Do we all have to eat vegan? Should (short-distance) flights be banned? Is a world without single-use plastic possible? Due to climate change our society is confronted with complex and controversial questions. In the discussion about climate change and its consequences, the generation that knows that the climate crisis will affect them in the future and have a decisive impact on their lives is also actively involved. Young people such as Greta Thunberg from Sweden, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda, Luisa Neubauer from Germany or Ridhima Pandey from India demonstrate that participation in democratic processes does not require a minimum age, but argumentation competence. In order to be able to stimulate action for climate protection at the United Nations Climate Change Summit, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in your own community or simply among your relatives and acquaintances, you have to be able to argue well. To participate in the debate about climate change and its consequences, arguing is a central competence. However, it is not only crucial for the participation in societal discourses, but also plays an important role in education. With its manifold requirements, written argumentation in particular is often a demanding task for students. It is therefore not surprising that elaborate argumentative texts can only be written at the end of secondary school, while even adults sometimes still have problems to refute counterarguments in their texts. The project "DiaLog" aims to develop two innovative approaches for the evidence-based promotion of written argumentation competence for German-language instruction in different European teaching and learning contexts. In addition, this project aims to test the practicability and effectiveness of the developed approaches. In both approaches oral argumentation is used to build a bridge to the written argumentation. Consequently, the interaction partner missing in writing becomes tangible (Shi et al. 2019, Graff 2003). The effectiveness of this principle of dialogical argumentation has already been confirmed by Anglo-American studies for English as a first and second language (e.g. Kuhn & Crowell 2011; Kuhn et al. 2016; Shi et al. 2019), but findings for teaching German as a first, second and foreign language are still missing. - Monoperspectival dialogical argumentation (MonoDiaLog): With this approach, students only express and argue for their own point of view in preceding oral discussions. - Multiperspectival dialogical argumentation (MultiDiaLog): With this approach, learners have to argue not only for their own opinion but also for a contrary opinion (contraposition) in the course of preceding oral argumentation activities. Consequently, the view of the interaction partner becomes even more comprehensible, if the learners are also aware of and represent an opinion other than their own. This could help to increase their ability to change their perspective (Becker-Mrotzek et al. 2014). For this approach, role-playing can be used as a didactic framework. In this project, teaching approaches and modules as well as reflection and assessment tools for teachers of German as a first, second and foreign language are developed and applied in practice. In addition, resources for professionalisation in the form of training modules, radio papers and a handbook will be created. Furthermore, the practicability and effectiveness of both monoperspectival dialogical argumentation and multiperspectival dialogical argumentation will be evaluated. The project is carried out by the Didactics Centre for German as a Second Language & Language Education at the University of Graz (Austria), the University of Western Bohemia (Czech Republic) and the NHL Stenden Hogeschool (The Netherlands) with a total of about 400 students aged 16 years (10th grade).
The main objective of the project was to develop, test, and evaluate a scientifically sound didactic approach for promoting the written argumentation skills of upper secondary school students in German as a first, second, and foreign language. This approach was to be implemented in 18 teaching modules on controversial issues of climate change, tested in practice, and optimized in terms of its practicability through several evaluation cycles so that it could be sustainably integrated into the teaching of German in different learning contexts. Therefore, it was also a central goal to consider different linguistic abilities in these modules and to provide opportunities for internal differentiation. In addition, further teaching materials as well as tools were to be developed with which teachers can prepare for the optimal use of the modules in the classroom and can also support students in their development of linguistic argumentation skills beyond the classroom. The conception of professionalization modules for the training and further education of teachers and the production of radio papers on the main topics of the project were also intended to contribute to the dissemination of the project results.
Argumentation skills are an indispensable foundation for actively engaging in professional, political, and social discourse and are thus central to participating in democratic decision-making processes. In a globalized world, these discourses take place across national borders and on different platforms. Therefore, the development of argumentation skills is relevant not only in the first language, but also in second and foreign languages, and especially in writing, so that young individuals can make their voices heard widely. Especially debates on climate change are currently discussed by young people with a high level of commitment, as they are directly and particularly affected by its consequences. It is therefore both a central educational and an important socio-political responsibility to prepare them not only for the discussion of controversial issues concerning climate change and its mitigation, but also to promote their linguistic argumentation skills. Moreover, it has been scientifically proven that written argumentation is associated with a wide range of linguistic requirements and thus requires a targeted didactic focus.