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Article published In: Language, Culture and Society
Vol. 4:1 (2022) ► pp.22–46

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Warum Deutsch lernen?

Constructions of German language learning identities on the Goethe Institute website

 | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
 | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Published online: 13 June 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.21017.sta
Abstract
In the present study, we explore the discursive construction of German language learning identities on the Goethe Institute website. With this aim, we depart from critical sociolinguistic approaches to multilingualism and draw on an analytical framework which views discourse as a lens through which one can examine the ways identities are actively accomplished in particular contexts. From the analysis, it appears that on the central body of the Institute website, the German language learners are constructed as elite, global and mobile multilinguals. In contrast, the recipients of the Institute portal “Mein Weg nach Deutchland” are attached to the local and non-elite multilingual identities of immigrants / refugees. Thus, the Goethe Institute website is a socially constructed space invested with hierarchical meanings about “where” German language is an elite multilingual skill and “where” it is not.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic commodification and banal nationalism / cosmopolitanism
  • 3.The Goethe Institute and its website
  • 4.Analytical framework
  • 5.Analysis of the website section “Why Learn German?”
    • 5.1Exceptional identities of Germanness
    • 5.2Privileged identities of multilingualism
      • 5.2.1German language learners as global actors
      • 5.2.2German language learners as elite actors
      • 5.2.3German language learners as mobile actors
  • 6.Analysis of the portal “Mein Weg nach Deutschland”
    • 6.1Mundane identities of Germanness
    • 6.2Folk identities of multilingualism
      • 6.2.1German language learners as local actors
      • 6.2.2German language learners as non-elite actors
      • 6.2.3German language learners as cultural and linguistic other
      • 6.2.4German language learners as one-way mobile actors
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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