LATILL: an adaptive platform for enhancing German reading insruction

Abstract

Reading plays a pivotal role in the teaching ofGerman as a foreign language. In addition to imparting linguisticknowledge, it also fosters cultural understanding and the developmentof critical thinking. In light of the distinctive characteristics ofthe contemporary information society, scholars and educators arecompelled to rethink the methodologies employed in foreign languagereading instruction. Reading should be an activity imbuedwith personally meaningful content, thereby meeting students’information and cognitive needs. The teaching of reading shouldbe activity-oriented, as students do not solely acquire knowledgethrough cognitive teaching methods; rather, they master learningobjects and content through their own active (speech) behavior.The development of reading skills in German as a foreign languageis contingent upon the selection of texts. Texts selectedfor reading should be relevant, authentic, and, most importantly,appropriate to the learners’ level of language proficiency. This approachincreases motivation and the quality of reading, as textsthat are too difficult can be demotivating and those that are toosimple can be uninteresting. The LATILL project is designed toaddress these educational needs, as didactics is a dynamic field.Historical, pedagogical, and scientific experience in teaching foreignlanguages provides a foundation for constant evolution in foreignlanguage teaching methods, including methods of teachingreading in German as a foreign language, its improvement, andthe creation of tools to correlate it with the current needs of bothteachers and students.The LATILL project aims to provide open educational resourcesadapted to the levels of the Common European Framework ofReference for Languages (CEFR), a platform based on artificialintelligence tools to support the teaching of German as a foreignlanguage and a second foreign language, didactic materials to assist teachers in teaching German as a foreign language with aparticular focus on reading skills development, and materials toenhance teachers’ pedagogical skills.This publication outlines the project’s objectives and anticipatedoutcomes, as well as information about the project consortium,the LATILL platform, and the didactic materials on the platform.Its purpose is to introduce the LATILL project to the scientific andeducational community, which aims to support teachers of Germanas a foreign language in developing reading competence.