Forum Deutsch

Forum Deutsch is a Canadian journal featuring information, viewpoints, materials and tips for German teachers in Canada, and also has a section with peer-reviewed scholarly articles. It appears twice a year on-line at http://www.forumdeutsch.ca/. Archived issues may be accessed here.

The Journal is a collaborative publication of the Canadian Association of Teachers of German (CATG), the Canadian Association of German Language Schools (CAGLS), and the Goethe Institute; it is published by the CATG.

Editors:

Dr. Barbara Schmenk, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, University of Waterloo. Tel.: (519) 888-4567 ext. 32148. E-mail: bschmenk@uwaterloo.ca.

Editorial Committee:

Research Forum

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Rüdiger Mueller (University of Guelph)

Members of the Editorial Committee: Dr. Franz Eppert (University of New Brunswick), Dr. Claudia Kost (University of Alberta), Dr. John Plews (St. Mary’s University), Dr. Manfred Prokop (University of Alberta), Dr. Caroline Rieger (University of British Columbia), Prof. Dr. Jörg Roche (Universität München), Dr. Barbara Schmenk (University of Waterloo), Dr. Renate A. Schulz (University of Arizona), Dr. Johanna Watzinger-Tharp (University of Utah).

Teaching Forum

Editor-in-Chief: Eva Ledwig (Goethe-Institut Montreal)

Members of the Editorial Committee: Ulrike Kugler (Goethe-Institut Montreal), Dr. Cheryl Dueck (Altpräsidentin CATG), Dr. Beate Gundert (KVDS), Ron Rhodes (High Schools).

Contributions

Manuscripts may be submitted to the respective Editor-in-Chief at any time.

Contributions to Forum Deutsch are subject to peer evaluation to determine their suitability for inclusion in the journal. All contributions to the Research Forum are subject to double-blind refereeing.

Manuscripts - not exceeding ca. 2,500 words - in English, German or French may be submitted. Lectures and workshops must have been adapted for written publication. High-quality photographs, illustrations and graphics may be included, but they must have been copyright-cleared in advance. Scholarly articles should follow the APA Style Sheet.

Submissions should be sent to the Editor-in Chief as an e-mail attachment or on diskette.

While every effort will be made to publish articles in the form in which they have been submitted, the editorial committee reserves the right to edit all contributions. Authors will receive a copy of the edited document for their comments before publication.

Editorial policy for Forum Deutsch

June 16, 1998

A. Excerpts from the constitution of the Canadian Association of Teachers of German

[36] THE EXECUTIVE. The Board of Directors shall elect a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer from its number who, together with the Past Chair and the Editor of Forum Deutsch, shall constitute the Executive Committee. All members of the Executive Committee shall be Directors of the Association and shall cease to be members of the Executive Committee if they cease to be Directors or if they are removed by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

[44] PUBLICATION. Forum Deutsch is a publication for and on behalf of Canadian teachers of German on all levels of instruction. Published through the Canadian Association of Teachers of German, it is a collaborative publication of the Canadian Association of German Language Schools, the Canadian Association of Teachers of German, and the Goethe-Institute.

[45] The editorial team of Forum Deutsch shall consist of an Editor-in-Chief as well as delegates from collaborating organizations sponsoring the publication of Forum Deutsch and representing all levels of instruction. The four levels of instruction are: language schools, elementary to secondary institutions, post-secondary institutions, and Goethe Institutes.

[46] The Editor-in-Chief of Forum Deutsch is selected by delegates from the organizations sponsoring the publication of Forum Deutsch. Their selection shall be presented to the Board of Directors for approval and shall be ratified by all sponsoring organizations.

[47] The Editor-in-Chief together with the editorial team shall have a free hand in editorial matters. However, proposals from the editorial team for substantial changes to the format and/or concept of Forum Deutsch shall be presented for approval to the Board of Directors.

[48] The funds for Forum Deutsch, consisting of financial contributions from the sponsoring organizations, shall be held in a sub-account of the Association. The Editor-in-Chief shall be responsible for the prudent management of these funds and shall present an annual financial report to the Association. Upon request, the sponsoring organizations shall have access to the financial records of the Forum Deutsch sub-account.

B. The mandate for Forum Deutsch

Mission. Forum Deutsch is a Canadian publication and, accordingly, will have a strong - but not exclusive focus - on teaching and learning German in Canada. But teaching and learning German cannot be seen in isolation from developments in other parts of the world (esp. in the United States and Europe) or from the teaching of other languages. For this reason, articles may also be accepted from contributors in other countries and teachers of other languages in Canada which, by the nature of their content, may be of generalizable interest to Canadians teachers of German.

Forum Deutsch has a broad readership and must therefore strive to satisfy the interests and needs of all groups of teachers. It is therefore inevitable that certain contributions may be of lesser interest and relevance to some teachers than other are, and that some articles may appear to be "too theoretical" and others "too classroom-oriented". Regardless, Forum Deutsch strives for excellence in the form and content of all contributions.

Forum Deutsch and the electronic listserve catg@mailman.srv.ualberta.ca complement each other. The latter is intended to establish and maintain an active, on-going exchange of views as stipulated in the constitution of the CATG by reporting events and currents as they are happening. Forum Deutsch is intended to distribute important and useful information of enduring value for thoughtful consideration, reference, and consumption in easily accessible form. While there may occasionally be some overlap in coverage, the perspectives presented will be quite different, and the editors will avoid the duplication of contributions unless there is a very good reason to have the same entry in both venues.

Content. The results of a questionnaire on Forum Deutsch revealed that many readers wanted the journal to make up its mind which part of the public it aimed to please and that it should stop trying to be everything to everybody. Such a clear-cut decision in favor of publishing either for school teachers or for the university community is impossible, however. The CATG is an organization of all teachers of German in Canada, and its publication, Forum Deutsch, must therefore serve all teachers of German. Reflecting the diversity of its reading clientele, Forum Deutsch seeks submissions from German language school teachers, teachers in English-German bilingual schools, in junior and senior high schools, and in the colleges and universities. Among them are (their sequencing does not necessarily indicate an underlying importance):

a. descriptions of course materials and teaching/learning activities, projects, teaching tips, and ideas;
b. presentations of a theoretical nature on issues in teaching and learning German language and culture with a view towards their applicability in the classroom;
c. issues pertaining to professional development for teachers
d. presentations of important new developments and phenomena in the German-speaking countries ("landeskundliche Information");
e. reviews of textbooks at all levels;
f. brief reports on the publication of resources of interest to the readership (e.g., textbooks, readers, AV- and CALL-materials);
g. concise surveys of recent publications in other professional journals on the teaching and learning of German, with brief annotations;
h. news and announcements of more long-term relevance as well as reports from the CATG and its sponsoring and membership organizations (announcements of events such as workshops as well as reports from the "Basisgruppen" can be published by via e-mail on the listserve.). This category may include items such as enrolment figures, announcements of new courses and programs in schools and colleges and universities, curricular changes and innovations -- any item which keeps all of us informed about the state of the teaching and learning of German across Canada.
i. reports from the member organizations of the CATG about significant initiatives and activities that our colleagues across the country may find useful in their own work.