DOT 2022 – Pedagogy

Deutscher Orientalistentag 2022

Language Pedagogy of Modern
and Ancient Languages of Asia

Free University of Berlin, 12–17 September 2022

Background

Our knowledge and understanding of ancient cultures rely almost exclusively on written documents; equally, we can fully comprehend even modern cultures only with sufficient command of their language(s). For this and many other reasons, the teaching of modern and ancient languages is a fundamental and necessary endeavour, and a worthwhile subject of study and debate.

The teaching of ancient, medieval, and pre-modern languages at university-level is frequently undertaken by colleagues from all sub-disciplines with varying degrees of training in language pedagogy. Equally, not all pedagogically trained teachers of modern languages or native speakers are familiar to the same extent with the history of the language they teach and speak.

Concept

Under the auspices of the Deutscher Orientalistentag, we wish to bring together teachers of Asian languages from all time periods. Our goal is to provide a forum in which new and innovative solutions to well-known problems of teaching Asian languages can be discussed, practical as well as theoretical issues be analysed, and different experiences be compared. We hope that all participants will profit from the presentations and ensuing discussions by taking away ideas which may be implemented in their teaching practice.

What follows represents a list of sample questions, which could be addressed; other ideas are very welcome:

Which methodological approaches used in teaching spoken languages could be adapted for use in languages no longer spoken?
How can we most effectively introduce students familiar with an ancient language to its modern daughter language – and vice versa?
In what way can we actively use phylogenetic relationships to teach students with knowledge of one language a closely related one?
How can we use knowledge of Latin or Greek which students retain from school in order to teach them other (ancient) Indo-European languages?
What is the best way of teaching students languages which differ fundamentally in their structure from the student’s mother tongue(s)?
What technological advances and research projects are there which might be of interest for language teachers?

Call for Papers

We invited abstracts of no more than 250 words for 20-minute presentations (followed by 10 minutes of discussion). The deadline was 23h59 CET on November 30, 2021. Papers may be delivered in German or English, and we plan to make presentations via Zoom available for those unable to attend the DOT in person.