The importance of subjectivity and emotionality in conversations about literature in German lessons (SEGEL)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jörn Brüggemann; Professor Dr. Volker Frederking; Professor Dr. Benjamin Nagengast; Professor Dr. Ulrich Trautwein
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456079881

Communication about literary texts are a central part of German lessons. So far, however, they have hardly been empirically researched. The SEGEL project applied for should contribute to overcome this desideratum. SEGEL will focus on the empirical examination of the widespread assumption in literary education theory that subjectivity and emotionality in communication about literature are of particular importance for their success. In a previous study - 'Aesthetic Communication in Literature Lessons' (ÄSKIL) - empirical evidence indicated that subjective and emotional activations in literary communications actually have positive effects, e.g. in the areas of subjective involvement (d = 0.61), thematic relevance (d = 0.60), empathy to characters (d = 0.85) and emotional significance (d = 1.11). However, the lack of randomisation affected the validity of the study. In SEGEL's initial application, this weakness was eliminated, but without sufficient separation of influencing factors. In the newly submitted application, SEGEL is therefore designed as a randomised controlled intervention study in which 'type of communication' and 'form of interaction' are empirically investigated as two separate influencing factors. In the first factor, communication type, a distinction is made between 'cognitively oriented communication in literature teaching' (KOKIL) and 'subjectively, emotionally and cognitively oriented communication in literature teaching' (SEKOKIL). In the second factor, the form of interaction, teacher-centred and student-centred forms of interaction are experimentally varied as influencing variables. In SEGEL four treatment types are empirically investigated in a two-factorial design. The effects of the interventions are to be recorded with the help of proven survey instruments and adapted procedures, which will be tested and optimized in a preliminary study in a Cognitive Lab (N=28) and in a pilot study (N=300). In the main study, a total of about 2250 students and about 90 teachers from about 90 classes (grade 9/10 with about 25 students each) from 26 high schools in Bavaria and Lower Saxony will participate in the four treatment types and an untreated waiting control group. In a first step, the replication of the ÄSKIL study in a two-factorial design with randomised allocation of schools and classes to the treatments is planned in the main study. In a second step, the effect of the type of communication and the form of interaction will be investigated over a period of several weeks at two additional intervention points. The evaluation takes into account the complex multi-level structure of the design and includes mediation and moderation analyses in addition to estimating the effects of the treatment. On this basis, SEGEL will provide empirical evidence in a central research field of literary education research.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants