Level-Adequate Texts in Language Learning

<< Background >>Foreign language reading skills are essential for gaining access to information in other countries, comparing different perspectives on complex issues and collaborating to solve problems in international contexts. Teaching these crucial skills to GFL learners cannot only rely on ready-made materials in textbooks, but must use reading materials that (1) address current topics to build reading motivation and (2) are appropriate to the students' language level to develop their reading skills. Most learning contexts require individualization and in the field of foreign language reading, this means that teachers must be able to provide texts of varying levels of difficulty to a group of students in order to effectively promote individual development. Therefore, the LATILL project developed digital tools for GFL teachers that enable them to identify and prepare texts suitable for their different classes and individual learners using generative AI tools.<< Objectives >>The LATILL project provides open educational resources for GFL teachers, including a search engine for identifying texts at CEFR levels A1-B2 on desired topics. The search can be carried out in a corresponding corpus and also on the Internet. To initiate change at the classroom level and overcome the theory-practice problems of top-down approaches in teacher education, the LATILL platform was developed in a joint effort of foreign language researchers and teachers; this collaboration included a webinar series for GFL teachers based on experiential and reflective principles, with freely accessible materials. In an accompanying evaluation study, the use of the developed tools and materials in Spanish and Ukrainian secondary school classrooms was examined and conclusions were drawn on desirable improvements to the tools, materials and accompanying measures presented on the LATILL platform (https//: latill.eu) and implemented.<< Implementation >>In a first phase, the LATILL team developed the above-mentioned instruments on the basis of theoretical modeling of the lexical and grammatical difficulty of texts when reading foreign languages in the context of “Profile Deutsch”. In a second phase, these instruments were tested with 13 teachers of German as a foreign language from Spain and Ukraine at secondary level. In preparation, the teachers were offered a three-day online workshop to discuss methods of teaching reading in a foreign language and to explore the potential of the LATILL tools for their specific context. An ongoing webinar program supported this community of practice throughout the school year in using the LATILL platform (https//: latill.eu). In a third phase, the LATILL platform with its tools, information and materials was improved according to the feedback from the teachers during the trial phase.<< Results >>(1) The LATILL platform (https://latill.eu) offers GFL teachers the opportunity to find level-appropriate texts, helpful information on reading lessons and motivating materials for the classroom and to edit them for their own purposes. (2) On the LATILL platform (https//:latill.eu), people working in GFL teacher education can find suggestions for an experience- and reflection-based webinar series on the didactic use of the LATILL platform.(3) The LATILL platform (https://latill.eu) was presented to the GFL community of researchers and teachers in numerous workshops, conference presentations and at LATILL conferences in three partner countries.(4) Numerous publications listed on the LATILL platform (https://latill.eu) make significant contributions to the discussion of generative AI tools and reading didactics issues for the GFL community of researchers and teachers.