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Assessment function:
The assessment of students‘ written products should not only be the job of the teacher. A communicative writing concept that involves the target group (see above 3.a), considers the feedback of other readers as equally important and useful, and should already be implemented during the writing process. Also useful in this context are writing conferences (see chapter 11.1), with which the students are already familiar from their regular classroom lessons. The instructor fulfills primarily the role of a final corrective authority who can and should provide constructive criticism for further improvement.
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Criteria orientation:
One of the major problems with the traditional method of essay correction is the great subjectivity and lack of transparency. In order to avoid this pitfall, clear guidelines should be provided, at least before larger writing assignments. The expectations should be outlined according to 4–5 criteria, which are best formulated in conjunction with the students. (Example: the text should be minimally 1 page in length, with a clear structure, comprised of introduction/main text/conclusion, and should contain at least 4 important pieces of information, etc.). The reference to these criteria in the dicsussions with the students and in assessing and grading the texts promotes transparency and motivation.
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Promotional orientation in correcting and evaluating:
This signifies that the instructor‘s focus is less deficit-oriented in terms of «what is wrong, what is missing?» and more guided by the question «what is present, what can be built upon and expanded?». As a subsequent step, the instructor will consider how to best plan and achieve improvements (with targeted exercises, deeper reflection, own usage and implementation) in an effective fashion. This is the only method that leads to long-term success and applies to heritage language teaching as well.
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Evaluating the process:
Traditionally, only a finished text is assessed. However, this method often fails to show particularly where the weaker writers experienced difficulties. This would require a closer look at the previous writing process. For instance, if a particular writing strategy has been practiced, it becomes evident if someone simply begins to write, or actually makes an attempt to follow the prescribed strategy.
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Providing feedback:
Simply returning a corrected and graded piece of writing is no longer acceptable by today’s methodological standards. Promotion oriented teaching means providing the students with a constructive written or oral commentary about their texts, as well as specific suggestions and guidance towards further development and improvement of their work.
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Competence orientation:
The orientation towards defined competences (often differenciated as minimal, normal, or expanded competences) is a current topic in education debate. This would have to be considered in a broader context for the teaching of heritage languages. Linguistically, this would have to include, among other things, reference to the Common European Framework, cf. http://www.goethe. de/z/50/commeuro/303.htm
For their valuable contributions to this introductory part, I would like to thank Claudia Neugebauer, Claudio Nodari, Stefan Mächler and Peter Sieber.