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This paper describes the developmental phases of the digital TestDaF and shows how the new task types and the digital test administration strengthen the relationship to the context of higher education institutions in Germany and to the CEFR. The contribution deals extensively with the test construct, the test format, and the different types of tasks used in the reading, listening, writing, and speaking sections. Innovative approaches and methods of performance assessment and scoring are discussed as much as their practical implementation. Finally, the paper presents some perspectives of future studies on the digital TestDaF and elaborates on relations to contemporary language testing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the specifics of the general and business language training in the modern business services industry in Poland. The primary research objective is to determine the relevant characteristics of the outsourcing branch in the internal, general and professional training. These are relevant in terms of adapting, updating or modifying German as a foreign language-oriented teacher training in German Philology studies in Poland. Thus innovative, contemporary tailor-made didactic solutions, methods, means and techniques can be implemented, and graduates can be provided with more efficient professional language training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a disruptive technology is not only changing our everyday life and the business world, but also the way we learn and generate new knowledge. Such breakthrough disruptions by new technologies are also taking place in the fields of foreign language learning. The focus of this paper is on AI-based applications that have an impact on the writing skill. This paper is structured to guide from general concepts to concrete ones. In the first section, a short overview of the possible applications of artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching is given. The second section focuses on writing with the help of AI-based applications for text generation. In the third section didactical-methodical considerations are formulated for the use of AI-based applications for text generation in GFL teaching. The paper finishes with a reflection which outlines conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the role of listening comprehension in foreign language teaching, this paper illustrates the importance of phonological competence in general and prosody in particular in facilitating the auditory decoding process. Subsequently, the new phonological control scale in the companion volume of the CEFR is presented, which, in contrast to the previous scale, also emphasises the suprasegmental aspects of language. These are crucial in the receptive phase to break down the flow of language into smaller units of meaning, which are easier to process in short-term memory and thus support the decoding process. Finally, micro listening exercises are shown, created with authentic material and designed to promote receptive prosodic competence in German as a foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing migration and mobility, German at the workplace has become an important topic in the field of German as a foreign Language/German as a second language. Vocational language skills can be measured with the help of various tests for the profession. The Goethe-Test PRO: German for professionals (GTP) is one of those tests that provides evidence of vocational language skills. This article first deals with the vocational orientation, the test format and the adaptive test procedure of the GTP. The second part of this paper is devoted to the description of its psychometric quality. Finally, the results are discussed with regard to the relevance of vocational tests for German as a foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study in which analytical and holistic ratings of participants' performances in the writing section of the digital TestDaF were investigated. It was investigated what influence the rating procedure has on the participants' results and to what extent the results of two different procedures are comparable. In the first study phase, performances were rated analytically by experienced raters, on each of six criteria using a 6-level grading scale. In the next phase, nine raters from the first (analytical) phase of the study applied the new (holistic) scale in assessing the same performances. In both (analytic and holistic) phases of assessment, differences in the quality of the ratings were examined according to both rating methods, and both inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were calculated separately for both rating methods. The analyses showed no significant differences between the rating methods in terms of rater behavior. However, the use of the holistic method tended to result in lower ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a competency- and needs-based approach to exam preparation. The influence of test objectives, format and task types on the creation of teaching materials is shown on the basis of the digital TestDaF. For this purpose, learning materials are described that are geared towards the development and training of communicative competencies. The aim is to go beyond pure format training in exam preparation and thus achieve positive washback effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning a musical instrument such as the flute requires the mastery of certain acquisitional steps. The same applies to the acquisition of German as a foreign or second language as widely demonstrated by second language acquisition research. The paper argues that it is inacceptable that the didactics of German as a foreign or second language has been consistently ignoring these findings in a way that also contradicts the CEFR the German translation of which, as shown, leaves much to be desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of video and audio recordings of spontaneous daily routines in early childhood education exemplifies and confirms already known strategies of pedagogical professionals in dealing with children's multilingualism. The strategies are evaluated from the perspective of linguistics and pedagogy. The documented interactions were transcribed, translated and analyzed in German and Turkish, whereby the paper breaks open the often stated black box kindergarten, at least linguistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes recordings of lessons that had to be digitised at short notice due to the pandemic. The data is taken from German lessons at the B1+ level for refugees interested in studying, which took place with the help of the web conferencing tool Cisco Webex. The evaluation of the data focuses on the different views of the lessons on the participants' screens and the resulting didactic consequences, on the transition from silent to cooperative work and on how teachers react to learners' questions and mistakes. The analysis of a longer sequence also shows how the transition from working on a form-focused exercise to free discussions of topics relevant to the learners' proceeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]