Dr Hyoun-A Joo and Dr Lina Tuschling receive Best Article Award
Posted September 11, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Hyoun-A Joo and Dr. Lina Tuschling for receiving the Best Article Award for Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German!
"Tesla in Grünheide: Growing Intercultural Competence Through Role-Play Simulation" (2022)
Abstract: The development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) becomes increasingly important in the world language curriculum and a crucial goal to prepare students for real-life communicative situations outside of the classroom. This article discusses how a simulation exercise based on the contentious construction of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, facilitated the growth of students' ability to take perspectives other than their own – a crucial step toward ICC. Using the controversies about the Tesla Gigafactory as a real-world case study, students participated in a role-play simulation, set up as a town hall meeting, where they had to develop arguments whether Tesla should be given the official construction permit or not. This project-based and student-led exercise was designed to develop critical awareness of the cultural intricacy of the Tesla case by considering authentic dilemmas and conflicting perspectives. The activity was implemented in a virtual study abroad, advanced-level German course. Comparing responses from a student feedback survey with Byram's ICC model (2021) suggests that the exercise helped students increase their factual knowledge, skills of interpreting, relating, discovering, and interacting, and develop differentiated understanding of other perspectives – important 21st-century ICC skills for a global life and work environment.
Click here to read the full article!
Hyoun-A Joo (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University) is an Assistant Professor of German at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research interests include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and intercultural pragmatics at the intersection of migration and identity. She is also interested in pedagogical methods to develop intercultural competence in the classroom. Her current research focuses on immigrants’ acquisition of syntactic structures and realizations of speech acts.
Lina Tuschling (Ph.D., Kennesaw State University) is a Research Associate at TRENDS Global in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research interests include Social Identity, post-conflict peacebuilding, and refugee resettlement. She is also interested in experiential teaching and simulation design, particularly for the purpose of teaching conflict management, complex peacebuilding, and community resilience.