This seminar will examine different aspects of plurilingualism, as well as plurilingual teaching and learning in language classrooms. In the following, you find a list of topics we will talk about in the seminar:

• Defining and critically assessing terms that are used in the area of plurilingualism
• Analyzing the work done by the Council of Europe regarding plurilingualism (FREPA, CEFR descriptors, companion volume of the CEFR, European Language Portfolio
• Getting to know the importance of language awareness
• Exploring and collecting existing plurilingual teaching and learning approaches, methods, and task that can be used in the language learning classroom
• Conducting a qualitative data analysis with already existing data about plurilingual teaching and learning approaches
• ...

The seminar links research to practice. The class work will consist of thematic as well as scientific work input, discussions, individual work, group work, reflection tasks, …

BA students: For the ungraded “Seminarleistung” (SL) you will be required to
(1) write an OASIS summary (https://oasis-database.org/) of an article related to plurilingualism, and
(2) present your summary in class at the end of the semester.

MA students: For the ungraded “Seminarleistung” (SL) you will be required to
(1) write an OASIS summary (https://oasis-database.org/) of an article related to plurilingualism,
(2) to complete homework tasks, and
(3) to give an engaging presentation of a either the OASIS summary or another homework task you chose, or any topic in the area of plurilingualism that you are interested in. You are invited to be creative! Examples: Poster presentations, podcast, interview, role plays, Pecha Kucha, blog article, video, collage, …).

BA & MA students: For the graded “Prüfungsleistung” (PL) you will—additionally to the SL—complete a portfolio. The portfolio consists of three tasks:
1. Mock research project using a mixed methods approach
2. Comparison of two articles
3. MA students: Your choice of one homework task / BA: students Reflection task

The seminar will be offered in both the BA and MA programmes. In order to ensure a suitable seminar for the different students, the internal differentiation is as follows. On the one hand, the scope of the Seminarleistung (ungraded assessment) and the Prüfungsleistung (graded assessment) will be adjusted accordingly. On the other hand, group work is used to cater for students' different prior knowledge and requirements and to integrate these into the seminar in a meaningful way.

Seminar description

This introductory seminar focuses on one of the most practical areas of applied linguistics – language assessment. In this seminar, we review the central theoretical concepts and practical considerations in language assessment.
As a seminar participant, you will gain an understanding of what role authentic language assessment plays for different purposes. Expanding on the assessment quality, you will become familiar with construct, validity, reliability, and practicality concepts. Additionally, you will learn about the development of assessment tasks and rating approaches. Finally, the seminar will also cover recent trends in the use of technology for language assessment, as well as the main concepts in fairness and ethics of language assessment.
You will also get a chance to apply the knowledge gained by developing and presenting your small-scale project at the end of the seminar.

Aims of the seminar:
• developing a holistic understanding of the main areas of interest in language assessment
• gaining the knowledge of terminology used in language assessment and being able to apply it in the context of the seminar and outside of it
• developing competence in the critical evaluation of the existing assessment tasks
• gaining insights about methods for research in language assessment
• developing competencies in assessment task development
Overview of seminar content:
• familiarisation with the role of language assessment and its purposes
• familiarisation with qualities of effective assessment systems
• familiarisation with the main stages and principles of assessment instrument development
• familiarisation with language assessment for different purposes and of different skills
• familiarisation with recent trends in applying technology in language assessment
• familiarisation with main fairness and ethics considerations in language assessment

Dieses Seminar ist verpflichtend für alle Studierenden, die ihre Masterarbeit (M. Ed.) im Fach Englisch abfassen. Beachten Sie bitte, dass dieser verpflichtende zweite Teil des Seminars nur im SoSe 2015 angeboten wird (als Forsetzung des ersten Teils aus dem vorangehenden WS).
Dieses Seminar befasst sich mit der Analyse und Evaluation aktueller Forschungsliteratur im Bereich der Fremdsprachenforschung; in diesem akademischen Jahr liegt dabei ein Schwerpunkt auf der Methodologie des Design-Based Research. Das Seminar ist als Grundlage zur Begleitung der eigenen empirischen Studie im Rahmen der Masterarbeit konzipiert. Durch eine intensive Betrachtung der gängigen Forschungsmethoden und ihrer Umsetzung in bereits veröffentlichten Studien werden eine Reflexion über Sprachlernprozesse sowie die Förderung logischen und kritischen Denkens angeregt und das Eintauchen in die Hintergründe der Fremdsprachenforschung ermöglicht. Im Seminar sollen Studierende lernen, ihre Erfahrungen mit der Untersuchung neuerer Forschungsarbeiten im Sinne einer Entwicklung zum reflective practitioner als Basis für ihre eigene Lehrkompetenz im Fach Englisch zu begreifen. Deswegen beschäftigen wir uns im Seminar vorrangig mit der Interpretation von Erkenntnissen aus der Fremdsprachenforschung und ihrer Relevanz für die eigene Forschung im Rahmen der Masterarbeit sowie die (spätere) eigene Unterrichtspraxis.