Argumenten überprüfen.
Neben allgemeinen Verweisen auf Reformen in anderen europäischen Ländern bringt der Autor zwei prinzipielle Argumente gegen die Reformkritik vor. Systematisch gilt, dass die Reformgegner zumeist nicht zwischen Sprache und Rechtschreibung differenzieren, das heißt Eingriffe in die Rechtschreibung als solche in die "natürlich gewachsene" Sprache begreifen. Die Rechtschreibreform bezieht sich jedoch lediglich auf die schriftliche Niederlegung des Deutschen und versucht keineswegs den Sprachgebrauch selbst zu regeln. Auch historisch mag die bislang geltende Rechtschreibung dem Durchschnittsbürger als eine "gewachsene Norm" erscheinen, de facto basiert sie indessen auf eben solchen Eingriffen, wie sie die jetzige Reform vorsieht. Reform ist, mit anderen Worten, selbst konstitutiver Bestandteil der Entwicklung der Rechtschreibung.
Beide Argumente sind sachlich richtig. Auch am erklärten Ziel der Reform, nämlich das Regelwerk zu vereinheitlichen und zu vereinfachen, lässt sich wenig deuteln. Freilich gehen die Vernunftgründe am legitimen Unbehagen der Bevölkerung, die offenbar den individuellen Trampelpfad dem planierten Königsweg vorzieht, vorbei. Darin, dass Kranz dieses Unbehagen allein der Uninformiertheit zuschreibt, es also der Sache nach nicht ernst nehmen kann, liegt die Schwäche seiner Studie. Zahlreiche sprachliche Wendungen, die mit "Fakt ist" oder "Tatsache ist" beginnen, unterstreichen eine Haltung, die in der Formulierung gipfelt, der Streit um die Rechtschreibreform sei schon deshalb so heftig, "da hier Experten- und Laienmeinung aufeinander treffen."
Es mag dem Verfasser irrational erscheinen, aber es ist sicherlich kein Zufall, wenn sich zahlreiche Schriftsteller und Intellektuelle, die täglich mit der Sprache umgehen, gegen die Reform aussprechen und so dem Protest eine, wie es etwas abschätzig heißt, "vermeintlich gebildete Grundlage verleihen." In ihrem Einspruch artikuliert sich eine gesellschaftliche Haltung, die das Ungereimte dem Stromlinienförmigen vorzieht. Wörter aus der Fremde etwa auch in der Schreibweise als solche zu erhalten, ist keine falsche Sentimentalität, sondern richtet sich gegen eine egalisierende Vernunft, die alles über einen Kamm scheren will. Freilich fechten solche Einwände den nicht an, der Sprache wesentlich als Instrument der Mitteilung begreift und in geringerem Maße als die die Mitteilung prägende Form. Im übrigen, meint Kranz, könnten Schriftsteller ja auch weiterhin so schreiben, wie es ihnen beliebt.
Darin freilich unterschätzt der Autor die Gewalt einer Norm, die positiv oder negativ für alle geltend ist. Auch die Beteuerung, es handele sich bei der Reform für die Bürger nicht um einen generellen Zwang, sondern lediglich um ein Angebot, da der Staat "nur in seinen Behörden und Schulen die Rechtschreibung tatsächlich bestimmen" kann, verfehlt die Wirklichkeit um einiges. So realitätsfremd kann tatsächlich nur ein Experte urteilen. Zwar räumt Kranz ein, dass Rechtschreibung auch sozial sanktioniert werde, fügt aber im selben Atemzug an, man dürfe dies mit der Macht des Staates keineswegs verwechseln. An welche rein privaten schriftlichen Mitteilungen der Autor dabei denkt, in denen nicht auch Kulturelles, Soziales und Politisches mitgeschrieben wird, muss sein Geheimnis bleiben.
