Textsorten und Sprachunterricht

Text types and language instructionThis article addresses the relationship between Textsortenlinguistik, the analysis of text types, and Textsortendidaktik, the didactics of text types, which, according to Portmann-Tselikas (2000: 831), „has not yet developed a sound concept for using types of texts“ in native and foreign language education. The new media and theoretical insights from fields as diverse as systems theory and linguistic discourse analysis have radically altered our understanding of textual patterns and the functions that we ascribe to them. While texts and their patterns might arise from the same basic structure or refer to each other, they fulfill different communicative functions in different conversational contexts. Compare, for example, Familienbeschluss (a decision made by a family) with Gerichtsbeschluss (a decision made by a court of law). Concepts that have emerged in recent research, Textsortennetze (Adamzik), networks of different types of texts, for example, or Anschlusskommunikation (Gansel), the interpersonal communication about media while and after consuming media, or reaktive Textsorten (Fandrych/Thurmaier), reactive types of texts, are suitable primarily for learners with intermediate and advanced language competency. What tends to get lost in these discussions about highly complex textual structures are the actual or potential producers and recipients of texts.