1.1 Language didactics

Language didactics deals with the teaching and learning of foreign languages in an institutional setting. On the one hand, this concerns the development of foreign language skills (listening, comprehending audio-visual texts, reading, writing and speaking as well as the ability of language mediation); on the other hand, language didactics is about ways of learning and teaching grammar (morphology, syntax) and knowledge of vocabulary (orthography, pronunciation, register, meaning/connotations). Courses in language didactics focus on linguistic phenomena, mechanisms of language learning, character traits of speakers, desired linguistic competences and the conditions and methods of language classes.
The focus of language didactics is influenced by developments in the domain of language research: linguistics, applied linguistics, second language acquisition research, language teaching research and language psychology. It is also informed by current didactic approaches within the branch of foreign language teaching (e.g. competence-orientation, action-orientation, learner-orientation)

Language didactics is mostly concerned with issues of institutional foreign language acquisition – a topic in which the other branches of the didactics of foreign languages (literature and culture didactics) also take an interest. This overlap occurs for two reasons: on the one hand, language acquisition cannot take place without the consideration of cultural aspects and on the other hand, literary texts in the foreign language are used in the foreign language classroom to enable learners to get in touch with authentic language. Wishing to highlight the importance of linguistic language research for the teaching of languages, we also offer cooperations with linguistics, e.g. in joint course projects or when it comes to topics for Master’s theses.

• Brown, H. Douglas (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 5th ed. New York: Pearson Longman.
• Hahn, Angela (2017). „Sprachdidaktik.“ In: Surkamp, Carola (Ed.). Lexikon Fremdsprachendidaktik. Ansätze - Methoden - Grundbegriffe. 2nd ed. Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler.
• Ur, Penny (1999). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. 5th ed. Cambridge: CUP/Klett.