Spätestens seit dem Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts 1998 ist die neue Rechtschreibung Realität, und auch die in Amerika Lehrenden werden ihren Studenten zukünftig das schriftliche Deutsch nach den Regeln des Reformwerks beibringen müssen, es sei denn, sie verfolgen, was der Spiegel unlängst einen "stummen Boykott" (14/2000) nannte. Letzterer ist auch eine Reaktion darauf, dass manche die neuen Regeln gar nicht, andere sie teilweise und dritte sie konsequent umsetzen. Florian Kranz' Buch ist zwar kein Leitfaden durch diesen Wirrwarr, zur Orientierung aber hilft es allemal.
Martin Kagel
The use of polite Sie is still an important issue among speakers of German because of changing usage in the wake of globalization. This book presents a study of the 16th and 17th-century origins of the 3rd person pronoun Sie and the corresponding plural verb form. Taking issue with earlier explanations deriving Sie and the plural verb form as anaphora from plural abstractions, such as "Euer Gnaden haben...," the author analyzes the incongruent use of singular and plural verbs, pronouns, and abstractions and explores the use of metaphors to express power, indirectness, and distance.
The organization of this complex material, as well as the various restatements of the author's hypothesis in light of different theories and concepts, both contribute to making this study somewhat inaccessible to the reader not well-versed in the subject matter. Definitions occur after repeated use of terms, and theoretical concepts, such as the significance of prototype categories, are not always explored in depth. The conclusions surface clearly and convincingly toward the end of the study, but the reader wonders at first why the author appears to dispute the derivation of plural Sie from anaphora for plural abstractions: "empirical corpus analysis does not bear this out" (back cover). The study, in fact, confirms the function of anaphora and later argues that existing explanations must be combined for a satisfactory resolution: "attested by corpus data, actual usage ... interlinks anaphora and sociophysical deixis."
The challenge in following the author's line of reasoning rests partially in the non-parallel organization of the material in the analysis and discussion. Chapter 3, "Early New High German: Innovations in Address," focuses on conceptual metaphors for power and social distance, such as "power is size," the use of metonymy for indirectness, and the relationship of anaphora and social deixis. Selections from the source material with translations by the author support and illustrate the concepts. Chapter 4, "Late Middle Low German: Analysis and Comparison with High German," presents an overview of abstractions with numerous examples, followed by a lucid analysis of the grammatical incongruence alluded to previously. Many questions arising early on in the reviewer's mind, requiring repeated readings of chapter 3, were answered in chapter 4 with succinct tables presenting the actual evidence from the corpus analysis for the proposed grammatical observations and the development of the plural Sie.
The survey and discussion of research in chapter 2 is selective but thorough. Gottsched's hierarchy of "althöflich; mittelhöflich; neuhöflich; überhöflich," and Grimm's verdict of a "baare versündigung wider sinn und geschmack" are also enjoyable to read. More importantly, the author provides a historic foundation for the commonly accepted explanations for the emergence of Sie. The original texts analyzed for the study are included (194 pages) and may prove interesting to some readers; unfortunately the author offers no insight into the selection process. The corpus comprises only "unedited original texts" to ensure that the grammar was not normalized and spans the relevant centuries and different geographic regions. However, a large number of the selections represents one text type with a cleric as speaker in the speech situation of a dedication. Addressing nobles or patricians and making a request, the speaker necessarily employs politeness, as the author points out and turns into a critical observation, namely that the plural verb resembles the subjunctive in its function of politeness (cf. antiquated but extant examples like "Werden die Dame schon bedient?"). Finally, this reviewer would have preferred a more thorough discussion of developments in other languages (especially the use of third person in Spanish) in addition to the occasional reference--most poignantly in an endnote-- to help avoid the impression that issues regarding power, distance, and indirectness were exclusively "German" phenomena.
For many students and teachers of the German language, this book will be of limited direct use, and the notion of using plural constructions to establish formality and the significance of metaphors to express social and psychological distance are not entirely new. This book, however, should not be read just as a study of the polite Sie. In fact, it addresses many related phenomena, from the custom of using abstractions and varying pronouns as well as the need for continuing evolvement of address strategies due to social change. The in-depth analysis of a large number of language tokens from High German and the less frequently studied Low German (numerous examples and translations included) also adds a new dimension to the research of address strategies.
