Pluricentrism in the teaching of German as a foreign language: an analysis proposal of teaching material

Abstract

In this article we address the pluricentrism of the German language by performing a literature review on the subject that focuses on variants and varieties of German. After a historical retrospective based on a pluricentric notion of teaching German as a Foreign Language, we propose an analysis of teaching material with six categories. Three categories are based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: competence, subject and text source, and three refer to basic questions of the DACH-Prinzip: discursive topics of pluricentricity, approach, and pluricentric variety. The results of implementing this analysis with the proposed categories indicate a relative incipient awareness of the German language as a pluricentric language used in different centers.

Keywords:
Pluricentrism; DACH-Prinzip; German as foreign language; DaF Kompakt Neu