Autonomes Lernen des Deutschen unter Berücksichtigung saudischer kultureller Konzepte

Abstract

Autonomous learning of cultural concepts from Deutsch to Saudi Arabic

The motivation for the present article is my own experience in relation to autonomous German learning at the King Saud University in Riyadh. Treating this method scientifically and showing its central role in the language learning process in theory and practice were the reason to deal with this learning concept. Since autonomous learning in foreign language lessons is a multifaceted topic in language acquisition research, it is dealt with in this thesis taking into account Saudi cultural concepts. The contribution consists of two parts: The first part deals with the concept of “autonomous learning” and its fundamental aspects. The role of autonomy in foreign language teaching is discussed in detail, and the term “autonomous learning” is presented on the basis of the work of some authors. For this purpose, similar terms are defined that are directly related to the topic being dealt with. Then learning theories on which learning autonomy is based are discussed. Finally, the concept of “autonomy” for intercultural learning is described, and finally, autonomy and culture are brought into the discussion. The aim of this part is to present the idea of autonomy in foreign language teaching as a relevant learning method, to clarify its role within the learning theories and to discuss in detail its function and appropriateness in relation to the learning situation, namely the culture in which autonomous learning takes place. The second part of the article deals with the possibility of autonomous German learning in Saudi Arabia. After describing the importance of the German language in Saudi Arabia, three influential factors in foreign language teaching are named: the role of teacher, motivation and textbooks. These three key factors never work in isolation, they only work in context. The motivational factor and the textbooks are not functional without the teacher. Therefore, the role of the teacher as a preparatory and supportive center of learner autonomy is presented and treated. The debate about autonomous learning, its learning theories, its adaptability to the culture, its appropriateness in the Saudi learning context and finally the autonomy-promoting factors deal with the possibility of autonomous learning of German outside of class. Therefore, in conclusion, a practice-oriented learner autonomy in learning the German language is presented, which is based on my own learning methods and experiences. Since learning a language is based on the mastery of four skills, I try to substantiate each individual skill with examples. It shows how the learners at institutional learning locations, namely universities, can learn the German language independently outside of the classroom despite various inhibitions and learning blocks, although the idea of autonomy does not contradict the main features of Saudi culture.