Britta Meredith (PhD candidate), Mareike Geyer (M.A. candidate, ALDS) and Prof. Manuela Wagner just published their article on “Social Justice in Beginning Language Instruction: Interpreting Fairy Tales” in the DIMENSION Special Issue for 2018: Focus on Social Justice and Critical Pedagogy.
Abstract:
This chapter bridges theories of social justice (e.g., Osborn, 2006) and intercultural citizenship (e.g. Byram, 2008) to classroom practices in an introductory German course at a research university. By interpreting a fairy tale [Cinderella], 16 university students reflected on issues of gender roles and (in)equality both in historical and current contexts. Several activities in a 75-minute online session are described. In this brief intervention, students demonstrated the ability to contemplate complex, real-life issues such as gender roles and stereotypes using the target language.