Didactic and non-didactic texts in the context of German as an additional language: a linguistic-quantitative analysis for the Zeitgeist project

Abstract

In this work we analyze the frequency of occurrence of reflexive pronouns extracted from texts of four textbooks of German as an additional language (Blaue Blume, 2011; DaF kompakt neu A2, 2016; Menschen A2, 2013; Studio d A2, 2006), aiming to discuss ways to identify didactic and non-didactic texts. This investigation is justified in the context of designing an empiric basis to help classify texts for a project whose main goal is to develop a didactic material designed to the Brazilian university context. For the proper treatment of the samples, a quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed with the help of the softwares WordSmith Tools (2016) and QuAX-DaF (2019). These tools allow us to assess the frequency of occurrence of our target subject (reflexive pronouns), as well as the degree of authenticity of the samples based in a German corpus (Leipzig Corpora Collection). The results suggest that the knowledge of the frequency of occurrence can be helpful to assist teachers and researchers in choosing texts to be used in specific teaching contexts, regarding the lexical and grammatical progression.

Keywords:
Frequency of occurrence; Authenticity in the context of textbooks; German as an additional language