Unit 1 - Assigment 1

Please read the following excerpt and the link, then answer some questions.

1. What is didactics?

Didactics is a branch of pedagogical science that reveals the theoretical foundations of

education and training in its most general form. Didactics reveals patterns, teaching principles,
tasks, the content of education, arrangements and methods of teaching and learning, stimulation
and control in the educational process, and the characteristic of all subjects at all stages of
formation. Moreover, didactics is a critical component of systematic education because it enables
teachers to carry out all the activities necessary to run a class, including managing the classroom
environment and managing the teaching process (stages of teaching).
In the case of English, the science of teaching and studying the language, its literature, and its
culture is known as English didactics. The study of foreign language didactics has two objectives:
it offers theoretical frameworks for practical application, and it simultaneously applies to the
empirical study of situations where language is taught and learned.

2. How is the concept of didactics different from being a “recipe for teaching”?

The concept of didactics varies from a recipe because it follows the scientific method. A
didactic method is a teaching method that adheres to a scientific approach or educational style.
The approach or method is often researched or studied and adopted by the teacher in order to
engage the student and ultimately stimulate a virtuous learning process and transfer of
knowledge in any given field of study. Moreover, it is different from a recipe because there is not
only one but many methods that the teacher can adopt depending on the needs of their pupils.
These methods seek to improve upon this level and assist the teacher in conveying information in
the best possible way. A didactic method or approach is thus the very foundation or starting point
in a lesson plan, making the latter a rather complex process.

3. What is the difference between didactics and Pedagogy?

Didactics is the science of instructing and teaching in any area of study. A didactic approach,
based on theoretical underpinnings, entails a very disciplined, structured and educated approach
to teaching and instruction.
In contrast, in terms of the ability to match theoretical concepts with realistic techniques of
information transmission in education, pedagogy is cross-disciplinary in character and relates to
the correlation between teaching and instruction methods and practices, especially those adapted
to the students.

The didactics of foreign languages and go to the link.

 The didactics of foreign languages is the teaching of the teaching of foreign languages. It explores the processes of
teaching and learning foreign languages in institutional contexts situated inside and outside of school. It deals with
the aims of language teaching (communicative, intercultural, methodic, and aesthetic learning and personal
development) and consequently with material, methods and media suited for achieving these aims. Describing the
teaching and learning of foreign languages constitutes its major task, as well as the developing of suggestions for
improving processes of teaching/learning foreign languages through content, method and lesson organization.
Whereas the didactics of foreign languages was formerly understood as a sort of recipe for teaching, mostly derived
from own experience, it has been undergoing a profound change since the 1970s. Firstly, empirical research is
becoming increasingly important and secondly, the didactics of foreign languages refers much more to research on
the teaching and learning of languages today as well as to other academic disciplines such as linguistic, literature and
cultural studies, psychology and pedagogics.

The didactics of foreign languages can be divided into the didactics of language, literature and culture.

Further reading on this topic:

 Bausch, Karl-Richard, Christ, Herbert & Krumm, Hans-Jürgen (Hrsg.) (2007). Handbuch Fremdsprachenunterricht.
5. Auflage. Tübingen: Francke.

 Byram, Michael (Hrsg.) (2000). Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge.

 Hallet, Wolfgang & Königs, Frank G. (Hrsg.) (2010). Handbuch Fremdsprachendidaktik. Seelze-Velber: Klett-
Kallmeyer.

 Surkamp, Carola (Hrsg.) (2010). Lexikon Fremdsprachendidaktik. Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler.