German Lessons in High Schools through the Prism of Methods and Approaches to Teaching

Abstract

The current curriculum for German language from 2008 defines the communicative approach as the main approach for teaching German. As this approach does not have precise methods, we do not know exactly how teachers implement it in practice. In this paper we present the results of empirical research conducted among teachers of German language in Slovenian high schools. The aim of the research is to discover which methods and approaches are characteristic for teaching German language, how familiar German teachers are with different methods and approaches and to what extent they are implemented in teaching. The analysis of the data shows that various methods are used for teaching German and that German teachers occasionally or often implement different methods and approaches to reach the goals. Older and alternative methods are used; however, teachers tend to choose them because they are suggested in their current course books. The communication approach to teaching German in Slovenia is in fact like a colourful bouquet of various flowers, although they do not always complement each other.