Writing in Geography Lessons—An Unreflected Routine?

Abstract

Writing is an integral part of everyday school life and is a relevant didactic tool in geography lessons. Nevertheless, there is still little research on the topic of writing in geography lessons. The study aims to investigate the attitudes towards writing and school practice of geography teachers by analysing qualitative guided interviews. It will reflect on the extent to which teachers ascribe meanings and didactic significance to this language action and implement it in their geography lessons. Teachers see writing in particular as a function of performance assessment and material evaluation and less as a means of subject-specific learning. In addition, the integration of writing tasks in geography lessons is a challenge for them. Research and university teaching should support teachers in cultivating a didactically justified approach to writing tasks and raise awareness among them to the diverse functions of writing.

Keywords

• writing in geography lessons
• functions of writing
• importance of writing
• teacher opinion
• writing tasks