Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on German Language and Literature Teachers in Germany and their Familiarity with, Use of and Views on Digital Media

• 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 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 470279728

The aim of the GETDIME project is to gain empirically validated knowledge about the effects of the Corona pandemic on German language and literature teachers in Germany and their use of, familiarity with and views on digital media. This involves addressing a twofold desideratum: (1) the lack of knowledge about pre-pandemic baselines and (2) the lack of knowledge about German teachers' use, familiarity, and views toward digital media during the pandemic. Two studies are planned to address this double desideratum.The focus of Study 1 is the investigation of German language and literature teachers in Germany and their familiarity with, use of and views on digital media before the Corona pandemic. The empirical basis will be IEA data on native language teachers from ICILS 2018, which have not yet been analyzed and from which relevant subject-specific insights can be gained. Three research questions (RQ) will be investigated in Study 1 based on the data of ICILS 2018 by latent profile analysis, a person-oriented statistical method for modelling categorical latent variables: RQ 1. How many profiles of German language and literature teachers’ familiarity with, use of and views on digital media can be identified, what is the percentage of teachers in each of these profiles and how are the profiles predicted by school and teacher characteristics? RQ 2. How do these profiles (and the overall levels of the constituting variables) differ from those of the overall population of teachers in Germany in 2018? RQ 3. How do these profiles (and the overall levels of the constituting variables) differ from those of teachers for native languages in other countries? The focus of Study 2 is the investigation of empirical data from N=2011 German language and literature teachers of several federal states in Germany, who participate in the ongoing online questionnaire study ‘Digital Distance Learning in German Language and Literature’ (DiDiD). There are data of two cohorts: 1. Data referring to the first lockdown in spring 2020; 2. data referring to the second lockdown starting 16.12.2020. Three research questions will be adressed in Study 2 using a confirmatory latent profile modeling approach:RQ 1. How many profiles of German language and literature teachers’ familiarity with, use of and views on digital media can be identified, what is the percentage of teachers in each of these profiles and how are the profiles predicted by school and teacher characteristics? RQ 2. How do these profiles (and the overall levels and specifics in cohort 1 and 2) differ from those identified on the basis of ICILS 2018 in Study 1?RQ 3. Which subject-specific profiles for the promotion of subject-specific competencies using digital media and new digital options can be identified among the German language and literature teachers and what interest in subject-specific in-service training events does exist?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants