The New ‘Back to Normal’: CEFR Online Interaction Activities and Strategies in German as a Second Language (GSL) Courses

• Published in: CEFR Journal - Research and Practice Vol. 1; no. 6; pp. 27 - 42
• Main Author: Pramstaller, Kerstin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29.02.2024
• ISSN: 2434-849X; 2434-849X
• DOI: 10.37546/JALTSIG.CEFR6-2

During the two years of the pandemic, online interaction activities certainly aided communication between communities, families and students, and at work. After these two years, now – in 2023 – interaction activities seem to have returned to a level of normality, but what kind of normality are we referring to? This paper intends to explore online interaction activities and strategies at a time when online interaction is no longer necessary, due to extreme external conditions, but remains a sense-making practice in German as a Second Language (GSL) courses. This point of view is based on the author’s conviction that online interaction has become part of today’s real-life communication in our increasingly digital world, and that students of German language courses are supposed to engage in real-life tasks during the tutorials and beyond, such as online discussions about a specific topic with their peers. In this context ‘multi-modal learning’ is key for a successful (language) learning process with a view to achieving digital citizenship.