content-related functions of linguistic signs in the context of language awareness

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Björn Rothstein
• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551093262

The network develops a cross-disciplinary, cross-stakeholder, systematic and consistent understanding of the "inhaltliche Funktionen" (= content-related functions) of linguistic signs. "i-functions" are centrally required in school curricula but are not scientifically clarified and are presented inconsistently in German lessons. Such "i-functions" are understood to mean their semantics, their pragmatics, their cognitive concept, their reference… in short: their non-form), which curricularly fall into the area of "language awareness" as any thinking about language. The "i-functions" of the German tenses are, for example, described inconsistently at the level of school books and even within individual German textbooks, for example when the terms anteriority and past or situations and events are used synonymously or not clearly. This inconsistent and unsystematic use in German teaching contexts leads to more difficult teaching-learning processes, achievements of teaching-learning goals and connections between grammar and other teaching subjects. Beside their linguistic and didactive perspectives, the discussion of "i-functions" must include the teaching-learning processes of the entire school period, meta-cognitive skills of the students and contexts from other German teaching areas such as literature. The research network brings together linguistic, literary studies, (language acquisition-based) German didactic, primary/secondary education/didactic, teaching-learning-research expertise that has so far not been sufficiently networked. It connects you with relevant actors in the school system (school, seminars, ministries, state institutes). The existing initial approaches to "i-functions" should be linked in an interdisciplinary, cross-actor group, casuistic and internationalized manner and, if necessary, used as a starting point for a joint collaborative project. A particular focus should be on the discussion of relevant research methodologies.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Helga Gese