Language-Sensitive Textbook Analysis in the Context of the Scaffolding Approach

A Learning Activity

Abstract

This article presents a learning task that intends to enhance prospective secondary school teachers’ diagnostic competences on the basis of analyzing respective teaching material. Following Gibbon’s (2015; cf. also Beese et al., 2014) macro-scaffolding approach, teaching material is analyzed focusing on general criteria of text quality as well as considering challenges at the lexico-semantic, syntactic and text-linguistic level. Given their significance as a medium of teaching and learning in actual teaching practice, the knowledge of how to reflectively use textbooks in the classroom and to understand the language challenges related to textbooks is an essential aspect of teachers’ diagnostic competence. This learning task is especially designed for students with only basic linguistic knowledge to help them acquire this reflexive knowledge in a limited amount of time. Within the DazKom model the task reflects the dimension didactics and focuses on pedagogical decision-making processes which are related to teaching and learning processes.