Oksana King (Melbourne) p.20-46
2006 Issue 2
Abstract
This article reports on the findings of a project dealing with students’ perceptions on classroom activities in the German language class. We are using a cross-country comparative approach in order to bring together two various contexts surrounding one process – teaching/learning German as a foreign language, and to highlight each country’s uniqueness in the choice of teaching methodologies and classroom activities. We found that students from both Australia and Ukraine greatly valued the traditional activities doing grammar exercises and having their errors corrected. At the same time, they also favoured activities associated with the communicative approach such as discussing various topics and making dialogues. The variable of country showed differences mainly with the activities: writing dictation and learning texts, poems and dialogues by heart. The tertiary foreign language education is viewed from a broader social, political perspective, as well as each country’s distinctive pedagogical traditions.