Konkrete poesie im dienste interkulturellen lernens am beispiel von daf-unterricht. eine empirische untersuchung anhand deutscher und Türkischer texte

Although concrete poetry dates back to ancient times, it has started to gainimportance in 1950s in many countries in the world concurrently and in addition to thetheoretical studies in this field many concrete poetry were produced. Concrete poetry basedon visual images has undermined classical and modern poetry elements and added a differentdimension to the poetry produced in the last century.This study focuses on using `Concrete Poetry? in the teaching of German as aforeign language, particularly in inter-cultural learning. The methods and suggestions plannedto be tested through a practical study will be specified with data gathered from the triallessons.Concrete poetry artists who can be exploited on all levels of language teaching, havedeveloped a style mostly bringing to the fore the grammatical structure of the language. Inthis manner, concrete poetry language which does not ignore grammar rules but freelymanupulating them can be comprehended by students via both confirmation and rejection.Poems which can be internalised easily regarding linguistic and thematic qualities, can be alsosimply transformed into teaching material.The aim of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of using concrete poetryencouraging creative thinking in foreign language classes very effectively rather than aclassical poetry analysis focusing on only form and thought. In terms of interactive andcreative learning, concrete poetry does not force the student to understand and talk about whatis presented, on the contrary, it encourages student to create something new by the help ofwhat is already presented. In comparison with traditional and modern poetry which mightcreate a cognitive barrier due to their difficult sentence structure and textual patterns, concretepoetry has a relatively simpler structure, it gives a game-like impression and can be handledin a more relaxed manner. In terms of inter-cultural teaching, these poems have played animportant role by demonstrating the social, cultural, an even political tendencies of nations,and so enabling these nations to overcome their prejudices by getting to know each otherbetter.The number of studies on using concrete poetry in intercultural context, whichfacilitates active participation of students in teaching is limited. Particularly in Turkey a studyon this issue is not known.At the beginning of the study we tried to describe the concept of culture. Afterevaluating different researchers? point of view about culture; the relationship between culture,inter-culture and inter-cultural education are studied. In this section, it is elicited that concretepoetry within the context of intercultural education played an important role to overcomestudent prejudices and contributed positively to important changes regarding inter-culturalcooperation.In this study, we also examined the history of concrete poetry. Firstly, the historicalbackground of the poetry and the differences between classical and concrete poetry areexamined. At this point, the similarities between `concrete? and `Figurative Baroque Period?poetry caught our attention. Later, we tried to define concrete poetry, its features and theconcept of `concrete? in different fields of art. The translation of `concrete poetry? is alsostudied in this section. The possibility of translating concrete poetry is easily found out as aresult of examining texts, which were translated beforehand.Moreover, after studying work on concrete poetry, it is understood that this area hasbeen neglected and not taken into consideration concerning intercultural education in teachingGerman as a foreign language.One of the most essential problems, which students face with in foreign languageeducation is fear of speaking. Within this context, the role of concrete poetry in overcomingthis fear is also examined. Besides, in overcoming fear of speaking, it is found out that texts,which are dramatised and examined, played an important role. Another important factor instudent participation and motivation is the tentativeness of text selection. We have found outthat, in ovecoming fear of speaking, studying concrete poetry in a game-like atmosphere andregarding meeting the student expectation, the selection of poetry concerning both structuraland contextual features are vitally important. This issue also contributed to the meeting of thecourse objectives.It is aimed to improve four basic skills of students which are listening, speaking,reading and writing through the selected texts. In addition, improving general knowledge ofliterature, building up communication based on cooperation with foreigners, overcomingorientation problems and improving creative and critical thinking skills were the targets to bemet. At the end of the trial courses, these targets were met and students? language skills wereimproved.In the trial courses, nine concrete poems were examined according to methodologydesigned. This methodology starts with motivation studies in order to warm students up. Inthis process, general knowledge of literature and then information on poetry are given. Afterdiscussing historical background of poetry, the phases of classical, modern and concretepoetry are studied. In the introduction phase, concrete poetry is introduced to students so thatthey have initial insight about concrete poetry. Concrete poetry reading, draw students?attention because it does not have a particular order of structure. During reading phase,intonation and body language are used. Students read broken pieces of sentences with a greatenthusiasm through dramatisations. The structural and contextual analysis are examinedholistically. This process was important to stimulate students? creativity. In the last phase,intercultural transfer and empathy were stressed. In this phase, it was aimed that they putthemselves into foreigners shoes, evaluated events from the point of view of others?perspectives, and therefore they showed an objective approach without any prejudice.Within this context, the use of concrete poetry in teaching of German which offers awider opportunity for both teachers and students in creating new vocabulary, sentences, andideas and the findings of lesson practices are discussed.Keywords: Concrete poetry, language teaching, inter-culturalism, poetry analysis,didactic.