Multicultural and multilingual Mediation (German language)

Explore techniques of the mediation on the example of the German language and the socio-political relevance of language teaching in a globalised living and working environment!

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CIVIS focus area
Society, culture, heritage
Open to
  • Bachelor's
  • Master's
  • PhD candidates/ students
  • PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies
  • Social Science and humanities
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
7 March 2025 - 30 May 2025

The aim of the course is, on the one hand, to discuss techniques of the mediation on the example of the German language and, on the other hand, to demonstrate the socio-political relevance of language teaching in a globalised living and working environment.

According to the European Framework of Reference, language mediation is: „the generic term for various forms of oral and written transfer of texts into another language [or into another linguistic variety, or into another level of linguistic competence]. What is important in all forms is that the language mediator does not express his own intentions in the process, but is an intermediary between interlocutors who cannot understand each other directly.”(Council of Europe 2001:89). In the new companion volume of the CEFR, mediation is „a reducer of distance”;. Mediation can be defined as any procedure, arrangement or action designed in a given social context to reduce the distance between two (or more) poles of otherness between which there is tension (North Coste/Cavalli 2015:27). The present project is intended to be a continuation and extension of the theme addressed by the same team in the Blended Intensive Programs in 2023 and 2024 and which takes up the concept of mediation in a communicative-pragmatic manner oriented from a pragmatic perspective in the continuation of the content, integrating both psycho- and sociolinguistics as well as linguistic-didactic approaches.

Main topics addressed

The program provides to the students knowledge related to the following fields:

  • On the concept of „intercultural mediation”
  • German as a medium of communication (L1, L2, Lingua Franca)
  • German in the context of speech acts and interculturality
  • German in a variation-linguistic perspective/heterogeneous language use
  • German as (un)understandable language (easy and simple language)
  • Sample analysis of texts & tasks for language mediation from
  • German as a Foreign Language textbooks/example analysis of language certification tasks
  • Mediation for specific target groups: Communication situation 1 (everyday life: doctor, everyday life);Communication situation 2 (study, profession, research etc)
  • Applications in case-studies in communication situations and assignment of projects for the attendance phase.
  • AI and mediation

Learning outcomes

The expected learning outcomes of virtual part is the transfer of the necessary prior knowledge and the theoreticalbasics regarding language mediation in German. This ensures that all participants have the same knowledge base.The 10th session is used to give project tasks and creates the transition between the two phases (virtual andpresence phase).

The trainer and the students from the partner universities travel to Bucharest where the face-to face meeting takesplace. Reflection after the face-to-face meeting and supervision and evaluation of the final projects.

General expected learning outcomes:

  • Deepening of intercultural knowledge
  • Acquisition of the practice of concrete intercultural interaction
  • European cooperation in international problems (migration, inclusion, etc.);professionalization of students
  • Breaking down of communicative barriers
  • Enrichment of students through practical interaction
  • Thematic enrichment through the lectures of the specialists
Dates:  7 March 2025 - 30 May 2025 Total workload: 180 hours
Format: Blended ECTS: 6*
Location: Bucharest, Romania Language: German (B1)
Contact: maria.ratcu@lls.unibuc.ro  

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

The physical mobility part will be running from 26 to 30 May 2025 in Bucharest, Romania.

In the virtual meetings, theoretical knowledge about mediation is passed on, but is then discussed at a practical level in group work tasks.

The fact that the students come from several countries and the common language of communication is German makes the theme of multicultural mediation more tangible.

Moreover, there will be the following topics addressed during the classes:

- Applications in case-studies in communication situations and assignment of projects for the attendance phase

- On the concept of „intercultural mediation”

- German as a medium of communication (L1, L2, Lingua Franca)

- German in the context of speech acts and interculturality

- German in a variation-linguistic perspective/heterogeneous language use

- German as (un)understandable language (easy and simple language)

- Sample analysis of texts & tasks for language mediation from

- German as a Foreign Language textbooks/example analysis of language certification tasks

- Mediation for specific target groups: Communication situation 1 (everyday life: doctor, everyday life)

- Communication situation 2 (study, profession, research etc)

- AI and mediation

Virtual part

The virtual part will be running from 7 March to 16 May 2025.

The virtual activities take place in weekly meetings of 4 hours each, through which teachers can get to know the students, determine their level and interests. Students also get to know each other better, often working in groups and being given small tasks to solve.

The schedule of the virtual component of the course is structured as following:

  • 7.03.2025: On the concept of „intercultural mediation”
  • 14.03.2025: German as a medium of communication (L1, L2, Lingua Franca)
  • 21.03.2025: German in the context of speech acts and interculturality
  • 28.03.2025: German in a variation-linguistic perspective/heterogeneous language use
  • 4.04.2025: German as (un)understandable language (easy and simple language)
  • 11.04.2025: Sample analysis of texts & amp; tasks for language mediation from
  • 25.04.2024: German as a Foreign Language textbooks/example analysis of language certification tasks
  • 9.05.2025: Mediation for specific target groups: Communication situation 1 (everyday life: doctor, everyday life);Communication situation 2 (study, profession, research etc)
  • 16.05.2025: AI and mediation

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's, Master's and PhD students at CIVIS member universities with a backround in theoretical foundations of language mediation, in the scientific fields of German Linguistics and Languages.

An A2/B1 level knowledge of German is also required in order to follow the course and willingness to engage in intercultural cooperation both virtually and in-person

Desirable skills required to follow the course:

  • Critical thinking
  • Analytical and synthetic thinking
  • Appropriate use of language
  • Spontaneity
  • Teamwork

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Students from CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa cannot apply for participation in this course.

