This best-selling German text is based on and inspired by the Natural Approach, pioneered by Tracy D. Terrell. Students learn German through communicative contexts with an emphasis on the four skills and cultural competence, with grammar functioning as an aid to language learning and not as an end in itself. The abundance of interesting personalized activities and a wide variety of authentic and author-written readings in Kontakte ensure that students are exposed to rich language input, critical to language acquisition. A full range of supplements, including video, audio and interactive online materials, provide multiple opportunities to practice newly acquired vocabulary and grammar and further refine developing language skills.
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Book Description
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Language Notes
Text: English, German
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Dr. Erwin Tschirner received his M.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is Professor of German as a Foreign Language and Applied Linguistics at the Herder Institute of the University of Leipzig, Germany, and Adjunct Professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona. He is an internationally recognized authority on foreign language learning, methodology, testing, and materials design, including multimedia materials, and has taught in universities in the United States, Cuba, and Germany. He has lectured and consulted in North America, Europe, South East Asia, and the Middle East. Professor Tschirner is coauthor of Kontakte: A Communicative Approach and Assoziationen: Deutsch für die Mittelstufe and has published numerous articles, book chapters, books, and edited volumes in the field of foreign language teaching and learning. He has been a tester and tester trainer for the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview since 1989 and 1993, respectively.
School affiliation was listed as the University of Iowa---Iowa City. School status cleared 5/27/99.
Tracy D. Terrell (late) received his Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and published extensively in the area of Spanish dialectology. Professor Terrell’s publications on second-language acquisition are widely known in the United States and abroad.
School affiliation was listed as the University of Iowa---Iowa City. School status cleared 5/27/99.
Tracy D. Terrell (late) received his Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and published extensively in the area of Spanish dialectology. Professor Terrell’s publications on second-language acquisition are widely known in the United States and abroad.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Kontakte: A Communicative Approach,
By
This review is from: Kontakte: A Communicative Approach (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
As a native German, I'm teaching German with this book for the second year at the University level. Neither me nor my students like this book - in fact, I consider it quite bad (I have taught with 3-4 other textbooks before, any of which was much better) : The "approach" is totally scattered, it tries to be so hip, while it's rather gimmicky with all its cute pictures and cartoons. Like a "lets get away from grammar"-kind of badge of honor, the book introduces a minimum of grammer, but in a confusing, incomplete, and at times faulty manner while expecting the student to "know" or understand lots of things that were never properly introduced. The students would be helpless without a teacher to untangle the mess for them. Also, the reading sections and vocabulary are rather inappropriate, containing words that are neither widely used nor easy to pronounce. This book hinders more than it helps the process of learning German in an enjoyable manner. I only use it to a bare minimum, just to stay on course with the units it introduces.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good book, but not for self-teaching,
By Al Kihano (Iskandria) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kontakte: A Communicative Approach (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
I learned first-year German with Kontakte and was generally pleased with it. There is a good amount of cultural context, and the design is lively enough to maintain visual interest.Do not buy Kontakte a self-teaching text or if you want a structural approach to language acquisition. For Kontakte to work at all, you absolutely must have a German speaker to lead you through speaking and conversation.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent for communicative, in-class learning,
By DH (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kontakte: A Communicative Approach (Student Edition) (Hardcover)
I'm a native speaker of German and have taught first year German with this book - I love it, and so did my students. I think the communicative approach works great, the book offers a multitude of topics for interaction and communication. It explains the basics of grammar and allows the student to learn by using the language, rather than by memorizing rules. It is, as I mentioned, a book for beginners (first year) and not appropriate for any other level, and it is a book to be used in a class setting, not for self studies. It will not work for other learning situations, but there are other books for those settings. I have learned Spanish with the "Dos Mundos" book from the same series and with the same approach and found it the most effective language learning I have ever experienced. Used in a classroom applying a "natural approach" to language learning, this book is wonderful and an extremely effective way of starting with a new language!
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