Jutta Ulrich
Scholze-Stubenrecht, W. et al., eds. The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary: German-English/English-German. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 1728 pp.
The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary, first published in 1990 as a joint venture between Oxford University Press and the Bibliographisches Institut of Mannheim, has been reissued in a substantially enlarged and updated second edition. This new edition comprises over 320,000 words and phrases and over 520,000 translations ranging from the general to specialized and technical vocabulary and from contemporary to literary usage. It incorporates all the new spelling changes required by the spelling reform approved by the governments of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 1996, but retains the old spelling to illustrate the changes (e.g., Schiffahrt has an asterisk to indicate old spelling and an arrow to Schifffahrt, the new spelling).
This new edition includes thousands of new words and phrases from the extensive data bases of current usage that both publishers maintain for their own native-speaker dictionaries. From the world of high tech come such terms as der Cyberspace, das Cybersex, im Internet surfen, der Server, hoch auflösendes Fernsehen (high definition TV), die Voicemail, der Palmtop, der Laptop, die Firewall, die Workstation, die Webseite, die Website, die Applikation (computer application), computergestütztes Entwerfen (CAD), Computerdiagnostik, and das Jahrtausendvirus (millenium bug).
However, it does not yet contain Computer abstürzen or zusammenbrechen (computer crash), das Anwendungsprogramm, die Anwendersoftware, das High-Tech (as a noun), die Spracherkennung (voice recognition), das Glasfaserkabel (fibre optic cable), or the German equivalents for broadband width or services. It will probably take another decade before such high tech terms as dot.com, e-banking, e-business, e-commerce, e-journal, e-speech, e-solutions, e-tailer, and e-toys are included. From the medical and healthcare field come die Bioethik , die Biotechnik (bioengineering), das Generikum (generic drug), der Genpool, die Gentechnologie, die DNA-Fingerprintmethode, Gentechnisch verändert (genetically modified), and die Computertomographie (CAT scan), but not yet included are die Genomanalyse, die Gentherapie, a term for gene-splitting, die Aids-Hilfe, das AZT (azidothymidine), or MRI. While this edition does contain EU (Europäische Union), der Eurodollar, EWS (Europäische Währungssystem), it does not yet include EZB (Europäische Zentralbank) or die NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association). While it does have die Investmentgesellschaft (mutual fund), it lacks such business terms as CFO (chief financial officer), IPO, tracking stock, hedge fund, or viaticals. It lists such political-geographical terms as Bosnien, Kosovoalbaner, Kroatien, Aserbaidschan, Tschetschenien, but makes no references to Kasachstan, Turkmenistan, Usbekistan, Tadschikistan.
In the English section it has an entry for CIS or the Commonwealth of Independent States, but there is no equivalent entry for GUS or Gemeinschaft Unabhängiger Staaten (GUS) in the German section. Terms from everyday life include PC (for both politically correct and personal computer), der Inlineskate, der Rollerblade, der Rollerskate (rollerblade), and verflachen (to dumb down).
As is the case with most bilingual dictionaries, also here some terms appear only in one section of the dictionary and not in the other. With current computer software, it should be able for publishers to compare entries in both the German and English corpora to insure that items are represented in both parts.
One innovative feature in this new edition of the Oxford-Duden German Dictionary is the boxes that appear throughout the text and that provide extensive help with language usage. Some of the topics covered are age; dates; jobs; illnesses; the body; greetings; apologies; letter-writing; money; volume, weight, and distance; rivers; the prepositions an, nach, and seit; and the modals dürfen, können, and sollen. Most of these lexical boxes have their counterparts in the other part of the dictionary, except for the modals and some prepositions. In the next edition, the editors might include a box illustrating the complexities of the verb lassen as well as an index of the topics covered in these boxes. Between the two parts of the dictionary is a very useful 33-page section devoted to German business and personal correspondence, ranging from invitations, thank you notes, and condolences to hotel reservations, complaints, and job applications. This section comprises actual examples of all forms of correspondence and CVs as well as lists of appropriate expressions for each situation.
