Hauptseminar Language and Cultural Awareness Having a Look at Political and Business Texts

This class will be interesting for business and teacher students alike. We will look at the role of language awareness and cultural awareness with respect to the verbal and visual language in all media forms: pictures, television, radio, internet, newspapers, and magazines. This will be supported both by direct study and analysis. We will focus on the role of critical literacy with respect to the international press coverage, e.g. on political statements as well as online responses in blogs, Twitter and Facebook with respect to specific events represented as newsworthy in the media. Furthermore, we will have a look at the role of gender in texts as well as in ads, for example for beauty product or technical product marketing. Students will learn how to implement their language and cultural knowledge and raise language awareness in a foreign/second language classroom. They will learn how to do data bank research, critically read, evaluate and review studies in the field of language awareness and cultural awareness. There will be both face to face and online sessions. Students will benefit from interesting discoveries about choices and processes made both by media and readers. Students as active participants will be able to see media not simply as a source of information or entertainment, but also as a manipulative and persuasive tool that has to be critically investigated. This course will start on April 16th, 2014. A reader will be provided. Also see: www.languageawareness.org and Language Awarness. Language Awareness is the official journal of the Association for Language Awareness. There are four issues per year. Since March 2008 it is published by Routledge at theTaylor & Francis Group. For volumes published at Multilingual Mattersuntil March 2008 see complete list on the ALA webpage. Bemerkung This will be a blended learning class with both face to face and online sessions. Criteria for successful participation (Schein): - Due to the project-oriented and action-oriented classroom design active and regular participation is important - critical and constructive feedback to peer projects - mini-group presentation - online assignments NOTE! The 12th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness will take place 1-4 July 2014 in Hamar, Norway. The title of the conference will be ALA 2014 Achievements and Challenges Voraussetzungen - Successful participation in -Introduction into Foreign language Teaching Methodology for teacher candidates - Successful participation in all other introductory courses and -Proseminare- for all candidiates Leistungsnachweis - Due to the project-oriented and action-oriented classroom design active and regular participation is mandatory - Students participating in the course are supposed to do a group or partner presentation. - In order to obtain credits students will do small case studies on language awareness and cultural awareness - A paper will be written on the mini study. Lerninhalte This is a blended learning class with self access (online) units and face to face units. The content is on research methods in foreign language research and Intercultural Communication. The content fully complies with the standards and demands of the modularized study exam regulations. Workload has precisely been calculated. Zielgruppe Alle Anglistik/Amerikanistik-Studierende im Hauptstudium; zugelassen werden auch Studierende des FB 05, die das Modul Landeswissenschaften erfüllen möchten und Anglistik/Amerikanistik studieren. FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik - Successful participation in -Introduction into Foreign language Teaching Methodology for teacher candidates - Successful participation in all other introductory courses and -Proseminare- for all candidiates - Due to the project-oriented and action-oriented classroom design active and regular participation is mandatory - Students participating in the course are supposed to do a group or partner presentation. - In order to obtain credits students will do small case studies on language awareness and cultural awareness - A paper will be written on the mini study. Uni Kassel SoSe 2014 Amerikanistik Anglistik/Englisch Prof. Dr. Finkbeiner Claudia