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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]

Der Beitrag beschreibt den Prozess der Umstellung eines Deutschprogramms an einer japanischen Universität auf ein konsequent aufgabenbasiertes Curriculum. Es werden die Erfahrungen, Probleme und Ergebnisse dieser Veränderungen aus der Sicht der beteiligten Lehrenden dargestellt. Im Anschluss an einen kurzen Überblick zur Situation des Deutschunterrichts in Japan werden zunächst die Gründe für die Entwicklung des neuen Programmes aufgezeigt sowie die theoretischen Überlegungen, die ihnen zugrunde lagen. Im Zentrum des Beitrags stehen die im Verlauf von vier Jahren zutage getretenen und zu bewältigenden Konflikte sowie das gemeinsame Ringen der Lehrenden um Lösungen. Die Darstellung schließt mit einem Blick auf bisher erreichte Ergebnisse. In this paper we describe the implementation of a strictly task-based curriculum in a German language program at a Japanese university, illustrating the experiences, challenges and results from the point of view of the teachers involved. After a brief overview of the situation of teaching German at Japanese universities in general we explain the reasons leading to the development of the new program as well as the underlying theoretical considerations. The focus of this article is on the conflicts, which emerged over the course of the four years since the implementation of the task-based curriculum, and the combined efforts of the teaching staff to find solutions. Finally, we present an overview of the achievements to date. [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]

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]