Two new additional features at the very beginning of the dictionary provide diagrams that illustrate the political systems of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, EU, UK, and U.S. and a cultural calendar of major religious and political holidays in Europe and the U.S. This new edition of the Oxford-Duden German Dictionary is one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date dictionaries for its size and price range ($45). Its extensive additions, innovative language usage boxes as well as its improved layout and ease of accessibility make it one of the most user-friendly bilingual German/English dictionaries on the market.
William E. Petig
IV. Landeskunde
Landeskunde--deutschsprachige Länder: Schweiz is one cultural reader of a three-part series covering Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The authors suggest using the three volumes in tandem as a companion for any German as a foreign language (DaF) textbook to foster culture-based language learning and instruction. All three texts are structured in the same way and cover the same topics for the respective country, allowing learners to make comparisons between German-speaking countries. The ten chapters present topics covered in most current first-year texts used in the United States ranging from geography and history, population, public life, daily routines, education, culture and leisure time, transportation, travel and tourism, environment, foreigners, to the language situation in Switzerland.
University of Illinois at Chicago
An vielen Universitäten und Colleges besteht großer Bedarf nach einem Lehrwerk für kulturwissenschaftliche Kurse. Um es vorweg zu nehmen, auch der hier besprochene Titel wird diese Lücke nicht füllen. Entstanden im Umfeld einer Arbeitsgruppe zum Landeskundeunterricht, koordiniert vom Goethe-Institut und erschienen als Teil einer mehrbändigen Serie, die daneben Bücher zu Österreich und der Schweiz sowie einen Begleitband beinhaltet, ist Landeskunde- - deutschsprachige Länder als Lehrwerk für den "landeskundlich orientierten Sprachunterricht" konzipiert.
Case Western Reserve University
Wickham, Christopher J. Constructing 'Heimat' in Postwar Germany: Longing and Belonging. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999, (Studies in German Thought & History, Volume 18), Paper, vii + 306 pp.
Loyola University Chicago
V. Business German
Northern Kentucky University
VI. Teaching with Media
St. Edward's University
VII. Teaching Literature
Miami University (OH)
Honemann, Volker, and Thomas Tomasek, eds. Germanistische Mediävistik. (Münsteraner Einführungen. Germanistik 4). Münster: LIT, 1999. Paper, xiv + 369 pp.
Miami University (OH)
Zelle, Carsten. Kurze Bücherkunde für Literaturwissenschaftler. (Uni-Taschenbücher 1939). Tübingen: Francke, 1998. Paper, 258 pp.
University of Georgia
VIII. Pedagogy
University of Florida
Macaro, Ernesto. Target Language, Collaborative Learning, and Autonomy. Modern Languages in Practice: 5. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997. Paper, 231 pp.
Baylor University
IX. Linguistics
Hamilton, NJ
Bergmann, Christian. Die Sprache der Stasi: Ein Beitrag zur Sprachkritik. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999. Paper,133 pages.
The University of Alabama
Johnson, Sally. Exploring the German Language. London: Arnold, 1998. Paper, x + 312 pp.
Auburn University, Montgomery
Kranz, Florian. Eine Schifffahrt mit drei f: Positives zur Rechtschreibreform. Göttingen:Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1998. Paper, 112 pp.
University of Georgia
Listen, Paul. The Emergence of German Polite 'Sie.' Cognitive and Sociolinguistic Parameters. Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics. Vol. 32. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. 373 pp.
Thunderbird, American Graduate School of International Management
X. Dictionary
Stanford University
END BOOK REVIEWS
UP 33.2 (Fall 2000)