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024, including:

  • CV 
  • Motivation letter in German
  • Level of language 
  • Clarity of objectives in the letter of application

Apply now

Assessment

The assessment will be based on the following: 

Cognitive skills

• Essays

• Reports

Psychomotoric skills

• Direct observation

• Submission of a product demonstrating practical skills

Affective skills

• Direct observation

• Journal entries.

The common methods of performance based assessment include:

• Portfolios

• Self-assessment

• Interview

- Participation in all online lectures and in the workshop 25 %

- Preparation and presentation of a project in groups of 3 to 4 students from different universities 25 %

- Individual paper connecting the theoretical knowledge with a a case study discussed in the course or with the Bucollaborative project in which the student have participated 50 %

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

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  • Assoc. Prof. Ph.D. Ileana-Maria Ratcu studied German and Romanian philology at the University of Bucharest. PhD 2005. Between 1994 and 2013 lecturer of German as a foreign language and German language of historical documents at a non-philology faculty, the Faculty of Archival Science. Since 2017 Associate Professor at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Between 2017 and 2023 Vice-Dean for International Relations of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and CIVIS co-leader of the task force for Multilingualism within WP7. Currently Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the same faculty.

 

  • Friederiki Batsalia is Professor of German Linguistics at the Department of German Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens After completing her undergraduate studies in German Literature and her postgraduate studies in German Linguistics at the University of Hamburg (1981: Magister Artium, 1985: Dr. Phil.), she was an instructor at the Center for Translation and Interpretation (KE.ME.DI.) in Corfu/Greece and from 1984 to 1988 at the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University (Corfu). Since 1986 she teaches and conducts academic research at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1986: EEP, 1988: Lecturer, 1993: Associate Professor, 2003: Professor).

 

  • Marisol Benito Rey is PhD in Modern Languages. Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages Logic and Philosophy of Science, Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She is coordinator of the German teachers’ training programs at the Official Association of Holders of Doctoral and Bachelor’s Degrees in Philosophy, Letters, and Sciences of Madrid. Her research has been focused on German as a Foreign Language, applied Linguistics, Interculturality, Sign Languages, Lipreading, and functional Diversity. She is currently working on Discourse and Minorities. She is member the Wor(l)ds Lab research group http://www.worldslab.eu. She is also a project evaluator of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since 2017.

 

  • Anna Chita studied "German Philology: German as Foreign Language/ German as Second Language" at the University of Augsburg. Her specialist field concerns the German as Foreign Language/ German as Second Language, contrastive and applied Linguistic, and Intercultural communication, pragmatics, translation/mediation and test development. Some important field studies and research programs on which she co-worked were “Legal and community interpreting”, “Community interpreting” and “Evaluation of testers”. She worked for many years in several courses and integration courses for young and adult migrants and refugees in Germany. Since 2003 she is scientific co-operator of the approved testing for foreign languages of the Greek Ministry of Cultural Affairs for the Further Education of the examiners. She leads the Institute for Multimedia and Language Applications, which belongs to the Department of German Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has published papers in national and international journals as well as presented in conferences.

 

  • Ioana Hermine Fierbințeanu is Associate Professor at the German Department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest. She studied German and English. Dr. Fierbințeanu earned her PhD in 2008 from the University of Bucharest, with a thesis devoted to the conversation analysis, studing the questions that teachers and candidates may ask during a final oral exam in Germany. Her subsequent research focused mainly on forms of address in German, Romanian and German spoken in Romania. She is working on Variety Linguistics, describing Rumäniendeutsch, the variety spoken by the German minority in Romania. She investigated the routine formulas in German and Romanian, their usage and pragmatic functions in terms of beliefs, wants, wishes, norms, and values. She teaches german applied linguistics and german as a Foreign Language.

 

  • Prof. Sabine Elisabeth Koesters Gensini, Full professor for German Language and Linguistics, at Sapienza Università di Roma, Department “Lettere e Culture Moderne” (Modern Literature and Culture), Faculty of Humanities. 1998 Degree of Doctor of Research in Linguistics, 2000: Research Professor in the Disciplinary Section L09A “Glottology and Linguistics” , 2006 Associate Professor in the Scientific Disciplinary Section L-LIN/01 (Glottology and Linguistics). Currently Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Deputy for Department Research Affairs. Her central scientific interests are problems regarding use of language with particular attention to (1) German language use and didactics, (2) contrastive linguistics, (3) the internal variability of languages, in particular Italian and German, (4) the morphology of spoken language, (5) phonetic reductions of the language sign and its phonological consequences, (6) German Language during German Nationalsocialism, (7) the lexical component of languages in general and complex words in detail, (8) linguistic expression of emotions.

 

  • Dafni Wiedenmayer is Professor at the Department of German Language and Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has studied linguistics and didactics in Greece, Germany and Austria, and holds a PhD in theoretical and contrastive linguistics from the University of Athens (Contrastive Analysis of Nominal Phrase in German and Greek). She has written a book on performance measurement and assessment of German as a foreign language, and published several articles in the fields of applied linguistics and didactics of foreign languages in Greece and Europe. She also participates in numerous congresses in Greece and abroad. Her scientific interests include language acquisition, teacher education and foreign language evaluation. She is also a member of the Consultative Teaching Personnel of the Hellenic Open University, where she teaches foreign language acquisition (target language German) in the MA program. Dafni Wiedenmayer leads the program for both evaluation and certification for German as a foreign language as well as the training of examiners and evaluators at the State Certificate for Languages (KPG).